Police on Wednesday began searching the New Jersey home of the suspect arrested for allegedly luring 6-year-old Etan Patz off a SoHo street and strangling him in a basement in 1979.
Pedro Hernandez, 51, is charged with second-degree murder in the 33-year-old case.
Armed with a search warrant, more than a dozen officers and a NYPD Crime Scene Unit van arrived at the Maple Shade, N.J., home of Hernandez on Wednesday afternoon. Hernandez lived at the home with his wife and daughter.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said the search is "part of a continuing investigation."
According to the criminal complaint, Hernandez told police he lured Patz into a bodega and strangled him in the basement.
His court-appointed lawyer, Harvey Fishbein, told the court that Hernandez is a schizophrenic and had both auditory and visual hallucinations.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said police focused on Hernandez after the Missing Persons Squad received a tip from someone who remembered Hernandez speaking of having killed a child.
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