SOHO — Police returned Tuesday to the Soho site where Etan Patz's suspected killer, Pedro Hernandez, says he strangled the 6-year-old in 1979.
NYPD officers were seen Tuesday morning at the Prince Street and West Broadway corner that was once home to the bodega where Hernandez, 51, told cops he killed the young boy, the Daily Mail reported.
In May, Hernandez, who worked in the bodega, admitted to luring the little boy into the basement of the familiar neighborhood shop with a soda, choking him to death, then dumping his body in the garbage.
But Hernandez's confession and subsequent arrest have been met with skepticism by some, including the boy's parents. Police have reportedly found little to no physical evidence to corroborate Hernandez's story, and investigators have been dogged by questions regarding Hernandez's mental state. Hernandez's lawyer and wife claim he's suffered from delusions and mental illness for years.
A month before Hernandez's confession, police and FBI agents spent days digging up a nearby basement on Prince Street, but never found the boy's remains.
In June, police raided Hernandez's New Jersey home, where they reportedly uncovered clothes and an old toy that were age-appropriate for Etan, who went missing when he walked to school for the first time in 1979.
Patz was ordered held without bail and has remained in the psychiatric ward at Bellevue Hospital. Before his arraignment, he had been placed on suicide watch.
