Girls, imagine this, yesterday I was just beginning to come awake, as the radio was broadcasting the 6am news, when, out of the blue, I heard a name, which caused me to bolt upright in bed!
Etan Patz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What on Earth was going on, I wondered? Well, once I was up, fully awake and heard the complete story, I discovered that police dogs sniffing around 127 Prince Street, found evidence of human decomposition, leading investigators to wonder, since the location was only a block from Ethan's then home, might these be his remains??????
I will be honest with you--I am not so sure. Partly that is because I read Lisa Cohen's fairly recent book, "After Etan--The Missing Child Case That Held America Captive," and I was
pretty satisfied with its detailing Jose Ramos, onetime boyfriend of the Patzes then babysitter, as the
perp (he had bragged about it to cellmates) as well as the explanation for why the child was never found--Ramos was also the superintendent of an apartment building on East 10th Street, and it was alleged he took Etan's body to the basement, placed it in the incinerator, and, in effect, cremated him.
Makes sense to me, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not only is it now being said these alleged remains may be Etan, but that two new
gentlemen--a handyman who knew the Patzes, and a friend of his, who were working in the basement at this location (and which was sealed up soon after Etan vanished) may have been involved. At the time of the disappearance, on May 25, 1979, they were looked at, but not found to be suspects.
Stan Patz, Etan's father, according to Cohen, each year on Etan's birthday (April 9) and his disappearance (May 25) sends Rameros one of those famous eight by tens we know so well, writing to him on the back, "What did you do to my little boy?" Patz believes in Ramos' guilt, and, will not let up until he gets a response. Which he has not yet.
I tend to agree with Patz, and with Lisa Cohen's findings. However, if tests are done, and revealed inconclusively that the remains are Etan Patz, so be it. But it will take a lot of testing and even more waiting in a case that has spanned thirty three years.
As Lisa Cohen says up front, Etan's name has become code for every child rearing urban mother's nightmare. Even though I was going through a crisis of my own back then--just seven weeks before, my mother had passed on from lung cancer--I was disturbed and touched by Etan's story. As young and naive as I was back then, it seemed to me unfathomable that someone could just vanish without being found. Now I see how all too possible that is.
This latest development reminds me of an episode I saw on "Law And Order" about repressed memory, called "In Memory Of." It was said to be based on the George Franklin case, but the bare bones of the plot touch on here--in a building across the street from other residents, some skeletal remains are found, and proven to be that of a young boy, Tommy Keegan, who vanished in the neighborhood, and, like Etan, was never found. Mary Joan Negro played a troubled young woman who had buried memories of Tommy's demise, as she had been friends with him. One of those memories involved seeing her father washing blood off his hands. He behaved monstrously to her, to get her away from him, and she could never figure out why.
It turns out the father was a compulsive pedophile, who was able to keep it in check, preying only on boys while traveling or commuting, fortunate enough never to be caught. He lost that control with Tommy, and when the boy protested in the basement, hit him with a wrench, killing him. Once he was dead, the guy put the boy's body inside a wall that was to be bricked up, till it was discovered some thirty years later.
This latest development sounds just like this episode. Let us hope the outcome has as much closure as it did on the episode. If it does not, that is, if the remains prove to be that of someone else, then I am satisfied with the Rameros thing.
It also reminds me of the "Cold Case"episode "A Perfect Day," which opens with the body of four-year-old girl, Vivivan Mulvaney, being found in the water after four decades. At least water helps slow down decomposition.
So, once again there is interest in Etan's case, and I am as curious as next as to what the findings reveal. While life may sometimes imitate art, the way things have gone in this case, I doubt if there will be as much closure or resolution as one gets from art.
But, then again, you never know!!!!!!!!!!!!
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