By Kenneth V. Lanning, Special to CNN

updated 5:07 PM EDT, Fri May 25, 2012

National Missing Children's Day is based on the case of Etan Patz.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

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.

(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.

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.

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.

Kenneth V. Lanning

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.

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Missing children, perception vs. reality