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[Music] We are trying to locate a lost child by the name of Eton Pate. He is only 6
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years old. He weighs 50 lb, 40 in tall, blonde hair, and blue eyes. It's not like a case, you know, nowadays
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where you may have surveillance video, you may have social media. So, if this case was going to get
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solved, you guys had to solve it. You had to walk. You had to talk to people. >> We had to look at everything over again,
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take a fresh look, and we just kept pressing forward. We just kept looking at everything over and over and over
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again. >> Every missing child case is very important, but this was one of the oldest ones we had. It was 30 something
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years worth of investigative steps. It's a six-year-old boy, you know, six [Music]
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I think it was one of the most significant unsolved cases in the history of New York City
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when Eton was lost in 1979. I think the city was in more of an innocent state of
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mind. I mean, this is the first day he walked to the school bus. You could stand at
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that door and you could see the school bus stop. It's like right there. >> We have always felt that he's alive. We
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have always kept up our hope that we would get him back. We can't determine when it's going to
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end or if it's going to end. And we will keep hope and we will keep looking. [Music]
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That photo will always haunt me. And every single day that I sent my son out to school,
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I thought of a ton paid. And I was one of 8 million New Yorkers like that. This is Washington Square Park. And this
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is significant because Joseé Ramos, who was the main suspect in the case, said he met a boy over there by the fountain,
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molested the kid, and then said he let him go. >> They're trying to hook me up with paint.
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That's bull. When you looked at the evidence concretely about Joseé Ramos, it was it
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was lacking. >> Look at this. See this here? Back in 2010, Lieutenant Zimmerman had
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approached me and he says, "Hey, you mind taking another look at this case?" >> Cadaavver dog. Kada dog indicated the
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presence of human remains. Human remains. Search here. >> The case was always open. Always looking
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for the needle in the haststack. >> We have a suspect in dead end that forced the truth out of hiding. The
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disappearance of Eton, page 30. >> The call comes into our office onto the phone right next to my desk.
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>> Did you ever heard the name Pedro Hernandez before? >> No, sir. >> I grabbed him by the neck.
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>> Mhm. >> And I started to choke in him. >> Is Do you recognize this person? >> Yeah, that's him.
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>> The facts of that confession make no sense. He's unreliable because of his psychiatric condition.
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>> You thought that you were looking at the man who killed Eton Pates? >> Yes. [Music]
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48 hours. The Lost Boy. [Music] After more than 30 years, it took a new team of investigators and a new
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prosecutor to breathe new life into an old case, trying to find out what happened to Eton Pays. District Attorney
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Cyrus Vance Jr., >> you really should never close the book on a case if you think there's the
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possibility that it can be solved. [Music] In 2012, investigators were literally
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digging for clues just blocks away from where Eton was last seen. After thousands of deadend leads, the public
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held its collective breath, hoping this time the case might finally be solved. >> Yes. I wish I hadn't let him go to the
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bus step that morning alone. >> Eton Pates was just 6 years old and like many kids that age, he wanted some
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independence. It was 1979, the last day of school before the Memorial Day weekend, and
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Eton's mother, Julie, finally agreed to let Eton walk alone to the school bus stop. It was just two blocks away from
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their Manhattan apartment. [Music] Uh my feelings that morning were very positive about his going.
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>> Eton was carrying a book bag and a dollar to buy a soda at the corner store near the bus stop and then he seemed to
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vanish. [Music] [Music] Julie and her husband Stan didn't realize their son was missing until that
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afternoon when he didn't come home from school. Julie called the school and learned Eton never arrived and his
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friends never saw him at the bus stop. So she called the police. >> I didn't want to start with something
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bad happened to him. I would rather start in my mind in my heart that it was just a missing person.
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Former NYPD detective Patrick Ianelo immediately headed to the Pates's home >> and then we started to uh knock on
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doors. Anyone see this boy? We worked all that day. We worked all that night and then the following day I got home
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and uh I I was ready to break down myself >> because because I I saw my son >> and he was Eton's age.
