New York City police have a suspect in custody for the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz 33 years ago and have expressed "cautious optimism" that they may finally have a significant break in the case.
Authorities said that it is possible that Pedro Hernandez, 51, could be charged as early as today with the kidnapping and murder of Patz, who disappeared while walking to school for the first time near his parents' Manhattan apartment in 1979.
Hernandez has implicated himself in the Patz's death, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said this morning.
"An individual now in custody has made statements to N.Y.P.D. detectives implicating himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz 33 years ago," Kelly said in a statement.
In 1979 Hernandez worked at a bodega, or corner store, in the Manhattan neighborhood where Patz lived and went missing.
Hernandez was taken into custody at his residence in Maple Shade, N.J., on Wednesday morning. He had never previously been named as a suspect.
New York City police officers accompanied by local cops took him into custody at his New Jersey home at 7:30 a.m. Detectives took Hernandez to the Camden County, N.J., Prosecutor's Office for initial questioning. He was then taken to New York City for additional questioning by authorities there.
Though police have named other suspects in the past none have ever been arrested or charged.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg declined to provide details today, but said, "A person of interest is in custody and being questioned."
"The suspect came forward and made a statement implicating himself. I caution you all that there's a lot more investigating to do," the mayor said.
Referring to Patz's family, Bloomberg said he hopes that "we are one step closer to providing them some measure of relief."
This morning, NYPD Chief of Detectives Phil Pulaski walked along Prince Street, where Patz vanished 33 years ago. Pulaski and his team were reexamining the crime scene in light of new information they have obtained from questioning Hernandez.
The police commissioner is expected to hold a news conference later today. Neither Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, nor the FBI would comment on the investigation.
The new investigation comes on the eve of the anniversary of the boy's disappearance. Etan vanished on the morning of May 25, 1979, soon after leaving his parents' apartment in New York's SoHo neighborhood, the first time he was to walk to the school bus stop by himself.
The search for Etan has been one of the largest, longest lasting and most heart wrenching hunts for a missing child in the country's recent history. His photo was among the first of a missing child to appear on a milk carton.
Hernandez was taken into custody one month after the investigation into Patz's disappearance returned to the headlines when police excavated a Manhattan basementin the hopes of finding evidence about the boy's death.
At the time police named Othniel Miller as a suspect. The dig focused on a basement room, where Miller once operated a workshop.
The dig yielded no obvious human remains and little forensic evidence that would help solve the decades-long mystery of what happened to the boy.
Miller's lawyer Michael Farkas said authorities had not been in touch with his client since Hernandez's arrest Wednesday.
The boy's parents, Stan and Julie Patz, were reluctant to move or even change their phone number in case their son tried to reach out. They still live in the same apartment, down the street from the building that was examined in April.
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