Closing Arguments Begin In Retrial Of Pedro Hernandez, Accused Of Killing Etan Patz

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The retrial for a man accused of killing 6-year-old Etan Patz in New York City 37 years ago is winding down.

Summations in the case against Pedro Hernandez started Monday in Manhattan.

Etan disappeared in SoHo on May 25, 1979 as he walked the two blocks to his bus stop alone. His body has never been found.

Hernandez emerged as a suspect in 2012 based on a tip and confessed to luring Etan into the basement of the SoHo deli where he worked and strangling him. His lawyers say he's mentally ill and falsely confessed.

During closing arguments Monday, defense attorney Harvey Fishbein called his client an odd, limited and vulnerable man, 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reported. Fishbein sought to deflect attention away from his client, playing up the investigation into Jose Ramos, a convicted pedophile who said he knew Etan. Ramos' girlfriend used to take care of the boy.

The earlier trial for the Maple Shade, New Jersey, man ended in a hung jury after 18 days of delibertaions in 2015. On Monday, members of the first jury sat in the courtroom with Etan's father.

Etan was one of the first missing children ever featured on a milk carton.

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