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>> Mhm. >> A command center was set up right in the P's apartment. Both my wife and I are
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continue to be confident that he is alive and uh we hope he's being cared for by
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someone who um might want a child as adorable as he. >> The police did not know us. We had to be
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cleared of suspicion as well as many other people. >> Eton's image was splashed on storefronts
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and in newspapers. Eton's father is a professional photographer and took many photos of his
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son. These pictures captured the public's heart and captured Eton's spirit. >> He's just bubbling over with life and he
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always saw the positive side where other people saw negative. It's just he's just
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an incredible person. >> Our six-year-old boy is a loving, trusting child. We think an adult could
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have convinced him to come with him. >> The police canvas the neighborhood talking to people on the street.
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>> Huh? >> Interviewing workers at a corner store near the school bus stop. >> Hi.
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>> Hi. You heard anything? Anything? She just [Music] >> Anybody talking? Anybody?
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>> No. >> Saying anything? >> Nothing at all. >> Okay. Thanks a lot. Keep your ears open.
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>> The longer we've gone without any bad news. >> I think that's good. >> Detective Bill Butler was Ianello's
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partner. >> Uh he was last seen at uh 7:55 a.m. >> We have leads, but we don't know where
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we're going to end up on the leads that we have now. >> They pronounce it eight times. Well,
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>> when you go this long on something like this, you do you feel like you're looking for your own son.
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[Music] The search for Eton dragged on. Detective Butler, a father with six children, lived and breathed the case.
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>> How did this case influence Bill Butler, >> more than I could imagine. He was very,
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very tied into the case. In 1986, Bill Butler took his own life, and there was speculation his
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frustration with this case may have been part of the reason why [Music] the search went on without Butler.
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Julian Stan had two other children to protect. Eton's older sister and younger brother. We keep saying we we try to
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lead normal lives but in so many small ways uh it's just totally impossible. I mean
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we have his belongings all over the house and yet uh to put them away is saying to to us and to our children that
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uh he's gone and he's not coming back >> and if we're patient we'll get him back.
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>> But their patience went unrewarded. The pates did everything they could to keep
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their story in the news and that helped other missing children. >> Everyone says how many, where, why, what
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happens to them. >> In the 1980s, milk cartons showed Eton's face and then those of others, but Eton
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remained among the missing. By 1998, a new detective was heading the missing person squad. Phil Mahoney was
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drawn to the case by, of all things, a poem titled The Missing Boy. It's about a mother and son looking at Eton's
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missing poster. >> I read that poem and I said, "That's it. I want to work on the Eton Pates case."
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It was pretty much inactive. It had been inactive for many years. >> It was cold.
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>> It was colder than gold. We had to find the the the reports, put them back together.
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>> Mahoney sorted through nearly two decades worth of work and some bizarre tips.
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>> This tip about this cult in Westchester. >> Did that source say that Eton was there?
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>> Yeah. That Eton was killed by that cult and dumped. >> The leads led nowhere, but there was
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someone who police were very interested in. Joseé Ramos, the man who said he may
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have encountered a boy in Washington Square Park not far from where the Pateses lived.
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>> Did he say it was Eton Pates? >> He has said he was 90% sure it was Eton Pates.
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[Music] You ever have a kid named Anton Pototts? >> Yeah, that was in the papers in 79.
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>> In 1982, Joseé Ramos was picked up by police for stealing some books from children. He was homeless, living in a
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drainage tunnel in New York City. And former Lieutenant Phil Mahoney recalls Ramos had some disturbing photos.
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>> He had a bunch of photos of kids that look like Asan Pates. He was a shaky character, so he enjoyed looking at
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these photos. >> So Ramos was questioned by investigators about the photos. >> What is it about that people say looks
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like he >> the smile? I think. >> How about the hair? >> Maybe the hair. Not that much. Susan
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used to take care of him. Susan Harrington. >> Susan Harrington, Ramos's girlfriend,
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walked Eton to school during a bus strike shortly before Eton disappeared. >> Did you know when he lived in Soho?
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It was in the papers. >> Investigators suspected Ramos was a pedophile who could have ties to Eton.
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>> There was enough there. There was a lot there to draw attention to him. Certainly,
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>> Eton often played in Washington Square Park, a place Ramos was known to visit.
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Joseé Ramos has said several times that on May 25th, 1979, he was here and a young small 7ish blonde kid came up to
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him and started talking to him. And Joseé Ramos said at that point, he eventually took the kid back to his
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apartment. Ramos told that story to federal prosecutor Stuart Grawa, who had been working the case since 1985.
