They are reporting that today's activity occurred because the investigation went off in a completely new direction, with a new suspect.
For many years, it was assumed that Ramos - the guy sitting in jail for a couple of decades on an unrelated molestation charge - was Etan's kidnapper and killer, but he has been slip-sliding around with semi-confessions, inscrutable statements and partial admissions for years, and I think everyone more or less gave up hope that he would ever give a full confession and tell the parents where their child is.
But today it seems they are setting the Ramos direction aside for now and are investigating a different person. He was described as a family friend, aged 76 (he's that age now, was much younger then, of course), lives in Brooklyn. I caught the name "Miller," didn't catch whether he was questioned back when it happened. I'm sure we will be getting more info in time.
Curiouser and curiouser. I hope they will be able to give at least some closure and resolution to this family. I remember it struck me then, and still does now, that the Patzes never moved, because the mom wanted Etan to be able to find them if he ever comes home.
Since then, I've heard similar things in other cases, but that was the first time, and my heart just broke for that poor lady.
They expect the excavation work to take a few weeks.
@Pookies Mom, you are absolutely right. It was my first thought. They went in there today as high profile as possible. The only thing missing was a marching band to announce their arrival. I think they said that even the Police Commissioner was there. They must have something very solid. Both the FBI and the NYPD would know very well how to stay hidden in plain sight, posing as maintenance or repair crews or something. The fact that a platoon of FBI officers showed up at 8:00 AM without any subterfuge means that they know there is something to find, and they will find it.