FBI Agents, NYPD Continue Renewed Search For Etan Patz
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The renewed search for Etan Patz is continuing this weekend, and so far investigators haven't found new evidence inside a SoHo building.
FBI agents and the NYPD resumed their efforts on Saturday morning, looking for any sign of the boy who went missing three decades ago. CBS 2's Ann Mercogliano reported that a cadaver dog recently indicated the presence of human remains.
Investigators have been painstakingly excavating the basement of the building that they believe may contain the remains of Patz. They have ripped up half of the basement and plan to continue their search on Sunday.
1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria reported
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There's a huge dumpster parked on Prince Street, and it's being filled with the concrete and other debris that is being brought up from 127B Prince Street, where the entrance is to the basement where the digging began on Thursday.
On Saturday, investigators continued to dig and sift through the dirt that's been under the concrete. All the concrete flooring was removed by the afternoon, FBI spokesperson Tim Flannelly told CBS 2's Mark Morgan, and the next step is to dig in the dirt beneath the floor.
"We're cautiously optimistic we'll find evidence," Flannelly said.
Authorities think the basement may have been a tomb for the young Patz, who disappeared in May 1979 when walking to the school bus stop for the first time by himself, just a few blocks away.
"It's along the route that Etan took to leave his house and go to the bus, so it's a logical place to look," police commissioner Ray Kelly said.
WCBS 880's Alex Silverman reported
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Stephen Kuzma was the building manager back then, and he says the search may be complicated.
"I wish I could [describe the basement]," Kuzma said. "Every time I went down there it seemed there was a different wall. It's a maze."
Patz's mother and father always believed that convicted pedophile Jose Ramos was responsible for their son's death, but Ramos has denied killing the boy.
The basement was used as a workshop by 76-year-old handyman Othniel Miller, a person of interest in the case. Miller knew Patz, and at one time even gave the six-year-old a dollar.
Michael Farkas, Miller's attorney, says his client is cooperating now, just as he did 30 years ago.
"Mr. Miller did not do this," Farkas said. "He's going to remain cooperative to the extent that's reasonably possible given this investigation."
The FBI got a warrant to dig up the basement after Miller's ex-wife claimed that the handyman raped his young niece just a few years after Patz's disappearance, The New York Post reported.
Etan's uncle. rabbi Norman Patz, is hoping that the renewed investigation can bring some closure.
"I suppose we're grateful for the attention if it has positive results," Etan's uncle said. "He was a beautiful child. Good and sweet and loving."
Authorities told 1010 WINS Reporter Steve Sandberg that they plan to dig between four and six feet deep...
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