Sammy Santana (Brigitte Stelzer)
The nephew of Etan Patz’s confessed killer had no clue his uncle hated him so much.
Pedro Hernandez told cops he targeted Etan because the boy reminded him of a despised nephew, which came as a total shock to the now-36-year-old Queens man.
“I was 3 years old. If I could [remember that far back], I’d be a millionaire. I don’t remember,” a smiling Sammy Santana told The Post outside his home in South Richmond Hill.
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Norma Hernandez, the accused killer’s sister, said Pedro Hernandez hated the 3-year-old Sammy so much he once smacked him right across the face.
“You’re like the devil!” Pedro yelled at Sammy, Norma Hernandez told CBS.
Santana, now a city sanitation worker, can’t recall any bad blood from 1979.
Decades later, he’s a likable guy and dedicated father whose Facebook pages displays a picture of him smiling.
His posts are about family trips to Forest Park in Queens and visits to St. Mary Gate of Heaven Catholic Church in Forest Hills.
Santana declined further comment at his two-story, red-brick home.
“I can’t say anything. I have to wait until the investigators contact me,” he said.