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Etan Patz Investigators Dig For New Clues in Boy's Disappearance 33 Years Ago
Federal investigators and New York City police began tearing up the concrete floor of a Manhattan apartment building today searching for evidence 6-year-old Etan Patz, who disappeared 33 years ago.
Investigators are also reexamining the decades old assumption that Patz was abducted by convicted pedophile Jose Ramos. Ramos, now in prison for an unrelated case, was never charged with Patz's abduction.
The dig underway today at 127 Prince St., in the city's SoHo neighborhood, is related to a carpenter or handyman who had befriended the boy. The carpenter's name had surfaced in earlier investigations.
Investigators are excavating the 15-by-30 foot room that was the handyman's workshop. It was last searched in 1979, the year the boy disappeared.
Since then drywall has been put up over the room's brick walls. The drywall will be removed and the bricks examined and tested for blood evidence using advanced forensic techniques that were not available three decades ago, officials said.
PHOTO: This undated image provided Friday, May 28, 2010 by Stanley K. Patz shows Patz's son Etan who vanished in New York on May 25, 1979.
Stanley K. Patz/AP Photo
This undated image provided Friday, May 28,... View Full Size
May 25th, 1979: Six-Year-Old Vanishes Watch Video
Jose Ramos: Missing Link in Patz Case? Watch Video
Patz Case Captures National Attention Watch Video
The floor will also be dug up in a search for human remains, clothing or other evidence. The cement floor had been laid down around the time Patz was reported missing, but was never dug up, sources told ABC News.
The material removed will be taken to another site and preserved. Current forensics will allow authorities to look into hollows and to perform sophisticated DNA analysis on any potential evidence.
The search for Patz has been one of the largest, longest lasting and most heart wrenching hunts for a missing child in the country's recent history.
"It's a joint FBI- NYPD search for human remains clothing or personal effects," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told reporters outside the building after investigators entered using a search warrant.
"This process right here, this process that you're witnessing, will take upward of five days," Browne said.
Patz vanished on May 25, 1979 in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan while walking alone to a school bus stop for the first time.
He became the first missing child whose face appeared on the side of a milk carton.
For the Patz family, it has been more than three decades of agonizing investigations and years of wondering what happened to their blond son with the gorgeous smile.
In an interview with "20/20" in 2009, the boy's father Stan Patz said, "I still gag with fear that this child must have felt ... when he realized he was being betrayed by an adult."
The case had been dormant until Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. reopened the case in 2010. Former DA Robert Morgenthau, who had declined to proceed with the case, citing insufficient evidence.
Federal investigators and New York City police began tearing up the concrete floor of a Manhattan apartment building today searching for evidence 6-year-old Etan Patz, who disappeared 33 years ago.
Investigators are also reexamining the decades old assumption that Patz was abducted by convicted pedophile Jose Ramos. Ramos, now in prison for an unrelated case, was never charged with Patz's abduction.
The dig underway today at 127 Prince St., in the city's SoHo neighborhood, is related to a carpenter or handyman who had befriended the boy. The carpenter's name had surfaced in earlier investigations.
Investigators are excavating the 15-by-30 foot room that was the handyman's workshop. It was last searched in 1979, the year the boy disappeared.
Since then drywall has been put up over the room's brick walls. The drywall will be removed and the bricks examined and tested for blood evidence using advanced forensic techniques that were not available three decades ago, officials said.
PHOTO: This undated image provided Friday, May 28, 2010 by Stanley K. Patz shows Patz's son Etan who vanished in New York on May 25, 1979.
Stanley K. Patz/AP Photo
This undated image provided Friday, May 28,... View Full Size
May 25th, 1979: Six-Year-Old Vanishes Watch Video
Jose Ramos: Missing Link in Patz Case? Watch Video
Patz Case Captures National Attention Watch Video
The floor will also be dug up in a search for human remains, clothing or other evidence. The cement floor had been laid down around the time Patz was reported missing, but was never dug up, sources told ABC News.
The material removed will be taken to another site and preserved. Current forensics will allow authorities to look into hollows and to perform sophisticated DNA analysis on any potential evidence.
The search for Patz has been one of the largest, longest lasting and most heart wrenching hunts for a missing child in the country's recent history.
"It's a joint FBI- NYPD search for human remains clothing or personal effects," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told reporters outside the building after investigators entered using a search warrant.
"This process right here, this process that you're witnessing, will take upward of five days," Browne said.
Patz vanished on May 25, 1979 in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan while walking alone to a school bus stop for the first time.
He became the first missing child whose face appeared on the side of a milk carton.
For the Patz family, it has been more than three decades of agonizing investigations and years of wondering what happened to their blond son with the gorgeous smile.
In an interview with "20/20" in 2009, the boy's father Stan Patz said, "I still gag with fear that this child must have felt ... when he realized he was being betrayed by an adult."
The case had been dormant until Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. reopened the case in 2010. Former DA Robert Morgenthau, who had declined to proceed with the case, citing insufficient evidence.