Testimony from the ex-wife of the man accused of killing 6-year-old Etan Patz may hold answers to what happened to the boy, who went missing in 1979.
As deliberations continued Thursday, jurors heard Daisy Hernandez's testimony for a second time. She said her ex-husband, Pedro Hernandez, confessed to killing Etan years ago when they were about to get married.
"He's telling me he strangled him," Hernandez said. "He said that he put him in the dumpster and that he threw something over the body. He was emotional. He cried. I believe that something terrible did happen. He wanted to be honest with me and he didn't want me to judge him for what he had done."
But defense lawyers say Hernandez never told police something that she later told the grand jury: she once found a piece of Etan's missing poster in her husband's shoebox. They say she lacks credibility and that her ex-husband is mentally unstable.
Jurors started deliberations in the case against Hernandez on Wednesday and have a lot to grapple with after 10 weeks of testimony, 56 witnesses and hundreds of exhibits.
"There's a lot for them to go over," defense attorney Harvey Fishbein said. "This was a 10-week trial. I didn't expect them to walk into the room, look at each other and walk back out."
Hernandez made a surprise confession in 2012. He says he lured Etan to a store basement in SoHo with the promise of a soda, then choked him.
Local
He says he put the body in a bag and a produce box, and walked it about two blocks away.
Hernandez's attorneys say he is mentally ill and his confession is made up.
But prosecutors say the admissions are sound.
In the 10 weeks of testimony, jurors heard from prayer group members who said he confessed to killing a boy.
Etan's body was never found.
