In March 1982 New York City police arrest drifter Jose Antonio Ramos, after a young boy accuses him of trying to lure the boy into the Bronx drainpipe where Ramos had been living. Charges are later dropped, but this is the first time a public connection is made between Ramos and the Patz case. (ABC NEWS/PRIMETIME)
When Jose Ramos is questioned by the Bronx DA’s office after his 1982 drainpipe arrest, he tells Asssistant DA Frank Carroll that at the time of Etan’s disappearance, he’d been dating a woman who looked after the boy.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart GraBois and FBI Special Agent Ken Ruffo travel to Israel in October 1985 to investigate the appearance there of a mysterious photo of Etan. (STUART GRABOIS)
The converted school bus where Jose Ramos lured at least one young victim in 1986 sits abandoned today in a western Pennsylvania salvage yard. (LISA R. COHEN)
Jose Ramos mug shot following his Pennsylvania arrest and rape charge involving eight-year-old Joey Taylor, June 24, 1986.
Based on a medium’s vision, in January 1988 NYPD divers search the frigid water of New York’s East River for Etan Patz’s remains. (WILLIAM J. SILLERY)
Bill Sillery, Denise Cealie, and Stuart GraBois huddle in the cold as the NYPD searches the Ward’s Island shoreline, January 1988. (WILLIAM J. SILLERY)
PA Special Prosecutor/AUSA Stuart GraBois and PA Chief Deputy Attorney General Marylou Barton walk to court for Jose Ramos’s sentencing in Warren, PA, November 29, 1990. (ABC NEWS/PRIMETIME)
A furious Jose Ramos is trailed by the press as he is led from the Pennsylvania courtroom after being sentenced on November 29, 1990. (ABC NEWS/PRIMETIME)
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart GraBois works the Patz case from his New York office in May 1991, while from the Otisville federal prison, his planted inmate informants report to him on their progress.(ABC NEWS/PRIMETIME)
Julie Patz poses proudly with Lev Sviridov at his middle school graduation, June 1993.(L. SVIRIDOVA FAMILY ARCHIVE)
Stan Patz is interviewed on 60 Minutes II, May 2000. “He’s a predator,” he says, describing Jose Ramos. “And he should never be allowed to be near children again.” (CBS NEWS ARCHIVES)
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Contents
Welcome
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1: May 25, 1979
Chapter 2: Twenty-four Hours and Counting
Chapter 3: The Occupation
Chapter 4: A Year for the Books
Chapter 5: The Bigger Picture
Chapter 6: The Devil in the Drainpipe
Chapter 7: Up on the Roof
Chapter 8: New Life
Chapter 9: Reversing the Odds
Chapter 10: No Stone Unturned
Chapter 11: Welcome Home
Chapter 12: Hard Evidence
Chapter 13: Help from All Over
Chapter 14: 90 Proof
Chapter 15: “Just Watch Me”
Chapter 16: More Lost Boys
Chapter 17: “I Told You So”
Chapter 18: On the Record
Chapter 19: Done Deal
Chapter 20: Another Door Opens
Chapter 21: Confidential Witness
Chapter 22: Into the Hole
Chapter 23: Take Two
Chapter 24: Double Play
Chapter 25: Debrief
Chapter 26: Nothing to Lose
Chapter 27: Prime Suspect
Chapter 28: Civil Action
Chapter 29: The True Story
Coda
Postscript: After After Etan
Acknowledgments
Acclaim for After Etan
Photos
Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by Lisa R. Cohen
Postscript Copyright © 2012 by Lisa R. Cohen
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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ISBN 978-0-446-55140-3
After Etan Page 50