Discussion Guide
1. On May 25th, 1979, six-year old Etan Patz’s parents finally gave in to his entreaties and let him walk the two short blocks to the school bus stop on his own, for the first time. It was a different time. How did you get to school when you were a child? If you have children, nieces/nephews, neighbor children…is it the same for them?
2. How old is old enough to be on your own as a child walking on the streets today?
3. Do you feel that things have changed over the last thirty years, as far as independence vs. vigilance? Has our culture gone overboard the other way, locking up our kids so they never learn to experience the joys of newfound freedom?
4. Do you think that the world is a more dangerous place today than yesteryear? Or is it just that we know more about the dangers of the world? Why/Why not?
5. The book talks about the “Just World” theory – that if the world is a just one, then victims have bad things befall them for a reason: ie, the rape victim wore tight clothes, the mom didn’t watch out for her child properly. That helps the thinker believe it could never be him/her. Can you think of other examples in the world around you? Have you ever had those thoughts?
6. How would you have reacted if you’d been Julie and Stan Patz’s neighbors? Would you have been able to talk to them, or would you have fled in discomfort, as so many did?
7. How did you feel when you read about the discovery in 1982 of Jose Ramos’s connection to the Patz case? In the aftermath, would you have done something differently than the investigators?
8. Why do you think Jose Ramos was able to elude authorities as well as he did?
9. Stuart GraBois was on the verge of getting a full confession from Ramos in his office in 1988. But he had to stop questioning Ramos when the man asked for a lawyer. He says to this day he second-guesses whether he should have ignored that request, locked the door, and gotten the full confession. What do you think GraBois should have done at that point? What do you think you would have done?
10. What do you think drove federal prosecutor Stuart GraBois to pursue this case so doggedly?
11. How much responsibility did the parents of the molested PA boy bear for what happened to him? Jose Ramos argued that he told people he had a problem and that they should keep their child away from him. And even if that’s a specious argument, these parents were off drinking while their son was being “cared” for by Ramos…
12. Is Stuart GraBois obsessed? He traveled around the world and faced life-threatening illness, death threats, and countless frustrating dead ends. His feelings for Jose Ramos are clearly personal. When is it determination and when is it obsession?
13. Jailhouse informants are always a tricky proposition. But theirs was a daring, carefully orchestrated one-two punch, and the little pieces added up. Do you believe the informants? Why? Why not?
14. Stan Patz and his wife Julie diverge on their feelings about the case. Stan will pursue justice ‘til the end. Julie wants to get free of the burden and do good in a different way. Where do you come down on this? Do you think it has anything to do with him being male and her being female?
15. At what point do you walk away and put tragedy out of your life? Stan argues it’s simply not possible and so he has to do what he can. Julie thinks she’s done what she can for her son, and needs to do more for others.
16. Civil law suits in lieu of a criminal trial are becoming more and more popular, as the O.J. Fred Goldman example set the stage. Do you think winning the civil suit gained anything for the Patz family?
17. In the wake of Etan’s disappearance, Julie Patz became a national advocate for missing children. In later years, she returned to working directly with children, often as surrogate “mother” to the disadvantaged kids in her school, like Lev Sviridov, who went on to win a Rhodes Scholarship. Weigh the different kinds of public service these two paths provide. Big picture, potential big impact, with all the strings attached or small picture, discernible, personal impact.
18. There is a possibility that Jose Ramos could be held in civil commitment once his sentence is served in 2012. Certain criminals, especially sex offenders, are not released even though they’ve served their full sentence on the grounds that they are a demonstrable menace to society. But arguably, they have paid their debt to society. How do you feel about this tricky legal and ethical ground? In this case?
19. What do you think should happen next? Knowing everything you know as you near the end of the book, is there a criminal case to be made?
20. Is Jose Ramos guilty of abducting and killing Etan Patz?
