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[Music] we are trying to locate a lost Child by the name of Aon F he is only 60 years
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old he weighs 50 lb 40 in tall blonde hair and blue eyes it's not like a case you know
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nowadays where you may have surveillance video you may have social media so if this case was going to get
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solved you guys had to solve it you had to walk you had to talk to people we had
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to look at everything over again take a fresh look and we just kept pressing forward we just kept looking at
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everything over and over and over again every missing child case is very important but this was one of the oldest
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ones we had it was 30 something years worth of investigative steps it's a six-year-old boy you
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know six I think it was one of the most significant unsolved cases in the history of New York
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City when Eton was lost in 1979 I think the city was in more of an innocent state of
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mind I mean this is the first day he walked to the school bus you could stand at that door and you can see the school
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bus stuff it's like right there we have always felt that he's alive we have always kept up our hope
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that we would get him back we can't determine when it's going to end or if it's going to end and we
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will keep hope and we will keep [Music] looking that photo will always haunt me and every single day that I sent my son
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out to school I thought of a ton Pates and I was one of 8 million New Yorkers like
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that this is Washington Square Park and this is significant because Jose Ramos who was the main suspect in the case
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said he met a boy over there by the fountain molested the kid and then said he let him go they're trying to hook me
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up with pain that's when you looked at the evidence concretely about Jose Ramos it was it
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was lacking look at this see this here back in 2010 Lieutenant Zimmerman had approached me
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and he says hey you mind taking another look at this case dog indicated the presence of human
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remains human search here the case is always open always looking for the needle on the Hy stack we have a suspect
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dead andad that forced the truth out of hiding disappearance ofon page the call comes into our office onto the phone
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right next to my desk did you ever heard the name Pedro Hernandez before no sir I grabbed him by the
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neck mhm and I started to chok in him is do you recognize this person yeah that's him the facts of that confession
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make no sense he's unreliable because of his psychiatric condition you thought that you were looking at the man who
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killed Aon Pates [Music] yes [Music] 48 Hours the Lost [Music] Boy after more than 30 years it took a new
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team of investigators and a new prosecutor to Breathe new life into an old case trying to find out what
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happened to Aton Pates district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr you really should never close the book on a case if you think
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there's the possibility that it can be solved in 2012 investigators were literally digging for Clues just blocks
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away from where Aton was last seen after thousands of dead end leads the public held its Collective breath hoping this
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time the case might finally be solved yes I wish I hadn't let him go to the bus step that morning alone Aton
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Pates was just 6 years old and like many kids that age he wanted some Independence it was 1979 the last day of
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school before the Memorial Day weekend and eton's mother Julie finally agreed to let Aon Walk Alone to the school bus
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stop it was just two blocks away from their Manhattan apartment um my feelings that morning
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were very positive about got his going Aon was carrying a book bag and a dollar to buy a soda at the corner store near
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the bus stop and then he seemed to [Music] [Music] vanish Julie and her husband Stan didn't
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realize their son was missing until that afternoon when he didn't come home from
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school Julie called the school and learned Aton never arrived and his friends never saw
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him at the bus stop so she called the police I didn't want to start with something bad happened to her I would
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rather start in my mind in my heart that it was just a missing person former NYPD
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detective Patrick ianello immediately headed to the Pat's home and then we started to uh knock on doors anyone see
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this boy we worked all that day we worked all that night and then the following day I got
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home and uh I I was ready to break down myself because because I I saw my son and he was aon's age mhm
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MH a command center was set up right in the pes's apartment both my wife and I are
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continue to be confident that he is alive and uh we hope he's being cared for by someone who um
