Search Resumes For NJ Boys

Dozens of people gathered on street corners Thursday night after more than a day of fruitless searching for Jesstin Pagan, 5; Daniel Agosto, 6; and Anibal Cruz, 11.

"This is over 24 hours now. It's getting scary," said Mario Rivera, an uncle of Cruz. The children were last seen playing in a yard at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The search resumed Friday morning.

Volunteers were handing out leaflets seeking the boys.

"I think it's a big part that the community gets together and try to help find these three children," Melissa Martinez told CBS station KYW.

Relatives worry about how the oldest of the boys, who has limited mental abilities and attention deficit disorder, might fare without his medication.

"We've done everything we can," Jennifer Calo, an aunt of 11-year-old Anibal Cruz, said. "The only thing we can do now is hope and pray we'll turn around and they'll be walking down the sidewalk and saying, 'We're here.'"

Elba Cruz, Anibal's mother, said she was watching the boys play in the yard of her home Wednesday evening when she went inside for a few minutes. When she returned, the boys were gone.

A police dog tracked a scent taken from clothing belonging to one of the boys to an overgrown wooded area along the Delaware River, a half-dozen blocks from the Cruz home, Camden Police Lt. Mike Lynch said. The dog led police along a meandering path that eventually led to the river, but there was no sign of the children.

Lynch said late Thursday that officials considered the boys missing, but had not ruled out the possibility they had been abducted. During a news conference, he asked for residents to "be good eyes and ears."

"When you're talking about tender age children like that, it strikes a chord with anybody," he said.

Because there is no indication yet of foul play, the boys' disappearance did not qualify for an Amber Alert.

Authorities were using air support, ground and mounted patrols and boats on the river in the search, Lynch said.

Last fall, Camden was ranked the most dangerous city in the United States in a reference book that compares crime statistics. But the mostly Puerto Rican Cramer Hill neighborhood is considered a relatively safe place.