On this day, May 25, in 1979, 6-year-old Etan Patz vanished from his Manhattan neighborhood in an abduction that changed America.
The day began normally. Etan put on his favorite blue captain’s hat, waved goodbye to his mother and ran down to catch the school bus two blocks away. He never made it.
Etan’s disappearance became national news and sparked the missing-children’s movement, including new laws and methods for tracking down missing children, such as the milk carton campaigns.
President Reagan declared May 25 National Missing Children’s Day in 1983 to honor children who had been abducted and remind parents to take precautions.
Police now say Jose Antonio Ramos, serving a prison term on separate molestation charges, confessed to Patz’s kidnapping and murder.
-Scott McCabe
