Missing: A Boy and the Evidence Against His Accused Killer

by Joaquin Sapien, Hanna Trudo, Joe Sexton (Introduction)

Early on a May morning in 1979, six-year-old Etan Patz set off for school on his own for the first time. He vanished, and for three decades his case both frustrated and exhausted police, the FBI and a public heartbroken by the tragedy. Then, suddenly, the police in 2012 announced that a former bodega clerk from the Manhattan neighborhood where Etan lived had confessed to killing the boy. Detectives were convinced they had the boy’s murderer, and prosecutors soon indicted the man, Pedro Hernandez.And, then, the remarkable case once more faded away.With a trial set to begin in Spring 2014 ProPublica takes an in-depth look at the case, exploring the phenomenon of false confessions, tracking down witnesses whose stories don’t match, and asking hard questions about why the police and prosecutors didn’t take care to do what a growing body of judges and lawyers have called tape the seven hours of interrogation the Patz suspect underwent before confessing.Pedro Hernandez may have killed Etan Patz. History is rich with unlikely criminals. Or he may be at risk of becoming the next man wrongly convicted of a crime he didn’t commit.

Genres: True Crime, Audiobook, History, Crime, Nonfiction

40 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 28, 2013

Reviews

[Chrissie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A thankfully short read...

[Lucie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It just skimmed over the facts.

[Michele · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not labeled as a Kindle Single but in that same section. A quick read that covers the very basics of Etan Patz’s disappearance. I have read/listened to better.

[Katelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm currently a student in the Innocence Project Clinic at my law school. This book goes into the details of issues that our clinic and other exoneration clinics see with some investigations and confessions. I found it very interesting.

[Vicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn’t really about Ethan Patz the missing it was more around the safety of the confession and whether Hernandez was actually innocent and wrongfully convicted however the book is short and very brief overview with not enough details of the people involved or the case.

[Elizabeth M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to it on audible. It was ok, but not great. Negative is it is only 8 short chapters long and basically talks about lack of evidence against accused killer of a disappeared boy, who the author suggests the accused “confessed” only after a gruelling 7 hour interrogation which wasn’t taped so who knows what tactics the police used to get the accused (Hernandez) to confess. Hernandez may have ben easily manipulated due to years of questionable mental health and over a decade of antipsychotics use for said mental issues.

[Jodi Mertz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as I thought

[J.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't a book about the disappearance of young Etan Patz so much as it is about the possibly false confession that may have been coerced from Pedro Hernandez as a recent development in the decades-old case. It's a sad situation, a missing child and the probability of a mentally handicapped individual being railroaded for the crime. I'll be interested to see what happens when the case goes to trial in 2015.

[Tammy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointment

I expected new information and was excited when I saw this title mentioned in a news article. A lot of this writing was about taped interrogations and the protocol for such.

[Douglas Hord · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one will cause you to doubt nearly any criminal conviction or confession.

[Rosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story.