Family Of Etan Patz Continues To Search For Answers

BOSTON (CBS) - The story of Etan Patz, one of the nation's most wrenching missing children cases, is still unresolved. The murder trial of the man accused in the 1979 disappearance of the first-grader ended in a hung jury.

Patz vanished in May 25, 1979 while waiting for a school bus in the SoHo section of New York City. His cousin, Dylan Place of Marlborough, Massachusetts tells WBZ-TV the outcome is more than frustrating. "I wanted to see a verdict one way or the other for closure," said Place.

Authorities were frustrated for decades until a tip led them to Pedro Hernandez who confessed in 2012 to kidnapping and murdering the little boy. His lawyers said the confession was false and concocted by mental illness. Hernandez was a teenage stock clerk at a nearby convenience store when Etan Patz vanished. "I believe he's guilty," said Place. "He confessed over thirty years six or seven times, not just once to police."

Place was born years after his cousin but learned all too well about his legacy. Etan Patz was the first ever photo of a missing child on a milk carton as the case created law enforcement advances in tracking missing children.

Talk of Etan, himself, was difficult for his parents. "They have distanced themselves from it, we don't talk about it at family gatherings. The rest of the family wanted answers for their sake."

Prosecutors immediately set a date for a new trial which Place says brings only some comfort. "I just hope one way or the other there's a finite answer."