After Etan

Book excerpt: In After Etan, author Lisa Cohen draws on hundreds of interviews and nearly twenty years of research—including access to the personal files of the Patz family—to reveal, for the first time, the entire dramatic tale of Etan's disappearance: "A masterful combination of deep human interest and detailed criminal investigation into a parent's worst nightmare" (Kirkus Reviews, Starred). On the morning of May 25, 1979, six-year-old Etan Patz left his apartment to go to his school bus stop. It was the first time he had ever walked the two short blocks on his own. But he never made it to school that day. He vanished somewhere between his home and the bus stop, and was never seen again. The search for Etan quickly consumed the downtown Manhattan neighborhood where his family lived. Soon afterward, "Missing" posters with Etan's smiling face blanketed the city, followed by media coverage that turned Etan's disappearance into a national story-one that would change our cultural landscape forever. Thirty years later, in Etan's honor, May 25 is recognized as National Missing Children's Day. But despite the overwhelming publicity his case received, the public knows only a fraction of what happened. That's because the story of Etan Patz is more than a heartbreaking mystery. It is also the story of the men, women, and children who were touched by his life in the months and years after he vanished. It's the story of the agonies and triumphs of the Patz family, as well as the story of the extraordinary twists and turns of federal prosecutor Stuart GraBois's relentless pursuit of his prime suspect. From GraBois's creative "outside the box" tactics, to the veteran cop who made his first pedophile bust on a dark Times Square rooftop, to the FBI rookie who cut her teeth chasing the case through the dark recesses of a child molester's mind, this is the story of all the heroic investigators who, to this day, continue to seek justice for Etan.