WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Etan Patz 0:00:46.480 --> 0:00:51.921 School of Humans. Helen Got Murder Line actively investigates cold 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.361 case murders in an effort to raise public awareness invite 0:00:55.401 --> 0:00:58.761 witnesses to come forward and present evidence that could potentially 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.961 be further investigated by law enforcement. While we value insights 0:01:03.001 --> 0:01:06.160 from family and community members, their statements should not be 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.961 considered evidence and point to the challenges of verifying facts 0:01:10.041 --> 0:01:14.041 inherent in cold cases. We remind listeners that everyone has 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.160 presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 0:01:17.961 --> 0:01:20.840 Nothing in the podcast is intended to state or imply 0:01:21.041 --> 0:01:23.601 that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime 0:01:24.121 --> 0:01:27.121 is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening. 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:33.321 The morning of Friday, May twenty fifth, nineteen seventy nine 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:37.041 started out like just another day for Julie Pate's and 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.560 the rest of her family. Her husband, stand a photographer, 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.321 and her children, eight year old Shira, six year old Aton, 0:01:44.681 --> 0:01:47.561 and two year old Ari. It was a busy morning. 0:01:48.081 --> 0:01:50.921 Julie ran a daycare out of her soho loft at 0:01:50.921 --> 0:01:54.081 one thirteen Prince Street in New York City. She was 0:01:54.161 --> 0:01:56.441 getting her own kids ready for the day and at 0:01:56.441 --> 0:01:59.721 the same time preparing for the influx of kids who 0:01:59.721 --> 0:02:03.201 would be arriving soon. Shia didn't want to roll out 0:02:03.201 --> 0:02:07.081 of bed, but Aton, who his family described as a sweet, 0:02:07.321 --> 0:02:11.280 loving and friendly boy, was excited to start his school day. 0:02:12.281 --> 0:02:14.960 Six year old Aton asked his mom if he could 0:02:15.001 --> 0:02:17.441 walk the two short blocks to the school bus stop 0:02:17.441 --> 0:02:21.201 alone for the very first time. He'd been asking his 0:02:21.321 --> 0:02:23.201 parents all year if he could take the bus to 0:02:23.201 --> 0:02:26.761 his school, PS three on Greenwich Street, and his mom 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:29.241 and dad had always said no, But it was the 0:02:29.321 --> 0:02:31.841 last few weeks of the school year, and so his 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:36.761 mom said okay. In her book After Aton, the Missing 0:02:36.881 --> 0:02:41.881 Childcase That Held America Captive, author Lisa Cohen detailed that 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:46.321 morning for the Pates family. Julie got Shira and Aton dressed. 0:02:46.881 --> 0:02:50.081 Aton was wearing blue pants with a blue corduroy jacket, 0:02:50.401 --> 0:02:53.441 a T shirt with his light blue sneakers with fluorescent 0:02:53.481 --> 0:02:56.721 green stripes on the side, and a future flight captain 0:02:56.801 --> 0:03:01.361 pilot's cap. Julie was also packing for a trip. Some 0:03:01.561 --> 0:03:04.561 friends had invited their family to come to their country 0:03:04.561 --> 0:03:08.240 house for the weekend. Aton ate his breakfast toast and 0:03:08.361 --> 0:03:11.241 chocolate milk and picked up his blue lunch bag with 0:03:11.241 --> 0:03:15.041 white elephants. Julie later told the New York Times that 0:03:15.081 --> 0:03:18.161 she remembers him stuffing toy trucks into his school bag. 0:03:19.201 --> 0:03:21.921 Aton had a plan that day. He had a dollar 0:03:22.001 --> 0:03:25.001 in his pocket, which a neighborhood handyman had given him 0:03:25.041 --> 0:03:27.840 the day before when Aton helped him in his workshop. 