Court referee allows Joe Gentz to continue seeing his daughter

(WXYZ) - Joe Gentz, who has been at the center of the Jane Bashara murder investigation, appeared in a Macomb County court room this morning. But it had nothing to do with the murder case.

Gentz has a 10-year old daughter who has been in the foster care system for three years. Today, an emergency hearing was held in an effort to suspend his visitation rights. A referee ruled that Gentz can have supervised visits.

A Macomb County assistant prosecutor for the family division argued that Gentz's visitation rights should be suspended because they say charges in the death of Jane Bashara are expected, and Gentz has implicated himself. Prosecutors argue that the foster family is concerned for their own safety.

Gentz told 7 Action News in a phone interview last night that he is focusing on his daughter, who he said is "the most important thing in my life my."

Court records show that his daughter’s mother’s paternal rights were terminated in 2001.

Gentz’s paternity case is before Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Kathryn Viviano. Referee Karen Transit will be presiding over today’s hearing.

The Department of Human Services is trying to terminate Gentz's paternal rights by alleging he began neglecting her several years ago by leaving her in the care of an unfit relative. S ources close to the neglect case say Gentz has had psychological testing that shows he does not have the ability to parent his daughter, is easily agitated, has difficulty with female authority figures, and displays paranoid tendencies. We are also told that Gentz has threatened to call the President and feels the world is out to get him.” 

A final determination on the custody case is not expected soon.

Gentz recently made headlines when he went to police to tell investigators that he was involved in the killing of Bashara and he reportedly claimed her husband, Bob Bashara, is the one who orchestrated his wife's death.

The day after Bashara's body was found in her Mercedes Benz on Detroit's east side, her husband talked to Action News.

Bob Bashara said, “I believe that she was out running an errand and doing something and someone either carjacked her, kidnapped her, did something like that.”

“It’s just unthinkable that this happened to her and what she had to suffer. I am just so upset about it”, said Bashara.

Gentz was in the custody of Grosse Pointe Park Police for several days last week before being released. Police have not said why he was released and while he has not been charged in Bashara's murder, a court-appointed attorney has been assigned to represent him.

Bob Bashara has maintained he was not involved in his wife's killing.