The supreme court upheld the conviction in this case. Finally! This has been such a long and drawn out hellscape for the family.

Etan Patz was 6 when he disappeared on May 25, 1979, while walking alone to his school bus stop in SoHo, New York City. It was the first time his parents had allowed him to make that trip unaccompanied; he vanished without a trace. The case drew national attention and helped make Etan one of the first missing children whose image appeared on milk cartons. May 25 was later designated National Missing Children’s Day.

Investigators pursued several leads over the years. In the early 1980s José Ramos, a convicted child molester with ties to a family acquaintance, was suspected and made incriminating statements but was never charged criminally; a 2004 civil verdict found him liable for Etan’s wrongful death. Etan was declared legally dead in 2001. Despite decades without significant clues, the investigation drew renewed attention in 2012 when Pedro Hernandez confessed to abducting and killing Etan, saying he had lured him into a store basement and strangled him, though the case remained contested.

If anyone knew Etan, his route to the bus stop, or saw anything in SoHo on May 25, 1979, please share what might help clarify what happened.