He was never featured on Unsolved Mysteries (even though I think he should've been), but it's an interesting read.

Here is some new articles: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20588901,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines

http://abcnews.go.com/US/fresh-search-etan-patz-york-boy-vanished-33/story?id=16171740

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/f-b-i-renews-search-for-etan-patz-in-soho-basement/

There's more articles but these were the top choices direct from Google.

I was shocked when I saw a photo of the suspect. :rolleyes:

I was shocked when I saw a photo of the suspect. :rolleyes:

What do you mean?

Saw this on my newsfeed yesterday, and my first thought was: "Was this featured on UM?" Kind of surprised it wasn't.

Also, thought this was interesting, from ]NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/nyregion/in-etan-patz-case-police-begin-new-search-for-remains.html?_r=1#p[IrdIrd):

The new search focused on a basement area that had been used as a workshop by a carpenter and handyman from Etan’s building. Investigators are working on the theory that the handyman, Othniel Miller, killed the boy and buried him there, one law enforcement official said.

In recent days, according to the law enforcement official, Mr. Miller was interviewed by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and when the possibility was raised that the boy had been buried in the basement, he blurted out, “What if the body was moved?” the official said.

I really hope that they can resolve this soon. His poor parents.... I saw an interview a few years ago and i felt terrible for them. I recall his father would send clippings or a reminder to the original suspect who is behind bars. Interesting that this suspect was so close as well....

Of course it's sad, but it looks like they might finally get this case resolved after all these years, which is probably something very few people expected to happen.

I just don't understand how there could not have been any witnesses that last saw him that morning, being that it's in Manhattan (the same goes for NYC in general) and there's lots of buildings and people all around there.

Best I can recall, the original suspect, Jose Ramos a convicted child molester, said that he took Etan, attempted to assault him and failed, then put the boy on a train to his aunt's house. But Etan had no family in the area he was "sent" to. Ramos later confessed to a jailhouse informant with much more detail and to much worse acts than an attempted assault.

Ramos was a boyfriend of the woman who was hired to walk Etan to school and back during a busing strike and he admitted he knew Etan's routine. (Also, IIRC, Ramos victimized this woman's son regularly, and he was likely the only reason Ramos was in a relationship with her.) Etan would have known and likely would have trusted this guy. He was found legally responsible for Etan's death in a civil court (not criminal court) several years ago.

The accepted scenario was that Ramos killed Etan and disposed of his body in the incinerator of a building a few blocks over from Etan's apartment (maybe on West 3rd Street?). Over the years, and before the police found out this detail, the furnace had been replaced repeatedly, making an investigation of the original device impossible.

The news reports I've read today say that Etan would have met Ramos through yet another suspect, Othneil Miller, but Miller had only met Etan the day before he went missing. Are they just searching property he had access to based on his connection to Ramos, thinking Ramos may have hid Etan there, or do they think that's a coincidence and that Miller actually killed Etan and buried him in that basement? They checked this basement back during the original investigation but decided not to do a thorough investigation of the space.

This building is on the same street that Etan lived on, not the building a few blocks away, which has been the accepted location of part of the crime for several years. Unless Miller has a history of this kind of thing, I'm still thinking it's much more likely that Ramos is the perpetrator. He's a known and convicted child molester. It would be very odd for Miller to take up child murdering in his 40s yet never commit another crime before or since Etan's death, all the while cooperating with the police on this case.

So great that the parents are still together after all these years! Of course hope they get closure, but if their suspicions are right the investigation is focused in the wrong place.

What do you mean?

I'd like to know the answer to this as well.

Reading his previous posts elsewhere, I suspect I know what he means.

Best I can recall, the original suspect, Jose Ramos a convicted child molester, said that he took Etan, attempted to assault him and failed, then put the boy on a train to his aunt's house. But Etan had no family in the area he was "sent" to. Ramos later confessed to a jailhouse informant with much more detail and to much worse acts than an attempted assault.

Ramos was a boyfriend of the woman who was hired to walk Etan to school and back during a busing strike and he admitted he knew Etan's routine. (Also, IIRC, Ramos victimized this woman's son regularly, and he was likely the only reason Ramos was in a relationship with her.) Etan would have known and likely would have trusted this guy. He was found legally responsible for Etan's death in a civil court (not criminal court) several years ago.

