After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive [Hardcover]

Lisa R. Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 7, 2009

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 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, May 25 is recognized as National Missing Children's Day, in Etan's honor. 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. It's 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, thirty years later, continue to seek justice for Etan.
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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Emmy-winning TV newsmagazine producer Cohen examines one of the most publicized missing child cases in America. On May 25, 1979, Etan Patz left his family's SoHo loft to walk two blocks to catch his school bus, the first time his parents let him make the trip alone. He was never seen again. Early in the investigation, police interviewed Jose Antonio Ramos, whose interest in little blond boys had become known to police, yet they dismissed Ramos as a suspect in the Patz case. But over the years, Ramos repeatedly intimated that he molested and murdered Patz and hid the body. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart GraBois doggedly and shrewdly pursued Ramos, hoping prison informants could coax a confession. Cohen details GraBois's efforts and the pain Stan and Julie Patz endured as years passed and Etan's fate remained a mystery. Perhaps most heart-wrenching is Stan's twice-yearly ritual of mailing Etan's missing poster to Ramos in prison, always with the same message: What did you do to my little boy? As true crime, this tragic tale is a standout, and Cohen, though no prose stylist, does a creditable job telling it. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"In the first-ever book on this celebrated case, Lisa Cohen finally gives us the answers behind the most vexing child kidnapping since the Lindbergh Baby. It's a harrowing portrait of a family's grief and an engrossing detective story. A powerful lesson in humanity tested and triumphant." (Nicholas Pileggi )

"Lisa Cohen has done remarkable reporting in this thorough account of a family's terrible loss and the epic pursuit of justice that followed. "After Etan" has the gripping realism of "Law and Order," intensified by the knowledge that this harrowing case study is true." (Julie Salamon, author of Facing the Wind and Hospital )

"The story of the disappearance of Etan Patz is a story that almost everyone remembers the beginning of and only a handful of people know the end of. For the first time, Lisa Cohen finally unravels a complex and tangled mystery while seamlessly telling the heart wrenching story of a family trying to cope with every parent's worst nightmare. The vivid descriptions and the incredible detail make you feel like you are there every step of the way. The book pulls you in. It can be painful at times and still, you can't put the book down." (John Miller, former co-anchor of 20/20 )

Cohen covers the story from all angles and keeps the main thread of the investigation clear, even while sharing some of its most intriguing left turns and red herrings, including a series of child molestations by a former boyfriend of one of the boy's caretakers, and a trip, prompted by a psychic's vision, to Hell's Gate in the East River in search of Patz's body.
A masterful combination of deep human interest and detailed criminal investigation into a parent's worst nightmare. (Kirkus Review (starred) )

"As true crime, this tragic tale is a standout." (Publishers Weekly )

"Lisa Cohen is an outstanding writer with a compelling story that effectively educates the reader about the kidnapping death of Etan Patz in NYC. The book gives a better understanding of how the Patz case resulted in the creation of many law enforcement child safety programs, such as the Center for Exploited Children, Megan's law, Amber Alerts, among others. As in all good books, we need a "hero" and clearly that person is former Federal Prosecutor Stuart GraBois, whose dedication to duty and humanitarian concern for the Patz family has been a true inspiration to the entire law enforcement community." (Joe Occhipinti, Founder & Executive Director of the National Police Defense Foundation )

"This powerful work plunged me back in time to a moment that haunts me to this day. Then step by compelling step it walked me thirty years forward, filling in the mysterious gaps of this celebrated case. Finally the book left me, in the present, cheering on its heroes.
For those who will never forget Etan's smiling face, the book answers many questions. For the rest of you, welcome to an ongoing page-turner so full of plot twists, it often reads like a fictional thriller. Except it's all true. This is former "60 Minutes" producer Lisa Cohen's first book, but hopefully not her last."