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Grabis and the FBI had through the years tracked leads around the world, but they
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always came back to Ramos. In June 1988, Ramos was uh brought to my office and uh
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proceeded to state that he was 90% sure that the young boy he took that day, May
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25th, 1979, was the same boy whose picture he saw both in newspaper and on television, that being Tom Pates.
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>> Investigators learned Ramos had sexually molested children around the country.
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One of the things he did was to travel around the United States in a converted school bus, giving out matchbox cars and
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toys and baseball cards to children to young boys to entice them onto the bus. >> Grab wanted to prosecute Ramos even if
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it wasn't for the Eton Pates case. He succeeded in Pennsylvania. In 1990, Ramos plead guilty to molesting an
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8-year-old boy and was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison. You've got a known pedophile who says that he's 90%
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sure that he picked up >> Eton Pates, you know, around the time that he disappeared. Why didn't you just
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go, "Okay, case closed." >> Because you didn't have that corroborating evidence. You didn't have
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that one person who said, "Yeah, I saw him and Eton in Washington Square Park." >> You got the information.
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>> Investigators hunted for more evidence. In 2000, Mahoney ordered a search of an
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apartment building Ramos lived in when Eton disappeared. Ramos had allegedly told a fellow inmate this is where he
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disposed of Eton's body. When he was in jail, Jose Ramos said that he put Eton into the furnace in the basement of this
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building. >> This building and you know, burned up the body. But like so many tips in the
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Eton Pates case, nothing came of it. >> There was just never that next thing to make you say, "Yep, that's it. Close the
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books. We got the guy." >> Mahoney felt they didn't have enough on Ramos to charge him with Eton's
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disappearance. Neither did the Manhattan DA at the time, but Stan Pates and Stuart Grabis were becoming more
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convinced Ramos was their man. >> I believe this man stalked my son. I believe he lured him back to his
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apartment. I think he used him like toilet paper and I think he threw him away. Brian Odwire is a prominent New York
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attorney and started representing the Pateses. He was friends with Stuart Grabis and in 2000 he approached Grabis
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with an idea. I said, "You know, you have a an opportunity. You may not have thought about it, but of taking a civil
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case against Ramos. >> It would be a wrongful death suit. Odoire hoped Ramos would be subpoenaed
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and might say something incriminating to help bring a criminal case. But before the wrongful death case could proceed,
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Odoire had to ask the Pes to officially give up hope. They would have to ask a court to declare their son dead.
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>> It's one of the toughest things I've ever done in my practice. >> And on June 19th, 2001, a judge declared
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that Eton Pates was officially dead. I used to have fantasies of of a taxi cab pulling up in front and
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a time coming out of it, but uh that was a long time ago. I don't entertain those
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fantasies anymore. >> The Pates's attorney went to the Pennsylvania prison where Ramos was
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being held to interview the man he believed had killed Eton Pates. >> This was evil incarnate. If I met him on
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the street, I would have been very scared. >> And what did he say? >> He said that yes indeed he was on the
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street that day and he picked up a little boy by the name of Jimmy. >> This time Ramos did not say Eton's name.
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>> Were you convinced that Ramos was the guy? >> Absolutely. >> Ramos would never answer more questions
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or testify in court and the Pes won the civil case against him. once and for all
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at least have a final declaration by a court of law that Joseé Antonio Ramos caused the death of Eton Pates.
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>> It was a victory, but it was not the end of the fight. >> The ultimate objective was to get a
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criminal prosecution. >> Did you think it was enough to prosecute him criminally?
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>> I did. >> The Manhattan DA disagreed. He still would not charge Jose Ramos. >> He thought he couldn't prove it beyond a
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reasonable doubt. Do you keep thinking about this case or did you move on? >> No, I never moved on.
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>> Never really done. >> No. >> Jose Antonio Ramos was in prison unpunished for what he believed was the
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death of Eton Bates. >> But 33 years after Eton disappeared, there was a tip. >> This is where it all started.
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>> And it could change everything in this case. [Music] I think about my son every day. He's
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he's he's gone, but I I will never forget him. As time passed for Stan and Julie Pates,
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Eton was and is frozen in time as a six-year-old gone missing. They remained convinced that Joseé Ramos, the
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pedophile who was behind bars in Pennsylvania, was responsible for Eton's death.
