But when Hernandez was retried the new jury found him guilty of kidnapping and murder. After an unsuccessful appeal attempt, Hernandez was sentenced on April 18, to 25 years to life in federal prison. Photographs and contact information were distributed on posters, newspapers, and television broadcasts, and Etan was the first missing child to have his picture shown on milk cartons.
Man who killed Etan Patz in sentenced to prison. Show Caption. Hide Caption. On May 25, , a misty summer morning in New York City, 6-year-old Etan Patz begged his mother, Julie, to let him walk the few blocks to school alone. She relented, and the last time she saw him alive he was walking away from her. It took another jury just nine days to convict Hernandez earlier this month of second degree murder and kidnapping in the first degree — and seal his fate.
IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Politics Covid U. News World Opinion Business. Bill Butler []: We have leads, but we don't know where we're gonna end up on the leads that we have now. Bill Butler []: When you go this long on something like this, you do, you feel like you're looking for your own son.
The search for Etan dragged on. Detective Butler, a father with six children, lived and breathed the case. Patrick Eanniello : More than I could imagine. He was very, very tied into the case. In , Bill Butler took his own life. There was speculation Butler's frustration with this case may have been part of the reason why. The search went on without Butler. Julie and Stan had two other children to protect: Etan's older sister and younger brother.
Julie Patz []: We keep saying we try to lead normal lives, but in so many small ways, it's just totally impossible, I mean we have his belongings all over the house … And yet to put them away is saying to us and our children he's gone and not coming back.
The Patz's did everything they could to keep their story in the news. And that helped other missing children. In the s, milk cartons showed Etan's face, and then, those of others. But Etan remained among the missing. By , a new detective was heading the Missing Persons Squad. Phil Mahony was drawn to the case by, of all things, a poem titled "The Missing Boy" by Sharon Olds -- about a mother and son looking at Etan's missing poster. Richard Schlesinger : It was cold? Phil Mahony : It was colder than cold … we had to find the reports and put them back together.
The leads led nowhere. But, there was someone who police were very interested in: Jose Ramos, the man who said he may have encountered a boy in Washington Square Park, not far from where the Patz's lived.
In , Jose Ramos was picked up by police for stealing some books from children. He was homeless, living in a drainage tunnel in New York City.
Former Lieutenant Phil Mahony recalls Ramos had some disturbing photos. Phil Mahony : He had a bunch of -- photos … of kids that looked like Etan Patz. Susan Harrington, Ramos's girlfriend, walked Etan to school during a bus strike shortly before Etan disappeared.
Phil Mahony : There was enough there, there was a lot there to draw attention to him certainly. Phil Mahony : Jose Ramos … has said several times that on May 25, … he was here … when a young, small, sevenish … blond kid came up to him and started talkin' to him.
And Jose Ramos said at that point he eventually took the kid back to his apartment. Ramos told that story to Federal Prosecutor Stuart GraBois, who had been working the case since GraBois and the FBI had, through the years, tracked leads around the world.
But they always came back to Ramos. Stuart GraBois : In June , Ramos was brought to my office … and proceeded to state … that he was 90 percent sure that the young boy he took that day, May 25,, was the same boy whose picture he saw both in the newspaper and on television -- that being Etan Patz.
Stuart GraBois : One of the things he did is travel around the United States in a converted school bus, giving out Matchbox cars and toys and baseball cards to children -- to young boys to entice them onto the bus. GraBois wanted to prosecute Ramos even if it wasn't for the Etan Patz case. He succeeded in Pennsylvania. In , Ramos pleaded guilty to molesting an 8-year old boy and was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison. Richard Schlesinger : You've got a known pedophile who says he was 90 percent sure he picked up Etan Patz, you know-- around the time he disappeared.
Why didn't you just go," OK, case closed"? Phil Mahony : Because we didn't have that corroborated evidence -- didn't have that one person who said, "Yeah, I saw him and Etan in Washington Square Park.
Investigators hunted for more evidence. In , Mahony ordered a search of an apartment building Ramos lived in when Etan disappeared. Ramos had allegedly told a fellow inmate this is where he disposed of Etan's body. Phil Mahony : When he was in jail, Jose Ramos said … that he put Etan into the furnace in the basement.
Phil Mahony : …there was just never that next thing to make you say, "Yup, that's it. Close the books, we got the guy.
Mahony felt they didn't have enough on Ramos to charge him with Etan's disappearance. Neither did the Manhattan D. Stan Patz []: I believe this man stalked my son.
I believe he lured him back to his apartment. I think he used him like toilet paper and I think he threw him away [emotional]. Brian O'Dwyer is a prominent N. Brian O'Dwyer : And I said, you know, you have an opportunity -- you may not have … thought about it, but of taking a civil case against Ramos. It would be a wrongful death suit. O'Dwyer hoped Ramos would be subpoenaed and might say something incriminating to help bring a criminal case.
But before the wrongful death case could proceed, O'Dwyer had to ask the Patz's to officially give up hope. They would have to ask a court to declare their son dead. Stan Patz []: I used to have fantasies of a taxi cab -- pulling up in front, and Etan coming out of it. But -- that was a long time ago. I don't entertain those fantasies any more. The Patz's attorney went to the Pennsylvania prison where Ramos was being held to interview the man he believed had killed Etan Patz.
Brian O'Dwyer : This was evil incarnate. Brian O'Dwyer : He said that yes, indeed, he was on the street that day. And he picked up a little boy by the name of Jimmy. Ramos would never answer more questions or testify in court, and the Patz's won the civil case against him.
Brian O'Dwyer [to reporters in ]: Once and for all we have a final declaration by a court of law that Jose Antonio Ramos caused the death of Etan Patz. Brian O'Dwyer : No. But 33 years after Etan disappeared there was a tip -- and it could change everything in this case.
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