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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Man says he killed boy missing 33 years

One of first abducted kids pictured on milk cartons

By: Colleen Long and Tom Hays

Posted: 05/25/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

The Associated Press archives Etan Patz vanished in New York City in 1979. (CP)

NEW YORK -- In a potential break in one of the nation's most baffling missing-children cases, a former convenience-store employee has told police he suffocated six-year-old Etan Patz in 1979 and left the boy's body in a box in an alley, law-enforcement officials said Thursday.

If Pedro Hernandez's story checks out, it could solve the 33-year-old mystery of what happened to Etan, whose disappearance on his way to school helped give rise to the nation's missing-children movement and made him one of the first abducted youngsters to be pictured on a milk carton.

After decades of dead-end leads and phoney confessions, investigators warned they are still trying to confirm Hernandez's account and have little to go on other than his word. No body has been found. No charges have been filed.

"Let me caution you that there's still a lot of investigating to do," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Hernandez, who is believed to be in his mid-60s, worked at a store in the neighbourhood where Patz lived, authorities said.

He told investigators he suffocated the boy, then put the body in a box, walked down a Manhattan street and dumped the box in an alley, according to a law-enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The development came a day before the anniversary of Etan's disappearance, when detectives are typically barraged with hoaxes, false leads and possible sightings.

Hernandez, who moved to New Jersey shortly after the boy vanished, was picked up there late Wednesday and was being questioned Thursday at the Manhattan district attorney's office.

He had been tied to the case in the past, and investigators recently received a phone call with a new tip, according to the-law enforcement official.

The official gave no details on the tip.

Neighbours in Maple Shade, N.J., said Hernandez lived with his wife and a daughter who attends college.

"I can't believe something like that," said Dan Wollick, a neighbour in the same building. "This guy, he doesn't seem that way."

Sandy-haired Etan vanished without a trace on May 25, 1979, while walking alone to his bus stop for the first time, two blocks from his home in New York's busy SoHo neighbourhood, which was a working-class part of the city back then but is now a chic area of boutiques and galleries.

Etan's disappearance ushered in an era of anxiety about leaving children unsupervised. Police conducted an exhaustive search. Thousands of fliers were plastered around the city, buildings canvassed, hundreds of people interviewed.

Etan's parents, Stan and Julie Patz, were reluctant to move or even change their phone number in case their son tried to reach out. They still live in the same apartment.

They did not return a call for comment.

"I hope this is the end of it," said Roz Radd, who lives a couple of blocks from the Patz family's home and knows Etan's mother casually from walking dogs in the neighbourhood. "There's going to be hopefully closure to her, to know what happened to her son."

The FBI, which has been part of the investigation, had no comment. In a statement, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said only a man had "made statements to NYPD detectives implicating himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz."

Prosecutors would most likely look for evidence to corroborate his statement before bringing charges. They would also presumably try to gauge his credibility.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 25, 2012 A20

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