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>> I send them a a poster twice a year and I write on the back, "What did you do to
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my little boy?" From the time Eton disappeared in 1979 until 2009, one man held the position of
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Manhattan DA Robert Morganthaw. He never felt there was enough evidence to indict
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Ramos, but Morganthaw was retiring. >> I support Sianance. >> And Cyrus Vance Jr. was running for the
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office. >> The Pates family reached out to me and Stan asked me if I would look into the
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case. And when Vance became Manhattan DA in 2010, he did look into it. >> Side Vance was like, "Listen, we'd like
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to re, you know, fresh set of eyes, reook at it, go backwards, see what was missed."
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>> Lieutenant Chris Zimmerman headed the missing person squad at the time. And part of the fresh look included another
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look at Joseé Ramos. We looked at the case for quite a while and I never was convinced that there was proof beyond a
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reasonable doubt that Jose Ramos was Eton's killer. [Music] >> And so the search for another suspect
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continued. The FBI had been involved on and off since Eton's disappearance. In April of 2012, investigators took
00:21:14
another look at this handyman who used to work for the PES. Along with the NYPD, they started that dig. It was at
00:21:24
the former site of the handyman's workshop. >> We're executing a search warrant regarding the disappearance of Eton
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Pates. >> It was not far from where the Pateses still live. >> Excuse me. The dig went on for 5 days as
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investigators sifted through subterranean spaces and decades old dirt. It was starting to look like there
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might finally be some answers. >> We're cautiously optimistic we'll find evidence.
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>> In the end, nothing was found. The handyman was cleared. At >> this point, there's no obvious human
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remains. But this was not just another dead end. Far from it. In fact, it led to the first major turning point in this
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case. >> The call comes into our office onto the phone right next to my desk. >> It came from Joseé Lopez who called
00:22:23
police after he watched news coverage of the dig. >> Can you Can you tell us what brought you
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to the police? Thank you very much, Jose. >> Okay, that's what I went. He said his
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brother-in-law might be involved in the case. Detective Dave Ramirez helped lead
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the investigation. >> And who was his brother-in-law? >> Pedro Hernandez. >> Did you ever heard the name Pedro
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Hernandez before? >> No, sir. No. >> What did he tell you about his brother-in-law?
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>> Um, that he had made statements to various people about him having done something really bad to a child in New
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York. Pedro Hernandez worked as a stock boy at that corner store by the bus stop. He
00:23:07
was 18 when Eton disappeared. And soon after, Hernandez left that job and moved home to New Jersey. Over the years, he
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had been divorced, remarried, and had children. He worked on and off at menial jobs and had no criminal record, but he
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had told people about hurting an unnamed child. So, who had Hernandez spoken to?
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>> There was a religious group. Apparently, there was a retreat that they had gone
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on. They all had information to the fact that Miss Hernandez did something to this child.
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>> Ramirez learned Hernandez also told his ex-wife and a friend similar stories.
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Detectives notes from 1979 show police at the time knew Hernandez worked at the store, but it is unclear if he was ever
00:24:00
questioned. Why do you suppose he was not a suspect before? >> I don't have the answer for it. I wasn't
00:24:06
there. You know, I I never got clarity on that and I don't think we did either. About 2 weeks after they learned about
00:24:13
Hernandez, on May 23rd, 2012, police went to his New Jersey home to talk to him.
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>> I had uh told him that we were investigating an old missing person's case in New York City. At that point, he
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like he lost all the color in his face. >> Still, Hernandez readily agreed to go to
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the prosecutor's office in Camden, New Jersey to be questioned. Was it hard to get him talking? No. No.
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>> He talked for 6 hours without a lawyer or a recording of the conversation. And
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during that time, he was shown a missing poster of Eton Pates. Later, the video camera was turned on.
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>> Can you start telling us again exactly what you just told us before about what
00:25:01
happened? >> And Hernandez told them about seeing a boy outside the store where he worked.
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He was waiting for the school bus. >> Who was waiting for the school bus? >> The kid.
00:25:12
>> What's her name? >> Bates. >> These are the words that changed the course of one of America's most
00:25:20
heartbreaking cold cases. Hernandez went on telling police he offered Eton a soda.
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>> I asked him I asked him to go to the in the basement with me to get a soda. It
00:25:35
is hard to listen to his story. >> What happened after that? >> Then I shot him.
00:25:42
>> Yeah. When I shot him, he went like this. >> What made you do this? >> I don't know.
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>> I don't know. >> It was something that just happened. >> He signed Eton's missing poster writing,
00:25:54
"I am sorry." And choke him. >> You recognize this to be the boy that you choked that day?