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might want a child as adorable as he the police did not know us we had to be cleared of Suspicion as well as many
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other people eton's image was splashed on storefronts and in newspapers eton's father is a
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professional photographer and took many phot pH of his son these pictures captured the Public's heart and captured
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aton's Spirit he's just bubbling over with life and he always saw the positive side
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where other people saw negative it's just he's just an incredible person our six-year-old boy is a loving trusting
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child we think an adult could have convinced him to come with him the police canvased the neighborhood
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talking to people on the street interviewing workers at a corner store near the school bus stop hi one
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you heard anything anything she justest no anybody talking anybody saying anything
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nothing okay thanks a lot keep your ears open the longer we've gone without any bad news I think that's good detective
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Bill Butler was iano's partner uh was last seen at uh 7:55 a.m. we have leads we don't know where we're going to end
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up on the leads that we have now well they pronounce it eight time when you go this long on something
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like this you do you you feel like you're looking for your own son the search for Aton dragged on
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detective Butler a father with six children lived and breathed the case how did this case influence Bill
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Butler more than I could imagine he was very very tight into the case in 1986 Bill Butler took his own
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life and there was speculation his frustration with this case may have been part of the reason
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why the search went on without Butler Julian Stan had two other children to protect protect eton's older sister and
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younger brother we keep saying we we try to lead normal lives but in so many small
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ways uh it's just totally impossible I mean we have his belongings all over the house and yet uh to put them away is
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saying to to us and to our children that uh he's gone and he's not coming back and if we're patient we'll get them back
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but their patience went unrewarded the patas did everything they could to keep their story in the news and that
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helped other missing children everyone says how many where why what happens to them in the 1980s mil cartons showed
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eton's face and then those of others but Eton remained among the missing by 1998 a new detective was
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heading the the missing person Squad Phil Mahoney was drawn to the case by of all things a poem titled the missing boy
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it's about a mother and son looking at aon's missing poster I read that poem and I said that's it I want to work on
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the Aton Fates case it was pretty much inactive it had been inactive for many years it was cold it was colder than
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gold we had to find the the the reports put them back together Mahoney sorted through
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nearly two decades worth of work and some bizarre tips this tip about this cult in Westchester did that Source say
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that Aon was there yeah that Aon was killed by that cult and dumped the leads LED nowhere but there was someone who
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police were very interested in Jose Ramos the man who said he may have encountered a boy in Washington
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Square Park not far from where the pes's lived did he say it was Aon Pates he has
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said he was 90% sure it was Aon [Music] Pates you ever have a kid named Anon pots yeah that was in the papers in 79
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in 1982 Jose Ramos was picked up by police for stealing some books from children he was homeless living in a
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drainage tunnel in New York City and former Lieutenant Phil Mahoney recalls Ramos had some disturbing photos he had
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a bunch of photos of kids that look like Aon Pates he was a shaky character so he
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enjoyed looking at these photos so Ramos was questioned by investigators about the photos what what is it about
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that people say it looks like eaten the smile I think how about the hair maybe the hair not that much Susan used to
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take care of him Susan Harrington Susan Harrington Ramos's girlfriend walked Aon to school during a
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bus strike shortly before Eton disappeared did you know where he lived in SoHo it was in the papers investigators
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suspected Ramos was a pedophile who could have ties to Aon there was enough there there was a lot there to draw
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attention to him certainly Aton often played in Washington Square Park a place Ramos was
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known to visit Jose Ramos has said several times that on May 25th 1979 he was here and a young small sevenish
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blonde kid came up to him and started talking to him and Jose Ramos said at that point he eventually took the kid
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back to his apartment Ramos told that story to Federal prosecutor steuart grab who had been working the case since
