Etan Patz: Murder conviction ends infamous 1979 missing child case in New York
The jury convicted 56-year-old Pedro Hernandez after nine days of deliberation
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Nearly four decades after six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared on his way to school never to be seen again, a former store clerk has been found guilty of murdering the child in a New York City basement after enticing him there with a soft drink.
The jury convicted 56-year-old Pedro Hernandez after nine days of deliberation. While the verdict elicited tears from some in the courtroom audience, Hernandez did not visibly react.
“The Patz family has waited a long time, but we’ve finally found some measure of justice for our wonderful little boy, Etan,” Stanly Patz, Etan’s father, said.
“I’m really grateful that this jury finally came back with which I have known for a long time - that this man, Pedro Hernandez, is guilty of doing something really terrible so many years ago.”
“I am truly relieved, and I’ll tell you, it’s about time. It's about time,” he added, according to the Associated Press.
Hernandez’s lawyers said that they planned to appeal the verdict and said their client was a mentally ill man who struggled to tell the difference between what was real and what was not. They said that his confession was the result of that struggle between fact and fiction.
The May 1979 disappearance of Etan as he walked to his bus stop by himself for the first time became one of the highest profile crimes in New York’s history, and led to parental anxiety nationwide about leaving children unattended.
Etan’s image was one of the first to be affixed to a milk carton when the search for him and his abductor spread across the country. Etan’s body has never been found and he was declared formally dead in 2001 after years of investigation yielded few results.
Prosecutors re-opened the case seven years ago and in 2012 Hernandez was arrested. A video-taped confession showed Hernandez telling investigators that he had kidnapped Etan and took him into the basement of the shop where he worked to strangle him.
He said he then disposed of the child in a bag and box somewhere in New York and wasn’t able to find the box when he went back later to look.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments