National Missing Children's Day has been commemorated in the United States on May 25, since 1983, when it was first proclaimed by President Ronald Reagan.
On May 25, 1979, Etan Patz was only six years old when he disappeared from his New York City home on his way from bus to school.
The date of his disappearance was designated as National Missing Children's Day.
For almost three years, media attention was focused on Atlanta, Georgia, where the bodies of young children were discovered in lakes, marshes, and ponds along roadside trails.
Twenty-nine bodies were recovered in the Atlanta murders of 1979–1981 before a suspect was arrested and convicted.