The U.S. Supreme Court has reinstated the murder conviction of Pedro Hernandez in the decades-old disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz, reversing a lower federal court decision that had thrown out the verdict. The ruling means Hernandez’s 2017 conviction and prison sentence remain in effect, eliminating the need for another trial.
Etan Patz disappeared in New York City in 1979 while walking alone to his school bus stop for the first time. His case became one of the most well-known missing-child investigations in U.S. history and helped transform public awareness about child safety. His body has never been found.
Hernandez was identified as a suspect more than three decades later after confessing to investigators. Although his defense argued that his statements were unreliable because of mental illness and interrogation circumstances, a jury convicted him of kidnapping and murder in 2017 after an earlier trial ended in a mistrial.
A federal appeals court had previously overturned the conviction over concerns involving jury instructions, but the Supreme Court ruled that the lower court exceeded its authority under federal law. Prosecutors welcomed the decision, calling it another step toward justice for the Patz family after nearly five decades.
