The NYPD is questioning a New Jersey man in connection with the disappearance of Etan Patz, the 6-year-old boy who vanished more than 30 years ago as he walked to the school bus from his SoHo home, NBC 4 New York first reported Thursday.

Police picked the man up sometime Wednesday evening and brought him to New York City for questioning, sources said.

The man is known to investigators and not anyone new in the case, law enforcement sources say. He worked and lived in Patz’s neighborhood when the boy disappeared.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement that the man “has made statements to NYPD detectives implicating himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz 33 years ago.”

It’s not clear why the police decided to question the man. His name has been known to investigators and he did live and work in the neighborhood at the time when Patz disappeared in 1979.

Kelly also said more details were expected to be released later Thursday.

An intensive search for Patz was renewed several weeks ago when police dug up the basement of a handyman’s workshop near where Patz disappeared. A new layer of concrete had been laid over the foundation of the basement shortly after the boy vanished.

That search yielded no new evidence.

The man in custody Thursday has made statements to police about the case but so far has not provided details that would lead them to Patz’s body, sources said.

Several sources have indicated some skepticism exists about the man’s story, but police are being thorough in their investigation of any possible leads.

One other man has remained a longtime possible suspect: Jose Ramos, a drifter and onetime boyfriend of Patz’s baby sitter. In the early 1980s, he was arrested on theft charges, and had photos of other young, blond boys in his backpack. But there was no hard evidence linking Ramos to the crime.

(Source: NBC New York)