The bits of material -- some human hair, but not blonde hair like that of the young boy who vanished on his way to school, and a possible blood stained bit of cinder block -- are being sent to the FBI forensic lab in Quantico, Va..
And today, according to authorities, will be a day for winding down the operation on Prince Street.
After the day's digging at around 3 p.m. Sunday, authorities met with the Patz family to inform them of the outcome of the search. They were told what had been found, and what, significantly, had not been found: human remains or other clear evidence that their son had been inside that basement prior to his disappearance.
Patz was 6 at the time he disappeared on the morning of May 25, 1979, soon after leaving his parents' apartment at 113 Prince St., the first time he was to walk to the school bus stop by himself. The boy's 1979 disappearance sparked a citywide search that decades later led authorities back to handyman Othneil Miler's small basement workshop, this time to excavate it after cadaver dogs detected the smell of human remains.
The possible evidence was discovered in the basement that was once used as a kids' play area, which doubled as the workspace of retired handyman Othniel Miller, now 75. Miller, according to authorities, was seen with Patz the night before he disappeared.
"The FBI has been here to investigate the case," Stephaine Miller, Othniel Miller's daughter, said. "He cooperated with them and went to the site and he doesn't have anything to do with it."
Miller has not been named a suspect in the Patz disappearance, but he has been questioned.
"Mr. Miller denies involvement with what has happened to this beautiful young boy," his attorney, Michael Farkas, said. "Mr. Miller has been cooperating with this investigation for over 30 years."
Since the boy's 1979 disappearance, a man named Jose Ramos, who is a convicted child molester, has been considered the prime suspect, although he has denied any connection.
Etan Patz disappearance without a trace and was one of the first major missing child cases to receive national attention. Although he was never found, the images of the boy were never forgotten. The boy's parents never changed their phone number, and told ABC News two years ago that they never moved, in the hopes that one day their boy would come home.
Former ABC News Producer Lisa Cohen wrote a book on the case entitled "After Etan: The Missing Child Case That Held America Captive," which made national headlines. Cohen recently spoke with Etan's father again.
"He is just so grateful that they're actually moving forward with the case," Cohen said. "And if anything happens, it can bring some kind of peace to that family."
Authorities investigating the case are using technological advances that can even detect whether a body was moved to reinvestigate the cold case. Vast improvements in technology since Patz disappeared, including agents that detect traces of blood and ground penetrating radar, are allowing investigators to crack "relatively old" cold cases by looking beyond what the eye can see.
Still, in a statement to ABC News, the FBI said that there is still not a significant amount of solid new evidence to report on at this time.
"It's important not to read too much into anything at this time," the statement said. "The process of removing material, sorting it and analyzing it proceeds at a deliberate pace."
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