Latest news with #Etan
The Age
22-07-2025
- The Age
Etan's disappearance changed childhood forever. Now this decades-old case has been reopened
'It was a zeitgeist moment that changed the way we deal with our kids,' Lisa R. Cohen, the author of After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive, told The New York Times. 'And then it never stopped.' Professor and author Jonathan Haidt told The New York Times that the deaths of the two boys in 1979 and 1981 'changed the way we raise kids' in a way that was 'very damaging to human development'. 'It was a terrible mistake,' he told the Times. 'Children need to play.' Investigation spans decades Etan's body has never been found, but his family had him legally declared dead in 2001. The investigation spanned decades and even reached Israel. Hernandez worked at a convenience store in Etan's neighbourhood, and police noted meeting him among many people they encountered while searching. But he wasn't a suspect until 2012, when police got a tip that Hernandez, then living in New Jersey, had once spoken to a relative about killing a boy in New York City. A disputed confession There was no physical evidence against Hernandez, but police said that during a seven-hour interrogation, he confessed to attacking Etan. In recorded statements, Hernandez tranquilly recounted offering a soft drink to entice Etan into the basement of the convenience store, where Hernandez was then working as a teenage stock clerk. Hernandez said he choked Etan, put the still-alive boy into a plastic bag and a box, and left the box in an alley. Hernandez's lawyers said the admissions were the false imaginings of a man with mental illness and a very low IQ. The defence also urged jurors to consider another long-time suspect who had dated a woman who had sometimes walked Etan home from school. That man was later convicted of molesting boys in Pennsylvania. He told federal authorities about interacting with a child he was all but sure was Etan on the day the boy vanished. But he was never criminally charged. Prosecutors maintained that Hernandez's confessions were credible and suggested he faked or exaggerated symptoms of mental illness. Appeals court ruling In its ruling on Monday, a federal appeals court overturned Hernandez's conviction because of the original judge's response to a jury note during a 2017 trial. The appeal revolved around the police interrogation that Hernandez underwent in 2012. Police said he initially confessed before they read him his rights. Hernandez was then given a legally required warning that his statements could be used against him in court, then repeated his admission on tape at least twice. At the trial, the jury sent a note to the judge asking whether it should disregard the two recorded confessions if it concluded that the first one – given before the Miranda warning – was invalid. The judge answered 'no'. The appeals court ruled that the jury should have gotten a more thorough explanation of its options, which could have included disregarding all the confessions.
ITV News
22-07-2025
- ITV News
Man convicted of killing 'milk carton kid' Etan Patz could be freed after US court ruling
The man convicted of one of America's most notorious missing child cases may be freed, after the Federal Court overturned his conviction and ordered a new trial. Six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared in 1979 while walking alone to his school bus stop in New York. The boy's disappearance became one of the country's most high-profile cases, with Etan's image among the first pictured on milk cartons. After a decades-long international search for the person responsible, Pedro Hernandez was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to at least 25 years in jail in 2017 for his kidnapping and murder. But the Federal Court has now overturned the guilty verdict, ordering a new trial for the 64-year-old man. The case also sparked a national movement on missing children, including new laws making it easier for law enforcement agencies to share information about missing children and the establishment of a national hotline. The anniversary of Etan Patz's disappearance - May 25 - became the country's National Missing Children's Day. Etan was legally declared dead in 2001, despite his body never being found. But the Federal Court has now overturned Hernandez's guilty verdict, ordering a new trial for the 64-year-old man. Judges have also ordered Hernandez be released from prison unless the new trial can be held within "a reasonable period". Hernandez worked at a convenience store in Etan's Manhattan neighbourhood. He became a suspect in 2012 when police got a tip that Hernandez, who was living in New Jersey at the time, had once spoken to a relative about killing a boy in New York City. There was no physical evidence against Hernandez, but police said that during a seven-hour interrogation, he confessed to attacking Etan. In the recorded statements, Hernandez said he offered a fizzy drink to entice Etan into the basement of the convenience store where he choked him, before placing him, still alive, into a plastic bag and a box, which he left in the street. But lawyers for Hernandez during the trial said they were fake admissions from a man with a mental illness and a very low IQ. The Federal Court overturned the conviction on Monday, saying the judge had given a 'clearly wrong' and 'manifestly prejudicial' response to a jury note during Hernandez's 2017 trial. The Manhattan district attorney's office, which prosecuted the case, said it was reviewing the decision. Former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Junior - who oversaw the trial - said Etan's parents may miss out on justice for their son. 'They waited and persevered for 35 years for justice for Etan, which today, sadly, may have been lost,' he said. The 2017 trial had been Hernandez's second after his first trial ended in a deadlocked jury in 2015.
