Deceased/Not Found NY - Etan Patz, 6, New York, 25 May 1979 #2 *P. Hernandez guilty*

[NocturnalLady]

Relative: Man now suspected in Etan Patz death was reported to police decades ago

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/28/justice/new-york-etan-patz-investigation/index.html

Pedro Hernandez confessed to New Jersey prayer group decades ago that he killed Etan Patz, but no one reported it to authorities

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...d-authorities-article-1.1085512#ixzz1w9EGvMQ7
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/pedro-hernandez-confessed-jersey-prayer-group-decades-killed-etan-patz-reported-authorities-article-1.1085512?localLinksEnabled=false

 

[NocturnalLady]

“He confessed to the group,” Thomas Rivera, who led the parish’s prayer meetings at the time, told the paper.

Rivera, 76, who was questioned by NYPD detectives last week and asked to keep quiet, said he did not contact police “because (Hernandez) did not confess to me” in a one-on-one setting, the paper reported.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...d-authorities-article-1.1085512#ixzz1w9EUf6AO

IMHO that is a seriously BS reason for not going to the police!

 

[NocturnalLady]

Bowen described Pedro Hernandez as a blank personality who sat quietly in the same pew every Sunday for the past six years with his wife, daughter and two sisters-in-law, Mary and Gloria.

“Pedro is very, very quiet, almost timid. Nobody really knew him,” he said. “I’m actually unaware of him having any friend. He didn’t have any.”

Bowen said the only time he spoke with Pedro and Rosemary privately was for some marriage counseling a few years ago.

“She did all the talking. He didn’t talk at all,” he said,

refusing to elaborate on the marital issue other than to say it wasn’t related to any crime.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...d-authorities-article-1.1085512#ixzz1w9EynFKl

 

[NocturnalLady]

Pedro Hernandez confessed decades ago to his church prayer group that he had strangled a boy — but no one, including his relatives and a spiritual leader, reported it to authorities.

His sister, Milagros Hernandez, 45, of Camden, N.J., revealed the family secret to the Daily News on Sunday — and on behalf of the 12 Hernandez brothers and sisters apologized to the parents of the 6-year-old boy he says he killed, Etan Patz.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...d-authorities-article-1.1085512#ixzz1w9FLTz5u

Sounds like his family really believes he did it.

 

[NocturnalLady]

On Friday, when Hernandez' defense attorney announced in court that his client has a long psychiatric history, is on medication for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and suffers from hallucinations, the family source was surprised.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/28/justice/new-york-etan-patz-investigation/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

To me it seems like a good sign (in terms of the case) that family members are saying that it's news to them that PH has any mental problems. Maybe this points to a strategy by his lawyer rather than a documented pre-exisiting illness. I guess we will have to wait and see.

(Hope I am posting these links correctly - first time I've ever tried to do that!)

 

[Tugela]

Well, if he has a long history of mental illness, then there will be some record of it.

According to his family he confessed to them and others years ago, but they didn't do anything about it. That seems a little strange and on the face of it seems at odds with their claims of being surprised about his lawyers announcement. If they didnt take him too seriously back then, it presumably was because they thought he was nuts.

 

[Steely Dan]

The links are good. :thumb:

 

[DevilsPlayThing]

On Friday, when Hernandez' defense attorney announced in court that his client has a long psychiatric history, is on medication for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and suffers from hallucinations, the family source was surprised.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/28/justice/new-york-etan-patz-investigation/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

To me it seems like a good sign (in terms of the case) that family members are saying that it's news to them that PH has any mental problems. Maybe this points to a strategy by his lawyer rather than a documented pre-exisiting illness. I guess we will have to wait and see.

(Hope I am posting these links correctly - first time I've ever tried to do that!)

Yes all very good points {and good links too}. I watched some clip online earlier - that Morning Joe guy said something that makes a lot of sense though. All this illness stuff only goes to Pedro's ability to stand trial. Assuming he does not plea out or whatever. The time of the crime is what matters. Morning Joe did not say this part but I believe schitzo is usually diagnosed early 20s - at its onset. Pedro might be in not so good shape now - at 18 years old he was in better shape. The burden is on him to prove by legal standards his knowingness between right and wrong - or diminished capacity {at the time of the crime}. It won't happen.

