One year after Jane Bashara's murder, husband maintains he was not involved as handyman claims

GROSSE POINTE PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) - One year after Jane Bashara was found strangled in her Mercedes, her husband Bob continues to maintain his innocence.

Bob Bashara's former handyman, Joseph Gentz, has told investigators that Bashara hired him to kill his wife, then unexpectedly forced him to kill her in the garage of the Bashara home in Grosse Pointe Park on January 24, 2012.

Bashara is currently behind bars, serving a sentence of 80 months to 20 years for trying to hire a hitman to kill Gentz.

And even before Bashara was arrested in the hitman plot that included conversations taped by police, Gentz told friends that he feared Bashara would try to kill him to keep him from cooperating with police.

In December, Gentz pleaded guilty to second degree murder for his role in the killing of Jane Bashara.

Gentz is set to be sentenced on March 1 and is expected to testify against Bashara should prosecutors ever charge him in his wife's murder.

On January 24, 2012, Bob Bashara went to Grosse Pointe Park Police to report his wife missing.

The next morning, Jane Bashara was found strangled in her SUV that was found with the keys in it, in an alley near 7 Mile & Hoover on Detroit's east side.