Abuse claim cited in hunt for Etan Patz

An allegation that a handyman under scrutiny in the decades-old disappearance of Etan Patz had sexually abused a child was one reason investigators decided to dig up a SoHo basement, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the case.

The molestation claim is so far uncorroborated, but was included in an affidavit supporting a search warrant authorizing the dig, the sources said. They cautioned that investigators have not been able to track down the alleged victim, a girl then about 10 years old.

The claim was made by Phyllis Miller, the former wife of Othniel Miller. He's the former handyman who's now become a focus of the investigation because of a statement he gave investigators during a recent interview -- that the body may have at one point been in the basement, a law enforcement source said. Records show that Othniel Miller was the plaintiff in the couple's 1986 divorce.

Cadaver-sniffing dogs scouring the area had also detected a gas emitted by human remains -- a fact also used in support of the warrant, the sources said.

An attorney hired by Miller's family has said the ex-handyman denies any role in Etan's disappearance.

Etan, 6, went missing on his way to school on May 25, 1979, from the SoHo block where he lived with his parents.

The new search, which began last week, involves investigators dismantling the basement in four sections, the NYPD has said. The search is expected to take up to five days.

Investigators have removed numerous pieces of debris for forensic testing, including a piece of "discolored or stained" building material that caught their eye, one of the sources said. It was not immediately clear whether that evidence is connected to the Patz case.

"We won't know until we hear back from the lab," the source said.

On Saturday, on the third day of the search, FBI agents and NYPD officers carried buckets of excavated soil from the building, at 127 Prince St.

The Patz case has long baffled investigators.

Miller, now 75, has recently become a new focus of the investigation. He'd worked with a convicted sex offender, Jose Antonio Ramos, who has long been considered the prime suspect in Etan's disappearance. No charges have ever been filed in the case.

Around the time of the disappearance, Miller had employed Ramos for small jobs in the workshop a block from the Patz home, one of the law enforcement sources said.

With Igor Kossov