30 Years Later, Case of 1st Boy on Milk Carton Still a Mystery

Spawned missing children's movement
By A Ali,  Newser Staff
Posted May 13, 2009 3:36 PM CDT

Almost 30 years after he walked himself the few blocks to the bus stop for the very first time, the case of Etan Patz is unresolved. The boy, then 6, became the first missing child to grace a milk carton, and the New York case sparked a nationwide missing-children's movement, CNN reports. A convicted child molester serving time in Pennsylvania remains the prime suspect, but prosecutors say there isn't enough evidence without a body.

There were few leads in the case until photos of young, blond boys who looked like Patz were found at the apartment of Jose Antonio Ramos, the boyfriend of Patz's former babysitter. Ramos later told investigators that he took a boy resembling Patz to his apartment the day the child went missing. He claims to have released the boy at a subway station.
(More missing child stories.)

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