Gimme Patz reward

Tipster: I gave you Etan’s killer, so I deserve money

THE MAN WHOSE hot tip helped solve one of the city’s most heartwrenching cold cases says he deserves a reward for his work.

In the spring of 2012, Jose Lopez placed a call to police that would help investigators unravel what happened to little Etan Patz, the 6-year-old boy who vanished in 1979 after leaving his SoHo home.

Lopez told a detective that his brother-in-law, Pedro Hernandez, confessed to a church group nearly two decades ago that he killed Etan while working at a bodega near the boy’s home.

Lopez’s information led to a sweeping investigation that ended with Hernandez confessing to detectives. After one mistrial, Hernandez was convicted of murder and kidnapping in January .

“If it wasn't for me, that would never happen,” Lopez, a 64-yearold machinist, said in an inter- view Monday. “Who else would have called, you know? Who else would have the information I have?”

Lopez contacted the Daily News after reading a July 29 story about Dr. Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist who was paid nearly $537,000 by the Manhattan district attorney’s office to serve as an expert witness during Hernandez’s two criminal trials.

Welner’s staggering payday floored Lopez. He said he never broached the issue of a reward with investigators or prosecutors — but he felt if there is one, he deserves it.

He said he spent hours with prosecutors and investigators going over the case. He also testified at both trials, making the twohour trip from his Pennsauken, N.J., home to Manhattan Criminal Court.

“I had the story that was really gonna crack the case,” said Lopez.

The NYPD told The News on Wednesday that Lopez wouldn’t be getting a payday from the department’s Crime Stoppers rewards program.

When Lopez contacted the NYPD in 2012, he called its Missing Persons squad — not the rewards hotline.

“He provided the information directly to the Missing Persons Squad and not to Crime Stoppers. Therefore there would not be a reward,” the NYPD said. “Rewards are not provided for witness testimony.”

The NYPD said that in the past four years, 409 tipsters have collected a total of $483,000 in reward money — or about $1,181 apiece — from the Crime Stoppers program.

On the third anniversary of his disappearance, Etan’s family did announce a $25,000 reward for information leading to his whereabouts or proof that he was dead.

Etan’s father, Stanley Patz, said Thursday that an anonymous donor provided the reward and he wouldn’t know how to track down the money now.

“To my knowledge, there is no reward other than to him being a good citizen to whom I am eternally grateful,” he said.

Lopez learned of Hernandez’s confession in the 1990s.

He said that between the mid-1990s and 2004, he tried to tell authorities about Hernandez three times by calling the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and police. No one followed up on his tips.

He called once more in 2012 when he saw news that investigators were checking a new lead.

Lopez said he didn’t contact police for a reward. He wanted to give Etan’s family closure.

“It’s hard for a father and mother to waste so many years thinking that their boy is going to come through the door,” Lopez said.