0:03:28.761 --> 0:03:31.321 Aton was going to stop at the corner bodega at 0:03:31.321 --> 0:03:34.961 Prince and West Broadway and by a soda before getting 0:03:35.001 --> 0:03:38.481 on the bus. The kids left the house just before 0:03:38.561 --> 0:03:43.721 eight am. Julie followed Aton downstairs down the three floor walk. 0:03:44.561 --> 0:03:47.321 At the time, Julie told police she could see other 0:03:47.401 --> 0:03:50.761 kids and parents walking toward the bus stop, and she 0:03:50.921 --> 0:03:54.601 kissed her son goodbye as she watched him walk down 0:03:54.641 --> 0:03:58.241 the street. Before going back upstairs, she told herself that 0:03:58.321 --> 0:04:01.841 it was only two blocks. This was the last time 0:04:02.001 --> 0:04:07.001 that Julie ever saw her son. This case became a 0:04:07.081 --> 0:04:09.441 huge story, not just in New York, but in the 0:04:09.561 --> 0:04:13.521 entire country. Aton Pates became the literal poster child for 0:04:13.601 --> 0:04:16.921 missing children, and Julie and her husbands stand were the 0:04:16.961 --> 0:04:21.081 living embodiment of every parent's worst nightmare. What if your 0:04:21.161 --> 0:04:24.640 child disappeared one day and you never found out what 0:04:24.841 --> 0:04:28.601 really happened to them. I've wanted to talk about this 0:04:28.681 --> 0:04:31.840 case for a long time. I live in New York City, 0:04:32.001 --> 0:04:34.840 just a couple of blocks from Aton's house. This is 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:37.681 a case that has, for lack of a better phrase, 0:04:38.121 --> 0:04:41.801 taken more tortuous twists and turns for these parents than 0:04:41.961 --> 0:04:46.401 any other case I've ever in investigated or researched. There 0:04:46.481 --> 0:04:49.880 is so much information out there about this case, a 0:04:49.921 --> 0:04:52.681 lot of it has never been made public in news reports, 0:04:53.401 --> 0:04:58.440 and forty six years later, this case is still active. 0:05:00.641 --> 0:05:03.760 I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past seven years of making 0:05:03.761 --> 0:05:07.161 my true crime podcast, Helen Gone, I've learned that there's 0:05:07.241 --> 0:05:10.721 no such thing as a small town where murder never happens. 0:05:11.361 --> 0:05:14.321 I have received hundreds of messages from people all around 0:05:14.361 --> 0:05:17.361 the country asking for help with an unsolved murder that's 0:05:17.401 --> 0:05:21.640 affected them, their families, and their communities. If you have 0:05:21.721 --> 0:05:23.721 a case you'd like me and my team to look into, 0:05:24.121 --> 0:05:25.921 you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone 0:05:25.961 --> 0:05:29.521 Murder Line at six seven eight seven four four six 0:05:29.721 --> 0:05:33.401 one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four 0:05:33.721 --> 0:05:36.841 six one four five, or you can send us a 0:05:36.881 --> 0:05:41.681 message on Instagram at Helen Gone Pod. This is Helen 0:05:41.721 --> 0:06:27.561 Gone Murder Line. When Aton didn't come back from school 0:06:27.641 --> 0:06:30.921 at around three point thirty pm. His mother, Julie, was worried. 0:06:31.441 --> 0:06:34.121 She called the school, She called friends, no one had 0:06:34.121 --> 0:06:37.760 seen it. Julie found out later that Aton hadn't made 0:06:37.761 --> 0:06:40.601 it at all to school that day. In fact, the 0:06:40.681 --> 0:06:43.681 bus driver hadn't seen him board the bus, and parents 0:06:43.721 --> 0:06:47.200 and kids who police interviewed later, ones who knew Aton 0:06:47.681 --> 0:06:51.281 said they hadn't seen him waiting for the bus. Julie 0:06:51.321 --> 0:06:54.400 was frantic. She called her husband, Stan, who was uptown 0:06:54.481 --> 0:06:58.441 on a photoshoot. He immediately came home, and police quickly 0:06:58.521 --> 0:07:04.641 began searching for Aton. They canvassed the entire neighborhood. Two detectives, 0:07:04.761 --> 0:07:08.321 Detective Ianello and Detective Bill Butler, who both worked the 0:07:08.321 --> 0:07:11.561 case on the first day, told forty eight Hours that 0:07:11.601 --> 0:07:15.361 the case deeply affected them. They were both fathers, and 0:07:15.521 --> 0:07:18.321 when they looked at photos of Aton, they saw their 0:07:18.361 --> 0:07:23.281 own children. In nineteen eighty six, Bill Butler actually took 0:07:23.321 --> 0:07:26.881 his own life. According to forty eight Hours, Some people 0:07:26.921 --> 0:07:29.881 believed that his frustration over the