Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 26
Supreme Court Reinstates 2017 Etan Patz Murder Conviction After Nearly 50 Years
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 26

Supreme Court Reinstates 2017 Etan Patz Murder Conviction After Nearly 50 Years

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 26

Summary

  • Monday’s ruling restored Pedro Hernandez’s conviction for kidnapping and murdering 6-year-old Etan Patz, blocking what had appeared likely to be another New York trial.
  • The Supreme Court reversed a lower-court decision from last July that had overturned the 2017 guilty verdict in one of New York City’s longest-running child murder cases.
  • Stanley Patz, now 84, said the decision brought closure after nearly five decades and spared him a third courtroom ordeal over his son’s 1979 disappearance.
  • Etan vanished on May 25, 1979, while walking alone to a Manhattan school bus stop; his body was never found, and he was declared legally dead in 2001.

Insights

Did the Supreme Court deliver justice for Etan Patz, or just a legal end to his father’s long ordeal?
With no body and no physical evidence, is a contested confession enough to finally solve this 50-year-old mystery?