Missing Vermont Girl Found Dead

Etan Patz disappeared on way to school bus in downtown Manhattan

(NEWSER) - Manhattan's district attorney is taking a fresh look at the evidence in one of America's most famous missing child cases. Six-year-old Etan Patz vanished on his way to a Manhattan bus stop in 1979. A huge search was mounted, and Patz became the first missing child ever to be shown on a milk carton, but no trace of him was ever found. Jose Ramos, a convicted child molester currently serving time in Pennsylvania whose former girlfriend once worked for the Patzes, has long been the prime suspect—and Patz's father Stanley is hoping for an indictment at last, ABC reports. More»

But comments are 'backed by studies,' officials say

(NEWSER) - Vatican officials moved clumsily to quell the uproar over a top cardinal's comments blaming homosexuality for the church's sex abuse scandals—by acknowledging that he probably didn't know what he was talking about. Church officials "do not consider it their competence to make general statements on matters that are specifically psychological or medical in nature," a Vatican spokesman said yesterday, referring to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone's comments that homosexuality, not celibacy, is to blame for the raft of sexual assaults on children by clergy. More»

'The screaming is embedded in your brain forever,' says one

(NEWSER) - "Victims" who don't get much recognition in kiddie porn cases are the investigators who uncover horrors done to children. "The crying, the screaming on the videos are embedded in your brain forever," said one cop who has been investigating child porn for 4 years. "The screams are complete terror. The eyes, they are just like death. There is no life in those eyes." Yet, officers must pretend to be pedophiles and friendly to the very men they are trying to bust in Internet chats. More»

(NEWSER) - Shouting parents pounded on and hurled bottles at a van carrying a British daycare teacher charged with distributing child porn, reports the Guardian. Photos found in Vanessa George's home showed children as young as infants being sexually assaulted, according to law enforcement authorities. Parents lined up for hours to confront the teacher at a court appearance. They shouted as the van later rushed her from the courthouse, then ran down the street to attack the vehicle. Two men were arrested in the attack. More»

Cops found photos of naked kids in her home

(NEWSER) - A British daycare teacher has been busted for suspected involvement in an Internet pedophile ring after photos of naked children were found in her home, reports the Telegraph. A police spokesman said the pictures were "at the top end of the scale." Officials are attempting to identify the photographed children and determine if any of them attend the nursery school where teacher Vanessa George works. More»