Spring Trial Likely in Etan Patz Case

A New York judge says the murder trial for a New Jersey man accused of killing a 6-year-old boy who vanished in 1979 will likely be held next spring.

Pedro Hernandez appeared briefly in court on Wednesday. He was charged with murder in 2011 after he confessed to choking Etan Patz. The little boy was last seen on his way to a Manhattan school bus stop on May 25, 1979 when he disappeared.

Hernandez was a convenience store clerk near where the boy was last seen. The boy's body has never been found.

Hernandez was arrested last year after police got a tip that he had told people that he had killed a child.

Hernandez's lawyer has said his client is schizophrenic and bipolar, and that his admission was false.

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