Sydney Morning Herald
22-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Etan's disappearance changed childhood forever. Now this decades-old case has been reopened
'It was a zeitgeist moment that changed the way we deal with our kids,' Lisa R. Cohen, the author of After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive, told The New York Times. 'And then it never stopped.' Professor and author Jonathan Haidt told The New York Times that the deaths of the two boys in 1979 and 1981 'changed the way we raise kids' in a way that was 'very damaging to human development'. 'It was a terrible mistake,' he told the Times. 'Children need to play.' Investigation spans decades Etan's body has never been found, but his family had him legally declared dead in 2001. The investigation spanned decades and even reached Israel. Hernandez worked at a convenience store in Etan's neighbourhood, and police noted meeting him among many people they encountered while searching. But he wasn't a suspect until 2012, when police got a tip that Hernandez, then living in New Jersey, had once spoken to a relative about killing a boy in New York City. A disputed confession There was no physical evidence against Hernandez, but police said that during a seven-hour interrogation, he confessed to attacking Etan. In recorded statements, Hernandez tranquilly recounted offering a soft drink to entice Etan into the basement of the convenience store, where Hernandez was then working as a teenage stock clerk. Hernandez said he choked Etan, put the still-alive boy into a plastic bag and a box, and left the box in an alley. Hernandez's lawyers said the admissions were the false imaginings of a man with mental illness and a very low IQ. The defence also urged jurors to consider another long-time suspect who had dated a woman who had sometimes walked Etan home from school. That man was later convicted of molesting boys in Pennsylvania. He told federal authorities about interacting with a child he was all but sure was Etan on the day the boy vanished. But he was never criminally charged. Prosecutors maintained that Hernandez's confessions were credible and suggested he faked or exaggerated symptoms of mental illness. Appeals court ruling In its ruling on Monday, a federal appeals court overturned Hernandez's conviction because of the original judge's response to a jury note during a 2017 trial. The appeal revolved around the police interrogation that Hernandez underwent in 2012. Police said he initially confessed before they read him his rights. Hernandez was then given a legally required warning that his statements could be used against him in court, then repeated his admission on tape at least twice. At the trial, the jury sent a note to the judge asking whether it should disregard the two recorded confessions if it concluded that the first one – given before the Miranda warning – was invalid. The judge answered 'no'. The appeals court ruled that the jury should have gotten a more thorough explanation of its options, which could have included disregarding all the confessions.
