New photo of Etan Patz suspect Pedro Hernandez

A recent police photo of the New Jersey man who police said confessed to killing 6-year-old Etan Patz has surfaced.

Law enforcement authorities confirmed that the mug shot obtained by several media outlets is of Pedro Hernandez, 51, of Maple Shade, N.J., who told officers he had strangled the boy 33 years ago and dumped his body in trash.

City officials this week have been searching through sanitation department records of that time to try to confirm whether Hernandez killed the boy, who disappeared from a SoHo street on May 25, 1979. It was not clear whether that would yield any new information because officials are unsure whether private carters were handling the rubbish from addresses connected to the investigation.

Hernandez has said he killed Etan in the basement of 448 W. Broadway, put his body in a plastic bag and dumped it in an alley next to 113 Thompson St.

He has been charged with second-degree murder.

Hernandez is being held on suicide watch at Bellevue Medical Center, where experts will determine whether he is mentally fit to stand trial.