Supreme Court Reinstates Conviction In Etan Patz Murder: Inside Case That Changed Parenting In U.S.

On the morning of May 25th, 1979, 6-year-old Etan Patz was allowed to walk to the bus stop alone for the first time. It was only about a two-block jaunt from his family’s apartment in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood. But he never made it to school that Friday — Etan vanished without a trace before ever stepping foot on the bus. He was one of the first missing children to be featured on a milk carton, and on the fourth anniversary of Etan’s disappearance, President Ronald Reagan declared May 25th as ‘National Missing Children’s Day.’ More than 30 years after his disappearance, a tip led to the arrest of Pedro Hernandez, who was an 18-year-old working at a bodega near the Patz’s apartment the day Etan went missing. Hernandez ultimately admitted to police that he killed Patz in a confession that was viewed as controversial. Hernandez had a history of mental illness, and confessed once before being read his rights, and then multiple times after. It was only after his first confession did police officers start recording his interview. Hernandez’s 2015 trial ended in a hung jury, but two years later, he was convicted of first-degree kidnapping and second-degree murder. In July 2025, a federal appeals court overturned the conviction due to the way the judge answered a question from the jury regarding Hernandez’s first confession. But this week, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court reinstated Hernandez’s murder conviction. Joining “Forbes True Crime” to discuss is documentarian and host of the podcast “Sinister,” Josh Zeman.

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