The jury will begin deliberations Wednesday in the re-trial of accused Etan Patz killer Pedro Hernandez. On Tuesday the prosecution delivered its closing arguments in the 37-year-old case. Our Michael Herzenberg has the story.
Over and over again, prosecutors played for the jury the half dozen on camera confessions of Pedro Hernandez.
And his walk through SoHo, showing cops where he said he dumped the body of 6-year-old Etan Patz all those years ago.
Prosecutors pointed to all the people Hernandez told that he killed someone. Starting at a religious retreat the summer after Etan vanished as proof the confessions were not coerced, as the defense contends.
The defense maintains that Hernandez was so mentally ill he imagined his involvement.
But prosecutors Tuesday portrayed those signs of mental illness as an act.
They said Hernandez first confessed in 2012, but later embellished his story with talk of hearing voices in his head and seeing angels as he strangled Etan to avoid a conviction.
Etan Patz vanished May 25 1979 walking to his SoHo bus stop alone for the first time.
The case gripped the city with fear and changed how parents across America watch their children.
His body was never found.
Hernandez worked at the bodega on Etan's route and said he lured the boy to the basement with the promise of a soda
The judge will give jurors their instructions Wednesday and then they will begin deliberations. The first trial ended in a hung jury nearly two years ago — with one juror sticking to not guilty. That jury deliberated for 18 days.