Hair and Bones Found in Etan Patz Soho Basement
Federal law enforcement concluded their search for Etan Patz at a Soho Basement on Monday and while the missing boy's remains were not discovered, investigators did find hair and non-human bones.
"The FBI has concluded the on-site portion of the search. The street and local businesses will be re-opened," the FBI said in a statement to Channel 7 Eyewitness News.
Part of a concrete wall was removed from the basement after investigators found a stain which will be tested by the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia.
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Patz disappeared in lower Manhattan, New York on May 25, 1979 at the tender age of six and although he was declared legally dead in 2001, police reopened the case in 2010 and have identified a new person of interest.
"It's an ongoing investigation, and as I said from the beginning, these old cold cases shouldn't be forgotten," Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said.
Othniel Miller, who once worked as a handyman out of the basement which is located at 127B Prince St, "hired" Patz as a helper and even paid him his $1 salary the night before he disappeared.
The 75-year-old has become a person of interest in Patz's disappearance, although his attorney believes that his client has been unfairly targeted.
"This is how innocent people become irreversibly branded as criminals! It ruins lives, while the anonymous sources never have to answer to anyone. He has absolutely no responsibility for the terrible tragedy that befell young Etan Patz," attorney Michael Farkas said in a statement.
"Mr. Miller decries the efforts to sully his good reputation and destroy his family, and he grieves for Etan's fate, as all New Yorkers have for decades," the lawyer added.
Miller's stepson, Jason Webley, also came to his defense insisting that the elderly man is innocent.
"You can't swear for anyone, but I don't think he's in any way, form, or fashion involved in this," Webley, told the Daily News.
"He's not like that. He loved children. I grew up around the man and I never heard anything like that," he added.