lack of progress in 0:07:29.921 --> 0:07:35.361 the Aton Pates case contributed to his decision. Police got 0:07:35.401 --> 0:07:38.881 a picture from Stan, which became the iconic photo that 0:07:38.921 --> 0:07:41.681 people later saw on posters all over New York City 0:07:42.081 --> 0:07:46.001 and later on milk cart all across the country. The 0:07:46.081 --> 0:07:50.161 picture showed Aton, six years old, blonde hair and blue eyes, 0:07:50.401 --> 0:07:54.281 weighing fifty pounds, last seen at eight a m. At 0:07:54.281 --> 0:07:59.481 Prince and Wooster Street, headed for the bus stop. Soho 0:07:59.641 --> 0:08:02.481 in nineteen seventy nine was a very different place than 0:08:02.521 --> 0:08:05.201 it is today. It was much grittier, and New York 0:08:05.241 --> 0:08:08.441 City in general had a much higher crime rate back then. 0:08:08.881 --> 0:08:12.161 At the same time, Aton and his family lived in 0:08:12.201 --> 0:08:15.881 a close knit artistic community, and Julie and Stan had 0:08:15.881 --> 0:08:19.041 been a part of the artistic community that built the neighborhood. 0:08:19.841 --> 0:08:23.201 They renovated a twenty one hundred square foot loft, which 0:08:23.281 --> 0:08:25.281 was pretty raw when they moved in, since most of 0:08:25.281 --> 0:08:28.481 the building was commercial space. The place had no water 0:08:28.641 --> 0:08:32.840 or electricity at first, so they built everything themselves. Stan 0:08:32.961 --> 0:08:35.841 put in the floors himself and did all the renovations. 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:40.280 He built sleep lofts for the kids. Even though Soho 0:08:40.441 --> 0:08:43.680 had more crime back then, that area had tons of 0:08:44.001 --> 0:08:48.121 artists and everyone kind of knew everyone else. Famous artists 0:08:48.201 --> 0:08:51.441 like Philip Glass and Chuck Close were Julian Stan's neighbors, 0:08:51.841 --> 0:08:56.481 and everyone chipped in to help search for Aton. Volunteers 0:08:56.560 --> 0:09:00.800 formed the Aton Pates Action Committee. Fliers of Aton's face 0:09:00.841 --> 0:09:05.401 were posted everywhere while Stan and Julie called friends and 0:09:05.441 --> 0:09:08.721 walked around the neighborhood looking for Aton. At some point, 0:09:08.761 --> 0:09:12.121 a woman named Susan, who sometimes walked Aton to school 0:09:12.241 --> 0:09:14.841 during the nineteen seventy nine school bus strike that it 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.441 ended ten days earlier, showed up at Stan and Julie's loft. 0:09:18.961 --> 0:09:21.481 She was planning to get their keys, since she was 0:09:21.521 --> 0:09:24.081 supposed to be house sitting that weekend while the family 0:09:24.081 --> 0:09:26.721 went to the country, but of course that trip was 0:09:26.761 --> 0:09:31.081 now canceled. In New York City and eventually all across 0:09:31.121 --> 0:09:36.121 the country, this story became big news, and unfortunately, not 0:09:36.321 --> 0:09:39.121 all of the people who contacted the family and police 0:09:39.161 --> 0:09:43.521 with tips were genuine or had good intentions. Julie and 0:09:43.521 --> 0:09:46.560 Stan set up a call center in their home. They 0:09:46.681 --> 0:09:51.001 talked to multiple people who demanded thousands of dollars for information. 0:09:52.001 --> 0:09:54.801 A few weeks after Aton disappeared, there was a news 0:09:54.841 --> 0:09:59.361 story about Aton potentially being alive in Massachusetts. Later, it 0:09:59.401 --> 0:10:02.441 came out the tipster wanted one thousand dollars in reward 0:10:02.441 --> 0:10:06.121 money for giving this information. To journalists. The information turned 0:10:06.161 --> 0:10:09.841 out to be bogus, and the tipster had called more 0:10:09.881 --> 0:10:13.160 than one publication to try to get money out of them. 0:10:13.641 --> 0:10:16.160 There were also rumors that Stan and Julie had somehow 0:10:16.201 --> 0:10:19.161 been involved, or that they did the whole thing as 0:10:19.201 --> 0:10:22.601 some kind of publicity stunt. Now there was zero evidence 0:10:22.641 --> 0:10:25.680 for that, but that didn't stop some people from gossiping 0:10:25.921 --> 0:10:30.561 and from ripping down missing posters. Even some police officers 0:10:30.641 --> 0:10:34.241 were suspicious of Aton's parents. One of the officers made 0:10:34.241 --> 