Man held in 1979 murder case

PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL

The search for six-year-old Etan Patz last month led New York police to a building close to where the boy vanished in 1979.

They dug up the basement but found no remains.

On Thursday police said they'd arrested 51-year-old Pedro Hernandez and said he'd confessed to Patz's murder.

SOUNDBITE: RAYMOND KELLY, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER, SAYING (English):

"Hernandez described to the detectives how he lured young Etan from the school bus stop at West Broadway and Prince Street with the promise of a soda. He then led him into the basement of the bodega, choked him there, and disposed of the body by putting it in a plastic bag and placing it in the trash."

Patz vanished on his first unaccompanied trip to a school bus stop near his home.

His family, still living in the same apartment today, never saw him again.

Police say they're still investigating the motive for his killing.

Paul Chapman, Reuters