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1985 grab and the FBI had Through The Years tracked leads around the world but they always came back to Ramos in June
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1988 Ramos was uh brought to my office and uh proceeded to state that he was 90% sure that the young boy he took that
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day May 25th 1979 was the same boy whose picture he saw both in newspaper and on
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television that being atamp Pates investigators learned Ramos had sexually molested children around the
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country one of the things he did was to travel around the United States in a converted School Bus giving out Matchbox
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cars and toys and baseball cards to children to young boys to entice them on to the bus grabois wanted to prosecute
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Ramos even if it wasn't for the Aon Pates case he succeeded in Pennsylvania in 1990 Ramos pled guilty to molesting
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an 8-year-old boy and was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison you've got a known pedophile who says that he's 90%
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sure that he picked up Aton Pates you know around the time that he disappeared why didn't you just go okay case
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closed because you didn't have that corroborating evidence you didn't have that one person who said yeah I saw him
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and Aon in Washington Square Park you got the information investigators hunted for more evidence in 2000 Mahoney
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ordered a search of an apartment building Ramos lived in when Aon disappeared Ramos had allegedly told a
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fellow inmate this is where he disposed of aton's body when he was in jail Jose Ramos said that he put a on into the
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furnace in the basement this building this building and you know burned up the body but like so many tips in the Aton
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Pates case nothing came of it there was just never that next thing to make you say yep that's it close the books we got
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the guy Mahoney felt they didn't have enough on Ramos to charge him with aon's disappearance neither did the Manhattan
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da at the time but Stan Pates and Stuart grabois were becoming more convinced Ramos was their man I believe this man
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stalked my son I believe he lured him back to his apartment I think he used them like
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toilet paper and I think he threw him away Brian OWI is a prominent New York attorney and started representing the
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Pates he was friends with Stuart grabois and in 2000 he approached grabis with an
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idea I said you know you have an opportunity you may not have thought about it but of taking a civil case
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against Ramos it would be a wrongful death suit Odo hoped Ramos would be subpoena and
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might say something incriminating to help bring a criminal case but before the wrongful death case could proceed
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OWI had to ask the Pates to officially give up hope they would have to ask a Court to declare their Son dead it's one
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of the toughest things I've ever done in my practice and on June 19th 2001 a judge declared that Aon Pates was
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officially dead I used to have fantasies of of a taxi cab pulling up in front and Aon coming out of it but uh that was
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a long time ago I don't entertain those fantasies anymore the pes's attorney went to the
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Pennsylvania prison where Ramos was being held to interview the man he believed had killed Aon Pates this was
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evil incarnate if I met him on the street I would have been very scared and what did he say he said that yes indeed
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he was on the street that day and he picked up a little boy by the name of Jimmy this time Ramos did not say eton's
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name were you convinced that Ramos was the guy absolutely Ramos would never answer more
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questions or testify in court and the Pates won the civil case against him once and for all at least have a final
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declaration by a court of law that Jose Antonio Ramos caused the death of Aton Pates it was a victory but it was not
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the end of the fight the ultimate objective was to get a criminal prosecution did you think it was enough
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to prosecute him criminally I did the Manhattan da disagreed he still would not charge Jose Ramos he thought he
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couldn't prove it Beyond A Reasonable Doubt do you keep thinking about this case or did you move on no I never moved
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on never moved on Jose Antonio Ros was in prison unpunished for what he believed was the
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death of Aon Bates but 33 years after Aton disappeared there was a tip this is where it all started and it could change
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everything in this [Music] case I think about my son every day he's he's he's gone but I will never forget
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him as time passed for Stan and Julie Pates Eton was and is Frozen in Time as a six-year-old gone missing they
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remained convinced that Jose Ramos the pedophile who was behind bars in Pennsylvania was responsible for aon's
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death I send him a a poster twice a year and I write on the back what did you do
