Man arrested in 1979 disappearance of boy

Associated Press

NEW YORK

A New Jersey man who confessed choking a 6-year-old New York City boy to death in 1979 was arrested on a murder charge Thursday, police said, the first arrest in a case that helped give rise to the nation’s missing-children movement.

Pedro Hernandez, 51, of Maple Shade, N.J., was charged with the slaying of Etan Patz, who vanished on his way to school in his lower Manhattan neighborhood, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Hernandez, who had worked at a convenience store near Etan’s home, confessed after hours of police questioning, Kelly said. Kelly said Hernandez told police he lured the boy to the convenience store with the promise of a soda, then took him into the basement and choked him.

“He was remorseful, and I think the detectives thought that it was a feeling of relief on his part,” Kelly said. “We believe that this is the individual responsible for the crime.”

Detectives typically are barraged with hoaxes, false leads and possible sightings around the anniversary of Etan’s disappearance, which became National Missing Children’s Day by presidential proclamation in 1983.

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