Pedro Hernandez has confessed to killing the boy
After almost 30 years of Etan Patz’s disappearance in 1979, Pedro Hernandez has been brought in on criminal charges of Patz’s abduction and death.
Hernandez, a convenience store worker at the time, confessed to choking him to death in the basement of the convenience store he worked at and dumping the body in the trash a block away from the store. His remains were never found, and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the remains may never be recovered.
Hernandez was picked up in New Jersey on Wednesday by police and questioned for more than three hours. “He was remorseful, and I think the detectives thought it was a feeling of relief on his part,” said Kelly. Hernandez’s motives remain unclear.
Kelly states, “Detectives believe in the credibility of the statement,” but there is no forensic evidence linking Hernandez to Etan Patz’s disappearance. Adding on that the boy’s remains may never be found.
Patz’s case remained long dormant until 2010. Back in April excavation in the convenience store basement where Hernandez said he killed the boy. No human remains were found.
Early this morning Hernandez was brought to Bellevue Hospital and is being placed under suicide watch.
Etan Patz went missing May 25 1979, also marks National Missing Children’s Day, not far from his Lower-Manhattan home. Patz, six at the time, was walking home alone when he disappeared. Hernandez lured him into his store with a promise of a soda. Patz’s disappearance sparked a national movement to raise awareness of missing children, and was the first child to appear on a milk carton.