European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 13, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Byram Arjones associated press his toys arc packed his first Grade friends arc jangly and layers of Graffiti cover the haunting words Spray painted on a Grimy factory Wall so Long ago i miss Elan six years of maybes and what ifs have clouded the lives of those who loved and lost a Little boy whose elfin face smiles from still missing posters distributed in 60 his family has missed Etan Patz now for As Many years As they had the baffling Case has trapped them in a cruel they dont know whether to mourn Etan or wait for Stanley Patz wonders what kind of a ballplayer his son would be now Julie Patz wonders if she would still recognize Etan if he suddenly walked through the on the misty morning of May Julie stood on the third floor fire escape watching her son proudly March off to the school bus Stop by himself for the first in the Bustle below on Prince she quickly lost sight of the Small boy with a future flight Captain Cap squashed Down Over his Blond Etan is still police files on the boy fill and detectives Are still assigned to the Case his parents say none of the countless leads or clues or reported sightings Ever panned As far Asim the most difficult aspect of this Type of crime is its its the Ambia the said his a 43yearold commercial its difficult if not impossible to put the Situa Tion behind us when its he said in an inter View in the studio of the airy loft where the Patz family lives in the Soho Section of lower a few years Stan spotted his sons name on the Wall a couple of blocks away and took a picture of the Stark photograph hangs at Eye level above his cluttered reminding him i miss Etan Julie ticks off the emotional stages a family goes through when a child is missing there is no such thing As synchronized she each family member Etan has a 15yearold sister and an 8yearold brother deals with the loss in their private one Day soon after Etan his baby Broth came up to his Mother and when Are we going to smile again Ari tried to fill in the Gap by becoming Julie although not quite Ari toilet trained himself his father the toddler began dressing himself in Evans clothes and would eat Only the foods Etan liked to he climbed into the upper bunk where Etan had retelling Julie struggled to maintain her Compo troubled by the guilty conviction that Ari and Shira needed More love and attention than their frantic parents were Able to give As a Ari went on an eating Binge and became obsessed with he was deter mined to grow Strong enough to defend himself against the faceless they who kidnapped his Broth panic gripped Ari when he turned six was when something terrible happened to you six was when Etan on his seventh Ari went through an in credible sense of Relief that hed made it through this dangerous his Mother described As the family told her parents she would have fought and escaped if someone had taken her instead of gentle she Proba Bly tried to make friends with his jealous of the attention her family class mates used to taunt Shira they would say things i wish my brother would disappear so i could be in the her Mother some of Shiras closest friends dropped her because they found it too depressing to be around Julie Shira declines to join the rest of the family in inter her Mother explained that she is angry and resentful Over the persisting intrusion of the Case on her Young about six months after Etan his Mother went into the room he and Ari shared and packed away his it was she but his parents were sick of psychics holding Evans detective pauses near a poster of Etan a photo stuffed animals and rummaging through his bedclothes in attempts to commune with they also Felt it would be unhealthy to turn his room into a shrine to a missing Julie the pates have become skilled in the emotional tra Peze act so vital to their sanity if one family member loses his grip and begins to another catches him mid plunge and holds tight until balance is the routine was reflected in this Exchange we raised Etan to be a trusting Little Julie maybe if Etan had been a Nasty Little wed have him she then hed be a Nasty big her husband and maybe we  want Julie con forcing a smile so the tears  the pates try not to torment themselves with questions no one can answer what if Evans bus haunt come 10 minutes Early that morning what if the school had notified them of Evans absence and eight hours haunt passed before they knew he was missing what if the bloodhounds had arrived from upstate before rain washed away his Trail theres a lot of speculation that goes on about what might have his Mother the mind attempts to fill in the for a Long the pates were so wary of hurting each other that they didst really Julie counselling and Julie took Ari to a weeks Retreat with other families of missing children last sum Ari sat in a Circle with other siblings of miss ing children As a therapist asked them were they afraid someone might come in their window at night and take them did they think their brother or sister was dead Ari thinks he heard a scream Down on Prince Street the morning Etan no one else reported but that in the imagination of a child whose life it hurled into is punctuated by a maybe that is Why Ari imagines his brother to be dead and promises his parents that he will someday look at All the gravestones in the world to find Evans Julie found salvation in routine after her Middle child mop the Cook go do the pay the she just keep it makes you remember the other people m your life who need she one of the biggest she is paralysis where youre not even certain from one minute to the next if youll be Able to continue the grief and depression Are you feel this incredible sense of guilt about going to the Park and playing with your other kids and just having fun when a child is still Julie she has waged an incredible Battle maintaining discipline with her other two children and notices a ten Dency on the part of their teachers to let work let them get away with things because of the trauma and tragedy in their and while grateful for tremendous Community said she is relieved that the grocery manager no longer leads her to the head of the checkout line while other customers stare daggers at the pates Are no longer in what Stan Calls that desperate they can chuckle Over anecdotes about the Case and feel pity for emotionally disturbed strangers who Call and sometimes even one swish transient in the neighbourhood is convinced he is sometimes he rings the pates when they look out to see who is he Calls up to dad its me in Home on the lighter the pates have tracked the Road company of the King and i across the country for the past two years because a boy featured in a television commercial promoting the show seems to remind people of every time the commercial Calls pour in to police from people certain Treyve spotted Evans parents have become fierce and highly visible campaigners in the nationwide Effort to combat the problem of missing hoping some Small Good can come of their there has been no real emotional turning Point for the just an easing Back into an everyday life that can never return to Normal until the mystery of Evans disappearance is about six weeks after Etan his father reluctantly returned to work but  bring himself to leave the phone and the tape recorder sitting beside an answering machine was eventually with any new publicity about the the Crank Calls and false leads pour in the pates cannot simply change their number or get it it is the number Etan Stanley and Julie Patz a photo Page 14 the stars and stripes july the stars and stripes Page 15