National Missing Children Day
It was on May 25, 1979 (33 years ago today) that six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared on a street just two blocks away from his New York City home. It was this incident which was the catalyst for President Ronald Reagan, four years later in 1983, to designate May 25th as National Missing Children's Day.
On May 25, 1979, Etan Patz was disappeared in New York City on his way from bus to school. At the time, cases of missing children rarely garnered national media attention, but Etan’s case quickly received a lot of coverage. His father, a professional photographer, distributed black-and-white photographs of Etan in an effort to find him. The resulting massive search and media attention that followed focused the public's attention on the problem of child abduction and the lack of plans to address it.
The issue had also been predominent in Atlanta, Georgia, where the bodies of young children were discovered in lakes, marshes, and ponds along roadside trails. The bodies of twenty-nine children were recovered before a suspect was arrested and identified in 1981.
On October 12, 1982, Reagan signed the Missing Children Act into law. At the ceremony for the bill signing, Reagan said:
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am signing two bills that will provide peace of mind, I think, to many of our citizens. This first bill will begin to address the tragedy of America's missing children. Every year in this country thousands of children disappear from their homes. The Missing Children Act will reassure parents that every effort is being made to find, or in more tragic circumstances, to identify their children.
"Finding missing children has become a national problem. Because of overlapping jurisdictions and the lack of centralized information, parents of missing children have faced frustration and anger in their attempts to locate their children. Furthermore, State and local officials are often unable to identify bodies simply because of restrictions on missing person reports from other jurisdictions.
"The Missing Children Act attempts to lessen these problems by mandating a system to allow parents access to a central computer file designed to help trace missing children. The act also will aid in identifying deceased children and adults and at least ease the parents' pain of not knowing. I want to thank the Congress, and particularly Senator Paula Hawkins, Congressman Clay Shaw, for making it possible to sign this compassionate measure. And with me here today are some individuals who've committed their lives to the cause of missing children. John and Reve Walsh of Hollywood, Florida, came to the cause of all exploited children because of their own family tragedy. And their courage, in the face of what surely must be the most difficult grief imaginable, has rallied thousands of others to this noble effort."
As for Etan Patz, the first ever missing child to be pictured on the side of a milk carton, he unfortunately remains missing. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. officially reopened the Etan Patz case on May 25, 2010 (2 years ago today). Yesterday, on 24 May 2012, New York Police Comissioner Raymond Kelly announced that a man was in custody who had implicated himself in the Patz disappearance. He has been identified as Pedro Hernandez, and according to the New York Times, he has confessed to killing the child.
On May 25, 1979, Etan Patz was disappeared in New York City on his way from bus to school. At the time, cases of missing children rarely garnered national media attention, but Etan’s case quickly received a lot of coverage. His father, a professional photographer, distributed black-and-white photographs of Etan in an effort to find him. The resulting massive search and media attention that followed focused the public's attention on the problem of child abduction and the lack of plans to address it.
The issue had also been predominent in Atlanta, Georgia, where the bodies of young children were discovered in lakes, marshes, and ponds along roadside trails. The bodies of twenty-nine children were recovered before a suspect was arrested and identified in 1981.
On October 12, 1982, Reagan signed the Missing Children Act into law. At the ceremony for the bill signing, Reagan said:
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am signing two bills that will provide peace of mind, I think, to many of our citizens. This first bill will begin to address the tragedy of America's missing children. Every year in this country thousands of children disappear from their homes. The Missing Children Act will reassure parents that every effort is being made to find, or in more tragic circumstances, to identify their children.
"Finding missing children has become a national problem. Because of overlapping jurisdictions and the lack of centralized information, parents of missing children have faced frustration and anger in their attempts to locate their children. Furthermore, State and local officials are often unable to identify bodies simply because of restrictions on missing person reports from other jurisdictions.
"The Missing Children Act attempts to lessen these problems by mandating a system to allow parents access to a central computer file designed to help trace missing children. The act also will aid in identifying deceased children and adults and at least ease the parents' pain of not knowing. I want to thank the Congress, and particularly Senator Paula Hawkins, Congressman Clay Shaw, for making it possible to sign this compassionate measure. And with me here today are some individuals who've committed their lives to the cause of missing children. John and Reve Walsh of Hollywood, Florida, came to the cause of all exploited children because of their own family tragedy. And their courage, in the face of what surely must be the most difficult grief imaginable, has rallied thousands of others to this noble effort."
As for Etan Patz, the first ever missing child to be pictured on the side of a milk carton, he unfortunately remains missing. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. officially reopened the Etan Patz case on May 25, 2010 (2 years ago today). Yesterday, on 24 May 2012, New York Police Comissioner Raymond Kelly announced that a man was in custody who had implicated himself in the Patz disappearance. He has been identified as Pedro Hernandez, and according to the New York Times, he has confessed to killing the child.