NEW YORK (AP) — The murder case surrounding the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz is on track for a third trial, after a judge declined Friday to dismiss charges against the onetime New York shop clerk charged with abducting and killing the boy on his way to school.
The man, Pedro Hernandez, 65, has been behind bars since his 2012 arrest. He is due back in court in June for a status update. A trial date has not yet been set.
Etan’s disappearance — on a two-block walk to his school bus stop on the first day his mom let him go unaccompanied — became one of the United States’ most well known missing child cases. He was among the first vanished kids to be pictured on milk cartons, and the May 25 anniversary of his disappearance became National Missing Children’s Day. His parents’ advocacy helped enhance law enforcement’s response to such cases.
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