MONSTER OF YOUR NIGHTMARES
A young boy never made it to school and changed thousands of lives
The little boy changed the world
It was the very first time that Etan Patz was allowed to walk the two short blocks in Lower Manhattan to catch the school bus by himself.
Independent Etan, six, had begged his parents for the chance to walk alone to the bus stop like all his friends did.
It was May 25, 1979. It was an innocent time when parents allowed their children to play out on the streets and strangers were trusted.
Etan was dressed for school in a blue hat, shirt, jeans, and blue sneakers.
He had a dollar bill in his pocket and toy cars in his backpack.
He proudly told his parents, Julie and Stan, that he was going to buy an ice-cold soda to have with his lunch.
But little Etan never caught the bus and he never turned up at his school.
His teacher didn’t tell the principal that he wasn’t there, so it wasn’t until he didn’t return home that his parents realised that he’d gone missing. His disappearance even prompted former President Ronald Reagan to formally make the day that Etan disappeared National Missing Children’s Day in the US. But despite the massive publicity, there was no news of Etan for over two decades.
Etan lived in a loft apartment in the Soho neighbourhood of Lower Manhattan, New York, with his parents, sister Shira, eight, and brother Ari, two.
His mum had reluctantly agreed to let Etan walk the short distance to the bus that fateful morning and when he didn’t return home, she called the police.
Over 100 officers searched the streets with a team of dogs while helicopters circled the skies. The search went on for weeks, but with no leads. His father,
Stan, was
a professional photographer and his photos of Etan were used on the missing posters.
Etan was one of the first missing children to be put on a milk carton and his face was even projected on screens at Times Square.
The six-year-old changed the way American parents approached the safety of their children. The concept of ‘stranger danger’ was highlighted and families kept a closer eye on their children. When it came to missing children, more attention was focused on getting the details in the media and even new legislation was introduced thanks to campaigning by Etan’s parents.
But after twenty years of no trace, their little boy was legally declared dead.
In 2010, investigators reopened the case. Authorities were convinced that Etan had been abducted and murdered.
Two years later, there was tip-off
after a public appeal for information. A man said that his brother-inlaw had killed Etan.
That man was Pedro Hernandez, 51.
At the time Etan went missing, Pedro was just 18 and working as a clerk in a store near Etan’s bus stop.
Pedro was brought in for questioning and the father of three confessed. He said he’d lured Etan to the basement of the store with the promise of soda. There, he’d strangled Etan.
‘I just couldn’t let go,’ Pedro said in one interview. ‘I felt like something just took over me.’
The school drop-out put Etan’s body inside a plastic bag in a box and dumped it a block away in an alleyway with some trash. He denied sexually abusing Etan although investigators believed that was the motive. There was no
physical evidence to back up his confession, or a body. His lawyers said that Pedro had a low IQ and was prone to hallucinations and in December 2012, he pleaded not guilty to murder and kidnapping.
In 2015, a five month trial ended in a hung jury when one juror couldn’t agree.
Pedro faced court again in October 2016 and a new jury heard his
confessions. This time, he was found guilty of kidnapping and felony murder. In April this year, Pedro, now 56, was sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 25 years. ‘The defendant kept a terrible secret,’ the judge said. ‘His silence caused the Patz family indescribable anguish and served to compound their grief.’etan’s parents were there to see their son get justice after 38 years. Stan said; ‘Pedro Hernandez, after all these years, we finally
‘Something just took over me’ Pedro confessed Thrown away with the trash
know what dark secret you had locked in your heart. You took our precious child and threw him in the garbage. You are the monster in your nightmares. I will never forgive you.’
Etan’s fate was the end of innocence for so many American families. New Yorkers still remember the sound of the helicopters as they hovered above in search of the little boy who never came home.