Sydney Morning Herald
22-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
His disappearance changed childhood forever. Now this decades-old case has been reopened
'It was a zeitgeist moment that changed the way we deal with our kids,' Lisa R. Cohen, the author of After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive, told The New York Times. 'And then it never stopped.' Professor and author Jonathan Haidt told The New York Times that the deaths of the two boys in 1979 and 1981 'changed the way we raise kids' in a way that was 'very damaging to human development'. 'It was a terrible mistake,' he told the Times. 'Children need to play.' Investigation spans decades Etan's body has never been found, but his family had him legally declared dead in 2001. The investigation spanned decades and even reached Israel. Hernandez worked at a convenience store in Etan's neighbourhood, and police noted meeting him among many people they encountered while searching. But he wasn't a suspect until 2012, when police got a tip that Hernandez, then living in New Jersey, had once spoken to a relative about killing a boy in New York City. A disputed confession There was no physical evidence against Hernandez, but police said that during a seven-hour interrogation he confessed to attacking Etan. In recorded statements, Hernandez tranquilly recounted offering a soft drink to entice Etan into the basement of the convenience store where Hernandez was then working as a teenage stock clerk. Hernandez said he choked Etan, put the still-alive boy into a plastic bag and a box, and left the box in an alley. Hernandez's lawyers said the admissions were the false imaginings of a man with mental illness and a very low IQ. The defence also urged jurors to consider another long-time suspect who had dated a woman who had sometimes walked Etan home from school. That man was later convicted of molesting boys in Pennsylvania. He told federal authorities about interacting with a child he was all but sure was Etan on the day the boy vanished. But he was never criminally charged. Prosecutors maintained that Hernandez's confessions were credible and suggested he faked or exaggerated symptoms of mental illness. Appeals court ruling In its ruling on Monday, a federal appeals court overturned Hernandez's conviction because of the original judge's response to a jury note during a 2017 trial. Loading The appeal revolved around the police interrogation that Hernandez underwent in 2012. Police said he initially confessed before they read him his rights. Hernandez was then given a legally required warning that his statements could be used against him in court, then repeated his admission on tape at least twice. At the trial, the jury sent a note to the judge asking whether it should disregard the two recorded confessions if it concluded that the first one – given before the Miranda warning – was invalid. The judge answered 'no'. The appeals court ruled that the jury should have gotten a more thorough explanation of its options, which could have included disregarding all the confessions.
The Age
22-07-2025
- The Age
His disappearance changed childhood forever. Now this decades-old case has been reopened
'It was a zeitgeist moment that changed the way we deal with our kids,' Lisa R. Cohen, the author of After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive, told The New York Times. 'And then it never stopped.' Professor and author Jonathan Haidt told The New York Times that the deaths of the two boys in 1979 and 1981 'changed the way we raise kids' in a way that was 'very damaging to human development'. 'It was a terrible mistake,' he told the Times. 'Children need to play.' Investigation spans decades Etan's body has never been found, but his family had him legally declared dead in 2001. The investigation spanned decades and even reached Israel. Hernandez worked at a convenience store in Etan's neighbourhood, and police noted meeting him among many people they encountered while searching. But he wasn't a suspect until 2012, when police got a tip that Hernandez, then living in New Jersey, had once spoken to a relative about killing a boy in New York City. A disputed confession There was no physical evidence against Hernandez, but police said that during a seven-hour interrogation he confessed to attacking Etan. In recorded statements, Hernandez tranquilly recounted offering a soft drink to entice Etan into the basement of the convenience store where Hernandez was then working as a teenage stock clerk. Hernandez said he choked Etan, put the still-alive boy into a plastic bag and a box, and left the box in an alley. Hernandez's lawyers said the admissions were the false imaginings of a man with mental illness and a very low IQ. The defence also urged jurors to consider another long-time suspect who had dated a woman who had sometimes walked Etan home from school. That man was later convicted of molesting boys in Pennsylvania. He told federal authorities about interacting with a child he was all but sure was Etan on the day the boy vanished. But he was never criminally charged. Prosecutors maintained that Hernandez's confessions were credible and suggested he faked or exaggerated symptoms of mental illness. Appeals court ruling In its ruling on Monday, a federal appeals court overturned Hernandez's conviction because of the original judge's response to a jury note during a 2017 trial. Loading The appeal revolved around the police interrogation that Hernandez underwent in 2012. Police said he initially confessed before they read him his rights. Hernandez was then given a legally required warning that his statements could be used against him in court, then repeated his admission on tape at least twice. At the trial, the jury sent a note to the judge asking whether it should disregard the two recorded confessions if it concluded that the first one – given before the Miranda warning – was invalid. The judge answered 'no'. The appeals court ruled that the jury should have gotten a more thorough explanation of its options, which could have included disregarding all the confessions.
