Pedro Hernandez was sent to New York's Bellevue Hospital on suicide watch and will be arraigned by police inside the hospital for the murder of Etan Patz. INSIDE EDITION has the details and more on the checkered history of Hernandez.
The suspect in the murder of little Etan Patz was rushed to a hospital Friday and placed on suicide watch just hours before he was to be arraigned. That arraignment now will take place at his hospital bedside, instead of in a courtroom.
Meanwhile, new details are emerging about just what happened to six-year-old Patz on the day he was abducted and killed 33 years ago.
New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, "He led him into the basement of the bodega. Choked him there and disposed of the body by putting it into a plastic bag and placing it into the trash."
The man who cops say confessed to the murder, 52-year-old Pedro Hernandez, told them "I knew he was the one... I just felt the urge to kill" when he used a soft drink to lure little Patz into this basement in what was once a convenience store in the SoHo neighborhood of lower Manhattan. It's now a fancy eyeglass store.
A makeshift memorial has been set up there with a teddy bear and a candle, in memory of adorable little Patz. INSIDE EDITION found cops on the scene today opening up the cellar doors searching for any physical evidence.
Legal experts say this could be a tough case to prosecute, despite the videotaped confession made by Hernandez because Patz's remains will likely never be found.
Attorney Ron Kuby said, "It's hard to imagine that somebody so twisted and demented, that they lure a child, a strange child, that they never met before down to a cellar and kill them, for no reason. Dispose of the body and have never done anything similar before or after."
INSIDE EDITION was the first to bring photos of Hernandez to the nation.
Hernandez was 19 when he allegedly killed Patz.
His wife Rosemary and the couple's 20-year-old daughter Becky were at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse Friday for his arraignment before it was moved to Bellevue Hospital.
Neighbors said Hernandez kept to himself at his modest home in, New Jersey. INSIDE EDITION found his trash can full of beer bottles, and a childrens playground directly behind his home. Up the block is a small fairground with childrens rides. School buses pass right in front of his home everyday headed for a nearby bus stop.
INSIDE EDITION is learning more today about Hernandez. He's a chain smoker, and he's reportedly a cancer patient. His sister told cops Hernandez is "bi-polar," he was "sick" she said, and had "mental problems."
Hernandez told cops during his confession that he was "abused" as a child and that his father used to beat him with a "horse-hair brush."
One family member told INSIDE EDITION that Hernandez was "completely perverted" and said he and his wife were actually separated at one point after she found "disturbing images" of him with another man on their home computer.
Patz's parents, Stan and Julie Patz, were in Boston attending their daughter's college graduation when the news broke about the arrest. Time has moved on for them, but the pain of losing their son has never gone away. Stan Patz was said to be in shock when he was notified about Hernandez's arrest.