The accepted scenario was that Ramos killed Etan and disposed of his body in the incinerator of a building a few blocks over from Etan's apartment (maybe on West 3rd Street?). Over the years, and before the police found out this detail, the furnace had been replaced repeatedly, making an investigation of the original device impossible.

The news reports I've read today say that Etan would have met Ramos through yet another suspect, Othneil Miller, but Miller had only met Etan the day before he went missing. Are they just searching property he had access to based on his connection to Ramos, thinking Ramos may have hid Etan there, or do they think that's a coincidence and that Miller actually killed Etan and buried him in that basement? They checked this basement back during the original investigation but decided not to do a thorough investigation of the space.

This building is on the same street that Etan lived on, not the building a few blocks away, which has been the accepted location of part of the crime for several years. Unless Miller has a history of this kind of thing, I'm still thinking it's much more likely that Ramos is the perpetrator. He's a known and convicted child molester. It would be very odd for Miller to take up child murdering in his 40s yet never commit another crime before or since Etan's death, all the while cooperating with the police on this case.

Very nice summary of the case, I really appreciated it! :)

Very nice summary of the case, I really appreciated it! :)

You're welcome. :)

The latest is that they found no remains in the basement they were searching and a stain found was determined to not be blood. They did, however, submit hairs they found to the DNA lab. Only time will tell if they're Etan's hairs. He might've been killed in that basement and buried there and then later moved, or killed there and dumped somewhere else in New York.

Every once in a while they resurrect one of these old cases, saying they have "new evidence," and of course nothing ever comes of it. Hopefully it will this time.

Every once in a while they resurrect one of these old cases, saying they have "new evidence," and of course nothing ever comes of it. Hopefully it will this time.

My research area involves organized crime, and I'll never forget a few years ago when the national news stations were all over a Detroit farmhouse where it was alleged new evidence had been uncovered regarding the remains of Jimmy Hoffa.

Thankfully, one case where it did work out well more recently was identifying Altemio Sanchez as the Bike Path Rapist...

This is such a sad case. But reading those articles and the theories here brings up some more questions. Like why was Etan out alone the night before he vanished much less in Williams apartment? He was 6 years old. I certainly didn't have that kind of freedom at such a young age. When I was 6, I think my bedtime was 6:30.

I realize this was probably a much different time, maybe before the days where parents warned their kids about strangers. And were people really hired to walk random kids they didn't know to school during bus strikes? Wow.

There are people around here now that hire random people to drive their kids to soccer practice and summer camp.

I'm sorry, but what kind of dumbass parents let their children walk to bus stops by themselves? I don't want to hear but the ~80's~ were a different time, either.

I might be being too harsh but this was the parent's fault imo. They should have been charged with negligence.

I'm sorry, but what kind of dumbass parents let their children walk to bus stops by themselves? I don't want to hear but the ~80's~ were a different time, either.

I might be being too harsh but this was the parent's fault imo. They should have been charged with negligence.

I always thought that too. Plus, we're talking NEW YORK CITY. And he was like SIX YEARD OLD!!

mind = blown.

I'm sorry, but what kind of dumbass parents let their children walk to bus stops by themselves? I don't want to hear but the ~80's~ were a different time, either.

I might be being too harsh but this was the parent's fault imo. They should have been charged with negligence.


My ids were young in the 80s. I never let them out of my sight-ever because of this very thing. It was one of my greatest fears. They were in jr. high before I ever let them walk alone, away from me in Wal~mart or the mall.

The 80s were not a different time! (not to me!)

But I bet there has not been a day gone by that his poor mother does not blame herself and wish she could go back in time to change the decision she made that morning.

1979, technically

Mrs. Patz knew that the other children were allowed to take the school bus and it meant a lot to her son to be a "big boy" and walk to the bus stop and go with kids his own age. Other kids were doing it, too. My dad, when I was six, let me big a "big girl" and would drop me off two blocks from my elementary school. Things went fine, but anything could happen at anytime. Parents take greater risks with their children, I'm sure, all over the country. This time was one of those rare times where something bad happened. I don't blame Mrs. Patz. I feel really bad for her and her husband having to guilt themselves for over thirty years. Whoever hurt Etan is to blame.

