Hearing resumes for Etan Patz murder suspect Pedro Hernandez

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A hearing continues in Manhattan Monday for the man charged with kidnapping and killing 6-year old Etan Patz 35 years ago.

A judge is determining whether Pedro Hernandez's videotaped confession can be used as evidence.

His lawyer says the confession isn't reliable because his client has a history of mental illness.

Hernandez is charged with killing the boy who disappeared in 1979 in one of the biggest missing person cases the city hsa ever seen.

In the confession, Hernandez demonstrated on his own neck how he choked the then 6 year old after luring him into a basement of a bodega in SoHo 33 years before.

Hernandez claimed he couldn't stop, that something took over him. "He wasn't dead. He was still gasping."

The 53 year old then dispassionately described how he put the boy in a garbage bag. "He was still alive. He was moving his legs. Even though he was still alive I put him in the plastic bag."

Hernandez said he put the boy in a cardboard box, and dumped it in an alley. He said when he went back the next day, the box was gone.

Etan's disappearance sparked the missing child movement. Authorities chased false leads for years, even digging up the SoHo basement a month before a tip led to Hernandez who immediately confessed.