0:10:37.641 the comment to investigators in twenty twelve that he had 0:10:37.681 --> 0:10:40.601 been a little bit suspicious of Stan because, in his opinion, 0:10:41.041 --> 0:10:45.041 Stan hadn't immediately started helping in the search. Instead, he 0:10:45.161 --> 0:10:48.921 was working on his computer. As I read about this case, 0:10:49.121 --> 0:10:51.921 I just could not imagine what Stan and Julie must 0:10:51.921 --> 0:10:54.481 have been going through. Not only were they dealing with 0:10:54.601 --> 0:10:59.321 reporters basically stalking them, hanging out outside their doors, but 0:10:59.361 --> 0:11:01.800 they had to deal with all these people making comments, 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:07.241 especially to Julie, statements implying that it was basically her fault. 0:11:08.481 --> 0:11:12.281 The NYPD's first Precinct, which covers all of Lower Manhattan 0:11:12.401 --> 0:11:16.161 south of Houston Street, continued to work the case. We 0:11:16.161 --> 0:11:18.881 were able to access a lot of information about their 0:11:18.881 --> 0:11:23.121 investigation through FOYA, but most of what I saw focused 0:11:23.161 --> 0:11:27.961 on the police's later investigation starting in twenty twelve. From 0:11:28.001 --> 0:11:31.841 those files we were able to see police went back 0:11:31.921 --> 0:11:34.361 and talked to a lot of the officers who worked 0:11:34.361 --> 0:11:39.361 the initial scene. Police canvass the entire area. They had 0:11:39.441 --> 0:11:43.641 officers crawling into drain pipes, climbing into freezers, into basement 0:11:44.001 --> 0:11:47.881 and crawl spaces. Eventually, they went down to city Hall 0:11:47.961 --> 0:11:50.800 to get the plans for every single building in the area, 0:11:50.961 --> 0:11:54.521 including a lot of empty commercial properties, so that they 0:11:54.521 --> 0:11:59.281 could search everywhere. Everyone had a theory. Some people wondered 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:01.841 if it was possible that Aton missed the bus and 0:12:01.881 --> 0:12:05.280 walked back home. Since he was too short to reach 0:12:05.361 --> 0:12:11.441 the buzzer, maybe he went somewhere else. Police brought in bloodhounds, 0:12:11.521 --> 0:12:15.041 who alerted near the Patess loft. The dog stopped at 0:12:15.121 --> 0:12:18.401 Jim Lumber, three blocks away on Spring Street. This was 0:12:18.441 --> 0:12:21.521 a place that Aton had stopped by on several occasions, 0:12:21.841 --> 0:12:25.001 but the dogs got no further. The owner of the 0:12:25.041 --> 0:12:27.560 store told The New York Times that he had seen 0:12:27.641 --> 0:12:31.160 Aton and another boy in the dumpster pulling out scraps 0:12:31.161 --> 0:12:33.681 of Wood. He thought that he saw them that day 0:12:33.881 --> 0:12:36.761 after school May twenty fifth, at around four thirty or 0:12:36.761 --> 0:12:40.881 five pm, but later admitted he had probably been wrong 0:12:41.001 --> 0:12:45.401 about the day. Weeks and months passed, there was no 0:12:45.521 --> 0:12:49.161 ransom note or any sign of Aton. According to Lisa 0:12:49.201 --> 0:12:53.761 Cohen's book, police even used hypnosis on Julie to help 0:12:53.801 --> 0:12:57.361 her recall every single detail of what happened the morning 0:12:57.401 --> 0:13:02.641 her son vanished. Aton's father, Stan started to consider one 0:13:02.681 --> 0:13:06.280 of two scenarios. A very sad woman desperate for a 0:13:06.361 --> 0:13:09.561 child of her own had kidnapped Aton to raise him. 0:13:09.921 --> 0:13:13.081 In that theory, the kidnapper would raise Aton and keep 0:13:13.121 --> 0:13:17.001 him safe. Stan's other theory was that a stranger had 0:13:17.041 --> 0:13:22.601 taken Aton and killed him. Police followed up on leeds 0:13:22.681 --> 0:13:26.641 all over the world, even decades later, when they interviewed 0:13:26.681 --> 0:13:30.081 and ultimately discounted someone in Europe who claimed to be Aton. 0:13:31.121 --> 0:13:33.801 Several other people called and claimed to be Stan and 0:13:33.881 --> 0:13:37.361 Julie's son as an adult as the years passed, but 0:13:37.561 --> 0:13:42.081 none of the leads or sightings ever checked out. Time 0:13:42.121 --> 0:13:44.841 went by, as the neighbor he had gentrified, and an 0:13:44.961 --> 0:13:48.001 upscale eyeglass store moved to the spot