Showing posts with label sister. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sister. Show all posts

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Sister of alleged Etan Patz killer says she went to cops

  Eyewitness NewsMOORESTOWN (WABC) -- The sister of Pedro Hernandez, who confessed last week to the 1979 killing of Etan Patz in New York City, now says she told police in the 1980s that her brother had killed a boy.

Norma Hernandez told ABC News that she went go to Camden police at some point to tell them of her brother's admission.

She also told The Star-Ledger that she did not have details about the killing but went to police about it in the 1980s. She says they did nothing at the time.

"This is the first we are learning of Ms. Hernandez's comments. Since this is an on-going homicide investigation, anything we do will be closely coordinated through the direction of the Camden County Prosecutor, Manhattan DA, and the NYPD," Camden Police Chief Scott Thomson said.

Pedro Hernandez confessed last week and is now charged with the murder of 6-year-old Etan Patz.

Norma Hernandez previously told The Associated Press that she would have turned her brother in if she'd had more information.

Hernandez has told police that he tossed out Etan's body with the trash near the SoHo bodega where the boy was killed in 1979.

The sanitation department is going through its records to see whether the trash could have been cleared by the city or a private hauler. The collection could have gone to the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island, but it could also have been incinerated or tossed in the ocean, which was a common practice at that time.

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new jersey, etan patz, pedro hernandez, new jersey news

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

El Salvador girl comes to NJ to help sick sister

AP  Eyewitness NewsNEWARK, N.J. -- A young Salvadoran girl has come to New Jersey so she can give a life-saving bone marrow transplant to her 5-year-old sister.

Seven-year-old Gisselle Bonilla Ramirez arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport early Friday, three weeks after federal officials agreed to provide her with a humanitarian visa.

That came after the U.S. State Department had twice denied her a visitor visa that would have let her stay in the country up to three months.

Doctors have determined that Yarelis Bonilla, an American citizen who is undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia, desperately needs the marrow transplant as her best chance to live a normal life. And they determined that Gisselle - who had never met her sister before - was a perfect match after their whole family was tested.

Officials say the marrow transplant will likely take place sometime next week at Hackensack University Medical Center.

State Department officials have repeatedly declined comment on why the visitor visa requests were rejected, citing visa confidentiality laws. But lawyers for the family have said that when a visa applicant has several family members living in the U.S., the government has a tendency to deny the application on the presumption the visitor will remain in the country.

The family was able to secure the humanitarian visa earlier this month after U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., personally sent the family's application to the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The humanitarian visa, which is valid for 90 days, allowed Gisselle to travel to New Jersey strictly for the transplant.

Yarelis was born in the U.S. and both her parents live here. Her sister lives with the girls' grandmother in El Salvador.

A letter in support of the humanitarian visa application from the head of Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, where Yarelis is being treated, said the child was diagnosed in May with "high risk acute lymphocytic leukemia." The letter describes the form of blood cancer as "life threatening and extremely serious," and with a poor prognosis.

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new jersey, newark, leukemia, bone marrow, new jersey news

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