Federal agents and NYPD officers descended on a building in lower Manhattan Thursday morning in a new search for evidence in the case of a 6-year-old boy missing for more than 30 years.

The property is on Prince Street in SoHo, the same street where Etan Patz was last seen on May 25, 1979. An NYPD spokesman told CNN that authorities are looking for “human remains, clothing or other personal effects.” The search effort is focused on the basement, a currently-unoccupied 13’ x 62’ space with a cement floor.

CNN’s Susan Candiotti reported that FBI evidence recovery teams plan to use jackhammers to dig through the floor and they expect to continue the search there for five days. Candiotti told HLN’s Nancy Grace investigators believe Patz may have been killed or disposed of in that basement.
Patz vanished after leaving his family’s Prince Street home to walk to his school bus stop two blocks away. His disappearance spurred a nationwide search and the development of new ways to look for missing children, including posting their pictures on milk cartons.

A man who has been identified as a suspect in the case, Jose Antonio Ramos, is in prison in Pennsylvania for unrelated child molestation charges. A Department of Corrections spokeswoman confirmed to HLN Thursday that Ramos is scheduled to be released on November 7, 2012.

For the latest developments in the Etan Patz case, go to: HLNtv.com