Investigation
Assistant United States Attorney Stuart R. GraBois identified Jose Antonio Ramos, a convicted child sexual abuser who had been a friend of Etan Patz's one-time babysitter, as the primary suspect in his disappearance after receiving the case in 1985. Some boys had accused Ramos of trying to lure them inside a drainpipe, where he lived in 1982 in the Bronx. When police searched the drainpipe, they found photographs of Ramos and young boys who resembled Patz. GraBois eventually found out that Ramos was in custody in Pennsylvania in connection with an unrelated child molestation case. In 1990, GraBois became deputized as a deputy state attorney general in Pennsylvania to help prosecute a case against Ramos for sexually abusing other children to also obtain further information on Patz's case. When initially questioned by GraBois, Ramos stated that he took a young boy back to his apartment to rape him, on the day Patz disappeared, and that he was "90 percent sure" it was the boy he later saw on TV. Ramos did not use Patz's name, however, and claimed he had "put the boy on a subway." While Ramos was incarcerated, a fellow convict of his who became a jailhouse informant told GraBois and FBI agent Mary Galligan in 1991 that Ramos told him he knew what happened to Patz, and even drew a map of Patz's school bus route, indicating that he knew that Patz's bus stop was the third one on the route.
In a special feature on missing children, the New York Post reported on October 21, 1999 that Ramos was the prime suspect in Etan Patz's disappearance. Ramos was known to the Patz family and was the prime suspect all along, but in the early 1980s they still could not prosecute Ramos. Patz was declared legally dead in 2001. Ramos was declared responsible for Patz's death in 2004 in a New York civil case but remains unprosecuted. Ramos denied responsibility for Patz's death.
Etan Patz's parents, Stanley and Julie Patz, pursued a civil case against Ramos. They were awarded a 'symbolic' sum of $2 million, which they have never collected. Ramos served a 20-year prison term in the State Correctional Institution – Dallas in Pennsylvania for child molestation.
Every year, on the anniversaries of Etan's birthday and disappearance, Stan Patz has sent Ramos a copy of his son's missing child poster. On the back, he types the same message: "What did you do to my little boy?"
Jose Ramos was released from prison on November 7, 2012 and then promptly arrested on a Megan's Law violation.
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