The man imprisoned for kidnapping and murdering a six-year-old boy in New York City nearly 45 years ago has had his conviction overturned. 

64-year-old Pedro Hernandez has been serving 25 years to life in prison after being convicted in 2017 of killing Etan Patz in 1979. 

Patz disappeared on the first day he was permitted to walk to the school bus stop on his own on May 25, 1979. His case became one of the first to feature a missing child’s photo on milk cartons, bringing significant national attention. 

President Ronald Reagan later declared May 25, 1983, the first National Missing Children’s Day in memory of Patz.

This case attracted nationwide interest, with Patz’s image among the first distributed on milk cartons across the United States. His parents remained in the same house and kept the same phone number for years, hoping their son would eventually return. 

The family of the child helped to create a national missing-children hotline and led the way in developing a new system for law enforcement agencies across the nation to share information about such cases. 

“They waited and persevered for 35 years for justice for Etan, which today, sadly, may have been lost,” former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. told The Associated Press after hearing about the reversal.

The court ordered Hernandez’s release unless he receives a new trial within “a reasonable time period.” 

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

“This case highlights a broader issue in the legal system,” Alpert said. “Confessions are not always reliable. Mental illness, coercion or desperation can all lead someone to admit guilt falsely. Without physical evidence to support a confession, courts must proceed with extreme caution. Understanding the psychology behind a confession is essential before treating it as fact.”