where the Bodega 0:13:48.081 --> 0:13:51.561 used to be. Stan and Julie stayed put. They wanted 0:13:51.601 --> 0:13:54.441 to be in the same place in case, by some miracle, 0:13:54.761 --> 0:13:57.920 Aton came home, though they did tell reporters over the 0:13:58.001 --> 0:14:03.841 years they'd accepted this would probably never happen. According to 0:14:03.881 --> 0:14:06.521 forty eight Hours, Over the years, there were a lot 0:14:06.561 --> 0:14:09.681 of tips submitted to police claiming that Aton had been 0:14:09.681 --> 0:14:13.321 stolen by a Colton Westchester, or had been trafficked, or 0:14:13.641 --> 0:14:17.521 was living under another name in Europe. In nineteen eighty three, 0:14:17.801 --> 0:14:20.881 President Ronald Reagan designated May twenty fifth, the day that 0:14:20.921 --> 0:14:25.121 Aton went missing, as National Missing Children's Day. In nineteen 0:14:25.161 --> 0:14:28.481 eighty five, the case was passed to assistant US Attorney 0:14:28.521 --> 0:14:34.121 Stuart Grebois, and soon he publicly identified as suspect a 0:14:34.161 --> 0:14:50.241 convicted child molester named Jose Antonio Ramos. Assisting US attorney 0:14:50.281 --> 0:14:54.201 Stuart Grabois identified Jose Ramos as a suspect in Aton 0:14:54.241 --> 0:14:57.761 Pates's case in nineteen eighty five, nearly six years after 0:14:58.081 --> 0:15:02.121 Aton went missing, Jose was being held in Pennsylvania on 0:15:02.161 --> 0:15:06.921 suspicion of child molestation. Stuart Grabois learned that multiple boys 0:15:06.961 --> 0:15:09.681 in nineteen eighty two had accused Jose of trying to 0:15:09.721 --> 0:15:11.681 get them to come into a drain pipe with him. 0:15:12.521 --> 0:15:15.721 Stuart Grabois told forty eight Hours that he and the 0:15:15.761 --> 0:15:19.401 FBI had learned that Jose Ramos traveled the country in 0:15:19.441 --> 0:15:23.641 a converted school bus and lured children in using matchbox 0:15:23.721 --> 0:15:28.481 cars and other toys and then molested them. Not only that, 0:15:28.961 --> 0:15:32.441 but Jose had a connection to the Pates family. At 0:15:32.481 --> 0:15:36.521 the time of Aton's disappearance. Jose had been dating their 0:15:36.601 --> 0:15:40.841 sometimes house sitter, Susan, the woman who had walked Aton 0:15:40.921 --> 0:15:44.401 to school during that bus strike. It turned out that 0:15:44.481 --> 0:15:48.281 people in Aton's building knew Jose, but they knew him 0:15:48.321 --> 0:15:52.841 by another name, Michael, and Michael had also spent time 0:15:52.921 --> 0:15:56.921 with Susan's son, Barrett in nineteen seventy nine. Barrett was 0:15:56.921 --> 0:15:59.201 four years old at the time when Aton went missing. 0:16:00.081 --> 0:16:04.561 This seemed like a promising lead. Stuart Grabois arranged to 0:16:04.561 --> 0:16:07.601 be deputized in Pennsylvania so that he could work on 0:16:07.681 --> 0:16:11.241 prosecuting Jose Ramos for the charges there and to interview 0:16:11.281 --> 0:16:16.281 him about any possible involvement in Aton's case. Jose Ramos 0:16:16.321 --> 0:16:18.761 admitted that he took a boy back up to his 0:16:18.841 --> 0:16:22.121 apartment to rape him on the day that Aton disappeared. 0:16:23.281 --> 0:16:26.641 At the time, Jose Ramos was staying in an apartment 0:16:26.681 --> 0:16:29.881 in the East Village on East thirteenth Street. He said 0:16:29.881 --> 0:16:32.961 that on the day Aton disappeared, he was milling around 0:16:33.041 --> 0:16:35.881 Washington Square Park. He said that he saw a boy 0:16:36.041 --> 0:16:40.161 playing handball. Jose said he was ninety percent sure that 0:16:40.241 --> 0:16:42.921 this was the boy he saw on TV, though he 0:16:43.001 --> 0:16:46.561 never mentioned by his real name. Jose said the boy 0:16:46.681 --> 0:16:49.161 told him his name was Jimmy and that he had 0:16:49.201 --> 0:16:53.521 an aunt living in Washington Heights. Jose said he lured 0:16:53.521 --> 0:16:56.241 the boy up to his apartment, gave him apple juice, 0:16:56.281 --> 0:16:58.801 and started to feel around his legs. He said at 0:16:58.841 --> 0:17:02.321 some point the boy got uncomfortable. Then Jose claimed that 0:17:02.361 --> 0:17:04.840 he lifted the boy up and tried to have sex 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:07.641 with him, but that the boy kept saying no, he 0:17:07.681 --> 0:17:11.360 