00:26:01
>> Yes. After the confession, Hernandez showed investigators where he said it happened
00:26:08
33 years earlier. Lieutenant Zimmerman recorded the walk with his cell phone. So Hernandez told you here that this was
00:26:17
the basement entrance. >> Yes. >> So according to Hernandez, Eton was that way from where we are.
00:26:23
>> Yes. >> And he lured him in into the basement through this door. >> Yes, sir. Hernandez said he put Eton in
00:26:31
a box after choking him. >> Put him in a box and then put the box on his shoulder.
00:26:36
>> Carry the box up out of here. At this point, I said, "Could you show us exactly the way you walk that day?"
00:26:41
>> We cross the street onto the other side. >> And how far down did he go? >> Then he went down to the corner.
00:26:50
>> He went this way, right? >> Yes. He crossed the street here and um he stops here at this location. He said
00:26:57
he went down some steps. He He took the body down here. Yes. And then he put the
00:27:02
box down. >> Police believe the box was picked up by garbage collectors. >> Hernandez was interviewed again.
00:27:11
>> Hey, Hernandez. >> Hi. Hello. >> Hours after the Soho walk, this time by a prosecutor in the Manhattan DA's
00:27:18
office. >> And I choked him and I tried to let go, but I just couldn't let him go.
00:27:24
>> He repeated the same story. And later that day, Pedro Hernandez was arrested.
00:27:31
>> We have a suspect in custody who has made a statement to the NYPD implicating himself in the disappearance
00:27:39
of Eton Pates 33 years ago. >> He had confessed to killing Eton Pates. It was a credible confession.
00:27:47
>> So says the prosecutor. But soon questions were being asked about the 6 hours when Hernandez was questioned.
00:27:56
before the videotaping began. Why weren't those first hours videotaped? [Music] [Applause]
00:28:18
It was a day or two shy of the 33rd anniversary. It was a day or two shy that we made the
00:28:26
arrest. >> This evening, the New York City Police Department is announcing the arrest of
00:28:32
Pedro Hernandez, age 51. >> Mr. Pace was taken back. Uh, a little surprised and I would say overwhelmed.
00:28:43
You know, it had to sink in. You know, 30 something years had to sink in. You know, I can't imagine not having an
00:28:53
answer for that many years. >> For decades, Stan and Julie Pates believed another man was responsible for
00:29:02
their son's disappearance in 1979. >> I believe this man stalked my son. I want him to admit it.
00:29:12
>> Now, someone was admitting it, but it was this man, Pedro Hernandez. He was waiting for the cameras. Then he
00:29:22
went down the steps. Right there he went. >> After Hernandez was arrested, he was
00:29:29
thought to be a suicide risk and taken to Belleview Hospital. >> I met him at uh the prison ward.
00:29:36
>> Harvey Fishbine is Pedro Hernandez's courtappointed attorney. >> I walked out of there and I said, "The
00:29:44
man has an issue that needs to be addressed." uh hear voices sometimes talking to me.
00:29:49
>> A defense psychiatrist diagnosed Hernandez with a personality disorder that can leave a person unable to
00:29:57
differentiate between what's real and what's not. >> I had uh visions. >> Do you think Pedro Hernandez knows if he
00:30:09
killed Eton Pates or not? >> I I I think he knows he didn't. >> And that's Are you sure? It's hard to
00:30:15
look into someone's mind, which is one of the real problems we have here. >> The diagnosis of mental illness would be
00:30:22
a major part of Hernandez's defense. And in January of 2015, 2 and 1/2 years after his arrest,
00:30:32
Hernandez went on trial for the murder of Eton Pates. Eton Pace's father walks silently past
00:30:41
reporters in the courthouse, finally hoping to see justice served nearly 36 years after his young son's
00:30:47
disappearance. At trial, the defense would argue that Hernandez's mental illness made him make
00:30:55
up the whole story of murdering Eton, starting with seeing him by the bus stop. >> Pedro says, "I saw him standing there.
