Sign-In
Cart
Missing in Manhattan: The Etan Patz Case
Paperback
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jun 7 2026
Pages: 140
Weight: 0.39
Height: 0.35 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
A six-year-old boy. A two-block walk. A nation that would never feel safe the same way again.
On the morning of May 25, 1979, Etan Patz stepped out of his family's Soho loft in New York City and set off for the school bus stop-alone for the first time. He never arrived. No struggle. No witnesses who could say exactly what happened. No trace left behind on the cobblestones.
What followed was more than a search. It was the beginning of a new American fear.
In Missing in Manhattan: The Etan Patz Case, true crime author Linda Davidson reconstructs the haunting disappearance that reshaped parenting, transformed law enforcement, and helped launch a nationwide missing-children movement. From the frantic first hours in Soho to the flood of tips sparked by Etan's photograph on milk cartons across the country, this gripping account traces the twists, dead ends, and decades of unanswered questions that kept the case alive in the public imagination.
Then, more than thirty years later, the case takes a shocking turn: a confession. An arrest. A trial built on words instead of evidence-and a verdict that would divide opinion while delivering long-delayed accountability.
Told with investigative clarity and deep empathy, this book pulls you into:
- The minute-by-minute timeline of Etan's final known morning
- The suspects and theories that haunted the case for decades
- The media storm that turned one child into a national symbol
- The legal battle over a confession-and what justice means without a body
Some cases fade. This one changed America.
Also from
Davidson, Linda
The Tragedy of Betty Broderick: Divorce, Obsession, and the Double Murder That Shocked California
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Beautiful Lies: The Casey Anthony Case, a Missing Child, and the Story That Never Added Up
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Vanished on the Open Road: The Gabby Petito Story: Love, Lies, and the Digital Trail That Led to a Killer
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Beneath the Baltic: The Murder of Kim Wall and the Submarine Case That Shocked the World
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
The Watcher Next Door: The Circleville Letters, Anonymous Threats, and the Mystery That Never Ended
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
The Jackal's Shadow: Carlos the Jackal, the Birth of Modern Terrorism, and the Making of a Global Manhunt
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
The Cop with a Secret: The Murder of Jesse Valencia by Steven Rios and the Life He Killed to Keep Hidden
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
The Surgeon of Sin: Inside the Twisted Mind and Crimes of Jack Wayne Rogers
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
The Golden State's Ghost: Joseph James DeAngelo and the Hunt for the Golden State Killer
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Three Days in October: The Disappearance, Discovery, and Unfinished Case of Sharon Marie Thor
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
The Cult of Control: Inside NXIVM, Keith Raniere, and the Secret Empire of Sex, Power, and Manipulation
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Inside the Abu Nidal Network: Power, Paranoia, and the Global Campaign of Terror No One Could Control
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
The Quiet Predator: Gary Ridgway, The Green River Killer, and the Pattern No One Stopped
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Justice Denied: The JonBenét Ramsey Mystery: Inside the Case That Shook America and Still Haunts a Nation
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Down The Hill: The Girls Who Captured a Killer and The Secrets Still Buried in Delphi
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
A Day That Changed the Games: Munich 1972, the Olympic Hostage Crisis, and the Tragedy That Reshaped Global Security
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Taken From Campus: The Disappearance of Yingying Zhang and the Investigation That Followed
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Vanished in the Pines: The Disappearance of DeOrr Kunz Jr. and the Secrets Beneath Timber Creek
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Beneath the Perfect Picture: Beneath the Perfect Picture The Watts Family Murders
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Behind The Badge: The Gerard Schaefer Case, A Killer Cop, And The Brutal Crimes Hidden Behind The Uniform
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Fatal Seduction: The Jodi Arias Case, a Secret Affair, and the Brutal Murder That Shocked America
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Vanished on the Line: The Disappearance of Angela Hammond and the Call That Ended in a Scream
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
The Grim Sleeper: Lonnie Franklin Jr. The Killing Spree That Terrorized Los Angeles
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Numbers That Killed: How Flawed Statistics Turned Lucia de Berk Into a Murderer-and Shattered European Justice
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Emotion on Trial: How Guilty, Bias, and Media Narratives Helped Shape Three High-Profile Cases
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
The Beast of The Bayou: Derrick Todd Lee and the Murders That Terrorized Louisiana
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Red Light Vanish: The Disappearance of Bryce Laspisa and The Night That Haunts California
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Buried in the Sand: Thirteen Victims. One Quiet Monster. A Decade of Silence.
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
The Last Mile He Walked: A True Story of Loss, Confusion and The Disappearance of Brandon Swanson
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Behind the Blue Barrel: The Murder of Shannan Gilbert and the Women of Gilgo Beach
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
The Baby Who Disappeared: The Azaria Chamberlain Case and the Cry in the Dark
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Vanished in Aruba: The Natalee Holloway Case and The Mystery That Haunted a Nation
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
He Was Almost Home: The True Story of Jason Landry's Disappearance and the Miles That Vanished With Him
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
The Unseen Stalker: The Murder of Dorothy Jane Scott and the Calls That Predicted Her Death
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
The Diane Downs Case: The Night She Shot Her Children and the Lie That Fooled a Nation
Davidson, Linda
Paperback
Also in
Biographies General
Bluesland: Portraits of Thirteen Major American Blues Masters
Pete Welding (ED.)
Toby Byron (ED.)
Hardcover
Karl Popper - The Formative Years, 1902 1945: Politics and Philosophy in Interwar Vienna
Hacohen, Malachi Haim
Hardcover
The Children of Athena: Greek Intellectuals in the Age of Rome: 150 Bc0-400 AD
Freeman, Charles
Hardcover
Make It a Double: From Wretched to Wondrous: Tales of One Woman's Lifelong Discovery of Whisky
Sackier, Shelley
Hardcover
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
Isaacson, Walter
Hardcover
An Enemy Such as This: Larry Casuse and the Fight for Native Liberation in One Family on Two Continents Over Three Centuries
Correia, David
Hardcover
Agents of Chaos: Thomas King Forçade, High Times, and the Paranoid End of the 1970s
Howe, Sean
Hardcover
Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World
Cooper, Christian
Hardcover
The Secret Life of the Savoy: Glamour and Intrigue at the World's Most Famous Hotel
Williams, Olivia
Paperback
The Badger: The Life of Bernard Hinault and the Legacy of French Cycling
Fotheringham, William
Paperback
Florence Kelley and the Nation's Work: The Rise of Womens Political Culture, 1830-1900
Sklar, Kathryn Kish
Paperback
The Devil's Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich
Wittman, Robert K.
Kinney, David
Paperback
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
Purnell, Sonia
Hardcover
Living with a Wild God: A Nonbeliever's Search for the Truth about Everything
Ehrenreich, Barbara
Paperback
Seafaring Women: Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female Stowaways, and Sailors' Wives
Cordingly, David
Paperback
The Butcher, the Embezzler, and the Fall Guy: A Family Memoir of Scandal and Greed in the Meat Industry
Cherington, Gretchen
Paperback
My Own Devices: True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love
Dessa Wander
Hardcover
Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice
Giuffre, Virginia Roberts
Hardcover
How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay: Tips and Tricks That Kept Me Alive, Happy, and Creative in Spite of Myself
Lawson, Jenny
Hardcover
Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor
Kuehn, Christine
Hardcover
Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground
Dohrn, Zayd Ayers
Hardcover
A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon
Fedarko, Kevin
Paperback
Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast
Colloff, Pamela
Hardcover