- Pedro Hernandez picked up by police in Camden, New Jersey on Wednesday
- Told investigators he thew Etan's body parts into garbage
- Comes just weeks after the four-day excavation of handyman Othniel Miller's SoHo basement, where police found no new evidence
- A relative called police during the search to say Hernandez had previously claimed to have killed a boy in New York
- Revelations come nearly 33 years to the day since Etan disappeared - and could solve one of the country's most enduring missing children cases
By Lydia Warren
PUBLISHED: 06:30 EST, 24 May 2012 | UPDATED: 11:38 EST, 24 May 2012
A man has claimed he lured six-year-old Etan Patz - who vanished 33 years ago as he walked to the bus from his Manhattan home - with candy, before stabbing him to death and chopping up his body.
Police swooped on the man, named by sources as Pedro Hernandez, in Camden, New Jersey on Wednesday evening and took him to New York City for questioning where he reportedly said: 'I did it.'
He told investigators he had enticed the boy with sweets, stabbed him, cut up his body and put him in plastic bags, a law enforcement source told The New York Post.
Missing: Six-year-old Etan Patz vanished on the way to the school bus in 1979 and has never been found. Now police sayy they have questioned a man in the disappearance and death of the boy
Sources told DNAinfo.com that Hernandez said 'I did it' during the questioning.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement that the man 'has made statements to NYPD detectives implicating himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz 33 years ago'.
He added that further details would be released later today. Police have not confirmed the man's identity.
Although police say Hernandez is not new to the investigation, he is not one of the two men previously implicated in the case - handyman Othniel Miller and prime suspect Jose Ramos.
Police questioned Hernandez after a relative called police following the four-day excavation at Miller's basement, where they were searching for evidence in the disappearance.
Hernandez had previously told family members that he had killed a boy but did not mention his name, sources told The Post. He also told a spiritual adviser in the 1980s about killing a child.
Unsolved: Etan Patz vanished on the way to the school bus in SoHo, New York City in May 1978
He told police he threw Etan's remains into the garbage, sources said. Police told DNAinfo.com they have no hard evidence to support the confession.
Hernandez worked as a shopkeeper and lived just blocks from Patz when he disappeared in 1979.
If true, his claims - which come almost exactly 33 years after Etan vanished - could solve a case that shocked America and raised awareness of the plight of missing children across the country.
It will also bring closure to Etan's parents, Julie and Stanley, who have not moved from their SoHo home since his disappearance in the hope that he will someday return.
The revelations come a day short of the anniversary of his disappearance; he was last seen on May 25, 1979 as he walked to the bus stop - the first time his parents had let him go alone.
His disappearance sparked an international manhunt and he became the first child whose 'missing' photo appeared on the side of a milk carton. May 25 is now National Missing Children's Day.
Questions: In the 1980s, Jose Ramos, right, was identified as a prime suspect but no hard evidence has ever linked him to the crime. Last month, police searched the basement of handyman Othniel Miller, left
Search: In April, police swooped on Miller's basement - under the blue tarp - in a renewed search for evidence
He was officially declared dead in 2001. In May 2010, the Manhattan district attorney's office said they were taking a fresh look at the decades-old case of the missing six-year-old.
Just weeks ago, police launched an intensive search for the missing boy when they dug up the basement workshop of the handyman Othniel Miller, who knew the six-year-old from the area.
Miller, now 75, was questioned several times by police after his ex-wife told them about the alleged rape of his niece. He 'sky rocketed to the top of the list' of suspects after the claims, police said.
The missing boy's mother, Julie Patz, was also said to have told agents to look again at the handyman, who befriended Etan before he vanished and hired Ramos to do odd jobs for him.
Concrete had been laid over the foundation of the basement shortly after the youngster vanished - but the search did not yield any new evidence.
When authorities told Miller cadaver dogs picked up the scent of human remains at his basement he allegedly blurted out: 'What if the body was moved?'
