( CNN ) -- A day after Pedro Hernandez was charged in the killing of 6-year-old Etan Patz , prosecutors now face the task of corroborating his confession and piecing together a mystery that 's confounded investigators for more than three decades . Neighbors say suspect in Patz killing lived a quiet life with his family . Police say the 51-year-old New Jersey resident confessed to strangling Etan and dumping his body in the trash near a Manhattan bodega where he worked as a teenage stock clerk in 1979 . Attorney Harvey Fishbein said Hernandez -- who is currently on suicide watch at Bellevue Hospital -- has not entered a plea due to a pending psychiatric evaluation . Fishbein says his client has a `` long psychiatric history '' including schizophrenia , bipolar disorder and hallucinations . New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said earlier this week that authorities interviewed other employees of the store Hernandez worked at , but not him . `` I ca n't tell you why , '' Kelly said . Yet two law enforcement sources said Hernandez was in fact interviewed , albeit briefly . A third source said Hernandez not only talked to police , but he confessed -- though he was ruled out as a suspect , because his claims were n't believed . At a recent news conference announcing Hernandez ' arrest , Kelly said Hernandez had no prior contact with the boy , and that investigators have not uncovered any forensic evidence linking Hernandez to the disappearance of the Etan , whose body still has not been found . Former SoHo resident Roberto Monticello , who says he knew Hernandez at the time of Etan 's disappearance , called the former stock clerk a `` very strange guy . '' `` He was always by himself , '' Monticello recalled to CNN affiliate NY1 . `` ( I ) never saw him with people . '' Opinion : Missing children , perception vs. reality . His pastor , George Bowen , described Hernandez as a `` very quiet , unassuming , almost shy man , '' attending church regularly with his wife and daughter , and sitting in the same seat almost every Sunday . `` So every Sunday morning I had a conversation with him , '' Bowen told CNN Saturday . `` But the conversation was more or less a greeting . '' One of the suspect 's sisters told The New York Times that some family members claimed he had told them about the alleged murder in the early 1980s . `` He confessed that he killed a little boy , '' Norma Hernandez told the Times , saying that the suspect had moved to southern New Jersey shortly after Etan disappeared . But she said that he had never told her directly and never mentioned the boy 's name . Norma Hernandez , according to the newspaper , said that her family had been torn over whether to inform authorities after the confession , but ultimately did not . `` They did not want to get involved because it was a brother , '' she told The Times . Lisa Cohen , whose 2009 book , `` After Etan , '' is widely considered the definitive account of the case , said Saturday that she remains skeptical about the man 's confession . `` I had never heard of Pedro Hernandez before this week , '' she told CNN . Patz investigation a 33-year-long roller coaster ride . Etan went missing on May 25 , 1979 , a block from his home in Manhattan after walking to a school bus alone for the first time . His disappearance helped spawn a national movement to raise awareness of missing children , including the then-novel approach of putting an image of the child 's face on thousands of milk cartons . The tipster whose information led to Hernandez 's arrest contacted authorities last month after news coverage of their renewed search . That contact , at least in part , prompted investigators to question Hernandez . Police Commissioner Kelly said earlier this week described Hernandez 's actions as a crime of opportunity and said the suspect was remorseful . `` The detectives thought ( the confession ) was a feeling of relief on his part , '' Kelly said . After that confession , investigators spent two days talking to witnesses and looking for anyone who could discredit Hernandez and could n't find any , according to a source with knowledge of the case . Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance ultimately gave the green light to file murder charges against Hernandez based largely on his confession , even given the lack of physical evidence and questions about his mental state , the source said . The next major step in the legal process would be for a grand jury to hear prosecutors ' evidence against Hernandez for a potential indictment , after the defense waived its right to an expedited indictment on Friday . It is not clear when this might happen . Missing child case 'awakened America ' Etan was officially declared dead in 2001 as part of a lawsuit filed by his family against Jose Antonio Ramos , a drifter and convicted child molester acquainted with Etan 's babysitter . A judge found Ramos responsible for the boy 's death and ordered him to pay the family $ 2 million , money the Patz family has never received . Although Ramos was considered a key focus of the investigation for years , he has never been charged in the case . He is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Pennsylvania for molesting another boy and is set to be released this year . CNN 's Susan Candiotti and Ross Levitt contributed to this report .
The commissioner say police did n't talk to Hernandez , yet sources say they did . Comment: Hernandez is charged with murder , though there 's no physical evidence linking him . His attorney says no plea has been entered due to a pending psychiatric evaluation .