Police search basement for boy missing since 1979
Source: Agencies |
April 21, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
POLICE and the FBI are searching a Manhattan basement for the remains of a six-year-old boy whose 1979 disappearance on his way to school helped launch a missing children's movement that put kids' faces on milk cartons.
Etan Patz vanished on May 25, 1979, after leaving his family's SoHo apartment for a short walk to catch a school bus. It was the first time his parents had let him go off to school alone.
A forensic team planned to dig up the concrete floor and remove drywall partitions to find blood, clothing or human remains in the building, just down the street from Etan's home, police spokesman Paul Browne said on Thursday. The work is expected to take up to five days.
FBI and police officials didn't announce what led them to the site, but a law-enforcement official said that investigators made the decision to dig after an FBI dog detected the scent of human remains at the building over the past few weeks.
Investigators have long eyed the basement with curiosity because it can be accessed from the street on the boy's route to school. At the time, the space was being used as a workshop by a neighborhood handyman who was thought to have been friendly with Etan.
FBI investigators have interviewed the man several times over the years. Investigators questioned him again recently, and as a result of those talks decided to refocus their attention on the building, according to the law-enforcement official.
Etan's disappearance drew national attention to child safety, ushered in a generation of parents who became afraid to send their kids out alone and helped fuel a movement to publicize missing children's cases. Etan's face was among the first to appear on milk cartons.
President Ronald Reagan declared May 25, the day of his disappearance, National Missing Children's Day.
Etan's parents, Stanley and Julie Patz, became outspoken advocates for missing children. For years, they refused to change their phone number, in the hope that Etan was alive somewhere, and might call. They never moved, although they obtained a court order in 2001 declaring the boy dead.
Etan Patz vanished on May 25, 1979, after leaving his family's SoHo apartment for a short walk to catch a school bus. It was the first time his parents had let him go off to school alone.
A forensic team planned to dig up the concrete floor and remove drywall partitions to find blood, clothing or human remains in the building, just down the street from Etan's home, police spokesman Paul Browne said on Thursday. The work is expected to take up to five days.
FBI and police officials didn't announce what led them to the site, but a law-enforcement official said that investigators made the decision to dig after an FBI dog detected the scent of human remains at the building over the past few weeks.
Investigators have long eyed the basement with curiosity because it can be accessed from the street on the boy's route to school. At the time, the space was being used as a workshop by a neighborhood handyman who was thought to have been friendly with Etan.
FBI investigators have interviewed the man several times over the years. Investigators questioned him again recently, and as a result of those talks decided to refocus their attention on the building, according to the law-enforcement official.
Etan's disappearance drew national attention to child safety, ushered in a generation of parents who became afraid to send their kids out alone and helped fuel a movement to publicize missing children's cases. Etan's face was among the first to appear on milk cartons.
President Ronald Reagan declared May 25, the day of his disappearance, National Missing Children's Day.
Etan's parents, Stanley and Julie Patz, became outspoken advocates for missing children. For years, they refused to change their phone number, in the hope that Etan was alive somewhere, and might call. They never moved, although they obtained a court order in 2001 declaring the boy dead.
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