The Mysterious Disappearance Of Etan PatzEtan Patz

Do you remember the name Etan Patz…… Well on May 25th 1979, 6 year old Etan disappeared.

It was the Friday before the  Memorial Day Weekend, the ground was wet from earlier rain and Etan was eager to walk the two blocks from his home at 113 Prince Street, to the intersection of West Broadway and Prince street in lower Manhattan, to board his school bus to Public School PS3 at 490 Hudson street. But Etan... never made it to school that day. 

It was the first day that he walked by himself to the busstop and the last day he was seen alive.  

His mother Julie recalled how independent Etan was, and how he wanted to walk to the bus stop by himself. She initially objected but subsequently gave in. “I’ll be ok” were some of the last words she heard her son say. 

She walked him to the door and watched him leave the nest. She remembers him wearing an Eastern Airlines cap, blue jeans and blue jacket. Etan had a dollar in his pocket that was given to him by a neighbourhood handyman when he visited his workshop. Etan had planned to use his dollar to purchase a soda from the Bodega on the way to the bus stop which was only two blocks away. 

He went out into the world with hope in his eyes, money in his pocket and a bright future ahead of him. Little did he know.. that that rainy day in May would lead to a mayday distress call that would be heard across the nation and catalyze The Missing Children Movement. 

When Etan didn't come home that evening his mother called everywhere his school, his friends but no one saw him. He never showed up for  school and his friends never saw him on the bus.  

Julie then called  police and made a missing persons report and that night the search for Etan began. But Etan was never found  and while a man confessed and was convicted for his murder, police was unable to find any physical evidence to corroborate the case. And even thought he was pronounced dead in absentia. 

The fact that his body was never found has left the door open for some to say that he may not be dead. 

Etan was the middle child he has an older sister and a younger brother

The SOHO Neighbourhood 

Etan Patz lived With his Mother and father, older sister and younger brother in the SoHo neighbourhood of lower manhattan. For the uninitiated SoHo is an acronym for South of Houston street a name that was coined by famous developer chester rapkin in 1962

Today SOHO is known for its boutique shops, Art Galleries and loft apartments, home to famous people like Dakota Fanning, Alicia Keys, Daniel Craig, John Legend, Justin Timberlake and Samuel L. Jackson

However in the 1970s it was a much rougher neighbourhood.

New York city on a whole looked very different then, than it does now. A Financial Crisis had sickened the city, one that many thought the city could never recover from. There was a massive exodus to the suburbs, high unemployment rates, muggings on the subway 

Prostitutes and pimps frequenting Times Square, Central Park was  feared for muggings and rape. Homeless persons and drug dealers occupied boarded-up and abandoned buildings.  

The NYPD was the subject of an investigation on widespread corruption. 

A Pamphlet was released by the council of public safety ( Made up of Police, firefighters and other unions) called “Welcome to Fear City” Which featured a prominent skull on the cover.  The pamphlet warned tourists to not:

• Come outside after 6 pm
• Not leave midtown
• To call your cab before you leave your hotel
• Never Ride the Subway
• Don't leave property in the hotel safe.

If you were a tourist coming to new york and saw that pamphlet you would definitely turn back.

So try to imagine what Etan Patz’s neighbourhood looked like back then. Boarded up buildings, dark alleys, no surveillance cameras, no mobile phones , many of the things we enjoy today just weren't available then. 

When Etan Patz left his house  at 113 Prince Street He would have had to walk two blocks to get to the bodega on the corner of West Broadway and Prince. 

Once at the corner he supposedly entered the bodega where he planned to purchase a soda. The individual who was convicted of his murder worked at the same bodega. In his confession he claimed that he lured 6 year old Etan into the basement of the bodega and strangled him. 

Bodega

The bodega was located at 448 west broadway but has since been long gone and the business that currently occupies the space is a socks retailer. 

In the days after the disappearance the police interviewed the workers of the bodega. Records show that the store manager Juan Santana was interviewed, the names of two other workers Rachael DaVilla and Pedro Hernandez were noted but nothing in depth. It's relevant to note that the bust stop was just in front of the bodega. 

When the case was reopened the police received a tip that Pedro Hernandez may have abducted and killed Etan Patz. 

Pedro Hernandez confessed stating that he lured Etan to the basement by offering a soda. He added that after strangling him to death he placed him in a trash bag and then inside a cardboard box. Then he dumped the body in another location. But if that were the case Etans friends and other parents would have seen him at the bus stop that morning before or while he was being lured to the basement.

In his confession Hernandez also mentioned that there were other people in the basement with him. Who were these other people and what were they doing there?

Suspects

Throughout the case there were three major suspects in the disappearance of Etan Patz. 

In 1979 the detectives in the case suspected that the perpetrator was John Ramos, a drifter  who lived in a storm drain in the community. Ramos was a known child molester who even admitted that on the same day that Etan disappeared he molested a boy in Washington Square Park that fit the description of Etan. He claimed however that he placed the child on  the subway after he molested him. Ramos had a connection with Etan through a woman named Susan Harrington who used to walk Etan home from the bus stop. It was suspected that Ramos had a relationship with Harrington and even  admitted to  molesting her son who later committed suicide.

The prosecutors were unable to bring charges against Ramos because they say the evidence wasn't enough for them to build a criminal case against him. However the Patz did bring a civil case against him which they won and was awarded damages to the tune of 2 million dollars, money they were never paid. 

The case went cold until investigators received information that a Carpenter Othniel Miller who had a workshop at 127B Prince street  near where Etan lived might be involved. Miller was seen with Patz the night before his disappearance and his shop was along the route that Etan would take to his bus stop. Investigators became suspicious after reports filed by his ex-wife that Miller molested his niece and that he poured new concrete in the basement soon after Etan disappeared. His basement was dug up in 2012, however no evidence of a body of remains were found.

Then the investigators received another  lead in the case when the brother inlaw of Pedro Hernandez reported that Hernandez had confessed to numerous people that he had hurt a boy in New York. He was tried and a mistrial was declared because the jurors could not come to a unanimous decision. The case was later retried and Hernandez was found guilty and sentenced to serve 25 years to life. 

SchoolEtans school was a five minute car ride from his bus stop on west broadway. When Etans mother called the school they reported that he never  showed up to school that day. But at least eight hours had already elapsed since he was last seen. If the parents were notified when attendance was taken, they might have had a much better chance of finding Etan alive. 

Today many parents and guardians receive an automated message when their child is 

missing from school

Child Abduction 

According to the national center of missing and exploited children approximately 800,000 children are reported missing every year. 

The Etan Patz case placed a spotlight on missing and abused children in the United States. In the 1980s he was one of the first faces to appear on milk cartons seeking the public’s assistance in locating missing children. Though Etan was never found, the awareness that his abduction started has helped many children around the country.