Reopened Missing Case of the Day

Etan Patz was the first missing kid to appear on a milk carton -- the 6-year-old disappeared from his New York City neighborhood in 1979. He has never been found, and the case was all but considered closed. But five years ago, the Etan Patz case was reassigned, and the result is a story straight out of Criminal Minds. A persistent FBI detective named Thomas MacDonald, given the instructions, "See what you can do with it," took it upon himself to reexamine the case from scratch. His search led him to the basement of a building in SoHo, where cadaver-sniffing dogs indicated remains might be buried. But after five days of digging, the FBI has "concluded the on-site portion of the search." Said one official: "I fear we're at a dead end." [dailyintel]