Search for Etan Patz ends ‎after lead turns cold

July 31, 2016

By Jennifer Mattson

Dozens of police and FBI investigators search an apartment basement in New York City on April 19, 2012, for evidence in the case of Etan Patz, a 6-year-old boy who disappeared 33 years ago.

NEW YORK – The basement search for possible clues in the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz more than three decades ago has ended, according to CNN.

A source briefed on the investigation told CNN no human remains were found, Detective Joseph Cavitola, spokesman for the New York Police Department, confirmed the search was being called off.

A field test on what was considered a possible bloodstain found in a New York City basement in SoHo was found negative, the source said.

On Monday, officials were at the scene, less than 100 yards from Etan's home, who has been missing since 1979.

The 33-year-old case was recently reopened when a cadaver-sniffing dog sensed something at the SoHo basement where the stain was found.

ABC News reports authorities met with the Patz family Sunday when the day's digging was concluded to inform them the found no human remains or other evidence their son had been inside the basement.

As the Associated Press points out, the boy's disappearance started the era of parent anxiety in the United States.

"It sent a chill through everybody," said Jim Stratton, a parents whose son was in the same play group as Patz. "You could not leave your child for a minute. Anywhere. It was like a dark cloud had come over the neighborhood."

Patz was one of the first missing children in the US to have his picture printed on milk cartons and was formally declared dead in 200, according to Reuters.