Pedro Hernandez, Etan Patz Killer, Convicted of 1979 Kidnapping, Murder

Pedro Hernandez was convicted Tuesday in the kidnapping and murder of 6-year-old Etan Patz, who disappeared in New York City in 1979 and was never found.

The landmark disappearance case shook up parents, and Etan was one of the first children to be pictured on a milk carton. National Missing Children’s Day is the anniversary of his disappearance.

Hernandez was 18 when he took Etan Patz as the child walked to his school bus stop alone for the first time.

Etan’s body was never found, but in 2012 Hernandez's brother-in-law reported to police Hernandez had told a prayer group years before that he’d killed a child in New York, and the case was reopened. Hernandez also told a friend and his ex-wife similar stories about killing Etan.

When police showed up to question Hernandez, he confessed to the crime, telling officers he had lured Etan to the basement of the bodega where he worked with the promise of a soda, then choked him and put him in a box of trash more than a block away.

Hernandez confessed multiple times to police, saying, “Something just took over me,” and “I felt so sorry,” The Associated Press reported. Defense lawyers said he had psychological problems and a borderline low I.Q. and couldn’t always tell fantasy from reality.

Prosecutors alleged Hernandez was faking psychological symptoms and mental difficulties. Defense lawyers say they will appeal the conviction.

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