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

[Marilynilpa]

While I poo-poo'd it at the time, considering it just as likely to be an LE ploy, putting words, in effect, into an old man's mouth, suddenly, Othneil Miller's apparent question (as to whether the cadaver dog could scent a body which had been in a location and then removed) just might come back into play here - if Hernandez did the crime and placed the body in the basement space rented by Miller. Will we hear more of O.M. in conjunction with this confession? Did Hernandez know Miller? Stay tuned!

According to Mr. Miller's attorney's statement today, Mr. Miller has no knowledge of Pedro Hernandez.

 

[princesspjs]

IMO I suppose that someone who lived or worked in the area could have come across the box and thought it was spoiled food and didn't look inside or they if they didn't take all of the plastic out and just saw his hair, they could have mistook him for someone's pet who had passed away. The person could have just tossed the box into the nearest dumpster.

This crime happened at a time when you wouldn't automatically suspect that the body of a missing child would be found in a foul smelling box on the corner.

Oh how I miss those days....

IMO, JMO, MOO

 

[epiphany]

The man, Pedro Hernandez, told investigators that he left the box at a location in Manhattan, but when he returned several days later the box was no longer there, the official said. Investigators recently took Mr. Hernandez to that building.

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/p/etan_patz/index.html

 

[epiphany]

Speculation: Body brought to basement workshop building that was ripped up recently, and then, body later removed.
Speculation: More than one individual involved.

 

[wfgodot]

According to Mr. Miller's attorney's statement today, Mr. Miller has no knowledge of Pedro Hernandez.

Wondering about Ramos....and his access to that basement.

 

[wfgodot]

L.A. Times's take on the matter, published online 15 minutes ago:

Etan Patz: N.J. man is questioned but skepticism remains

Also has a video at link.

 

[Perodicticus potto]

I really hope Hernandez isn't another John Mark Karr. This poor boy's family have been through enough.

 

[osadelnorte]

Hi, this is my first post on Websleuths. I've been a longtime lurker in the missing forums, but the news today brought me out and prompted me to make an account so I could post.

I grew up in a suburb of NYC and Etan's case has been in my consciousness for as long as I can remember. I was six months old when he disappeared and I got married on the same date of his disappearance, in 2002. Etan is always on my mind on my wedding anniversary.

I was wondering if anyone knew where the bodega (in which Etan planned to buy his soda) is in relation to the building recently dug up? Is this the same bodega where Hernandez was working at the time? If the bodega and this other building are near one another, I'm thinking that Etan could have been taken from the bodega to the other building while still alive and killed there, or his body was moved to the other building after being killed in the bodega. Of course, this is purely speculation, but I'm very curious about the proximity of these two locations.

 

[wfgodot]

Hi, this is my first post on Websleuths. I've been a longtime lurker in the missing forums, but the news today brought me out and prompted me to make an account so I could post.

I grew up in a suburb of NYC and Etan's case has been in my consciousness for as long as I can remember. I was six months old when he disappeared and I got married on the same date of his disappearance, in 2002. Etan is always on my mind on my wedding anniversary.

I was wondering if anyone knew where the bodega (in which Etan planned to buy his soda) is in relation to the building recently dug up? Is this the same bodega where Hernandez was working at the time? If the bodega and this other building are near one another, I'm thinking that Etan could have been taken from the bodega to the other building while still alive and killed there, or his body was moved to the other building after being killed in the bodega. Of course, this is purely speculation, but I'm very curious about the proximity of these two locations.

Welcome to WS, osadelnorte! Excellent first post.

I'm behind in my reading but so far haven't seen if the bodega in question is the one mentioned as being on Etan's block - it was either on the block or around the corner, I think - and thus in close proximity to the basement. I suspect that it is, but let me go rustle around and see if any news source has found out, maybe has a map, etc.

Here's something close to definitive info - should have read my own link, it's the L.A. Times one I posted above:

The man in custody was identified by a law enforcement official as Pedro Julio Hernandez of Maple Shade, N.J. Hernandez, 51, said he worked at a grocery store near the home of Etan, who was walking to his school bus stop on May 25, 1979, when he disappeared.

Not sure if LE has verified his claim that Hernandez did in fact work at that bodega in May 1979. Still looking.

 

[jamiect]

I really hope Hernandez isn't another John Mark Karr. This poor boy's family have been through enough.

I was thinking the same thing. I really hope this is not another whack-a-doodle looking for his 15 minutes. I pray for the Patz family.

 

[osadelnorte]

Thanks wfgodot! Thank you for the welcome too.

