Missing Children: New Clues (Press, 19 January 1983)

A new lead regarding the case of Etan Patz, a six-year-old boy who went missing in New York City on May 25, 1979, has raised concerns about an underground organisation of paedophiles in the United States. This group, known as the North American Man-Boy Love Association (N.A.M.B.L.A.), claims a membership of thousands and allegedly has connections with similar groups in Europe. Recently, N.A.M.B.L.A. representatives held press conferences in New York and Boston, asserting that they had no involvement in the kidnapping of Patz and identifying themselves as a civil rights organisation for homosexual men advocating against laws prohibiting sexual relationships with minors. The renewed interest in Patz's case was prompted by a police raid in Wareham, Massachusetts, where officers discovered two men, David Groat and Brett Portman, apprehended with two boys aged 16 and 17. Both men were arrested and face indecent assault charges. During the raid, authorities found over 1,000 photographs, including some of minors unclothed, at the Portman family's summer home. Portman's lawyer argued that most of the images were akin to art found in publications, asserting that N.A.M.B.L.A. is a non-violent group active for a few years without any illegal activities noted. The investigation into the two men began while authorities sought a 13-year-old New Jersey boy missing since November. They traced a phone number found with that boy to the cottage. Multiple sightings of men and boys at the location prompted the police raid. While no evidence of the New Jersey boy was found, among the photographs was one resembling what Etan Patz would now look like at age ten. When this picture was shared in New York newspapers, a taxi driver reported a recollection of a man and a child fitting Patz's description on the day he disappeared. This taxi driver, initially hesitant to come forward due to fears of publicity, recalled transporting a man and a boy from the corner where Patz should have been waiting for his school bus. The man instructed the driver to take them uptown, and upon the child's outcry about not going the right way, the man exited the cab unexpectedly. Although New York police later suggested that the N.A.M.B.L.A. photograph was likely not of Patz, they found the taxi driver's account credible. Further developments revealed that the New Jersey boy was eventually located at a house in Vermont connected to N.A.M.B.L.A. He was observed with a new wristwatch, raising concerns about the nature of his circumstances, given that his father was unemployed. District Attorney William O'Malley, involved in prosecuting Groat and Portman, commented on the group's operations, indicating they lure children into remote locations and transport them across the country. Disturbingly, O'Malley noted that many children who go missing—totaling approximately 50,000 annually—are never found; this includes 4,000 to 5,000 who return home, and an equivalent number found deceased.

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