The man accused of killing 6-year-old Etan Patz pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one count of kidnapping in the 1979 case.

Pedro Hernandez was indicted last month by a grand jury after he confessed in May to killing the child, though his attorney said his client had falsely confessed.

Hernandez's next court appearance is scheduled for January 30.

Hernandez - who was a stock clerk in Lower Manhattan in May of 1979 - admitted that he choked the boy after luring him into the basement of the grocery store, police said.