For 33 years ,Detectives in New York City overlooked Pedro Hernandez. His name appeared in their files as someone who had worked in the vicinity where 6-year-old Etan Katz disappeared in 1979, yet he was never approached or questioned.
It wasn't until 2012 that Hernandez became a suspect in one of Manhattan's most infamous unsolved cases, following a tip from a concerned relative.
His brother-in-law, alarmed by news of another suspect being investigated, contacted the authorities, revealing that Hernandez had made unsettling comments over the years about having killed a boy in New York City. However, those close to him—family, friends, and colleagues—dismissed his remarks as mere talk.
During a lengthy seven-hour interrogation, Hernandez recounted a story that aligned with the detectives' expectations.
He claimed that while working as a stock clerk at a bodega near Etan’s bus stop, he lured the young boy inside for a soda. In a chilling confession, Hernandez described how he attacked Etan in the basement, stating, “something took over me.”
“I grabbed him by the neck and began to choke him,” he recounted to the detectives. He further claimed that Etan was still alive when he placed him into a plastic bag, which he then concealed in a box and discarded nearby.
Etan was never seen again, and his remains were never recovered.
Shortly after Hernandez's confession, police announced his arrest at the age of 51, providing a sense of closure to Etan’s family and a community that had lived in fear since the boy's disappearance.
Etan's Fateful Journey
On May 25, 1979, a Friday before Memorial Day weekend, Etan asked his mother, Julie, for permission to walk to the bus stop by himself. It was just a short distance from their home in SoHo, and for the first time, she agreed to let her adventurous son go alone. “I’ll be fine, mom,” he reassured her.
With a school bag adorned with elephants and a dollar bill for a soda, Etan set off. Tragically, he never reached the bus or his school.
That afternoon, police flooded the area with search dogs. Flyers featuring the 3-foot-4-inch blond-haired, blue-eyed boy were plastered on shop windows. Parents, filled with fear, kept their children close.
Four years later, with no leads and no arrests, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 25 as the first National Missing Children’s Day. Etan’s case played a pivotal role in the creation of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, leading to the practice of putting missing children’s faces on milk cartons.
Investigating a Suspected Child Molester
For many years, investigators focused on one suspect, Jose Ramos, a convicted child molester who had been in a relationship with a woman hired to escort Etan home from school.
Ramos denied any wrongdoing but admitted to having seen a boy resembling Etan in a park on the day he disappeared.
“Ramos had a history of targeting children who looked like Etan and had a record of sexual abuse,” said Hernandez’s attorney, Harvey Fishbein, in an interview with A&E True Crime. “He was definitely a key suspect.”
Despite their suspicions, detectives were unable to make any progress in the case.
Continued Search for Remains
In 2012, police excavated a handyman’s basement on Prince Street. Othniel Miller, who denied any connection to Etan’s disappearance, admitted to knowing him. Investigators found that Miller had poured a concrete floor shortly after Etan went missing.
As news crews gathered around, jackhammers broke through the concrete, but only animal bones were discovered.
Media Attention Sparks New Leads
The media coverage of the excavation led to new information. A New Jersey resident, Jose Lopez, contacted detectives with concerns about Hernandez. He recalled that shortly after Etan’s disappearance, Hernandez claimed he had killed a child, a story he shared with his church group, his wife, and a childhood friend.
Before police even activated their video camera to read Hernandez his Miranda rights, he confessed.
“I never intended to harm their child,” Hernandez stated. “I hope they can find it in their hearts to forgive me.”
With Hernandez’s confession and other statements he made to acquaintances, prosecutors decided to take the case to trial, despite lacking a body, forensic evidence, or a clear motive. The first trial ended with jurors split 11-1 in favor of guilt. A second trial in 2017 resulted in a conviction for second-degree murder.
During that trial, Etan’s father, Stanley Patz, confronted Hernandez with anger.
“After all these years, we finally uncover the dark secret you’ve kept hidden,” Patz declared. “You took our beloved child and discarded him like trash. I will never forgive you. The god you worship will never forgive you. You are the monster of our nightmares and will join your father in hell.”
He also remarked that it was “about time” Hernandez faced justice.
The judge sentenced Hernandez to 25 years to life in prison. His legal team appealed, but a New York appellate court upheld the verdict, stating it was “based on legally sufficient evidence” and that Hernandez’s confession was “reliable and truthful.”
Defense Attorney Asserts Pedro Hernandez's Innocence
Attorney Fishbein maintains that a grave injustice has taken place.
“We may not have a recording of Pedro’s life, but there’s nothing that indicates he committed this crime, aside from his own statements,” Fishbein asserts. “Those statements were completely unreliable.”
Fishbein contends, as he did during the trial, that Hernandez suffers from schizotypal personality disorder, a condition similar to schizophrenia that renders him “eccentric, unusual, detached.” He was on anti-psychotic medication and had an IQ around 70.
According to Fishbein, Hernandez developed a “distorted image in his mind” regarding the murder, leading him to confess to a crime he did not commit after hours of interrogation. He had no prior criminal record. He urged the jury to focus on Ramos, attempting to undermine Hernandez’s credibility.
“Clearly, he was wrongfully convicted, as I don’t believe the evidence supported it,” Fishbein states. “I also maintain that he is innocent.”
Hernandez’s legal team argued that police infringed upon his Constitutional rights against self-incrimination.
After a New York state appellate court upheld the conviction, a federal appeal, primarily based on Constitutional arguments, was unsuccessful in 2024 in U.S. District Court. Attorneys have since appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit.
Fishbein mentions that he communicates with Hernandez regularly, but he refrains from discussing their private conversations. New York prison records indicate that Hernandez is currently incarcerated at the Elmira Correctional Facility in Elmira, New York, with a parole eligibility date set for 2037.
“There are numerous issues at play here,” Fishbein remarks. “When someone confesses, jurors often struggle to accept that they didn’t commit the crime. Why would someone confess? You attempt to explain the psychiatric circumstances and how these fantasies and beliefs could be implanted. Yet, for some reason, the jury reached a conviction….
“This case stirred significant emotions here in New York.”