Renewed search: The FBI searched the basement belonging to Miller, a handyman who knew Etan from the area, after his ex-wife claimed he had raped his niece. The search yielded no new evidence
Hope: Investigators sent off concrete, which was laid down shortly after Etan's disappearance, for analysis
In light of the claims by Hernandez, Michael Farkas, Miller's lawyer, told the Post he 'has said all along that Miller had nothing to do with the case'.
'Miller] has nothing to do with this latest suspect, that I know of,' Farkas added.
While no one has ever been arrested or charged with Etan's disappearance, Jose Ramos - a drifter whose girlfriend was the boy's babysitter - was identified as a prime suspect in 1985.
Jailed for an unrelated crime, Ramos, 68, later told a prison cell mate he knew every stop of the bus route that took Etan to school and knew the six-year-old got off at the third stop.
He admitted to taking a boy back to his apartment to rape him on the day Etan disappeared, but he said he let the boy go. He said he was '90 per cent sure' it was the same boy he later saw on TV.
No hard evidence has linked him to the crime. He is now in a Pennsylvania jail on a 20-year sentence for abusing two boys and is due to be released in November.
Etan's father has previously said: 'Jose Antonio Ramos is the man who abducted my child. We lost our child to a pedophile, and that's not comprehensible.'
Pain: Stanley Patz, Etan's father, watched over the search from the family's home half a block away
Grief: Julie Patz watches the search for clues to her son's disappearance in April from her window
Family: After the disappearance in 1979, Julie Patz, left, appeared on a number of TV shows to try to find her son. Right, Stan Patz, holds a photo of Etan as he poses with his other son Ari
Along with Etan's mother Julie, Stanley Patz watched over the search in April from their apartment just half a block away.
They have never moved from their home, in the hope their son would one day find his way back. Nor have they changed their phone number, as Etan knew it off by heart.
His father said another reason they did not want to move was because of their other two children, Shira, who was eight at the time of the disappearance, and Ari, two.
Stanley and Julie Patz have continued to fight for a legal resolution to their son's death. In 2000 they spoke with CBS's 60 Minutes about their refusal to give up hope.
Julie Patz said at the time: 'We have his belongings all over the house. To put them away, it seems to us and to our children that he's gone and he's not coming back.'
Convinced that Ramos is guilty of the crime, Stan Patz sends him a copy of the missing child poster twice a year with the words 'What have you done with my little boy' written on the back.
Police said they expect to provide further details on the new developments later today.
THE BLOND-HAIRED BOY WHOSE DISAPPEARANCE STARTED A NATIONWIDE MOVEMENT TO FIND MISSING CHILDREN
Etan's disappearance came before a time when the faces of missing children would peer out from milk cartons and TV movies explored a seeming epidemic of vanishing children.
The only small comfort his parents ever received from their son's abduction was knowing that it had become the catalyst in the search for missing children.
His disappearance prompted such an extensive search that by 1985, it had taken in the whole of America, parts of Europe and even reached Israel.
May 25, the day Etan disappeared, is National Missing Children's Day, which was named by President Reagan in 1983 in honor of the missing six-year-old.
An entire network for tracking missing children emerged since then, including Amber Alerts and pictures on milk cartons - Etan's was the first picture of a missing child to ever be put on a milk carton.
After 30 years the case is still officially open and the world has never forgotten the face of the blue-eyed, blond-haired boy who captivated a nation.
Each administration since Reagan has honored the annual reminder to the nation to renew efforts to reunite missing children with their families and make child protection a national priority.
On the day he disappeared, the school noted Etan's absence but did not notify his parents. It wasn't until 3.30pm his mother Julie realized he was missing and called police.
His father Stan, a professional photographer, dispatched black-and-white photographs of Etan in an effort to find him.
The massive search and media attention that followed focused the nation's attention on the problem of child abduction and lack of plans to address it after it became apparent there was no coordinated effort between federal, state, and local law enforcement, no national response system in place and no central resource to help searching families.
Etan's parents have since become outspoken advocates for missing children.
For years, they refused to change their phone number, in the hope that Etan was alive somewhere, and might call. They never moved in the hope he would return home.
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