Shopworker accused of killing Etan Patz told family he had ‘killed a child’

It was suggested that Hernandez’s confession came as early as 1981, but that
his family had not informed the police. It was also revealed that his name
appeared in the original police file into the 1979 disappearance.

But for reasons that were unclear, Mr Kelly said that Hernandez was not
questioned, even though some of his co-workers were.

“I can’t tell you why, 33 years ago, he wasn’t questioned. We know that
other people in the bodega were questioned.”

Hernandez is said to have immediately confessed to police about his role in
the crime, revealing hitherto unknown details about how Etan was killed and
disposed of.

Mr Kelly said that Hernandez told officers he had lured Etan into the store by
promising him a soda. He then choked the child to death and put his body in
a bin bag and then simply left it by the side of the road where it was
removed by refuse collectors.

Sources quoted by various New York media outlets said that Hernandez
repeatedly told police he did not know why he killed the child.

Neighbours of Hernandez, who lives with his wife and adult daughter in Maple
Shade, New Jersey, said that the 51-year-old had been diagnosed with
terminal cancer and suggested this as a reason for his apparent willingness
to confess to police.

Police were initially sceptical of the tip-off, noting that they receive many
hoax calls around the anniversary of Etan’s disappearance. But he eventually
convinced detectives he was responsible.

Asked about what exactly made him a credible suspect, Mr Kelly told reporters: “The
fact that he had told this story to others in the past, and the specificity
of what he said in the confession. ”

Etan’s disappeared on May 25, 1979 while walking to the school bus stop. It
was the first day his parents had allowed him to travel alone.

The case marked a watershed moment in highlighting the dangers of child
abduction. Etan was the first missing child to have his picture placed on a
milk carton, sparking a practice that continues to this day.

Hernandez’s name has never publicly been linked to the case until this week.
Previously the police’s two suspects were Jose Antonio Ramos and Othniel
Miller.

Neither have ever been charged but in 2004, three years after their son had
been declared legally dead, Stanley and Julie Patz, won a wrongful death
suit against Ramos after a judge declared him responsible for the boy’s
death.

The Patz family have not commented on the recent arrest and charge.

Last month police sparked hopes of a breakthrough in the case when they began
searching the basement of a building near Etan’s home in SoHo. Although they
found no traces of his body it is suggested that the heightened activity in
the case may have prompted the tip off which led to Hernandez’s arrest.

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