Cleveland police plan to resume search for Amanda Berry's body Friday morning

CLEVELAND - By 9:30 p.m. Thursday, quiet had returned to the area of West 30th and Seymour Avenue. The crowds that filled this corner just south of Interstate 90 were gone, as police who stopped their search for the body of Amanda Berry, prepared to return in the morning to search the site for a second day.

In 2003, then-17-year-old Berry disappeared while walking home from her job at Burger King on West 110th Street and Lorain Avenue.

On day one of the search, police focused their attention on the east side of an empty lot at West 30th Street and Wade Avenue. They excavated an area from the eastern fence out about 8 feet and along the 50 or so feet of the property.

"We started this morning with a very slow, meticulous hand dig much like an archeological dig," Cleveland Police Commander Thomas McCartney. "We brought in a small backhoe and started skimming along that one area. Now, we're going to see if we can't get our hands on a larger backhoe and bigger bucket and maybe expedite the process."

"Our game plan is to check every inch of that lot so it's going to take a little bit of time," said McCartney.

Police found nothing on Thursday and will resume their excavation and search Friday morning.

"I don't want to walk away with any hint that we missed something, I want to be able to sleep and say we did the best we can do," McCartney said.

Watching it all was Nancy Ruiz, the mother of Gina DeJesus who disappeared in April 2004, a year after Amanda. In the fall of 2006, she watched as police acting on a tip dug up the floor of a garage on West 50th, but no body was found.

Ruiz said she thought about that day a lot on Thursday.

"I kept myself busy. I was not glued to the TV because I stated early that morning they were not going to find her because she was not there," Ruiz said.