Etan Kalil Patz (/ˈeɪtɑːn ˈpeɪts/; October 9, 1972 – May 25, 1979) was an American boy who was six years old on May 25, 1979, when he disappeared on his way to his school bus stop in the SoHo neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.

[4] In 1983, President Ronald Reagan designated May 25—the anniversary of Etan's disappearance—as National Missing Children's Day in the United States.

In 2014, the case went through a series of hearings to determine whether or not Hernandez's statements before he received his Miranda warning were legally admissible at trial.

The retrial began on October 19, 2016, and it was concluded on February 14, 2017, after nine days of deliberations, when the jury found Hernandez guilty of murder and kidnapping.

Neighbors and police canvassed the city and placed missing-child posters featuring Etan's portrait, but this resulted in few leads.

[11] Assistant United States Attorney Stuart R. GraBois received the case in 1985 and identified Jose Antonio Ramos, a convicted child sexual abuser who had been a friend of Etan's former babysitters, as the primary suspect.

When police searched the drain pipe, they found photographs of Ramos and young boys who resembled Etan.

GraBois eventually found out that Ramos had been in custody in Pennsylvania in connection with an unrelated child molestation case.

When first questioned by GraBois, Ramos stated that, on the day when Etan disappeared, he had taken a young boy back to his apartment to rape him.

[11] In a special feature on missing children, the New York Post reported on October 21, 1999, that Ramos was the prime suspect in Etan's disappearance.

Every year, on Etan's birthday and the anniversary of his disappearance, Stan Patz sent Ramos a copy of his son's missing-child poster.

This residence had been newly refurbished shortly after Etan's disappearance in 1979, and the basement had been the workshop and storage space of a handyman.

"[22] On May 24, 2012, New York police commissioner Raymond Kelly announced that a man was in custody who had implicated himself in Etan's disappearance.

"[35] The next month, New York Supreme Court justice Maxwell Wiley ruled that the evidence was "legally sufficient to support the charges" and that the case could move forward.

[36] A September 2014 hearing was conducted to determine whether Hernandez's statements that were made before the police had read the Miranda rights to him were legally admissible at trial.

[citation needed] In 1983, the May 25 anniversary of Etan Patz's disappearance was designated National Missing Children's Day in the United States.

[48][49][50][51][52] The extensive media attention attracted by the case of Patz's disappearance has been credited with increasing public awareness of the problem of child abduction.