NEW YORK—A look at the murder case stemming from the 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz, which helped catalyze a national missing-children’s movement:
The Case
Six-year-old Etan Patz was walking to his Manhattan school bus stop alone for the first time when he vanished on May 25, 1979; the anniversary is now National Missing Children’s Day. His body has never been found, but his family had him legally declared dead in 2001.
The investigation stretched across decades and continents before police announced that Pedro Hernandez had confessed in May 2012. He worked at a convenience store in Etan’s neighborhood but was never a suspect until police got a tip shortly before his arrest.
Hernandez, 53, of Maple Shade, N.J., has pleaded not guilty.
The Prosecution
Prosecutors’ case appears to center on Hernandez’s confessions to police and prosecutors, plus statements they say he made to a friend, his ex-wife, and a church prayer group in the 1980s about having harmed a child in New York.
The prosecution team, led by veteran Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon, hasn’t alluded to any physical evidence against Hernandez, and his defense has said there is none.
In his video-recorded confessions, Hernandez tranquilly recounts offering soda to entice Etan into the convenience store basement and choking him.