I really feel this bodega was the point of contact for Etan and Hernandez, if his story is to be believed (and if the stores in question were one and the same). It just seems very coincidental, and I'm still not entirely convinced that the other building holds no connection to the case. It makes me wonder too, could there have been underground access between buildings in the same block, or rear access where people could have come and gone unnoticed...so many questions.

 

[wfgodot]

Mystifyingly, I still can't find a map which charts the Patz residence, the basement (at 127B Prince Street), and the bodega, in 1979. One would think at least some MSM source would have published that online, at least during the recent search, based on the fact that the bodega was said to be quite likely the place Etan would spend his $1, and was a place he'd been to, and knew, and where he was known.

 

[osadelnorte]

Mystifyingly, I still can't find a map which charts the Patz residence, the basement (at 127B Prince Street), and the bodega, in 1979. One would think at least some MSM source would have published that online, at least during the recent search, based on the fact that the bodega was said to be quite likely the place Etan would spend his $1, and was a place he'd been to, and knew, and where he was known.

Exactly. I totally agree with you and I find it frustrating too.

I was thinking more about this...if it happened the way we think it did, it's such a tragic series of events: Miller befriends the child and gives him money for helping, he gets $1 the night before his disappearance, he wants to stop for a soda the next day, this Hernandez guy is in the store...it's almost like that poem about "for want of a horseshoe nail." It feels, to me, as if one small thing led to another in his case and something cataclysmic happened in the end. But I guess that would be true of just about any tragic case like his. I don't know why his seems so much more haunting to me. :shakehead:

 

[wfgodot]

CNN's article, from wibw.com:

Ex Manhattan Store Owner Says He Strangled Etan Patz

And, across the pond, Daily Mail's tabloid splash into the case's resumption (they seem to have the alleged mode of Etan's death wrong as most sources I've seen say Hernandez says he strangled him):

Revealed: Etan Patz 'killer' was just 18 when he 'stabbed six-year-old
to death in 1979' – and confessed after he was diagnosed with cancer

 

[southerncat]

I believe, unless I have misread that there have been two different ages given for Hernandez. One was 63? (maybe) and the other 51? If it was 51 he would have been what 17/18 when this happened? Again, I am so hoping that they have the correct person this time and that they can verify his story. I hope so much for these parents to find just a little bit of peace. No one should suffer as they have.

 

[Wondergirl]

Well, I really hope there is some "proof" of what this <self-imposed modsnip> says.

The Patz' do not deserve a John Mark Karr scenario.

I really, really hope there is something of substance here, if it is true.

So far, I have read reports of strangulation or stabbing as being the cause of his death. Not feeling too confident.

Is a presser scheduled?




*

 

[Trino]

I believe, unless I have misread that there have been two different ages given for Hernandez. One was 63? (maybe) and the other 51? If it was 51 he would have been what 17/18 when this happened? Again, I am so hoping that they have the correct person this time and that they can verify his story. I hope so much for these parents to find just a little bit of peace. No one should suffer as they have.

I'm not so sure LE has the right person. Apparently, this guy also told his wife he was dying of cancer so he could move in with her. Also, some of the facts don't match up.

From ABC online:

"ABC News affiliate WPVI reported that Rosemary Hernandez let her husband move in after he told her that he was dying of cancer."

"...investigators remain cautious because some of Hernandez's statements contradict known facts, sources said."

 

[Wondergirl]

Some info here:

Investigators swooped on him in Camden, New Jersey on Wednesday evening after a relative tipped off police that Hernandez had admitted to killing a boy shortly after Etan vanished.

The relative only called police after investigators excavated the basement of Othniel Miller, a handyman who had known Etan, in search for evidence last month. None was found.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement on Thursday that the man 'has made statements to NYPD detectives implicating himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz 33 years ago'

After moving to New Jersey shortly after, Hernandez told family members he had killed a boy but did not mention his name, sources said. He also told a spiritual adviser in the 1980s about killing a child.

Police told DNAinfo.com they have no hard evidence to support the confession

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...year-old-candy-stabbed-him.html#ixzz1vouboBzo



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...year-old-candy-stabbed-him.html#ixzz1votvr8a6

 

[wfgodot]

I believe, unless I have misread that there have been two different ages given for Hernandez. One was 63? (maybe) and the other 51? If it was 51 he would have been what 17/18 when this happened? Again, I am so hoping that they have the correct person this time and that they can verify his story. I hope so much for these parents to find just a little bit of peace. No one should suffer as they have.

Huffington Post originally quoted the NY Times in saying he was 67; Times has since changed that info and, like the LA Times and the Daily Mail, now lists his age at 51.

 

[Sleuthster]

I believe him. I tend to believe people when they confess to multiple people over multiple decades that he killed someone. Although, it could be a different child.