Do You Remember the Etan Patz Case?

I do remember the Etan Patz case and as a mother, I can’t imagine going 33 years without knowing what happened to my child. Yet many parents of abducted children never find out what happened to their children.

The FBI has reopened the missing persons investigation of Etan Patz, the first missing child to have his photo on a milk carton. They have a possible new lead and looked yesterday at a location on Prince Street which is now a Lucky Jeans store and less than one block from Etan’s former home. Dozens of FBI and NYPD investigators swarmed into the basement of the location.

Six  year old Etan went missing in 1979 from the SoHo area of New York City when for the first time he was allowed to walk the two blocks alone from his home to bus stop. Remember it was over 30 years ago. Parents thought their children were relatively safe back then. This case changed that.

I believe little Etan must have been so proud and happy to be walking alone to the bus stop that morning…and how his parents must have blamed themselves after the fact for allowing him to walk alone. Of course hindsight is 20/20 and there’s no shortage of blame parents may heap on themselves in retrospect.

Since milk cartons have evolved into plastic jugs, they don’t put the photos of missing children on them any more. Where it took days and weeks to get the face of a missing child before the public then, now with technology it only takes a matter of minutes.

Today the Amber Alert has taken the place of the milk carton. Amber Alerts pop up immediately on message boards on major highways in a matter of minutes. Amber Alerts can even be downloaded to email boxes and cell phone messages.

Apparently the effectiveness of Amber Alerts can be maximized. Here is an article on the US Department of Justice website for maximizing the effect of an Amber Alert. http://www.amberalert.gov/guidelines.htm

The figures are staggering. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates indicate 800,000 children, 18 years of age or younger,  go missing every year in the United States.  203,900 children were the victims of family abductions. 580, 200 children  were the victims of non-family abductions. Only 115 children were the victims of the stereotypical kidnap/killing of the type we see portrayed in thrillers and murder mystery stories. This is where the child does not know the abductor, or the abductor is a slight acquaintance who holds the child overnight, transports the child 50 miles or more, demands ransom, maims, and/or kills the child. Or intends to keep the child permanently.

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. http://goo.gl/YQWwq

As this is a blog about crime fiction novels, specifically Christian crime fiction novels…former Long Beach police officer Janice Cantore has a wonderful suspense novel on the subject of abducted children, THE KEVLAR HEART.  As the story unfolds, PO Brinna Caruso, who was abducted as a child but managed to escape is committed to finding and saving abducted children in California.

If you remember the Etan Patz case, or are burdened by another child abduction case, please leave a comment. Give the names of missing children you wish to honor.  This is something we, as a society, must keep a bright light shined on. We must never forget the children who did not come home.

Am I "Sexting" Now???

Not really, but I am spending a whole lotta time online talkin a whole lotta trash to a whole lotta kids who spend a whole lotta time talkin trash. Many of them college bound kids.

First off…I’m posing as my runaway daughter. So, they don’t know I’m a mom. Or so I thought. One girl caught on right away and stopped replying to me. Why? I quickly figured it out. I typed in upper and lower case. A dead give away. But I learn quickly and switched to lower case exclusively.

Here’s a mom writing: Hi, BFF, what’s going on? How’s school? Oh, yeah, and I have a really important question, are you seeing much of Anthony?

Here’s a better way for a mom to disguise her writing so they don’t know it’s a mom: hey bestie, whaz w/u? how’s school? O yeah, I gotta really primo question. u c much of anthony?

Unfortunately I’m always a day or two behind my daughter, so whatever info I give the missing persons detective is old, but some of it’s info he doesn’t have. It all goes into a report which will be filed along with all the other NYPD reports.

Tiring, but I thank God for the two detectives who’ve devoted time to this case.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, quite a few people have have opened up to me privately…told me stories. One woman told me of a young man in law school who works part-time at her job. The kid’s parents are divorced and not on speaking terms. He lives with his attorney dad and they pass like ships in the night. The dad has high hopes for this son to follow him into law, as he followed the grandfather into law. However, this young man is selling pot and ecstays in the clubs on weekends. Dad doesn’t have a clue. The woman cautioned this fellow if he gets busted not only will he have an arrest record and possible prison time, but he can kiss his law career goodbye…not to mention rock his dad’s world. While the dad isn’t rolling in the dough anymore with alimony and what not, the boy really doesn’t want for much. The college kid’s response was it’s exciting to sell drugs in the clubs…not to mention the availability of chicks–his word.

And so it goes…

My Cousin Tetyana Vists From Ukraine

Tetyana Kryva (seated) is my cousin and a journalist in Ukraine who writes articles on movies and television for her newspaper

She’s touring the US on a journalism grant. She visited Miami, Dallas, Washington DC and New York.

Here she is (seated) with me in a cafe in Greenwich Village in Manhattan where we had lunch.

 

 
 
 
Here Tanya (that’s the nickname she goes by) is standing infront of the gateway for the Staten Island Ferry. The ferry passes the Statue of Liberty and Tanya was able to get a few good photographs.

 
 

We also took a drive through Central Park and Chinatown.
That evening a car bomb was discovered in Times Square, but Tanya was already safely back in her hotel by that time and I was out of Manhattan and already home in Brooklyn. Unfortunately modern life in NYC isn’t only hectic, it can be dangerous. But Tanya and I are blessed, we have angels looking out for us.

A Tip Top Cup of Darjeeling

I had a fantastic cup of tea last night at a little place in Park Slope (Brooklyn, NYC), the Connecticut Muffin. It was the kind of tea experience you simply have to rave about, so I am.

I chose Darjeeling, something I usually enjoy, but this was especially good. First I must stipulate it came in a tall paper cup with milk. I would have preferred a large ceramic mug, but there you have it.

It had this elongated tea bag (about four inches long) made entirely out of tea bag material. No string. No tag. I just took the top end of the tea bag cloth and dunked (I’m a dunker) until I got the light colored, aromatic liquor I so enjoy. Of course you can just let it steep.

Along with this I had a slice of maple loaf (a bread-like cake, or a cake-like bread). It was topped with a maple syrup glaze and went really well with the tea. My husband had an old fashioned cream scone (a dollop of cream is cut into the flour with the butter before it’s baked) and he had coffee (the traitor).

I’m licking my lips just writing about it. Was if good? Yes!

"Julie and Julia," Gave Me A Boost

I usually don’t write movie reviews, and I’m not even sure this is a review … but if you want to laugh and feel alive go see Meryl Streep as Julia Child in Julie and Julia, now playing in theatres.

The Julia scenes simply sizzle. Well, what did I expect? Meryl Streep is a superb actress and she’s portraying Julia Child who was larger than life.

What I loved is that the Julia scenes exuded life, positivity, and were invigorating. I wanted to say out loud, “Yeah, why not take life on?”

It’s PG-13, but I saw a dad come out with his preteen daughter and she was all excited about the process went through to publish her first cookbook. This young girl was excited about Julia Child’s stick-to-itiveness. Talk about keeping your chin up when facing rejection after rejection.

The Julie scenes were a little sniveling by comparison. But then Julia was part of a generation that was strong and plucky and Julie (and you and I) are part of a self-centered whiny generation.

All I can say is that when I left the movie about an hour ago, I wanted to cook, I wanted to eat, I wanted to laugh … what I did was come home and write this.