It kind of reminds me of the Morgan Nick case. She didn't want to let Morgan play in the field at night but the other mother said it was fine and she was letting her kids do it. And then look what happened. The other woman's children were fine and Morgan was taken. Chance is a scary thing.

Let's also not forget that Soho was a small neighborhood then, everyone knew everyone. And, the part of the reason parents were so paranoid in the 1980s was BECAUSE of Etan Patz. It's kind of hard for the Patz' to learn from what hadn't happened yet.

Sorry, I don't care what anyone says. I don't care if they lived in Soho or the Bermuda Triangle! He was SIX YEARS OLD..HE WAS A BABY! I wasn't allowed to walk to school until I was 13/14 and even then my parents watched/or either walked with me halfway. She could have at least watched him

I feel bad for the parents, surely they made a big mistake. I would have never let my six year old do that..my mind is boggled. SIX YEARS OLD !!!!!!!!! A First GRADER !!

This is a very good book on the case that came out a year ago or so.
http://www.amazon.com/After-Etan-Missing-America-Captive/dp/04465http://www.amazon.com/After-Etan-Missing-America-Captive/dp/044658251482514

Check it out if you can. It's an interesting read.

I know his parents, of course, regret letting him walk the block & 1/2 to the bus stop that morning. Surely the parents have suffered enough and charges would not have helped anyone.

Ramos probably did kill Etan, but he's pretty scummy and not interested in helping anyone.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/man-claims-role-in-disappearance-of-etan-patz-police-say/?smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto

Pedro Hernandez is now in custody...but no word on what new evidence (if any?) they've uncovered regarding his role.

Further details are supposed to be released later today, apparently.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/nypd-person-implicated-etan-patz-death-105648977.html

The New York City police commissioner says a man in custody has implicated himself in the death of Etan Patz, the boy whose disappearance 33 years ago sparked the movement to put the faces of missing children on milk cartons.

Six-year-old Etan went missing on May 25, 1979, a while walking alone to his school bus stop for the first time. The bus stop was a block from his home in New York's SoHo neighborhood.

The case received renewed attention in April when when a basement was excavated near where Etan disappeared. However, it yielded no obvious human remains and little evidence that could help solve the mystery of what happened to the boy.

Thanks for the additional info. I just learned that they have a New Jersey man in custody in connection with Patz's disappearance. Hopefully justice will come out of all of this.

What's going on with this new suspect? He's been diagnosed with cancer. Is he just confessing to the crime so he can get in jail for some free morphine (or maybe free cancer treatment)?

I think this new guy was only about 18 at the time of Etan's disappearance. Does he have any kind of history of this kind of crime like Ramos does? It sure seems to be quite a coincidence that just a few weeks after the case was brought back to the public's attention, this man decides to confess out of nowhere.

Unless there is something really convincing that I haven't come across yet, I still think Ramos is most likely the killer. He's the only suspect who was found responsible for Etan's death in a civil court and he's the guy that Mr. Patz sends a note to every year asking, "Why did you kill my son?"

What's going on with this new suspect? He's been diagnosed with cancer. Is he just confessing to the crime so he can get in jail for some free morphine (or maybe free cancer treatment)?

I think this new guy was only about 18 at the time of Etan's disappearance. Does he have any kind of history of this kind of crime like Ramos does? It sure seems to be quite a coincidence that just a few weeks after the case was brought back to the public's attention, this man decides to confess out of nowhere.

Unless there is something really convincing that I haven't come across yet, I still think Ramos is most likely the killer. He's the only suspect who was found responsible for Etan's death in a civil court and he's the guy that Mr. Patz sends a note to every year asking, "Why did you kill my son?"

I think his notes also say, "What did you do to my son?" which is also very tragic. If Ramos did it then he's the scum of the Earth for not saying what he did with the body so the parents can have a little peace. And as much as I think he did probably do it, I almost hope this new guy who is confessing did just so that something real can finally be figured out. Today is also coincidentally missing children's day of which Etan is the poster child, so it seems like this tragically could be a hoax for more than one reason.

I don't know a whole lot about this case other than Etan went to the bus stop by himself in Soho in 1979 and never came home.

