Police search for missing Maryland boy

GEORGETOWN, Md., Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Maryland investigators said they used cadaver-sniffing dogs in a search of two parks in Montgomery County for an 11-year-old boy who disappeared last week.

Detectives said they still hoped to find William McQuain alive but new information led police to use the dogs in the search of Damascus Recreational Park and Little Bennett Regional Park, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

William has been missing since Wednesday when the body of his mother, Jane McQuain, was found in their Germantown, Md., apartment. Her estranged husband, Curtis M. Lopez, was arrested the following day in Charlotte, N.C., and charged with killing the 51-year-old woman.

Capt. Paul Starks, Montgomery County police spokesman, said he could not disclose the new information that led to the search of the local parks.

"Realistically, as we get more information, we have to follow where it takes us," Starks said Sunday. "Every day this investigation has been going on detectives have learned more, including today."

Lopez was convicted of attempted murder in 1987 and served a lengthy prison sentence, the newspaper said.