On May 25, 1979, 6-year-old Etan Patz disappeared while walking alone to his school bus stop in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. It was the first time his parents had allowed him to make the trip unaccompanied, and he vanished without a trace. The case gained widespread national attention, making Etan one of the first missing children to have his face printed on milk cartons.
His disappearance became a pivotal moment in child abduction awareness and led to the creation of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. In 1983, May 25, the anniversary of his disappearance, was declared National Missing Children’s Day.
Despite extensive searches and media coverage, no significant clues emerged in the years following Etan's disappearance. In the early 1980s, José Ramos, a convicted child molester with ties to a family acquaintance, was suspected of being involved in the case. Ramos made incriminating statements but was never formally charged. In 2004, he was found liable for Etan's wrongful death in a civil case brought by the Patz family, though no criminal charges followed. The case remained cold for decades, with Etan being declared legally dead in 2001.
The investigation was reignited in 2012 when Pedro Hernandez, a former convenience store clerk, confessed to abducting and killing Etan. Hernandez, who worked in the neighborhood at the time of the disappearance, claimed to have lured the boy into the store’s basement, strangled him, and disposed of his body. Despite the lack of physical evidence and concerns over Hernandez’s mental health, he was convicted of kidnapping and murder in 2017, bringing a long-awaited conclusion to one of the most infamous missing child cases in U.S. history.
Last Seen: May 25, 1979
