Hi everyone, this is Deb from Dying to be Found.
Before we get started, I just wanted to say that episodes contain disturbing discussions on harmful acts and crimes against animals and or humankind.
Recordings are not intended for young or sensitive audiences due to the content nature of this podcast.
Listener discretion is strongly advised.
Hi everyone, this is Deb, your host from the True Crime Podcast, Dying to be Found.
Welcome to the Dash.
When I was putting this series together, I wanted to break out of our regular routine by giving you short little snippets of true crime cases.
Be that listener who DMs me and lets me know what you think during these episodes called the Dash,
because I'm excited about this season and I hope you are too.
We're going to open up today's episode with the story of Etan Pates.
And I wanted to open up our Dash series to tell you about the very first missing persons case that was printed on milk cartons nationwide.
Back in the day, placing photos on milk cartons was very effective for its time, but it was also considered a double edged sword.
Although many missing kids were located throughout the years,
this milk carton campaign was publicly criticized due to the amount of children who became actually pretty frightened after seeing photos of missing children while they were eating their breakfast.
So let's talk about Etan Pates.
He was a six year old first grader living in New York City who was walking to his bus stop only two blocks away from his apartment in Manhattan.
When he disappeared on May 25th, 1979, it was the last day of school before Memorial Day weekend,
which here in the United States is the last weekend that marks the kickoff for summer vacation.
This day was really special to Etan.
After many, many attempts to persuade his parents to let him walk to that bus stop by himself,
Etan was finally successful and just before 8 a.m. his parents gave him a dollar to buy a soda at the corner deli and out the door he went.
He walked down three flights of stairs and headed to West Broadway,
just two blocks from his house where his mom watched him from the entrance of their apartment.
Once he was out of sight, Etan's mom returned to the apartment to tend to her toddler and talk to her husband while he was getting ready for work for the day as a professional photographer.
And according to Etan's friends, later in the day, he never made it to the bus stop.
Etan's parents only realized that he had gone missing when he did not return home from school that afternoon
because in those days they didn't get those notifications like we do from the school systems when a child does not show up.
Etan's parents immediately called the police, giving them the description of their sweet little shaggy-haired, blue-eyed boy who wore blue pants,
a blue jacket, a black Eastern Airlines future flight captain's hat, blue striped sneakers, and an elephant book bag.
Copy, I'm over here.
Get out for station.
Police immediately began to canvas the area where Etan was last known to be seen.
They went door to door interviewing anyone and everyone who may have seen a lost little six-year-old boy,
but unfortunately they were unsuccessful in finding any leads that held any substance from the get-go.
In fact, the suspect's list was pretty dismal going forward.
One of the people that police interviewed was a known pedophile who admitted that he had taken a little boy back to his apartment and was pretty adamant that it was Etan.
This admission, however, never came to fruition due to lack of evidence and police did move on.
Another suspect was a homeless man who, when found, had multiple pictures of small children in his possession.
This homeless man was known to pass out candy and matchbox cars to entice little boys around the city while he was in the park or on the bus system,
and his girlfriend walked him to school during a bus strike during the 70s.
Etan often played at the nearby park where the homeless man was known to hang out.
When questioned, this suspect was 90% sure that Etan was one of the boys he had picked up and led away on that fateful day.
Police never collected enough evidence to charge this homeless man with Etan's disappearance,
but they were convinced for many years that he had something to do with it.
Unfortunately, 22 years later, on June 19, 2001, Etan Pates was declared legally dead and this case went cold for another 33 years.
In 2010, Etan's case was reopened and police began a new investigation.
Copy, on the road, therapy.
No. 4 is 97.
By May 2012, a tipster called the NYPD's Missing Persons Unit to say that they had watched a television show on Etan Pates and believed that,
get this, his brother-in-law was involved in Etan's disappearance.
33 years later, this third suspect by the name of Pedro Hernandez was picked up for questioning and ultimately confessed to Etan's murder.
As it turns out, Hernandez initially confessed to this murder in an open confessional at a local church back in 1982.
For listeners who are not aware of what a confessional is, it's where you see someone walk behind a curtain at a Catholic church and talk to a priest behind the screen.
Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.
There is anonymity here and even today, Catholic priests are not required to report what they hear due to something called the seal of the confessional.
Now, there is a much longer explanation of this and I highly encourage you to go look this up.
It's quite interesting, but I will leave that up to you to look that up if you're interested.
During one of Hernandez's police interviews, he made a confession here as well.
Hernandez stated that he was 18 years old back in 1979 and he worked at the corner deli where Etan stopped to get that soda on the morning that he disappeared.
As part of his taped confession, Hernandez stated that he asked Etan to come into the basement to get his drink.
Etan did follow him downstairs and when they got there, Hernandez stated that he didn't know what had come over him, but he choked Etan until he went limp.
Hernandez then hid Etan's book bag in the basement and placed Etan in a box, slung it over his shoulder, went out for a walk and placed him out with the trash just a few blocks away.
After his arrest, Hernandez was given a psychiatric evaluation and was diagnosed with a psychological disorder called schizotypal personality disorder plus an IQ measurement of 70 which in the medical world borders on mental retardation.
Psychiatrists however determined that Hernandez had the capacity to differentiate between right and wrong and was declared fit to stand trial.
In 2016, Pedro Hernandez went to trial for Etan's disappearance and murder, but he did not receive enough votes from the jury to convict.
The jury was deadlocked 11 to 1 based on his mental capacities at the time that Etan disappeared and a mistrial was declared.
A year and a half later, Hernandez went on trial for a second time and in February 2017, after three months of testimony and nine days of jury deliberation, he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
CNN reports that the Pates family waited a very long time to get answers behind Etan's disappearance. Etan's father even said, quote, we've finally found some measure of justice for our little boy Etan, end quote.
During the 40 years that they remained in New York City, Etan's parents kept the same phone number in the hopes that he would return or be in touch one day.
However, during the summer of 2019, Etan's parents finally put their Manhattan apartment up for sale and relocated to Hawaii where their second son lives.
Moving forward to today and now, Etan's case changed so many things about how missing cases are investigated.
Plus, it changed how parents supervise their children today. In the United States, by law, children under the age of 12 cannot be left unsupervised for a specific period of time.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan declared May 25th to be National Missing Children's Day.
A year later, in 1984, the US Congress passed the Missing Children's Assistance Act, which is associated with what we know now as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
In 1996, the Amber Alert system was implemented under 82 statewide systems throughout the United States, plus in 33 countries worldwide.
And this is something that we talked about during season one, so if you have a chance, go check that out.
In the meantime, that is the story of Etan Pates.
Every year, so many children go missing and it's up to us to do something about it.
These children are defenseless, whether we're related to them or not, and humanity tells us that we need to take action.
If you have any information on any missing or exploited children in your area, you can visit missingkids.org or call 1-800-THE-LOST.
That's 1-800-843-5678.
So that, my friends, is The Dash.
Until next time, be sure to write in and let me know what you think.
Click on the links in our show notes to find out more about this podcast and check back here every Thursday with my wonderful group of family members.
If you are a True Crime podcaster and want a chance to highlight your own podcast, go to that link in our show notes, email me, and let's talk.
Until then, we'll talk to you soon.
Thanks for listening to Dying to be Found, True Crime podcast and our Dash mini-series.
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