Man arrested in New York '79 Patz case

The 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz helped trigger a national movement focusing on missing children. Here is the New York Police Department's original poster for Etan, who went missing May 25, 1979, a block from his SoHo home. He was walking to the school bus stop by himself for the first time when he disappeared.

After more than 30 years, a break in the case appeared to develop in April 2012 when police closed off two blocks in New York's SoHo neighborhood and searched a basement in the area for clues. But the search came up empty.

On April 20, 2012, New York police and FBI agents removed concrete slabs from a basement in search of clues in the 33-year-old disappearance of Etan. The basement is about a half-block from where the boy's family still lives.

A note from Stan Patz, Etan's father, pleads for privacy from the media during renewed interest in the 33-year-old case in April 2012. The boy's parents have not commented on the new developments in the case.

Etan was officially declared dead in 2001. His disappearance was the first of several high-profile cases that catapulted concern about missing children to the forefront of national consciousness.

• NEW: Pedro Hernandez was arrested Thursday in connection with Patz's murder
• Etan disappeared exactly 33 years ago Friday
• Authorities were tipped off to Hernandez by someone who knew him, a source says
• Etan was officially declared dead in 2001

New York (CNN) -- Pedro Hernandez, a former Manhattan stock clerk who once lived in the same neighborhood as Etan Patz, was arrested Thursday in connection with his murder, more than three decades after the 6-year-old went missing.

Hernandez allegedly lured Patz to the store with the promise of a soda, choked him in the basement and then disposed of the body using a plastic bag, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters.

Authorities were tipped off to Hernandez by someone who knew him, and whom Hernandez had confided in, a law enforcement source said.

The boy's disappearance exactly 33 years ago on Friday helped spawn a national movement to raise awareness of missing children, which involved a then-novel approach of splashing an image of the child's face across thousands of milk cartons.

The day Etan Patz disappeared in '79

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In her book detailing the investigation, author Lisa Cohen describes the plan Etan had the day he went missing. Just prior to his disappearance, according to the book, Patz told his parents that he planned to stop at a store to buy a soda with a dollar that he'd earned by helping a neighborhood carpenter. It's not clear which store he meant.

CNN's Ross Levitt contributed to this report.