A New York jury on Tuesday convicted a man of the kidnapping and murder of a six-year-old boy in Manhattan almost 40 years ago — a case that captivated the city at the time and led to changes in how child abductions are handled.
Etan Patz vanished after leaving his parents’ home to walk alone for the first time to the school bus stop on May 25, 1979. His body has never been found.
Pedro Hernandez, who was 18 years old at the time and worked at a convenience store near the bus stop, was convicted at the end of a second trial when a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict in 2015.
“He was convicted on one count of murder in the second degree and one count of kidnapping in the 1st degree,” a spokesman for the district attorney’s office in Manhattan confirmed to AFP.
The jury had spent nine days deliberating before reaching their decision. Hernandez is to be sentenced on February 28, said a clerk to Judge Maxwell Wiley, who presided over both trials.
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