The man charged in the death of little Etan Patz went on trial Friday, 35 years after the boy went missing in lower Manhattan, a case that shook the city and made parents everywhere more protective of their children. NY1's criminal justice reporter Dean Meminger was in the courtroom.
Horrible details a parent doesn't want to hear, but Stanley Patz, the father of Etan Patz, attended the emotional opening arguments of the case against Pedro Hernandez.
Etan's sister, Shira, was also in the courtroom as disturbing details were outlined over and over again about how Hernandez allegedly choked the 6-year-old to death back in 1979 and threw his body out with the trash.
Hernandez's defense attorney says his client isn't guilty, but he still knows this case has haunted the Patz family for decades.
"This is a heart wrenching case. I grew up in New York, I've raise my kids in New York. I know what this case means,” said Hernandez's attorney, Harvey Fishbein.
Manhattan prosecutors told jurors that Hernandez not only kidnapped and murdered Etan back in 1979, but might have sexually abused the boy as well after luring Etan into a bodega basement in Soho.
Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon says Hernandez was "a quiet, observant person that didn't have many friends." She says he “labored under the knowledge that one day he would be caught."
Prosecutors say the defendant confessed to his first wife, a close friend and a church group, but they never alerted police. After a brother-in-law reported Hernandez to the NYPD in 2012, he confessed on a video, which will be played in court.
His defense team says the confession was coerced out of a man who is mentally ill.
"Our job is to make sure that the wrong person, Pedro Hernandez, is not convicted,” said Fishbein.
The defense also pointed out Etan's body was never found and there's no physical evidence. They're trying to get jurors to focus on Jose Ramos, who was jailed in an unrelated child abuse case. A civil trial declared Ramos responsible for Etan's death.
Etan's mother, Julie Patz, will take the stand to testify, but she will not be in the courtroom during the rest of the trial. Prosecutors say she can't stand to hear what Hernandez is accused of doing to her child.