The prime suspect in the 1979 kidnapping and murder of 6-year-old Etan Patz will face trial once again in state Supreme Court in Manhattan early next year, according to the Associated Press.
The retrial will take place some time next year, with a judge scheduling the selection of jury in the case for Feb. 22.
The reason for the delay is because Judge Maxwell Wiley wanted Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann, who is new to the case, to have more time to prepare, according to Reuters.
Wiley had declared an earlier trial a mistrial after the jury said it could not come to a verdict even after it was given 18 days to deliberate.
Jury selection was originally set to take place in early December, HNGN previously reported.
The suspect, Pedro Hernandez, 54, reportedly confessed to friends in 2012 to killing Patz and was charged with murder in mid-2013. He was arrested shortly thereafter and confessed to authorities that, in 1979, he had enticed Patz by giving him soda when he saw him waiting for a bus.
Hernandez then brought Patz to a basement in a corner store where he worked and then proceeded to choke the boy, placed his limp body inside a box and threw it out in the trash. Patz's body was never recovered and he was declared legally dead in 2001.
