By Kenneth V. Lanning, Special to CNN <\/p>\n
updated 5:07 PM EDT, Fri May 25, 2012 <\/p>\n
National Missing Children's Day is based on the case of Etan Patz. <\/p>\n
STORY HIGHLIGHTS <\/p>\n
Editor's note: Kenneth V. Lanning, a consultant in crimes against children, was a special agent with the FBI for more than 30 years and was assigned to the FBI Behavioral Science Unit at the FBI Academy for 20 of those years. <\/p>\n
(CNN) -- May 25, National Missing Children's Day, is a day on which we honor and remember missing children. This date was chosen specifically because it is the date in 1979 when 6-year-old Etan Patz went missing on his way to school in New York. <\/p>\n
The Patz case has resurfaced as a result of some potential new leads and an arrest that hopefully will result in the case finally being solved. I have the greatest respect and empathy for the parents of Etan, who are going through what is clearly one of the greatest nightmares any parent can experience -- never again seeing and not knowing what happened to one's own child. <\/p>\n
Just as the Lindbergh case in the 1930s became a landmark case for increased national awareness concerning ransom kidnapping, the Patz case became a landmark case for increased national awareness concerning \"stranger abduction.\" Each of these cases played a major role in creating laws, but they also fueled some confusing stereotypes. <\/p>\n
Kenneth V. Lanning <\/p>\n
When I joined the FBI in 1970 and someone talked about child abduction, you immediately assumed it was a ransom-motivated case. In less than 20 years, the attitude drastically changed to almost immediately assuming any child abduction involved a sexual predator. Either assumption is obviously not always correct. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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\nMissing kids: Perception, reality<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"