didn't want to do that. Jose claimed that the boys 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.761 said he needed to go to school, and then Jose 0:17:15.001 --> 0:17:17.960 said he stopped assaulting him and walked out of the 0:17:18.001 --> 0:17:21.121 apartment with him. He said they got into a taxi 0:17:21.161 --> 0:17:23.400 to go back to Soho, but that at some point 0:17:23.441 --> 0:17:25.721 the boy changed his mind and said he wanted to 0:17:25.761 --> 0:17:30.041 go uptown to Washington Heights to visit that aunt. Jose 0:17:30.281 --> 0:17:33.680 claimed that he bought the boy a subway token and 0:17:33.801 --> 0:17:35.840 left him to get on the train at the sixth 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:41.561 Avenue train station, waving goodbye as he left. Investigators were 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:46.401 not buying this story. They suspense that Jose was lying. Logistically, 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:50.441 in my opinion, the Washington Square Park meeting does not 0:17:50.641 --> 0:17:54.080 seem to make a lot of sense. Aton was very 0:17:54.121 --> 0:17:57.640 clearly headed to school when he left home. Washington Square 0:17:57.681 --> 0:18:01.120 Park is several blocks north of there. But I also 0:18:01.241 --> 0:18:04.120 think that it could be more plausible Jose could have 0:18:04.201 --> 0:18:08.281 encountered Aton back near his parents' apartment. He did hang 0:18:08.321 --> 0:18:11.721 out at the Pate's apartment building with Susan. She was 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:14.561 due to come to the Pates loft that day to 0:18:14.561 --> 0:18:18.401 get the keys to their apartment. Even though Jose had 0:18:18.441 --> 0:18:23.001 sketchy details and didn't use Aton's name, Stuart Grabois was 0:18:23.041 --> 0:18:26.360 convinced that this was the guy who took Aton, and 0:18:26.441 --> 0:18:30.761 he was convinced of that for decades. Stuart Grabois had 0:18:30.801 --> 0:18:34.561 an informant from inside the prison. Much later, this jail 0:18:34.601 --> 0:18:37.801 house informant testified in court that while he and Jose 0:18:37.961 --> 0:18:41.321 Ramos were cellmates, that Jose confessed to him that he 0:18:41.361 --> 0:18:46.321 had molested and murdered Aton. The informant, Jeffrey Rothschild, said 0:18:46.481 --> 0:18:49.641 Jose told Aton that what they were doing was good. 0:18:50.601 --> 0:18:53.840 Jeffrey claimed that he asked Jose if Aton was dead. 0:18:54.201 --> 0:18:57.321 He said Jose responded, quote, what do you think. Of 0:18:57.361 --> 0:19:00.441 course he's dead, but they'll never find a body. There's 0:19:00.441 --> 0:19:06.601 no proof. End quote. In nineteen eighty two, Jose Ramos 0:19:06.641 --> 0:19:09.681 was living on the streets in a drain pipe. Inside 0:19:09.721 --> 0:19:12.120 that drain pipe, according to The New York Post, he 0:19:12.201 --> 0:19:16.201 had religious items, a mattress, and a bunch of children's toys. 0:19:17.041 --> 0:19:20.801 That year, Jose was arrested and charged in connection with 0:19:20.921 --> 0:19:24.121 trying to lure two young boys into his makeshift home. 0:19:24.881 --> 0:19:29.001 During the course of that investigation, police found several photos 0:19:29.041 --> 0:19:32.441 of young boys, some in front of X rated theaters 0:19:32.481 --> 0:19:36.961 in Times Square, others in the drain pipe, including one 0:19:37.041 --> 0:19:40.881 young boy with blonde hair that police said resembled Aton. 0:19:42.241 --> 0:19:46.041 In nineteen eighty eight, awfording to the book, Stuart Grabois 0:19:46.201 --> 0:19:50.481 told Stan Pates about his theory that Jose Ramos had 0:19:50.601 --> 0:19:55.681 molested and killed Aton. Stan had to absorb the horrific 0:19:55.801 --> 0:19:59.721 reality that a man charged with luring young boys into 0:19:59.761 --> 0:20:02.761 a drain pipe might have taken his son and to 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:07.360 consider the implications of what he might have done with him. 0:20:07.521 --> 0:20:10.961 Stuart Grabois and his team questioned Stan, Julie, and a 0:20:11.001 --> 0:20:13.920 lot of their neighbors about their recollections of Jose and 0:20:14.001 --> 0:20:19.041 Susan and susan son. Stuart Grabois actually interviewed Susan's son, 0:20:19.361 --> 0:20:21.481 who again was four years old at the time of 0:20:21.521 --> 0:20:26.400 Aton's disappearance. The son told Stuart Grabois that Jose had 0:20:26.441 --> 0:20:30.681 touched him inappropriately. Back then, though the statute of limitations 0:20:30.681 --> 0:20:34.121 on child molestation was only nine years so a lot 0:20:34.161 --> 0:20:37.801 of the allegations against Jose Ramos could not be prosecuted. 