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Nov 4, 2009 12:29 pm US/Eastern
Search Resumes In Missing Child Cold Case
Pilar Rodriguez, 3, Disappeared In 1999
She Was Last Seen With Her Babysitter
No Charges Have Ever Been Filed
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Pilar's photo is shown age-progressed to 11 years. She was last seen in the company of a female babysitter who took her to Punta Gorda on vacation in Jan. 1999 and the child was never seen again.
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office Forensic and FBI Evidence Response Team members search an area in the backyard of a home in Punta Gorda.
Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Investigators have resumed the search for evidence in connection with missing 3-year-old South Florida girl, Pilar Rodriguez of Hollywood.
Investigators are using ground-penetrating radar to search a property in Punta Gorda in Charlotte County. The property once belonged to the family of one the prime suspects, Keith Wilson.
Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Cameron said, "Nothing at this time has been found and the long tedious task will continue throughout the day in the search for Pilar."
Police began searching the property on Tuesday hoping to find evidence that will lead them to the girl who disappeared a decade ago while visiting Punta Gorda with her babysitter, Melissa Cooper.
Sheriff Bill Cameron says deputies began searching the 8-acre area Tuesday morning.
During a Tuesday news conference, a reporter asked, "Is the confidence level high?".
"It's hopeful," Sheriff Cameron responded. "I wouldn't call it high, it's hopeful."
"What happened to Pilar Rodriguez?" asks Dinorah Perry of Missing Children International Ministries in Pembroke Pines. She's been following the case for years. "Hopefully, by today or tomorrow the whole world will know what happened to that child."
The original persons of interest in this case, babysitter Melissa Cooper and her boyfriend Keith Wilson, continue to be a focus of the investigation, according to the sheriff's office, although they are no longer in the area.
THE HISTORY
In 1999, Pilar's father, Marco Rodriguez allowed the babysitter to take his daughter on vacation for two weeks. Melissa Cooper took Pilar to the Trail Apartments in Punta Gorda. Cooper's boyfriend, Keith Wilson, was with them.
Pilar was never seen again.
Cooper claimed Wilson beat the child and buried her body. Wilson denied the accusations and claimed Cooper was responsible for the girl's death. Cooper also denied the accusations.
In March 1999, deputies searched a wooded area for Pilar after a tip came in. Eight months later, deputies drained Preacher's Lake near the Charlotte County Airport inhabited by alligators. They found some unspecified biological matter which was believed to be a trace of Pilar's remains. After the discovery, they announced they were investigating her case as a homicide.
Divers also found several child size T-shirts in the lake including one with a picture of Winnie the Pooh. Her father says Pilar had a t-shirt like that with her when she left with Cooper. Nothing else was ever found in the lake.
There have been no arrests or charges in the case. Even though her body has never been found, Keith Wilson was sued for wrongful death by Pilar's father. The suit was later dismissed.
CBS4's Ted Scouten contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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