New Developments About Etan Patz's Alleged Killer Surface

The sister of the man accused of killing Etan Patz said she told police 30 years ago he was the boy's killer.

Norma Hernandez is the sister of Pedro Hernandez, who has been charged with murdering the six-year-old boy in 1979.

Norma said, "I told police, 'There is a rumor that my brother confessed to a group in church, that he has killed a little boy in New York. He strangled him and put him in the trash.' "

She said she told police in Camden, New Jersey in 1981 that her brother had confessed to the killing.

Norma said, "Nobody ever come to me. Nobody ever said, no phone calls, and that was many years ago."

The Camden Police Department said in a statement, "This is the first we are learning of Ms. Hernandez' comments."

Tomas Rivera, now 76, said he was leading a prayer group when Pedro Hernandez blurted out a detailed confession in front of 50 people to what was then considered the biggest missing child case in recent history.

"He said everything publicly. He said everything he did. The way he did it," said Rivera.  

He said he knew Hernandez had a violent temper and he was too afraid to tell him to go to the police.

Rivera said, "I didn't want to get in trouble."

Meanwhile, attention is being focused on where Patz's body may be buried. Hernandez says he left the body in a box, with the trash, a block from the bodega where Patz was murdered.

One of the places where little Etan Patz's body could be is buried under millions of tons of trash on the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, New York. The vast garbage dump is nearly 40 stories high and spreads out for three-and-a-half square miles. Imagine trying to find a body today in the vast site that was dumped 33 years ago.

Now, officials at the the New York Department of Sanitation are scouring records, trying to determine if its even realistic to start looking.
 
Without a body, it may be difficult to corroborate the confession Hernandez has given to police.