Etan Patz Missing Person Case

Apr 15, 2010

Apr 21, 2021

Etan

Patz

53

6

40 inches

50 lbs

White / Caucasian

Male

On the morning of May 25, 1979, six-year-old Etan Patz walked the two blocks from his SoHo apartment to his school bus stop alone for the very first time. He was never seen again. His disappearance launched a massive search and a national movement to bring awareness to missing children. Etan became one of the first missing children to be featured on milk cartons, a practice that became widespread across the United States. The date of his disappearance, May 25th, was later designated as National Missing Children's Day in his honor. The investigation into Etan's disappearance spanned decades and involved numerous leads and suspects. For a significant period, the primary suspect was Jose Ramos, a convicted child molester who was acquainted with one of Etan's former babysitters. Despite making incriminating statements, Ramos was never criminally charged in connection with Etan's case, though a civil court found him responsible for the boy's death in 2004, a judgment that was later dismissed at the request of Etan's parents. The case remained cold for many years until a renewed push by investigators in 2010. In 2012, a breakthrough occurred when a tip led police to Pedro Hernandez, who had worked as a stock boy in a bodega near Etan's bus stop at the time of his disappearance. Hernandez confessed to luring Etan into the basement of the store with the promise of a soda, where he then killed him. Despite the lack of physical evidence and the fact that Etan's body was never found, Hernandez's confession became the cornerstone of the prosecution's case. His defense argued that the confession was coerced and the product of a troubled mind. The legal proceedings that followed were complex, with the first trial in 2015 ending in a hung jury. A second trial in 2017 resulted in a conviction for kidnapping and murder, and Hernandez was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. However, the legal battle continued with appeals, and at one point, his conviction was overturned before being reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court. The case of Etan Patz not only represents a personal tragedy for a family but also marks a significant turning point in how law enforcement and the public respond to cases of missing children, forever changing the landscape of child safety in the United States.

May 25, 1979

New York

New York

New York County

10012

No

26857

Federal Bureau of Investigations - New York Field Office

New York

New York

New York County

10278

26 Federal Plaza, New York

2123842921

Federal

Law Enforcement

https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/newyork

7C-NY-186181

Federal Bureau of Investigations - New York Field Office

Sandy

Blue

Blue

No

09/25/2026