A jury intently watched the videotaped confession on Tuesday of a man accused of murdering Etan Patz in 1979 and heard him say he choked the six-year-old boy and 'just couldn't let go'. Pedro Hernandez, of Maple Shade, New Jersey, admitted in hours of video to choking Etan, shoving his body in a plastic bag and dumping it with some curbside trash a few blocks away. In the courtroom, Hernandez, 54, saw himself on a large screen near the jury tell law enforcement he lured the boy to the basement of the Soho deli in New York City where he worked and kill him. His attorney maintains that the confession is fiction, dreamed up by a mentally ill man. Scroll down for video . Stanley Patz, the father of Etan Patz, pictured on Tuesday entering the murder trial of Pedro Hernandez at Manhattan Supreme Court in New York. Jurors were shown the videotaped confession of the man accused of killing his six-year-old son today . 'I was nervous. My legs were jumping. I wanted to let go, but I just couldn't let go. I felt like something just took over me,' Hernandez said in the video. 'I don't know what to say. Something just took over me, and I was just choking him.' Hernandez was a teenage stock clerk at a convenience store a few blocks from where Etan was last seen on his way to school on May 25, 1979. It was Etan's first time walking to school alone. 'I don't know why I came up to him,' Hernandez says on the tape, calmly. 'I just approached to him, and I asked him: ''You want a soda?'' 'He didn't say nothing to me, even when I was choking him. He didn't kick. He didn't do nothing. He just kind of stood there, and I just felt bad what I did.' The boy went limp, but was still alive when he disposed of the body, he said. 'He was still gasping,' Hernandez said on the videotape. The next day, he returned to the alley to look for the body but it was gone. 'I was going to throw it away in the garbage if it was still there,' Hernandez said during the taped confession. Pedro Hernandez, pictured in 2012, was seen confessing to the murder of Etan Patz (right) in a videotaped confession show to the jury in court on Tuesday . Hernandez said had never met Etan or his family before the killing. The interview took place from 2.15am until 7.15am on Thursday morning, May 24, 2012. That was about a month after authorities began a highly-publicized excavation of the basement of a Soho building in an effort to crack the cold case. Etan's father, Stanley Patz and sister Shirea sat in court as the jury was transfixed by the videotaped confession, which the defense said was coerced by police from a mentally ill man who suffers from hallucinations. On the videotape, an investigator asked Hernandez what happened after he left Patz. 'I just feel like nothing, like nothing happened, like I didn't do nothing wrong,' Hernandez said. 'I know that I did something wrong, but it didn't bother me that much. I just kept working.' On the videotape, he described three previous confessions to the killing, including one to his first wife, who he told: 'I killed someone and it was a child.' Hernandez also said he confessed to a lifelong friend and a New Jersey church group. 'We were holding hands, praying,' he said on the videotape. 'I told everybody that I killed somebody.' Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to killing Etan, whose body has never been found. Stanley Patz, pictured with his daughter Shira Patz at court in New York City on Tuesday. Miss Patz has maintained absolute privacy since her brother's disappearance in 1979, to the extent that it is not known why she is in a wheelchair . The six-year-old's disappearance prompted an international search and spurred major changes in how law enforcement nationwide handle missing children reports. He was one of the first missing children whose picture appeared on a milk carton. In the tape, Hernandez also spoke about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and taking medication for pain from an on-the-job injury from working at a dress factory in New Jersey. The confession was played in September during a hearing on whether it could be used at trial. Some personal details about Hernandez's life were removed after his attorney objected. The clip shown Tuesday is one of three confession videos made after Hernandez was arrested following a tip in May 2012. The other videos were expected to be played. Anthony Curtin, the NYPD homicide detective who took Pedro Hernandez's confession in 2012, enters court on Tuesday in Manhattan. Hernandez's defense said that the confession was coerced from a mentally-ill man .
Pedro Hernandez, of New Jersey, admitted in hours of video to choking Etan, shoving his body in a plastic bag and dumping it on the curb .
Etan Patz was last seen on his way to school on May 25, 1979 in the Soho neighborhood of New York City .
On the tape, Hernandez said: 'I was nervous... I wanted to let go, but I just couldn't let go. I felt like something just took over me'
His defense claims the NYPD coerced a confession from a mentally-ill man .