 

[wfgodot]

Looks like, in a tight race, "he's our man" is running a bit ahead but too close to project right now. I'm a bit surprised as the general public - oh, okay, okay; three of my friends, a decidedly unrepresentative sample - are scoffing at the notion Hernandez did the deed. So I've had to preach them the guilt gospel - when in fact I'm not altogether convinced (still 65-35) myself.

 

[Cappuccino]

I'm glad to hear your friends' reaction. Its a healthy thing that people are skeptical about a confession from a mentally ill man.

 

[wfgodot]

I'm glad to hear your friends' reaction. Its a healthy thing that people are skeptical about a confession from a mentally ill man.

Now, now - he's on his meds (I guess, and has been on them for many a year); it's not like he's wackadoodling confessions from a high rooftop in a faux-operatic tenor or something.

I guess I can say, truthfully, "I think he thinks that at least he thinks he did it!"

 

[Cappuccino]

I'm not even sure of that. He's dying of cancer, maybe he figures dying in a prison hospital would be better than dying at the side of the road.

 

[wfgodot]

I'm not even sure of that. He's dying of cancer, maybe he figures dying in a prison hospital would be better than dying at the side of the road.

He has a home and a wife and a daughter, and I'm sure that, if not private insurance, he wouldn't be cast out to the midnight dogs of chaos because of his condition. He'd be taken care of no matter - though the wife would be left with crippling bills.

He could, of course, just want to make a splash and guarantee his name will be known long after his death - albeit for a horrible reason; but infamy definitely has legs, and sometimes outlasts mere fame.

 

[Cappuccino]

He might want infamy, or to avoid leaving his wife with crippling bills, or he might just be weak minded and suggestible like Chuck Ericson when he kept confessing to the murder of Kent Heintholt. Or he might be guilty.

I don't think we know enough to say yet.

 

[wfgodot]

NY Post chimes in merrily with this one this morning:

'Monster' hid Etan's body in bodega fridge before trash dump: sources

He put Etan’s body on ice.

The man who confessed to strangling little Etan Patz was calculating enough to stash the child’s corpse in a basement walk-in refrigerator before tossing it out with the trash, sources told The Post yesterday.

Demented murder suspect Pedro Hernandez, 51, revealed to authorities that after killing the child May 25, 1979, “he put him in the walk-in box and kept him there until he took him out and put him in the garbage,” a law-enforcement source said.

It’s unclear how long Hernandez, then 19, kept the boy’s body hidden in the basement fridge at his family’s SoHo bodega, where he worked as a stock boy, after killing him. Etan’s body had been stuffed in a plastic bag and then put into a box before being stowed in the walk-in, sources said.

But the grisly package remained there until the coast was clear and Hernandez could sneak it out to the street that night.
---

more at the link above

 

[Cappuccino]

Why are LE sources leaking uncorroborated excerpts of this confession to the media? Why don't they show us the confession tape instead? That way we could see whether he really gave details that "only the killer would know."

They wouldn't be trying to poison the jury pool in case he retracts now would they?

 

[wfgodot]

It's New York City. That's the way the game is played.

 

[Cappuccino]

That's not unique to New York, and its a bad sign no matter where its happening. If they had full confidence that they had their man they wouldn't be playing around with off the record leaks, we'd get on the record answers about why this confession is genuine instead.

 

[Steely Dan]

That's not unique to New York, and its a bad sign no matter where its happening. If they had full confidence that they had their man they wouldn't be playing around with off the record leaks, we'd get on the record answers about why this confession is genuine instead.

In their defense, we need to remember this was over 30 years ago. They have a lot to verify from 30 years ago. So that will take a little time. The leaks I think are to show they're working on it.

 

[impatientredhead]

I am guessing this our Mark Karr for this case.
If a case is in the headlines long enough someone inserts themselves into the headlines.

On a compassionate note (I know, shocking coming from me) if he is mentally ill (known fact) and has a prolonged interest in the case (known fact) and is under the immense stress of a terminal illness (known fact) it is understandable how he might be doing something like this right now. I feel bad for everyone involved.

Well except maybe for the churchgroup members who couldn't even blow in a "hey this guys is probably fruitloop crazy but whether he killed the patz boy or just thinks he did or fantasizes about being that guy maybe you might want to chat with him".