A convicted child molester claimed he abducted a young boy who looked like Etan Patz the same day in 1979 that the 6-year-old went missing , a former federal prosecutor told a jury Monday at the trial of another man accused of murder . Key defense witness Stuart GraBois recounted how , once ruling out family members as suspects , he located Jose Ramos in prison in the late 1980s after learning the Ramos had ties to a woman who was once used by the family to walk Etan home from school during a bus driver strike . The former assistant to then-US Attorney Rudy Giuliani described soothing Ramos with small talk before suddenly asking him , 'How many times did you have sex with Etan Patz ? ' Scroll down for video . Confessions of a child predator : Convicted child molester Jose Ramos , 71 ( left ) , allegedly told a prosecutor in 1988 that on the day of Etan Patz 's disappearance , he brought the 6-year-old to his apartment with the intention of having sex with him . Site : Hernandez was working in 1979 at this corner convenience store , near where Etan was last seen where the man said he threw the boy 's body into trash . 'He froze and got tearful , and said , `` I want to tell you all about it . I want to get it off my chest , '' ' GraBois testified . Ramos claimed that he had encountered Patz in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village May 25 , 1979 , before luring the boy to his apartment to try to have sex with him , GraBois said . The suspect , having seen Patz 's photo on television and on missing posters , was '90 per cent sure ' it was the same boy , he said . After the boy resisted his sexual advances , Ramos claimed he put him on a subway train so he could go to his aunt 's home in Washington Heights . GraBois said he considered that a lie , telling Ramos , ' I do n't believe you . ' GraBois launched an investigation that resulted in an unrelated sex abuse conviction against Ramos in Pennsylvania . But the prosecutor failed to make a case against him in Etan 's disappearance after Ramos refused to ever speak again with authorities about the boy , whose body was never found . The imprisoned Ramos , now 71 , was scratched as a potential defense witness in the trial of Pedro Hernandez after he threatened to invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination if called to the stand . Prime suspect : Pedro Hernandez , 54 , pictured here in 2012 , is on trial on murder and kidnapping charges after he admitted to killing Etan . Still missing : Hernandez told police he bagged Etan 's body and dumped it a few blocks away . The boy 's remains were never recovered . Molester : Ramos served 27 years in Pennsylvania for rape and molestation of three young boys in the 1980s . But with testimony about Ramos ' alleged confession and by highlighting his history of molesting children , the defense has sought to portray him as a more plausible suspect than the 54-year-old Hernandez . Earlier , jurors watched a videotaped interview of Ramos , following his arrest in 1982 after two young boys reported that he tried to lure them into a drainpipe in a Bronx park , where he was living at the time . In the video , Ramos says his girlfriend used to take care of Patz but that he never met him . Ramos served 27 years in a Pennsylvania prison for the rape and molestation of three young boys in the 1980s . Shortly after his release in 2012 , he was rearrested for breaking sex offender registration laws , and returned to prison . The Patz family sued Ramos in civil court , where he was found to have been responsible for the boy 's death in 2004 . Etan 's parents were awarded $ 2million , which they never attempted to collect . Etan vanished on May 25 , 1979 , after leaving his family 's SoHo townhouse to walk to the bus . The disappearance helped galvanize the modern-day missing children 's movement , with his picture one of the first to appear on a milk carton . Stan Patz ( center ) , father of Etan Patz , leaves a court in New York on January 30 , 2015 after attending Hernandez 's trial . Stan and Julie Patz ( left and right ) sued Ramos in civil court , where he was found to have been responsible for the boy 's death in 2004 . After police received a fresh tip in 2012 , Hernandez confessed that he choked Etan in the basement of a New York City convenience store where he worked after luring the boy there with the promise of a soda . He said he bagged the body and dumped it a few blocks away . Defense attorneys are trying to show that the defendant is mentally ill and that his lengthy videotaped confession is a delusion . Prosecutors argued that Hernandez 's admissions are sound .
Key defense witness Stuart GraBois , a former prosecutor , testified Jose Ramos told him in 1988 he strangled Etan Patz to his home May 25 , 1979 . Hernandez , a convicted child molester , claimed he strangled Etan on subway train after he rejected his advances . Ramos , 71 , has threatened to plead the 5th if called to testify in murder trial of Pedro Hernandez . Hernandez , however , confessed he choked Ramos after luring him with the promise of a confession and then dumped his bagged body . Ramos served 27 years in Pennsylvania for rape and molestation of three young boys in the 1980s .