Famed 1979 Missing Child Case Reopened

Etan Patz disappeared on way to school bus in downtown Manhattan
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 27, 2010 4:36 AM CDT

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.

Ramos, who is due to be released in 2012, has admitted attempting to molest a young boy on the day Patz disappeared but didn't use Etan's name, and insisted he "put the boy on a subway." "All we have been asking for is the district attorney to take a good look at the information," Stanley Patz, who each year sends Ramos one of the old missing child posters with "What did you do to my little boy?" written on back, tells the AP. "I realize this is not like CSI. That's why it's been a tough case all along. But there is enough evidence that a competent attorney can use to prosecute."
(More Etan Patz stories.)

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