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to my little boy from the time Aton disappeared in 1979 until until 2009 one man held the
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position of Manhattan da Robert morganthall he never felt there was enough evidence to indict Ramos but
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morgantha was retiring I support sance Cyrus Vance Jr was running for the office the Pates family reached out to
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me and Stan asked me if I would look into the [Applause] case and when Vance became hatan da in
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2010 he did look into it Side dance is like listen we'd like to re you know fresh that eyes relook at
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it go backwards see what was missed Lieutenant Chris Zimmerman headed the missing person Squad at the time and
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part of the fresh look included another look at Jose Ramos we looked at the case
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for quite a while and I never was convinced that there was proof Beyond a reasonable doubt that Jose Ramos was
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aon's killer and so the search for another suspect continued the FBI had been involved on and off since aon's
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Disappearance in April of 2012 investigators took another look at this handyman who used to work for the PES
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along with the NYPD they started that day it was at the former site of the handyman's workshop we're EX uting a
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search warrant regarding The Disappearance of Aon Pates it was not far from where the peses still live
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excuse me the Dig went on for 5 days as investigators sifted through Subterranean spaces and decades old dirt
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it was starting to look like there might finally be some answers we're cautiously
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optimistic we'll find evidence in the end nothing was found the handyman was cleared at this point there's no obvious
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human remains but this was not just another dead end far from it in fact it led to the first major turning point in
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this case the call comes into our office onto the phone right next to my desk it
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came from Jose Lopez who called police after he watched news coverage of the Dig can can you tell what brought you to
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the police thank you very much okay that's what I went he said his brother-in-law might be involved in the
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case detective Dave Ramirez helped lead the investigation and who was his brother-in-law Pedro Hernandez did you
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ever heard the name Pedro Hernandez before no sir no what did he tell you about his
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brother-in-law um that he had made statements to various people about him having done something really bad to a
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child in New York Pedro Hernandez worked as a stock boy at that corner store by the bus stop he was
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18 when Eton disappeared and soon after Hernandez left that job and moved home to New Jersey over the years he had been
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divorced remarried and had children he worked on and off at menial jobs and had no criminal record but he had told
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people about hurting an unnamed child so who had Hernandez spoken to there was a
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religious group apparently there was a retreat that they had gone on they all had information to the fact that M
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Hernandez did something to this child Ramirez learned Hernandez also told his ex-wife and a friend similar stories
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detectives notes from 1979 show police at the time knew Hernandez worked at the store but it is is unclear if he was
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ever questioned why do you suppose he was not a suspect before I don't have the answer for it I wasn't there you
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know I I never got Clarity on that and I don't think he did either about two weeks after they learned about Hernandez
00:24:14
on May 23rd 2012 police went to his New Jersey home to talk to him I had a told him that we
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were investigating an old missing person's case in New York City at that point he like he lost all the color in
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his face still Hernandez readily agreed to go to the prosecutor's office in Camden New Jersey to be questioned was
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it hard to get him talking no no he talked for 6 hours without a lawyer or a recording of the conversation and during
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that time he was shown a missing poster of Aon Pates later the video camera was turned on can you start telling us again
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exactly what you just told us before about what happened and Hernandez told them about seeing a boy outside the
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store where he worked who was waiting for the school bus who was waiting for the school bus what's his name and P
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these are the words that changed the course of one of America's most heartbreaking cold cases Hernandez went
00:25:23
on telling police he offered Aon a soda then I asked him I asked him to go to the in the basement with me to get the
00:25:34
soda it is hard to listen to his story then what happened after that then I choked
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him yeah when I choked he went this what made you do this I don't know I don't know it was something that just happened
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he signed aon's missing poster writing I am sorry and choke him and you recognize
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this to be the boy that you choked that day after the confession Hernandez showed investigators where he said it
