Etan Patz's 1979 disappearance catalyzed the U.S. missing children movement and led to National Missing Children's Day on May 25.
Key Facts
- Age at disappearance
- 6 years old
- Date of disappearance
- May 25, 1979
- National Missing Children's Day
- Designated May 25, 1983 by President Reagan
- Legally declared dead
- June 19, 2001
- Convicted perpetrator
- Pedro Hernandez, sentenced 25-years-to-life (2017)
- Conviction status
- Overturned July 21, 2025; retrial announced Nov 2025
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
On May 25, 1979, six-year-old Etan Patz left his SoHo home in Lower Manhattan for the first time alone to walk to his school bus stop, a distance of two blocks. He never arrived and was never seen again, prompting one of the most extensive missing-child searches in New York City history.
Etan Patz vanished without a trace in the SoHo neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. Decades later, Pedro Hernandez was indicted in 2012 for second-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. After a mistrial and retrial, Hernandez was convicted on February 14, 2017, and sentenced to 25 years to life, though his conviction was overturned in 2025 and a retrial was ordered.
The case directly inspired the U.S. missing children movement, spurring new legislation and tracking methods. Etan became one of the first children featured on milk carton campaigns in the 1980s. President Reagan designated May 25 as National Missing Children's Day in 1983, and Etan was declared legally dead in 2001 after his body was never recovered.