Etan suspect knew ‘intimate details’ tying him to slaying: sources

Ray Kelly

Pedro Hernandez provided detectives with “intimate details” about the murder of Etan Patz that only the killer could have known, sources told The Post.

NYPD detectives believe these key clues, kept secret for 33 years, are proof that the former SoHo bodega stockboy charged in the infamous abduction knew too much to not be involved.

Sources said investigators were stunned to learn that Hernandez had this inside information, which cops never disclosed to the public despite intense public scrutiny and three decades of frustration in trying to unravel what happened to the 6-year-old in 1979.

The specifics have remained secret and are known by fewer than a dozen current law-enforcement officials, including Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, the sources said.

WOMAN WHO SEARCHED FOR ETAN PATZ DOESN’T BELIEVE HERNANDEZ’S CONFESSION

1979 NYPD BOSS DOUBTS ETAN IS HERNANDEZ’S ONLY VICTIM

SUSPECT’S DAUGHTER IN SHOCK

They said the closely held details likely relate to Patz’s body — scars, birth marks, moles or other identifying characteristics — items he wore or had when he disappeared or knowledge the killer gleaned about Patz’s family before the killing.

Hernandez, who confessed to strangling the boy in the basement of the bodega where he worked at Prince Street and West Broadway in SoHo, was considered unreliable by some NYPD investigators because of his mental instability.

“They thought there were medical issues and he might be one of those publicity seekers,” one source said.

“But pretty seasoned detectives are confident this is the guy based on information he had. And the circle of people who know is very narrow. They’re not even telling other people in the unit.”

Investigators have refused to divulge the clues publicly — just in case Hernandez is exonerated or was only involved peripherally and the information is needed to check out other suspects.

Police typically compile details about murders and the victims that are not revealed to the public, and that was true in the Patz investigation, said former FBI agent Ken Ruffo, who worked on the case from 1982 to 1987.

“His parents shared with us confidential information that would only have been known by Etan or his sister,” he said.

“I’m hoping [Hernandez] did say something. If he’s got specific details, then you’ve got something to hang your hat on and feel better about.”

Meanwhile, Kelly was said to be furious with the way the investigation into Hernandez was initially handled.

“He’s upset and wants to know: Had this guy ever been interviewed?” said one source. “Kelly is pissed. The heat is on.”

It’s unclear how much information the police had on Hernandez, 51, whose family members say he twice tried to confess but was dismissed by police as being crazy.

A former cop who worked on the case said Hernandez’s name never came up.

“I went through the whole file and I don’t remember seeing his name,” said the ex-detective. “Now, maybe his name was on a piece of paper somewhere, but I didn’t see any mention of it in the case file.”

Said another source: “Sometimes back then detectives wouldn’t file reports. It’s possible someone talked to him and never recorded it.”

Former NYPD Police Commissioner Robert McGuire — who said he had the top detectives in the city on the case — defended the performance of his investigators to The Post.

“I don’t second-guess good detectives, and we put good homicide detectives on this case,” he said. “[But] I have no way of knowing if anyone overlooked the guy.”

Hernandez remained locked up at Bellevue Hospital yesterday after threatening to kill himself.

He was allowed visitors but no friends or relatives showed up to see him.

“Right now the family is going through so much,” said his sister, Maria Hernandez.

“My brother committed a crime. How do you think we feel? I haven’t slept for three days.

“This is hurting my whole family.”

Additional reporting by Philip Messing and Erin Calabrese