I suspect the parents have always been cleared and presumed 100% innocent in this case, no?

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/man-custody-implicates-himself-etan-patz-death-121425727.html

A New Jersey man accused of luring 6-year-old Etan Patz into a New York City convenience store in 1979 and killing him has been charged with second-degree murder. The man, 51-year-old Pedro Hernandez, was arrested on Thursday.

Announcing the arrest on Thursday, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters that police had "received information from an individual which led them to identify Hernandez as a person of interest."

"Hernandez had told a family members and others that he had quote done a bad thing and killed a child in New York," Kelly said. Kelly provided no indication of motive in the crime.

After being questioned by investigators, Hernandez returned with officers to the New York convenience store where Patz was killed and where Hernandez worked at the time.

"Hernandez described to the detectives how he lured young Etan from the school bus stop … with the promise of a soda," Kelly said. Hernandez told officers he then stuffed the young boy's body into a garbage bag, Kelly said, and disposed of it elsewhere in the neighborhood.

Hernandez is being held at Bellevue Hospital and is under suicide watch. In a Friday evening court appearance, Hernandez's lawyer said his client is mentally ill and has a "history of hallucinations, The New York Daily News reported that Hernandez was picked up in Camden, N.J., on Wednesday.

Etan went missing on May 25, 1979, while walking alone to his school bus stop for the first time. The bus stop was a just blocks from his home in New York City's SoHo neighborhood. His disappearance sparked the movement to put the faces of missing children on milk cartons.

The New York Daily News reported that Hernandez had come up on investigators' radar in the past as a convenience-store clerk who worked in Etan's neighborhood at the time the boy vanished.

"Everyone is looking for closure," Roz Radd, who has lived in neighborhood for 45 years, told the Daily News. "Hopefully, he can tell us where his body is and the family can get some peace."

The case received renewed attention in April when a basement was excavated near where Etan disappeared. However, it yielded no obvious human remains and little evidence that could help solve the mystery of what happened to the boy.

I heard that Pedro Hernandez killed Etan and put him in a garbage bag that was later disposed of. Police said that due to this, they may never find Etan's remains but are hopeful in prosecuting someone in this case.

I can't help but wonder if this was a false confession. I want it to be true, but some details just seem odd, like how he put the body in the trash and no one found it. I guess it could have been hidden very well, but still...

Pedro Hernandez Indicted In 1979 Murder, Kidnapping Of Etan Patz
by Jennifer Peltz and Tom Hays
11/14/12 - AP


The suspect in the infamous 1979 disappearance of a 6-year-old boy from his New York City neighborhood has been formally charged with murder and kidnapping, a major milestone in a case that has stymied investigators and Etan Patz's devoted family for decades.

Pedro Hernandez, 51, of Maple Shade, N.J., was indicted by a New York City grand jury. He was arrested earlier this year, and investigators say he confessed. The indictment was made public Wednesday.

Hernandez is due back in court on Thursday. The district attorney's office had no immediate comment.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/14/pedro-hernandez-indicted-etan-patz-murder-kidnapping-_n_2130680.html

Pedro Hernandez Indicted In 1979 Murder, Kidnapping Of Etan Patz
by Jennifer Peltz and Tom Hays
11/14/12 - AP


The suspect in the infamous 1979 disappearance of a 6-year-old boy from his New York City neighborhood has been formally charged with murder and kidnapping, a major milestone in a case that has stymied investigators and Etan Patz's devoted family for decades.

Pedro Hernandez, 51, of Maple Shade, N.J., was indicted by a New York City grand jury. He was arrested earlier this year, and investigators say he confessed. The indictment was made public Wednesday.

Hernandez is due back in court on Thursday. The district attorney's office had no immediate comment.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/14/pedro-hernandez-indicted-etan-patz-murder-kidnapping-_n_2130680.html

Thanks for sharing this. I am hoping his confession is true, because some think his mental illness and hallucinations caused a false confession. I also wonder if they have identified the blood and/or hair they found this year when searching Hernandez's old workplace. I think they found blood or hair, didn't they?

Longtime Suspect in Etan Patz Disappearance Gets Prison Time
by Crimesider Staff, AP
April 30, 2014


A convicted child molester long suspected in the notorious 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz in New York City will spend six to 20 years in a Pennsylvania prison for failing to register an address under Megan's Law the last time he left prison.

