Seven jurors from the recent Etan Patz murder trial visited the Soho intersection near where the boy disappeared 36 years ago to commemorate National Missing Children’s Day.
They laid flowers and notes near the site where he disappeared on the way to a bus stop in 1979 — and in front of a storefront that once housed a bodega where, prosecutors say, he was killed in the basement.
“Although we did not know you personally, we have learned so much about you over the past four-plus months . . . We wish we could’ve done more to provide some sort of closure,” one note read. It was signed, “the Part 42 jurors.”
Most jurors voted to convict Pedro Hernandez for Etan’s abduction and murder, but were stymied by a lone holdout. The case ended in a mistrial earlier this month. It will be retried.
President Ronald Reagan named May 25th National Missing Children’s Day in Etan’s memory.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says more than 470,000 kids are missing across America.