Disappearance of Etan Patz
| Etan Patz | |
|---|---|
Etan Patz photographed on September 16, 1978
|
|
| Born |
Etan Kalil Patz October 9, 1972 Manhattan, New York, United States |
| Disappeared | May 25, 1979 (aged 6) Manhattan, New York, United States |
| Status |
Declared dead in absentia 2001 Suspected murderer confessed May 24, 2012 Murderer convicted February 14, 2017 Murderer sentenced to Life in prison April 18, 2017 |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | First missing child case to have a photo appear on a milk carton |
| Home town | Manhattan, New York, United States |
| Parent(s) | Stanley Patz Julie Patz |
Etan Kalil Patz (/ˈeɪtɑːn ˈpeɪts/, born October 9, 1972, declared legally dead in 2001) was an American boy who was six years old on May 25, 1979 when he disappeared on his way to his school bus stop in the SoHo neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. His disappearance helped launch the missing children movement, which included new legislation and new methods for tracking down missing children, and spawned the "photo on a milk carton" campaigns of the early 1980s. He was the first missing child to have a photo on a milk carton. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan designated May 25—the anniversary of Etan's disappearance—as National Missing Children's Day in the United States.
Decades later, it was determined that Etan had been abducted and murdered. The case was reopened in 2010 by the Manhattan District Attorney's office. In 2012, the FBI excavated the basement of the alleged crime scene near the Patz residence but discovered no new evidence. Pedro Hernandez—a suspect who confessed— was charged and indicted later that year on charges of second-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. In 2014, the case went through a series of hearings to determine whether or not Hernandez's statements before he received his Miranda rights were legally admissible at trial. His trial began in January 2015 and ended in a mistrial that May, when one of the 12 jurors held out. The retrial began on October 19, 2016, and concluded on February 14, 2017, after nine days of deliberations, when the jury found Hernandez guilty of murder and kidnapping. Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison on April 18, 2017. Hernandez will not be eligible for parole for 25 years.
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