NEW YORK (AP) — Almost four decades after first-grader Etan Patz set out for school and ended up at the heart of one of America's most influential missing-child cases, a former store clerk convicted of killing him was sentenced to at least 25 years in prison.
In a few angry words, Etan's father condemned the convicted man.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on the sentencing of a man convicted of killing 6-year-old Etan Patz, who disappeared while walking to a New York bus stop in 1979 (all times local):
4:30 p.m.
The father of a 6-year-old New York boy who disappeared in 1979 says there were so many false leads and blind alleys he and his wife didn't know they would ever get answers.
NEW YORK (AP) — The 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz helped catalyze a national missing-children's movement. Six-year-old Etan was one of the first children whose disappearance was publicized in what became a high-profile way: on milk cartons. His case also helped usher in an age of parental anxiety. Pedro Hernandez, of Maple Shade, New Jersey, has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after being convicted of murder and kidnapping. Hernandez confessed in 2012, but his lawyers say his admissions are false.
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge on Thursday refused to throw out the murder conviction of a man in an infamous 1979 missing-child case and scheduled his sentencing.
Jurors who were unable to reach a verdict in the man's first trial on whether he killed 6-year-old Etan Patz have been a constant presence throughout his retrial, and they were again on Thursday, at a hearing to determine whether their attendance could have poisoned the second jury before it voted to convict him.
NEW YORK (AP) — A defendant's murder conviction in a retrial over the disappearance and death of 6-year-old Etan Patz in 1979 should be thrown out because the new jury knew members of the first jury were sitting in court with the victim's family, his attorneys said Wednesday.
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge in New York has delayed the sentencing of a man convicted in a second trial of killing 6-year-old Etan Patz in 1979.
Judge Maxwell Wiley ruled Thursday that next week's sentencing for Pedro Hernandez will be postponed. A new date wasn't yet set. Hernandez's attorney Harvey Fishbein requested the delay to investigate whether a juror may have known during proceedings that members of the first jury were in the audience.
NEW YORK (AP) — It was one of New York City's most enduring mysteries: A sandy-haired, 6-year-old boy who vanished on his way to school. A fruitless search that scared a generation of parents. A family that fought for years to hold one man accountable, only to be told someone else was to blame.
NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly four decades after 6-year-old Etan Patz vanished on the way to his school bus stop, a former convenience store clerk was convicted Tuesday of murder in a case that influenced American parenting and law enforcement.
The jury verdict against Pedro Hernandez gave Etan's relatives a resolution they had sought since May 1979 and gave prosecutors a conviction that eluded them when a 2015 jury deadlocked.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on the conviction in the Etan Patz case (all times local):
1 p.m.
The father of Etan Patz (AY'-tahn PAYTS') says he is "truly relieved" that a former store clerk has been convicted in the death of his 6-year-old son, who disappeared 38 years ago in New York City.
NEW YORK (AP) — Pedro Hernandez watched 6-year-old Etan Patz from the corner store where he worked all those years ago, prosecutors said. He knew the little boy liked to get treats there, and that he waited for the school bus in the morning without adult supervision, they said.
NEW YORK (AP) — The man on trial again for murder in the case of a 6-year-old New York City boy who vanished 37 years ago is innocent, and his surprise confession in one of the nation's most influential missing children's cases was wrongly obtained, his lawyer said Monday.
NEW YORK (AP) — They spent four emotionally draining, inconclusive months on jury duty in one of America's most notorious missing-child cases. But over a year after hitting a deadlock, some jurors now feel a duty not to let it go.
NEW YORK (AP) — When her 6-year-old son was late getting home from school, his mother called a classmate's mom and got the news that would launch one of the nation's most infamous missing-child cases.
Etan Patz had never made it to school that day in May 1979.
"Total horror and panic" washed over his mother, Julie Patz, who recalled the moment Friday as she testified against a man charged with killing her first-grader. "My legs started giving out. I had difficulty breathing."
NEW YORK (AP) — Revisiting a crime that shattered a bygone era's sense of safety, prosecutors on Wednesday launched their second bid for a conviction in one of the nation's most influential missing-child cases, the 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz.
After a jury deadlock last year, suspect Pedro Hernandez is back on trial in a case that eluded investigators for decades, ratcheted up Americans' consciousness of missing children and now centers on whether a chilling confession was true.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on the retrial in one of the nation's most influential missing-child cases (all times local):
3:35 p.m.
A defense lawyer says the man charged in one of the nation's most influential missing-child cases is an innocent, mentally fragile person who confessed falsely.
Opening statements unfolded Wednesday in a retrial surrounding the 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz (AY'-tahn payts). Pedro Hernandez is charged with kidnapping and killing the 6-year-old New York City boy.
NEW YORK (AP) — The 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz helped catalyze a national missing-children's movement. Six-year-old Etan was one of the first children whose disappearance was publicized in what became a high-profile way: on milk cartons. His case also helped usher in an age of parental anxiety. The suspect in Etan's disappearance, Pedro Hernandez, of Maple Shade, New Jersey, is now about to be retried on murder and kidnapping charges, after a jury deadlocked last year. Hernandez confessed in 2012, but his lawyers say his admissions are false.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on a retrial in the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz in 1979 (all times local):
11:10 a.m.
A New York City judge says opening statements are expected as soon as Wednesday in the retrial of a case that reshaped American parenting and the pursuit of missing children.
State Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley discussed the timing of Pedro Hernandez's retrial on Monday.
NEW YORK (AP) — A court has thrown out a wrongful-death judgment against a longtime suspect in a notorious 1979 missing-child case, since another man ultimately was criminally charged.
Stemming from an unusual request from the parents of long-gone Etan Patz, the reversal closes a fraught chapter in the still-unfinished saga of seeking justice for the 6-year-old. He was one of the first missing children ever pictured on a milk carton.