Wilkes-Barre's Times Leader newspaper says a Luzerne County judge handed down the sentence last Thursday against 70-year-old Jose Ramos, who was convicted in January of providing false information to prison officials.



For years, Ramos was the prime suspect in the disappearance of Etan Patz, who went missing while walking to his school bus stop. A New Jersey man has since been charged, but a civil court held Ramos responsible. Ramos denies involvement.

Ramos completed a 27-year sentence on unrelated molestation charges in 2012.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/longtime-suspect-in-etan-patz-disappearance-gets-prison-time/

This morning, I listened to Pedro Hernandez's second confession tape. I am NOT convinced he killed Ethan, for lots of reasons.

1. The tape is strangely and noticeably edited at various points. I can't think of any reason why this would be. Pedro never admitted to doing anything sexual to Etan or even having intention to, so I don't believe the edits were for graphic purposes. Why were they edited then?

2. The lack of details is bothersome. Pedro can't seem to recall much of anything. Most of what he does remember either doesn't make sense or is contradictory to other statements he makes. Why would he voluntarily confess, but leave so much open to doubt? It seems unlikely he could forget.

3. His story about how he killed Etan and what he did with the body makes ZERO sense. He says they went downstairs so he could give him a soda and he chokes him for up to two minutes, but doesn't know what propelled him to do so. He claims Etan put up zero resistance and didn't make a sound (which seems highly unlikely). He then claims he put Etan in a bag, put the bag in a banana box, carried the box for a block and a half (with people following him) and placed it in the hallway of an apartment building and that Etan was moving and still alive at this point (also unlikely). He then claims he went back to check on things the next day and the box was gone.

But, there are a few things that make me unable to 100% believe Pedro is innocent. He did seem to have some details about Etan's book bag right, including that it was a blue bag with a singular WHITE stripe, which I don't believe is common knowledge.

Now, a fact I want to point out is this: Both of the main suspects in this case, Pedro Hernandez and Jose Antonio Ramos, have never actually admitted to killing him. Pedro admitted to hurting him and Ramos admitted to molesting (or at least attempting to) a boy that day, but claims it was a different boy. Is it possible BOTH of them are innocent in this case and somebody else nabbed him?

I still scratch my head, wondering how NOBODY could have seen anything. This is the most populous city in the country here. I would think either the scenario of a creepy looking guy with an adorable young boy OR another guy carrying his body a block and a half away would have produced some witnesses.

I used to think Ramos for sure did it, but I just don't know what to think anymore. This case goes off in so many directions.

-Interestingly, prior to Pedro Hernandez's confession, his previous 7 hours of interrogation were not recorded, despite the fact that it was in the protocol to do so, and that they had the capabilities of doing so. This, in combination with the aforementioned editing of the tapes, makes me believe there is something hokey going on in regards to this.

-Additionally, it was stated that prosecutors did not have any other evidence linking Pedro to the crime. Their argument solely consisted of his confession. The various parts of his story could not be corroborated.

This Pedro Hernandez confessions sounds hinky as heck!

I read "After Etan," excellent book. I am 90% sure Ramos did it, but unfortunately I don't think we'll ever know.

Etan's case and that of Adam Walsh two years later pretty well destroyed the whole Dennis the Menace American childhood ideal. No more wandering alone, playing out till supper time, pestering the neighbors! With the prevalence of Amber Alerts and so on nowadays, American child autonomy is unlikely to make a comeback--parents have been charged with child endangerment for letting kids walk to school or a park alone!

I think I'm getting around to the point where I can believe that Pedro Hernandez is responsible.

The big thing for me is that nobody saw anything. If Jose Antonio Ramos lured Etan to his dwelling, I would think somebody would have noticed that, also considering it must have been at least some distance. NYC is filled with people.

Pedro's story sounds more believable. He lured Etan into the basement of the bodega, which must have been mere feet from where he disappeared. Killed him, then put him in a produce box (which people probably assumed was produce) then disposed of him.

I would like to see the new trial when the time comes. I miss the days of CourtTV when you could see a whole trial air. They need to resurrect that network.