00:31:04
>> He was waiting for the bus." Yet no parent that was at the bus stop that morning who knew Eton
00:31:11
saw Eton that morning. So the fact that Pedro said that he saw the child there when no one else did immediately raises
00:31:19
questions as to did this actually happen or not. >> Hernandez told investigators he tried to
00:31:26
hide Eton's book bag in the basement of that store. >> So I took the book bag and I threw it
00:31:33
behind the freezer. But Fishbine says the police would have searched that store and if they did, they should have
00:31:39
found the bag or some other evidence. >> That bag was never recovered. >> The defense also argued that Hernandez
00:31:47
has a low IQ and is susceptible to suggestions. We argued to the jury he's unreliable because of his low intellect,
00:31:58
because of his psychiatric condition, and because the story in the end does not make sense.
00:32:04
>> But the prosecution experts interviewed Hernandez. >> I'm going to say some words.
00:32:10
>> And concluded he is not mentally ill and that the jury could believe his words.
00:32:17
Prosecutors had home videos showing Hernandez socializing like anyone else, and they pointed out that Hernandez
00:32:26
never reported any mental illness on a driver's license renewal form he filled out.
00:32:32
>> Do you believe that he was competent to confess? Absolutely. I think there was
00:32:36
ample evidence that Pedro Hernandez was not fabricating this uh homicide as the product of
00:32:45
mental illness, but that he in fact was admitting to something that had tortured
00:32:49
him and he confessed. >> But Fishbine wants the jury to wonder what happened during those 6 hours
00:32:56
before this videotaping began. >> Can you start telling us again exactly what you just told us before? There was
00:33:03
an affirmative decision not to videotape what was going on. All it would have taken was the pushing of a button.
00:33:11
>> Why wasn't that taped? >> Uh I think it was not taped because there was no legal requirement that it
00:33:17
be taped. >> How do you know that they didn't feed him information? How do you know they
00:33:20
didn't berate him? >> The way you assure yourself is by talking to the witnesses who were there.
00:33:26
Uh after speaking to those who were present and being informed of what happened, I did not doubt that uh there
00:33:33
was uh anything but a fair handling of Mr. Hernandez and uh the appropriate questioning of him.
00:33:39
>> Did you give him any information about the crime when you were talking to Mr.
00:33:44
Hernandez? >> No. >> Did you try and influence him? >> I wouldn't say no. >> This was all him just talking to you,
00:33:54
volunteering this stuff. Yes. >> The defense argued police prayed on Hernandez's vulnerability and
00:34:01
manipulated him to confess. >> Pedro is a very religious person. One of the detectives says, "Thank you, Pedro.
00:34:10
>> I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of you." >> That's the strength of the Lord.
00:34:15
>> Right there is strength. That's the strength of the Lord. >> What's the strength of the Lord? that he
00:34:22
said something that they said they needed in order to make people feel better, that family to resolve it.
00:34:29
>> But the police would counter and the prosecutors would counter that this guy confessed to so many people over the
00:34:36
years that he corroborates his own words. >> Well, they they would like to say that.
00:34:41
That's accurate. I know. And I don't think that's accurate. >> The prosecution called those church
00:34:46
members. Hernandez's ex-wife. >> Who would you tell? You said you told your ex-wife,
00:34:52
right? >> And his friend who all said Hernandez told them he did something bad to a
00:34:58
young boy. But at the time, they never reported anything because they didn't know whether to believe him.
00:35:05
>> If it was one statement in isolation, that would be one thing. There were a number of people to whom he unburdened
00:35:12
himself. But Fishbine told the jury those accounts varied and Hernandez may have been making them up to look tough.
00:35:20
And he offered the jurors another suspect. The man many including the pates first thought killed Eton. Joseé
00:35:28
Ramos, the known pedophile whose girlfriend knew Eton. >> I feel certain that if the district
00:35:36
attorney's office tried Joseé Ramos, he would be convicted. The evidence against Pedro Hernandez was
00:35:43
much stronger than it had ever been against Jose Ramos. >> The prosecutors had one piece of
00:35:49
evidence they considered critical. It was something Hernandez said when he showed police where he said he dumped
00:35:58
Eton's body. He noticed there was a door where he didn't remember one. >> And he says there wasn't a door there.
00:36:08
When they researched the building's history, prosecutors discovered Hernandez was right. The door was added
00:36:15
after 1979. >> That's a fact that was not known publicly that we believed only the
00:36:22
killer would know. >> But the defense says Hernandez wasn't even sure which building it was.
00:36:30
>> He said, "I thought maybe this is it." And then he looks and he says, "No, this
00:36:35
is it. This is one, right? >> It was a lot for the jurors to sift through. The trial took nearly 3 months.
