Etan Patz’s killer Pedro Hernandez jailed four decades after the six-year-old went missing

HE was the first missing face on American milk cartons. Now, 38 years after he disappeared, six-year-old Etan Patz’s killer has finally been jailed.

A flyer shows Etan Patz who vanished in New York on 25 May 1979. Picture: AP

HE was the face on the milk carton. Now almost four decades after he went missing six-year-old Etan Patz’s killer has finally been sentenced to jail.

The New York Post reports that Etan’s father said he would “never forgive” Pedro Hernandez, the former bodega clerk convicted of murdering his six-year-old, as the killer was sentenced to the maximum of 25 years to life in prison.

Pedro Hernandez appears in Manhattan criminal court in New York. Picture: AP

“After all these years, we finally know what dark secret you kept locked in your heart,” Stanley Patz raged at Pedro Hernandez. “You took our precious child and threw him in the garbage. I will never forgive you. The god you pray to will never forgive you. You are the monster in your nightmares and will join your father in hell.”

Family members wept as Mr Patz spoke.

Julie and Stanley Patz arrive for the sentencing of Pedro Hernandez. Picture: AFP\

Hernandez, 56, was found guilty of kidnapping and murder last February, finally bringing to a close the iconic missing child case that baffled authorities for years.

Also in the courtroom was Etan’s mother, Julie Patz. She and her husband were seated near five jurors from the 2015 trial, which ended in a hung jury.

Prosecutors had to overcome significant hurdles in trying the 38-year-old case. The child’s body was never recovered, there are no eyewitnesses and police were unable to gather any useful forensic evidence.

Etan Patz was the first missing child put on the side of a milk carton. Picture: Supplied

Etan vanished from a Soho street in New York the first time he walked alone to the school bus stop on May 25, 1979.

Police canvassed the neighbourhood for days but turned up nothing.

It wasn’t until 2012 that authorities got a tip that led them to Hernandez of Maple Shade, NJ.

This May 28, 2012, file photo shows a newspaper with a photograph of Etan Patz at a makeshift memorial in the SoHo neighbourhood of New York where Patz lived before his disappearance on May 25, 1979. Picture: AP

This article originally appeared in the New York Post

Originally published as Etan Patz’s killer Pedro Hernandez jailed four decades after the six-year-old went missing