(Liz Smith )

"May 25th, National Missing Children's Day, recognizes thousands of children. Yet in reality, May 25th celebrates the life of one little boy, 6-year-old Etan Patz of New York, taken on May 25, 1979. "After Etan" is a powerful, extraordinary, true story about Etan, his courageous family, the drifter who changed their lives forever, and one tireless, tenacious prosecutor who never gave up in his quest for justice.
"After Etan" takes one back to the beginnings of a movement. It is the story of one child, whose photo taken by his photographer father became a symbol for millions and helped change the way America responded to missing child cases. It is the story of a heart-broken family who lived through the anger and anguish that too many families must endure, and whose courage and grace helped change the world. And it is the story of a re markable prosecutor for whom one case, one child became his life's work."

(Ernie Allen, President & CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children )

"When our son, Adam, was abducted in 1981, my wife, Revé, and I felt no one could really understand what we were going through. Then we met Julie and Stan Patz and found that we were members of a horrible but exclusive club. Their courage inspired us then and inspires us now. The worst thing for searching parents is the not knowing. Reading 'After Etan,' I relived that terrible time and it increased my admiration for Julie and Stan even more. And it made me even more grateful for dedicated public servants like the incredible prosecutor who ultimately produced some measure of justice for Etan. Every American needs to know Etan's story."
(John Walsh )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (May 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446582514
• ISBN-13: 978-0446582513
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.8 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #674,302 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lisa R. Cohen is an Emmy award winning television news magazine producer with over twenty years in network news, including ABC News PrimeTime Live and CBS News "60 Minutes." Her first book, "AFTER ETAN: The Missing Child Case That Held America Captive" (Grand Central May '09) is the only book ever written on the iconic, culture-shifting Etan Patz mystery.

In addition, Cohen is a broadcast consultant who specializes in media training, and a producer/director currently involved in two long term documentaries, one on cancer care inequities in the U.S, see: http://www.tommasonportfolio.com/Rickstrailerweb.mov

The other is about a unique prison hospice program inside the maximum security Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, where convicts care for their dying fellow inmates and rediscover their humanity. Executive Producer Forest Whitaker will narrate. See: http://OneLastShotthemovie.org

Cohen is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, and recently was a Princeton University Ferris Professor of Journalism.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The book you can't put down, April 26, 2009

By 

Mommy Track "book maven" (Wellesley, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive (Hardcover)

I don't have a connection to the missing child movement, a part from the fears that every parent has about their children's safety. But even without such a connection, I was drawn to "After Etan", and literally could not put the book down. It's a biography of a winsome boy, an evil drifter, a heroic family and an important movement in our nation's history. It's also a thrilling detective story, written in a style that not only engages, but invites the reader in as a sort of "Watson", accompanying author Lisa "Sherlock" Cohen on an investigation whose outcome is anything but predictable.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting Reporting,, April 26, 2009

By 

Word Lover (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive (Hardcover)

Reading Lisa Cohen's powerful reporting is truly cinematic. As you turn page after page--and I promise you, reading this book will glue you to your chair--you will wonder, how did this writer EVER get to all these sources, and knit together such an emotionally charged yet shatteringly objective rendering of the historic Etan Patz case. If you are a parent, you will run to your child and hold him close, all the while wondering how Etan's parents ever lived through this horror with their sanity intact. You will ask questions of the American legal system that you never asked before. I urge you to read this book, even if you imagine that crime reporting is not your thing. This book proves once again that truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fabulous story, April 26, 2009

By 

Deborah R. Jospin (Chevy Chase, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: After Etan: The Missing Child Case that Held America Captive (Hardcover)

As the mother of two sons, it's painful to think about the Etan Patz story. But Lisa Cohen has done a fabulous job of telling this story, and bringing all of the characters to life -- from his parents and siblings, to the detectives who spent their lives looking for his killer, and the prosecutors who would not rest until the family had some closure. Cohen's portrait of Jose Ramos, a convicted child molestor and the prime suspect in the case, is both horrifying and fascinating, and extremely well done. I could not put the book down -- and I am left anxious to know more.