0:20:40.441 --> 0:20:44.961 Despite Stuart Graboa's suspicions and the FBI helping with the investigation, 0:20:45.601 --> 0:20:51.121 investigators had no physical evidence and no witnesses. Jose's confession 0:20:51.321 --> 0:20:55.001 did have details about Aton having fluorescent stripes on his 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:57.880 tennis shoes, but those details were public at that point. 0:20:58.201 --> 0:21:01.761 They were all over missing posters, and other details didn't 0:21:01.761 --> 0:21:05.561 seem to match. For example, Jose said the boy he 0:21:05.601 --> 0:21:09.721 assaulted was wearing a Western belt and he never mentioned 0:21:09.761 --> 0:21:14.160 Aton by name. Jose Ramos did get a prison sentence 0:21:14.161 --> 0:21:17.600 in Pennsylvania, after being convicted of sexually assaulting an eight 0:21:17.681 --> 0:21:21.281 year old boy there, but in the end, Jose was 0:21:21.321 --> 0:21:25.721 never charged in connection with Aton's abduction. Stan and Julie 0:21:25.721 --> 0:21:30.521 were understandably devastated at this turn of events. The district 0:21:30.561 --> 0:21:34.080 attorney at the time, Robert Morgenthal, just never felt that 0:21:34.121 --> 0:21:37.881 there was enough evidence to prosecute. In two thousand, Stan 0:21:38.001 --> 0:21:40.561 and Julie started to explore the idea of launching a 0:21:40.601 --> 0:21:44.481 civil wrongful death lawsuit against Jose Ramos. In two thousand 0:21:44.521 --> 0:21:48.200 and four, they filed that suit. Julie went through the 0:21:48.321 --> 0:21:52.201 very painful emotional process of having Aton legally declared dead 0:21:52.241 --> 0:21:54.241 in two thousand and one so that they would be 0:21:54.281 --> 0:21:57.961 able to file the lawsuit. They won a two million 0:21:58.001 --> 0:22:00.961 dollar judgment in that case, but they were never paid. 0:22:01.721 --> 0:22:05.120 Jose Ramos ended up serving twenty seven years in prison 0:22:05.161 --> 0:22:07.441 in total for the assault on the eight year old 0:22:07.761 --> 0:22:10.681 and a second offense with a child. He was released 0:22:10.721 --> 0:22:17.481 on November seventh, twenty twelve. For years this case went quiet, Stan, 0:22:17.721 --> 0:22:20.360 Julie and their children tried to move on with their lives. 0:22:21.201 --> 0:22:24.441 Aton's case struck fears into the heart of families in 0:22:24.481 --> 0:22:27.561 the city and around the country, and made families much 0:22:27.601 --> 0:22:31.201 more aware of stranger danger. Over the years, Stan and 0:22:31.281 --> 0:22:34.840 Julie became advocates for missing children. They campaigned for laws 0:22:34.840 --> 0:22:37.801 that would make it easier and faster for law enforcement 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:41.361 agencies to share information about missing children, and they never 0:22:41.481 --> 0:22:46.601 gave up. Stan gods involved in Manhattan's District attorney races, 0:22:47.121 --> 0:22:52.361 and in twenty ten he persuaded the new district Attorney, 0:22:52.601 --> 0:22:55.321 Cyrus Vance Junior, to take another look at the case, 0:22:56.001 --> 0:23:01.001 which investigators did, and then suddenly, in twenty twelve, there 0:23:01.121 --> 0:23:04.600 was a massive break in the case and once again 0:23:05.201 --> 0:23:11.001 Aton Pates made headlines. News broke that FBI investigators were 0:23:11.080 --> 0:23:14.521 raiding a soho basement at one twenty seven B Prince Street, 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:19.481 where Aton's sister had once attended daycare. They were looking 0:23:19.521 --> 0:23:33.441 for blood and human remains. In twenty twelve, thirty three 0:23:33.521 --> 0:23:37.401 years after Aton Pates disappeared during a short two block 0:23:37.481 --> 0:23:41.321 walk to the school bus stop, the FBI started searching 0:23:41.441 --> 0:23:44.801 the basement of a building near where he lived, the 