Dateline: Unforgettable is re-examining the murder of Jane Bashara, who was strangled to death by Joseph Gentz, who was working for her husband, Robert “Bob” Bashara.
The crime first made national headlines because the Bashara couple were prominent members of the well-to-do Grosse Point Park community in the Detroit, Michigan, metro area.
However, the case became even more prominent when it emerged that Bashara, a former president of the Grosse Pointe Rotary Club, lived a secret life in the area’s bondage, discipline, and sadomasochistic (BDSM) community.
Bashara went by the name Master Bob and operated a secret sex dungeon under a property on the Detroit-Grosse Point Park border, where he allegedly conducted master/slave sex acts on submissive women.
Bashara reportedly paid his handyman, Gentz, to kill his wife, Jane, so he could claim $800,000 on her life insurance and buy another property where he could supposedly surround himself with multiple submissive women and permanently live the BDSM lifestyle.
The killer sex fiend reported his wife missing on January 24, 2012. Jane’s remains were found the following day in a Mercedez SUV parked in an alleyway in Detroit.
Bob Bashara’s handyman, Joseph Gentz, confessed to Jane Bashara murder
The case was blown wide open when Gentz walked into the Grosse Park Police Department and told them he killed Jane and that Bashara had asked him to do it.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelBashara then tried to have killed Gentz killed. He set up a meeting with an individual to organize a hit on his hitman but didn’t realize they were wearing a wire. Bashara was charged with soliciting to murder Gentz and was sentenced to 20 years. He was then charged with killing his wife.
In January 2015, Bashara was put on trial for the first-degree murder of Jane Bashara. He was found guilty and sentenced to life.
After the sentencing, the Wayne County prosecution released a statement that read in part, “We certainly hope that the Bashara children and family members of Jane Bashara will be able to carry on with their lives knowing that justice has been served.”
Bob Bashara died in prison following a life conviction for Jane Bashara killing
Bashara passed away in a prison hospital in 2020, aged 62. The authorities did not reveal any information about how he died other than to say it was not from COVID-19.
Gentz pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 17 to 28 years. He is currently incarcerated at the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia, MI.
Dateline: Unforgettable airs Thursday at 8/7c on Oxygen.