Roberto Monticello (Riyad Hasan)
‘NEIGHBORHOOD FEELS DIFFERENT TODAY’: Residents yesterday talk on Prince Street about Etan, including Roberto Monticello (right) , who searched for the boy 33 years ago. “At that time, SoHo was different; people knew each other,” he said. “We would form posses and go searching for Etan.” (Riyad Hasan)
Relieved SoHo residents said last night that the abrupt conclusion of their neighborhood’s most notorious mystery brought both satisfaction and rage.
“It seems so brutal,” said Derrick Miller, 38.
The alleged killer of Etan Patz “is more an animal than a man. And to live with it for so long? That’s scary. It didn’t eat up his conscience before?”
Miller added, “I’m glad that he’s going to get justice. It’d be good for [Etan’s] family to be able to move on. It’d be good for closure.”
Angel Luarce, 59, said, “The kid and this case have been like a ghost here for years for those of us who’ve been around.
“Maybe the newcomers don’t realize it, but this is a big deal. It’s like history. The neighborhood just feels different today than it did yesterday.”
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SoHo’s older denizens said yesterday’s arrest brought back a flood of dark memories.
Etan’s disappearance, they said, ushered in an era of fear and suspicion in what was then a gritty artists’ enclave. “It was scary, because nothing like that happened before,” said gallery owner Harry Nasse, 78. “It wasn’t unusual at the time for a kid to go alone to the store or to the bus stop.
“The community, especially parents, started watching out for each other,” he recalled. “They put a protective system in place. The parents had to be there when the kids get on and off the bus.”
Film worker Roberto Monticello remembered Patz’s alleged killer, Pedro Hernandez, as a quiet neighborhood fixture who would show flashes of anger during local volleyball games.
“He was Pedro from the bodega,” he said. “I knew the little boy. He was one of the youngest on the block. He had a sweet face. I feel for the poor family.”
Monticello recalled late-night canvassing missions in the wake of Etan’s disappearance.
“At that time, SoHo was different; people knew each other,” he said. “We would form posses and go searching for Etan in basements and parking lots.”
“It brings back unsettling memories,” said a woman who lived near the site of Etan’s disappearance. “I’ve seen the mother walking around here. When I see her, I just want to go hug her.”
Michelle Smith, 28, is new to the neighborhood but became fascinated by the case after investigations resumed last month.
“To have a case stalled for so long, you sort of lose hope,” she said. “Everyone around here knows who the parents are. They are whispered about a lot. I just hope this gives them some measure of peace.”
Curious onlookers stopped to gaze at the high-end eyewear store that now occupies the space where the Etan was killed.
“He was just an innocent little boy,” said one man.
“To think that it all happened right here is really sort of troubling. I think about it every time I walk by this place, and I think everyone around here does the same subconsciously.”
Mike Mendez, 49, a building manager, said that the passage of time had dulled his hopes for an arrest.
“To think that all these years passed without any solution to this case is incredible,” he said.
“I never thought they would get someone. When nothing turned up last month, we all lost hope. To have this bastard turn up now, it’s just unbelievable.”
While many residents expressed relief that Etan’s suspected killer would be brought to justice, they wondered if the arrest would ease his parents’ pain.
“They were just dazed back then, putting up posters in the middle of the night, doing everything they could,” said one longtime resident. “This guy will hopefully rot, but it doesn’t bring their little boy back. Hernandez made sure of that.”
Sylvia Jacobs lived above the bodega when Patz vanished. She knew the family well.
“To think that it happened in that basement is just too much for me,” she said. “This isn’t registering like you would think, because the kid is gone. The boy isn’t here anymore.”
Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli