Catholic prayer group kept quiet about child killer's confession
The murderer of a six-year-old on his first lone walk to school openly confessed his crime to a prayer group years ago.
- Michael Wilson, Kia Gregory & Nate Schweber
- United States
- June 4, 2012
The prayer group met regularly at St. Anthony of Padua, a Roman Catholic church in Camden, N.J., where behind the modest brick facade impassioned, spontaneous, full-throated “confessions” were shared.
These meetings took place in the early 1980s, during a boom in charismatic Christianity that encouraged the dozens of participants to feel the Holy Spirit and unburden themselves of guilt for their sins.
Into this heady mix of faith and the support of fellow believers walked Pedro Hernandez, who told the prayer group he had strangled a boy and left the body in a Dumpster, according to Norma Hernandez, his sister, and Tomas Rivera, a leader of the group who said he was present.
Mr. Rivera, speaking Sunday at his home in Blackwood, N.J., said it was not his place to call the police “because he did not confess to me” one on one.
“He confessed to the group,” Mr. Rivera said.
The story of the prayer group could prove pivotal in bolstering the case against Mr. Hernandez in the 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz, 6, in Manhattan. Last week, Mr. Hernandez, 51, was arrested because he confessed to killing the boy in the basement of the SoHo bodega where he worked, near Etan’s home, after luring him from his first unaccompanied walk to the bus stop, the authorities said. He told the police he put the body in a bag and a box, which he left on the street.
Full Story: Worshiper Recalls Admission by Patz Suspect Decades Ago
Source: New York Times
These meetings took place in the early 1980s, during a boom in charismatic Christianity that encouraged the dozens of participants to feel the Holy Spirit and unburden themselves of guilt for their sins.
Into this heady mix of faith and the support of fellow believers walked Pedro Hernandez, who told the prayer group he had strangled a boy and left the body in a Dumpster, according to Norma Hernandez, his sister, and Tomas Rivera, a leader of the group who said he was present.
Mr. Rivera, speaking Sunday at his home in Blackwood, N.J., said it was not his place to call the police “because he did not confess to me” one on one.
“He confessed to the group,” Mr. Rivera said.
The story of the prayer group could prove pivotal in bolstering the case against Mr. Hernandez in the 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz, 6, in Manhattan. Last week, Mr. Hernandez, 51, was arrested because he confessed to killing the boy in the basement of the SoHo bodega where he worked, near Etan’s home, after luring him from his first unaccompanied walk to the bus stop, the authorities said. He told the police he put the body in a bag and a box, which he left on the street.
Full Story: Worshiper Recalls Admission by Patz Suspect Decades Ago
Source: New York Times
