Hello, thank you for joining us for another episode of Into the Killing.

In today's episode, we'll take a look at one of the most famous cases of a missing child in American history.

The missing boy became synonymous with the missing kids on the Mill Cardins campaign.

Even though the case generated an enormous amount of media attention, it would take

decades for it to be solved. For this episode, we're going to New York City in 1979. That year was a record-setting bloody year in the Big Apple.

There were nearly 1,700 murders in that last year of the 1970s.

The case we're talking about happened on May 25, 1979.

In a tragic, ironic way, the number one song on the Billboard charts was reunited by Peaches and Herb.

May 25th was the last day before the Memorial Hall Day weekend.

It was a hectic morning in the loft where the Pates family lived in Soho, which is in Lower Manhattan.

At 8.m. Stan Pates, a commercial photographer was still in bed.

His wife, Julie, ran a small daycare out of the loft.

She was dealing with her two-year-old son, Ari, another child who slept over

that night. Their daughter, 8-year-old Chira, did not want to get out bed. Their six-year-old

Aton was up and ready to go to school. That morning, he had made his own breakfast.

He made his usual toast and chocolate milk.

He then picked up his lunch bag and headed to the front door.

Recently, Aiton had been seeking more independence.

He regularly asked his parents to walk alone to the bus stop since other kids in his class were allowed to. It turned out that day was a big day for Aiton because his mother finally said yes.

Atom was to walk two blocks to his bus stop where the school bus would pick him up.

Aiton put on his hat, which was a pilot's hat, that read Future Flight Captain.

He was also wearing a blue corduroy jacket, blue jeans, and blue sneakers.

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