00:26:07
happened 33 years earlier Lieutenant Zimmerman recorded the walk with his cell phone so Hernandez told you here
00:26:17
that this was the basement entrance yes so according to Hernandez Aon was that way from where we are yes and he lured
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him in into the basement through this door yes sir Hernandez said he put Aon in a box after choking him put him in a
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box and then put the Box on his I'm carry the Box up out of here at this point I said could you show us exactly
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the way you walk that day we crossed the street on to the other side and how far down did he go then he
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went down to the corner he went this way right yes he crossed the street here and um he stops
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here at this location he said he went down some steps he he took the body down here yes and then he put the box down
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police believe the box was picked up by garbage collectors Hernandez was interviewed
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again hey Mr Hernandez hello hours after the Soho Walk This Time by a prosecutor
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in the Manhattan DA's office then I choked him and I tried to let go but I just couldn't let him go he repeated the
00:27:24
same story and later that day Pedro Hernandez was arrested we have a suspect in custody who has made a statement to
00:27:35
the NYPD implicating himself in The Disappearance of Aton Pates 33 years ago he had confessed to killing Aon Pates it
00:27:45
was a credible confession so says the prosecutor but soon questions were being asked about the 6 hours when Hernandez
00:27:54
was questioned before the videotape in began why weren't those first hours [Music]
00:28:14
[Applause] videotaped it was a day or twoo shy of the 33rd anniversary it was a day or two shy that
00:28:25
we made the arrest this evening the New York City Police Department is announcing the arrest of Pedro Hernandez
00:28:33
age 51 of Mr Pat was taken back a little surprised and I would say overwhelmed you know it had a sink in
00:28:45
you know 30 something years it had a sink in you know I can't imagine not having
00:28:53
an answer for that many years for decades Stan and Julie Pates believed another man was responsible for
00:29:02
their son's Disappearance in 1979 I believe this man stalked my son I want him to admit it now someone
00:29:13
was admitting it but it was this man Pedro Hernandez he was waiting for this then he went down the
00:29:23
stairs right he went like this after Hernandez was arrested he was thought to be a suicide risk and taken to Belleview
00:29:33
hospital I met him at uh the prison Ward Harvey fishbine is Pedro Hernandez's court-appointed
00:29:40
attorney I walked out of there and I said the man has an issue that needs to be addressed I hear voices sometimes
00:29:48
talking to me a defense psychiatrist diagnosed Hernandez with a personality disorder that can leave a person unable
00:29:56
to different iate between what's real and what's not I had Vis do you think Pedro Hernandez
00:30:08
knows if he killed Aton Pates or not I I I think he knows he didn't and that's think are you sure it's hard to look
00:30:15
into someone's mind which is one of the real problems we have here the diagnosis
00:30:20
of mental illness would be a major part of Hernandez's defense and in January of
00:30:28
2015 2 and 1/2 years after his arrest Hernandez went on trial for the murder of Aon
00:30:37
Pates Aon Pat's father walked silently past reporters in the courthouse finally hoping to see Justice served nearly 36
00:30:46
years after his young son's disappearance at trial the defense would argue that Hernandez's mental illness
00:30:54
made him make up the whole story of murder ing Aton starting with seeing him by the bus stop Pedro says I saw him
00:31:03
standing there he was waiting for the yet no parent that was at the bus stop that morning who knew Aon saw Aon that
00:31:12
morning so the fact that Pedro said that he saw the child there when no one else
00:31:17
did immediately raises questions as to did this actually happen or not Hernandez told investigators he tried to
00:31:26
hide aon's book bag in the basement of that store so I took the book bag and I threw it behind the freezer but fishbine
00:31:35
says the police would have searched that store and if they did they should have found the bag or some other evidence
00:31:43
that bag was never recovered the defense also argued that Hernandez has a low IQ
00:31:48
and is susceptible to suggestions we argued to the jury he's unreliable because of his low intellect because of
00:31:59
his psychiatric condition and of course the story in the end does not make sense
00:32:04
but the prosecution experts interviewed Hernandez I'm going to say some words and concluded he is not mentally ill and
00:32:13
that the jury could believe his words prosecutors had home videos showing Hernandez socializing like
00:32:22
anyone else and they pointed out that Hernandez never reported any mental illness on a
00:32:28
driver's license renewal form he filled out do you believe that he was competent
00:32:33
to confess absolutely I think there was ample evidence that Pedro Hernandez was not fabricating uh this uh homicide as
00:32:44
the product of Mental Illness but that he in fact was admitting to something that had tortured him and he confessed
00:32:50
but fishbine wants the jury to wonder what happened during those 6 hours before this videotaping began can you
00:32:59
start telling us again exactly what you just told us before there was an affirmative decision not to videotape
00:33:07
what was going on all it would have taken was the pushing of a button why wasn't that taped uh I think it was not
00:33:13
taped because there was no legal requirement that it be taped how do you know that they didn't feed him
00:33:18
information how do you know they didn't Bering the way you assure yourself is by
00:33:24
talking to the witnesses who were there uh after speaking to those who were present and being informed of what
00:33:29
happened I did not doubt that uh there was uh anything but a fair handling of Mr Hernandez and uh the appropriate
00:33:38
questioning of him did you give him any information about the crime when you were talking to Mr Hernandez no did
00:33:47
you try and influence him I wouldn't say no this was all of him just talking to you volunteering this stuff yes the
00:33:56
defense argued police prayed on Hernandez's vulnerability and manipulated him to confess Pedro is a
00:34:05
