A New Jersey man has been arrested for allegedly luring 6-year-old Etan Patz off a SoHo street and strangling him in a development that police say solves a case that has mystified New York City for decades.
Patz vanished on his way to a school bus stop 33 years ago Friday. The case drew international attention and changed the way parents felt about letting their young children go off alone.
Police announced Thursday that Pedro Hernandez, who worked and lived in Patz’s neighborhood, had told them he lured Patz into a bodega near the boy’s house and attacked the child, choking him to death in the basement.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said police focused on Hernandez after receiving a tip from a relative who remembered Hernandez speaking of having killed a child. Another relative and a religious mentor also recalled those claims, the source said.
Based on those interviews, police went to question Hernandez.
Mayor Bloomberg said Thursday that the disappearance of Patz “broke the hearts of millions” across the nation, especially parents, and expressed sympathy again for the boy’s family.
“I certainly hope that we are one step closer to bringing them some measure of relief,” he said.
The search for Patz has been one of the largest, longest lasting and most heart wrenching hunts for a missing child in the country’s recent history.
Patz vanished on May 25, 1979 in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan while walking alone to a school bus stop.
Patz became the first missing child whose face appeared on the side of a milk carton.
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4 Responses
I wonder if all the people who blamed the chareidi community for what happened to this poor child will now apologize.
Somehow, I doubt it.
Huh? Who blamed the chareidi community? What connection did they ever have with the case?
SEVERAL people used this case to air their greivances about how the chareidi community handles cases of alleged child abuse right here in posts on YWN with comments like “this is what happens when the rabbis cover up child abuse.”
What is the connection to the chareidi community? Absolutely NONE, but that little factoid didn’t stop them from making wild accusations.
Unfortunately we live in a world where, when ANYTHING bad happens, there are people who find a Jew to blame; even — sadly — other Jews.
#3, what are you talking about? Please cite one person who used this case to blame charedim or rabbis for anything. We have some idiots commenting on YWN, but I don’t recall even one of them making such a stupid connection.