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In a major victory for prosecutors, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday reinstated the murder conviction of Pedro Hernandez in the chilling 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz — a case that captivated the nation and helped launch the modern missing children movement.

By a 6-3 vote, with the three liberal justices dissenting, the Court overturned a federal appeals court decision that had thrown out Hernandez’s conviction, ruling that lower courts had overstepped their authority under federal law limiting interference in state criminal cases.

Etan vanished on May 25, 1979, while walking to his school bus stop in downtown Manhattan. Hernandez, who worked at a nearby convenience store, wasn’t identified as a suspect until 2012. He eventually confessed to the crime during police questioning, but his lawyers have long argued the admission was false, coerced after hours of interrogation, and influenced by his mental illness that caused hallucinations.

Hernandez was tried twice: the first ended in a mistrial, and the second resulted in a conviction in 2017. During deliberations, jurors asked a complex question about whether they should disregard all confessions if the initial one (before Miranda rights) was involuntary. The judge’s simple “no” response became the basis for the appeals court reversal.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg praised the Supreme Court’s decision, saying his office remains “steadfast in its pursuit of justice for Etan and the Patz family.”

Hernandez’s attorneys expressed deep disappointment, maintaining that “an innocent man is in jail for a crime that he did not commit.”

The Supreme Court’s ruling brings a measure of finality to one of America’s most haunting cold cases — a disappearance that led to Etan’s face appearing on milk cartons nationwide and the creation of National Missing Children’s Day. For the Patz family, it offers some closure after more than four decades of pain.

Yet the case continues to raise difficult questions about the reliability of confessions, especially from individuals with mental health challenges, and the limits of federal oversight in state convictions. Hernandez, now 64, is serving 25 years to life. While this decision upholds his conviction, the broader debate over how justice is served in high-profile, emotionally charged cases like this is far from settled.

As the legal chapter closes for now, the memory of little Etan Patz — and the enduring mystery of what truly happened that spring morning in 1979 — remains etched in the American consciousness.