NEW YORK (AP) -- The investigation into the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz has gone through decades and countries, from basements to rooftops and seemingly everywhere in between. No one has ever been charged criminally -- and the little boy with sandy brown hair and a toothy grin was declared dead in 2001. This week, the six-year-old boy who went missing from the Soho area of New York City in 1979 is back in the news. Police and the FBI are investigating a possible lead into the 33-year-old case of Etan Patz, the first missing child to appear on the side of a milk box. The child disappeared on the way to school on the morning of May 25, 1979. It was the first time he was allowed to walk the two blocks to the bus stop alone. A tip seemed to have led officials to the basement of a building on the corner of Prince and Wooster streets, about a block and a half from where Etan had lived with his family. The name Etan Patz has become a hot topic on Twitter as people _ . Shirley Brady noted: "As mom to a 6 years old in Soho, it's still held out by locals as cautionary tale  ." Another wrote, "Boy who disappeared on his way to school in 1979 has been REOPENED! Crazy." One wondered, "Why is FBI and NYPD searching for a kid that disappeared in 1979?" Good question. This is a case that Stuart Gra Bois, as an assistant U.S. lawyer under Rudolph Giuliani, followed for years. It became the most famous missing-person case in New York City, turned a nationwide spotlight on missing children, and created headlines around the globe. No one was ever stated guilty of the crime. The case led to the creation of National Missing Children's Day, marked on May 25, the day the blond-haired, blue-eyed child went missing. The case has even pointed to a suspect, charged with child molester   Julio Antonio Ramos, who is currently in prison. Patz's babysitter had been dating the man, and Ramos did know the kid, but has denied taking him away. New evidence in the case suggests another suspect who lived in the apartment at the time: a local handyman named Othniel Miller, who gave Etan $1 for helping him the night before the disappearance. The man's name had come up in an earlier investigation, but he was a friend of the Patz family, and the NYPD did not follow the lead. Investigators plan to be at the site, 127 B Prince St., which is now a Lucky Brand jeans store, for the next two to three days to search for human remains. The Associated Press reports that the excavation   has been the result of a recently ordered review of the case by Manhattan's police. What was a possible cause of reopening the case of Etan Patz?
Local lawyers strongly demanded the reopening of the case. The Associated Press reported the result of the review of the case. New evidence appeared which led officials to the basement of a building. Local people realized the importance of the case without criminal being charged.