Etan Patz Suspect 'Lured Boy With Candy': Grisly Details Emerge in Killing
The case of missing Etan Patz may finally be closed, as police have arrested Pedro Hernandez of New Jersey, in connection with the murder. Details about the case are still emerging, but Hernandez has apparently told police what happened that fateful day in 1979.
A source in law enforcement told The New York Post that Hernandez confessed to "luring the boy with candy, stabbing him, cutting up his remains and putting them in plastic bags." Hernandez lived only a few blocks from the Patz family but moved to New Jersey after the murder.
For 33 years, the case of the missing Patz stumped police officials, but last month news broke that they were reopening the case and tearing through the basement of a building where Patz frequently played. It was that lead that caused Hernandez's family to call the police and report what he had told them years earlier.
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Hernandez also admitting to putting the boy's remains into the garbage, and police say that any hope of recovering those remains is long gone. Police had previously interrogated Jose Ramos and handyman Othniel Miller in connection with the case, but both men have been removed from the "person of interest" category.
Miller's attorney, Michael Farkas, told the Post that he "has said all along that Miller had nothing to do with the case. He has nothing to do with this latest suspect, that I know of."
Patz's case led to a national outcry and search, with his face being the first ever put on the back of a milk carton. President Ronald Reagan named May 25, the day Patz disappeared, National Missing Children's Day in 1983. Since then, new technology has allowed for faster alerts and more information to be released.
The Patz family has never moved from their home, in the hope that their son would one day return home to them. They have not spoken publicly about this latest development, but a press conference will be held later this afternoon.