0:23:44.881 --> 0:23:48.920 same building that once housed his sister's daycare. The New 0:23:49.001 --> 0:23:51.401 York Post interviewed some of the parents who had taken 0:23:51.401 --> 0:23:54.521 their children there. There were around thirteen kids who played 0:23:54.561 --> 0:23:59.721 there regularly, including Aton and his sister Shira. It turned 0:23:59.761 --> 0:24:02.600 out they suspected the handyman who had done work at 0:24:02.601 --> 0:24:06.120 the daycare. His name was othaneil Miller, and he was 0:24:06.201 --> 0:24:09.400 actually the same handyman who had also done work for 0:24:09.441 --> 0:24:13.161 Stan and Julie, according to forty eight Hours, and Othan 0:24:13.161 --> 0:24:16.360 neil Miller was the person who paid Aton a dollar 0:24:16.840 --> 0:24:19.041 the day before for helping him with a task in 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:23.001 his workshop, the same dollar that Aton so proudly carried 0:24:23.041 --> 0:24:25.080 to the bus stop on the day he went missing. 0:24:26.281 --> 0:24:30.441 Authorities obtained a search warrant after Othniel's ex wife told 0:24:30.561 --> 0:24:33.281 law enforcement that he raped his ten year old niece. 0:24:33.401 --> 0:24:38.441 A few years after Aton's disappearance, Othnil's attorneys and family 0:24:38.840 --> 0:24:41.881 said he had cooperated with police since the very beginning 0:24:42.281 --> 0:24:45.001 and that he had nothing to do with aton subduction. 0:24:45.921 --> 0:24:49.161 The New York Post reported that back in nineteen seventy nine, 0:24:49.601 --> 0:24:54.321 investigators had noticed freshly poured concrete in Othneil's workshop, but 0:24:54.401 --> 0:24:58.481 apparently police decided not to dig up the concrete because 0:24:58.601 --> 0:25:00.841 they were told they would have to pay for repairs. 0:25:01.401 --> 0:25:05.001 A local artist, Steve Cosma, told the Post that the 0:25:05.041 --> 0:25:09.001 workshop in the building looked like kind of a labyrinth, saying, quote, 0:25:09.161 --> 0:25:11.921 every time I went down there, there was a different wall. 0:25:12.521 --> 0:25:15.880 It was a maze. Othaniil probably put in some of 0:25:15.921 --> 0:25:20.161 those walls end quote. During the search in twenty twelve, 0:25:20.481 --> 0:25:24.601 a cadaver dog alerted to possible human remains, and police 0:25:24.641 --> 0:25:28.881 did dig up the concrete. Also, according to WNBCTV News, 0:25:29.241 --> 0:25:32.121 police were examining what they called a stain of interest 0:25:32.201 --> 0:25:35.400 on a piece of drywall. Later it was reported the 0:25:35.441 --> 0:25:41.001 stain tested negative for blood. The NYPD and FBI stayed 0:25:41.001 --> 0:25:44.201 down there a long time. They sprayed lumino, they did 0:25:44.201 --> 0:25:49.120 other testing. They kept digging, and they found bones. But 0:25:50.080 --> 0:25:53.161 the bones found under the concrete of the old daycare 0:25:53.840 --> 0:25:56.761 that was just one block away from where Aton Pates 0:25:56.761 --> 0:26:00.001 had lived with his family, turned out to be animal bones, 0:26:00.641 --> 0:26:05.840 which sources told NBC News actually came from Chinese takeout containers, 0:26:06.481 --> 0:26:11.441 another dead end. NBC also reported that investigators questioned a 0:26:11.481 --> 0:26:14.441 man who once worked with Othanil Miller named Jesse Snell. 0:26:15.321 --> 0:26:18.841 He was reportedly seen at the SOHO building the day 0:26:18.921 --> 0:26:23.321 that Aton vanished. But in the end, investigators found nothing 0:26:23.361 --> 0:26:27.481 of evidentiary value, and neither Othnil nor anyone else they 0:26:27.601 --> 0:26:30.640 questioned in connection with that basement where Aton had played 0:26:30.921 --> 0:26:34.840 were ever charged, but the headlines about the case brought 0:26:34.881 --> 0:26:38.840 forward more tips, including one that would massively change the 0:26:38.881 --> 0:26:42.840 direction of the case and focus police on yet another suspect. 0:26:44.441 --> 0:26:47.041 The brother in law of a man named Pedro Hernandez 0:26:47.121 --> 0:26:50.961 contacted police. Pedro was eighteen years old at the time 0:26:50.961 --> 0:26:54.120 when Aton disappeared. He had been working at that corner 0:26:54.201 --> 0:26:57.321 bodega at Prince in West Broadway, right by the bus 0:26:57.321 --> 0:27:01.441