38 Years Later, Man Found Guilty Of Murdering 6-Year-Old Boy

SUDBURY, MA — It took nearly 40 years to find the person responsible, but a family whose roots are strong in Sudbury is finding closure after a guilty verdict handed down on Valentine's Day.

Pedro Hernandez was found guilty on Feb. 14 by a Manhattan jury of luring, kidnapping and murdering 6-year-old Etan Patz in New York in 1979, reports The New York Times. Patz disappeared on May 25, 1979, last seen walking to his school bus stop in SoHo. He became one of the first "missing children" photos on milk cartons, and his photo was plastered on posters and in newspapers.

Sharing a link to the "If You Grew Up In Sudbury, MA" Facebook page, Kim Helms Gottberg writes, "The jury did its job and justice was served. Guilty verdict just came down. Thank you to all that have prayed for my family."

Gottberg's grandparents were Sudbury natives, and had ten children, including Julie Place Patz, their oldest. Julie, Gottberg's aunt, was Etan's mother, and married to Stanley Patz. Well-known in Sudbury, Gottberg's grandfather Irving Place owned the Shell Gas station downtown, and three of his sons were Sudbury firefighters. Her grandmother, Luella ("Ella"), worked in the kitchen at Lincoln-Sudbury High School, and her mother, Midge, lived in Sudbury her whole life, raising three children in town. Stanley and Julie still live in the home in Manhattan where they lived when Etan disappeared.

Hernandez, now 56, was a bodega stock clerk at the time of the murder. He confessed to luring Etan into a basement, first becoming a suspect when his brother-in-law called authorities in 2012, reports The Times. He was previously tried in 2015, but it was declared a mistrial due to a hung jury, reports CNN.

The case propelled more attention to missing and exploited children across the country, and his disappearance prompted new campaigns and laws, reports CBS News.

Authorities still do not know what happened to the boy's body. The jury took nine days to hand down a conviction. Hernandez could face up to 25 years in prison. He will be sentenced on Feb. 28.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons