Following last week’s break in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz, the boy’s parents have been largely quiet, except for multiple public pleas for privacy. “To all the media people hanging around here: You have managed to make a difficult situation even worse. Talk to your assignment editors,” reads a sign posted yesterday by Etan’s father Stan Patz. “It’s past time for you to leave me, my family and my neighbors alone.” The Patzes were reportedly skeptical of Pedro Hernandez’s confession 33 years later, but investigators are starting to believe his account of the crime. “I wish this could end,” Julie Patz told reporters yesterday. “This is taking my freedom away. I just wish this could be over.” When Intel walked by the Patz’s Soho apartment Tuesday afternoon, the block appeared free of loitering press until a black TV news van parked right across the street and started to set up, either unaware of the sign or ignoring it entirely.
