In this episode of The Evidence Locker, we travel back to May 25,  1979, the day six‑year‑old Etan Patz vanished from a Manhattan sidewalk and sparked a national movement. We trace the frantic early search, the rise of milk‑carton alerts, the decades‑long hunt for a killer, the controversial confession and conviction of Pedro Hernández, and the recent appellate reversal that has thrown the case back into legal limbo. Along the way, we explore how Etan’s disappearance reshaped law‑enforcement protocols, inspired the founding of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and forever altered the way America protects its children—while his family still seeks closure.