A jury intently watched the videotaped confession on Tuesday of a man accused of murdering Etan Patz in 1979 and heard him say he choked the six-year-old boy and 'just couldn't let go'. Pedro Hernandez, of Maple Shade, New Jersey, admitted in hours of video to choking Etan, shoving his body in a plastic bag and dumping it with some curbside trash a few blocks away. In the courtroom, Hernandez, 54, saw himself on a large screen near the jury tell law enforcement he lured the boy to the basement of the Soho deli in New York City where he worked and kill him. His attorney maintains that the confession is fiction, dreamed up by a mentally ill man. Scroll down for video . Stanley Patz, the father of Etan Patz, pictured on Tuesday entering the murder trial of Pedro Hernandez at Manhattan Supreme Court in New York. Jurors were shown the videotaped confession of the man accused of killing his six-year-old son today . 'I was nervous. My legs were jumping. I wanted to let go, but I just couldn't let go. I felt like something just took over me,' Hernandez said in the video. 'I don't know what to say. Something just took over me, and I was just choking him.' Hernandez was a teenage stock clerk at a convenience store a few blocks from where Etan was last seen on his way to school on May 25, 1979. It was Etan's first time walking to school alone. 'I don't know why I came up to him,' Hernandez says on the tape, calmly. 'I just approached to him, and I asked him: ''You want a soda?'' 'He didn't say nothing to me, even when I was choking him. He didn't kick. He didn't do nothing. He just kind of stood there, and I just felt bad what I did.' The boy went limp, but was still alive when he disposed of the body, he said. 'He was still gasping,' Hernandez said on the videotape. The next day, he returned to the alley to look for the body but it was gone. 'I was going to throw it away in the garbage if it was still there,' Hernandez said during the taped confession. Pedro Hernandez, pictured in 2012, was seen confessing to the murder of Etan Patz (right) in a videotaped confession show to the jury in court on Tuesday . Hernandez said had never met Etan or his family before the killing. The interview took place from 2.15am until 7.15am on Thursday morning, May 24, 2012. That was about a month after authorities began a highly-publicized excavation of the basement of a Soho building in an effort to crack the cold case. Etan's father, Stanley Patz and sister Shirea sat in court as the jury was transfixed by the videotaped confession, which the defense said was coerced by police from a mentally ill man who suffers from hallucinations. On the videotape, an investigator asked Hernandez what happened after he left Patz. 'I just feel like nothing, like nothing happened, like I didn't do nothing wrong,' Hernandez said. 'I know that I did something wrong, but it didn't bother me that much. I just kept working.' On the videotape, he described three previous confessions to the killing, including one to his first wife, who he told: 'I killed someone and it was a child.' Hernandez also said he confessed to a lifelong friend and a New Jersey church group. 'We were holding hands, praying,' he said on the videotape. 'I told everybody that I killed somebody.' Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to killing Etan, whose body has never been found. Stanley Patz, pictured with his daughter Shira Patz at court in New York City on Tuesday. Miss Patz has maintained absolute privacy since her brother's disappearance in 1979, to the extent that it is not known why she is in a wheelchair . The six-year-old's disappearance prompted an international search and spurred major changes in how law enforcement nationwide handle missing children reports. He was one of the first missing children whose picture appeared on a milk carton. In the tape, Hernandez also spoke about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and taking medication for pain from an on-the-job injury from working at a dress factory in New Jersey. The confession was played in September during a hearing on whether it could be used at trial. Some personal details about Hernandez's life were removed after his attorney objected. The clip shown Tuesday is one of three confession videos made after Hernandez was arrested following a tip in May 2012. The other videos were expected to be played. Anthony Curtin, the NYPD homicide detective who took Pedro Hernandez's confession in 2012, enters court on Tuesday in Manhattan. Hernandez's defense said that the confession was coerced from a mentally-ill man .
Pedro Hernandez, of Maple Shade, New Jersey, admitted in hours of video to choking Etan, shoving his body in a plastic bag and dumping it go, but I just couldn't let go. I felt like something just took over me,' Hernandez said in was last seen on his way to school on May 25, Hernandez says on the tape, calmly. 'I just coerced from a mentally-ill man .