--- title: Manhattan Prosecutor Intends to Retry 1979 Missing-Boy Case description: Etan Patz disappeared while walking to school on May 25, 1979, and his body hasn't been found. canonical: https://time.com/3883478/new-york-etan-patz-case-retrial/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-18T23:08:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T07:26:06.237Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Manhattan Prosecutor Intends to Retry 1979 Missing-Boy Case og:description: Etan Patz disappeared while walking to school in 1979 og:url: https://time.com/3883478/new-york-etan-patz-case-retrial/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7084306f3f67a9fd/69884d160b72e3a1996e3b6f/etan-patz.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Etan Patz og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Manhattan Prosecutor Intends to Retry 1979 Missing-Boy Case twitter:description: Etan Patz disappeared while walking to school in 1979 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7084306f3f67a9fd/69884d160b72e3a1996e3b6f/etan-patz.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Manhattan Prosecutor Intends to Retry 1979 Missing-Boy Case by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 18, 2015 11:08 PM CUT  A memorial for Etan Patz is seen in the SoHo neighborhood of New York on May 28, 2012. A memorial for Etan Patz is seen in the SoHo neighborhood of New York on May 28, 2012.Mark Lennihan—AP by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 18, 2015 11:08 PM CUT (NEW YORK) — A prosecutor says in a television interview he intends to ask for a retrial in the case of a New Jersey man who confessed to choking a 6-year-old New York City boy missing since 1979. Pedro Hernandez in 2012 admitted killing Etan Patz (AY’-tahn payts), who disappeared while walking to school May 25, 1979, and whose body hasn’t been found. Hernandez’s murder trial ended in a mistrial this month after jurors said they were deadlocked on the 18th day of deliberations. The defense had argued his confession was false. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. spoke Monday on MSNBC’s “The Cycle” about a June 10 court date in the case. Etan’s photo was one of the first missing children’s images on a milk carton. His father says he’s convinced Hernandez is the killer. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3883478/new-york-etan-patz-case-retrial/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3883478/new-york-etan-patz-case-retrial/"},"headline":"Manhattan Prosecutor Intends to Retry 1979 Missing-Boy Case","datePublished":"2015-05-18T23:08:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:26:06.237Z","description":"Etan Patz disappeared while walking to school on May 25, 1979, and his body hasn't been found","url":"https://time.com/3883478/new-york-etan-patz-case-retrial/","keywords":["Courts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7084306f3f67a9fd/69884d160b72e3a1996e3b6f/etan-patz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7084306f3f67a9fd/69884d160b72e3a1996e3b6f/etan-patz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Etan Patz","caption":"Etan Patz","creditText":"Mark Lennihan—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/courts/","name":"Courts"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3883478/new-york-etan-patz-case-retrial/","name":"Manhattan Prosecutor Intends to Retry 1979 Missing-Boy Case"}}]}] ```