very religious person one of the detectives says thank you ped I can't be to tell you how proud I am of you that's
00:34:14
the strength of the Lord right there is strength that's the strength of the Lord
00:34:18
what's the strength of the Lord that he said something that they said they needed in order to make people feel
00:34:26
better than family to resolve it but the police would counter and the prosecutors would counter that this guy
00:34:34
confessed to so many people over the years that he corroborates his own words well they they would like to say that
00:34:41
that's I know and I don't think that's accurate the prosecution called those church members Hernandez's ex-wife who
00:34:48
did you tell you said you told your ex-wife right and his friend who all said Hernandez told them he he did
00:34:57
something bad to a young boy but at the time they never reported anything because they didn't know whether to
00:35:04
believe him if it was one statement in isolation that would be one thing there were a number of people to whom he
00:35:11
unburdened himself but fishbine told the jury those accounts varied and Hernandez
00:35:16
may have been making them up to look tough and he offered the jurors another suspect the man many including the PES
00:35:25
first thought killed Aon Jose Ramos the known pedophile whose girlfriend knew Aon I feel certain that
00:35:35
if the District Attorney's office tried Jose Ramos he would be convicted the evidence against Pedro
00:35:42
Hernandez was much stronger than it had ever been against Jose Ramos the prosecutors had one piece of
00:35:49
evidence they considered critical it was something Hernandez said when he showed
00:35:55
police where he said he dumped aon's body he noticed there was a door where he didn't remember one and he says there
00:36:04
wasn't a door there was when they researched the building's history prosecutors discovered Hernandez was
00:36:12
right the door was added after 1979 that's a fact that was not known publicly that we believed only the
00:36:22
killer would know but the defense says Hernandez wasn't even sure which building it was which one you
00:36:29
remember he said I thought maybe this is it and then he looks and he says no this
00:36:35
is it right it was a lot for the jurors to sift through the trial took nearly 3 months and in April
00:36:49
2015 they began deliberating and deliberating for 18 [Music] days what happened after that then I
00:37:08
ched him yeah when I ched he went back for 18 days the jury considered Pedro Hernandez's confession to the
00:37:20
murder of Aon Pates a big bone of contention was the mental health issue we debated that for days
00:37:27
Adam Siris was one of the jurors the other issue that was very sticky at first was the confession everyone felt
00:37:34
very upset about not being able to see the entire interview the jurors disagreed on whether the confession
00:37:39
could have been coerced twice they told the judge they were at an impass and the
00:37:45
third time they reported they could not reach a verdict on May 8th 2015 this has been a very long trial and
00:37:53
a very long deliberation the judge declared cled a mistrial our long ordeal is not over
00:38:02
when they said they were unable to reach a decision we believed it was going to be 11:1 for a quiddle it was 11:1 but
00:38:10
not for a quid only one juror voted not guilty it was Adam Siris do you remember
00:38:17
the date [Music] no he found the confession hard to believe not knowing what went on before
00:38:30
the camera started rolling you know it's very hard for people to wrap their minds
00:38:35
around the idea that somebody would confess to murdering a child if he didn't actually do it yeah and a lot of
00:38:42
the jurors said that in our deliberations but the whole reason why you don't just throw someone in jail
00:38:47
when they confess is that there's a lot of people out there with mental illness that could confess to lots of crimes and
00:38:52
doesn't mean they're all guilty but the rest of the jurors believed Hernandez was guilty Pedra Hernandez you know what
00:38:59
you did still 11 out of 12 is not enough to convict and Stan Pates was obviously
00:39:06
disappointed this man did it he said it how many times does a man have to con confess before someone believes him Stan
00:39:14
was uh was unequivocal in his support that the case should be retried and so he did about a year and a half later
00:39:22
Pedro Hernandez went on trial again the evidence and the issues were the same as
00:39:28
the first trial and like the first trial it was long more than 3 months and this
00:39:35
trial also ended with a long deliberation nine days did it start fueling like the first time to you um
00:39:44
nothing felt like that 18 days the first time but yes it was reminiscent of that
00:39:49
and we were just trying to understand what was going on it's impossible to try to read a jury but unlike the first
00:39:56
first trial this jury reached a verdict Pedro Hernandez was convicted of killing
00:40:03
Aon Pates 37 years after the first grader left home and vanished the Pat's family has waited a
00:40:12
long time but we finally have found some measure of justice for our wonderful little boy
00:40:22
Eton I am truly relieved and I'll tell you it's about time it really is it's about time Pedro Hernandez was
00:40:32
sentenced to 25 years to life why do you think this case was so hard to solve why
00:40:41
did it take so long I think people had great intentions I think people got focused on people
00:40:48
like Ramos not criticizing anybody independently because it made a lot of sense he's an evil man he's just not our
00:40:54
evil man it's a feeling now shared by others who were once convinced Jose Ramos murdered dayon Pates before police
00:41:03
found Pedro Hernandez if I were on the jury I would have come with the same verdict do you still think of Aon pides
00:41:12
I do what do you think about it could have been my son that is the thought that still
00:41:21
haunts so many involved in this case my kids are like 22 and I still think about it when I'm when they're out
00:41:30
of sight and out of mind we were kind of hoping that it would be like a movie ending where the
00:41:36
the boy would eventually walk in the door but it didn't work out that way I notice a couple of times you've
00:41:45
looked down at this why why do you does this still mean something to you yeah this this is this
00:41:51
is the poster we remember the most I would say this is the kids looking right at you
00:41:57
I feel for the family I'm a father myself and so is Dave case is solved but solved but I never give them complete
00:42:04
closure I couldn't give him their son back would have loved to give him their son
00:42:10
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