00:36:47
And in April 2015, they began deliberating and deliberating for 18 days. What happened after that? Then I shot
00:37:09
him. >> Yeah. When I shot, he went like this. >> For 18 days, the jury considered Pedro
00:37:17
Hernandez's confession to the murder of Eton Pates. >> A big bone of contention was the mental
00:37:23
health issue. We debated that for days. >> Adam Sirwis was one of the jurors. The
00:37:30
other issue that was very sticky at first was the confession. Everyone felt very upset about not being able to see
00:37:36
the entire interview. >> The jurors disagreed on whether the confession could have been coerced.
00:37:41
Twice they told the judge they were at an impass. And the third time they reported they could not reach a verdict.
00:37:48
On May 8th, 2015, >> this has been a very long trial and a very long deliberation.
00:37:55
>> The judge declared a mistrial. Our long ordeal is not over. >> When they said they were unable to reach
00:38:04
a decision, we believed it was going to be 11 to1 for a quiddle. >> It was 11 to1, but not for a quiddle.
00:38:11
Only one juror voted not guilty. It was Adam Surir. >> Do you remember the date?
00:38:19
>> No. >> Oh, yes. The date on the 25th. He found the confession hard to believe, not
00:38:28
knowing what went on before the camera started rolling. >> You know, it's very hard for people to
00:38:34
wrap their minds around the idea that somebody would confess to murdering a child
00:38:40
>> if he didn't actually do it. >> Yeah. And a lot of the jurors said that in our deliberations. But the whole
00:38:45
reason why you don't just throw someone in jail when they confess is that there's a lot of people out there with
00:38:49
mental illness that could confess to lots of crimes and it doesn't mean they're all guilty. But the rest of the
00:38:54
jurors believed Hernandez was guilty. >> Pedro Hernandez, you know what you did.
00:39:00
>> Still, 11 out of 12 is not enough to convict. And Stan Pates was obviously disappointed.
00:39:07
>> This man did it. He said it. How many times does a man have to con confess before someone believes him?
00:39:14
>> Stan was uh was unequivocal in his support that the case should be retried. And so he did. About a year and a half
00:39:21
later, Pedro Hernandez went on trial again. The evidence and the issues were the same as the first trial. And like
00:39:30
the first trial, it was long, more than 3 months. And this trial also ended with
00:39:36
a long deliberation, 9 days. Did it start feeling like the first time to you? >> Um, nothing felt like that 18 days the
00:39:46
first time, but yes, it was reminiscent of that. and we were just trying to understand what was going on. It it's
00:39:54
impossible to try to read a jury. >> But unlike the first trial, this jury reached a verdict. Pedro Hernandez was
00:40:01
convicted of killing Eton Pates 37 years after the first grader left home and vanished.
00:40:11
The P family has waited a long time, but we finally have found some measure of justice
00:40:19
for our wonderful little boy, Eton. I am truly relieved. And I'll tell you, it's
00:40:28
about time. It really is. It's about time. >> Pedro Hernandez was sentenced to 25
00:40:34
years to life. Why do you think this case was so hard to solve? Why did it take so long?
00:40:44
>> I think people had great intentions. I think people got focused on people like
00:40:49
Ramos, not criticizing anybody independently cuz it made a lot of sense. He's an evil man. He's just not
00:40:54
our evil man. It's a feeling now shared by others who were once convinced Joseé Ramos murdered Eton Pates before police
00:41:04
found Pedro Hernandez. >> If I were on the jury, I would have come with the same verdict.
00:41:10
>> Do you still think of Eton Pates? >> I do. >> What do you think about? >> It could have been my son.
00:41:19
>> That is the thought that still haunts so many involved in this case. My kids are like 22 and I still think
00:41:28
about it when I'm when they're out of sight and out of mind. >> We were kind of hoping that it would be
00:41:34
like a movie ending where the the boy would eventually walk in the door, but it didn't work out that way.
00:41:42
>> I noticed a couple of times you've looked down at this >> Why do this still mean something to you?
00:41:50
>> Yeah, this this is this is the poster we remember the most. I would say this is
00:41:55
the kids looking right at you. I feel for the family. I'm a father myself and so is Dave.
00:42:00
>> Case is solved but solved but I never give them complete closure. I couldn't give their son back.
00:42:08
Would have loved to give their son back. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]