• Grim confirmation
• Raw video: Police press conference
• Raw video: 2X press conference
• Police meet with family
• What police said Saturday night
• Police question family members
• Time running out
• Police, family still search for missing boy
• Police looking at surveillance tapes
• Disappearance makes national headlines
• Family looks to psychic for insight
• Fliers posted
• Vigil planned
• Parents of missing boy speak out
• LMPD to continue search
• Update
• Four-year-old missing

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The latest:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- The grim confirmation came Monday morning after dental records were used to identify the child's body. Now, the search for Cesar "Ivan" Aguilar-Cano has turned into the search for a killer.

We now know it is Ivan, but we know little else, including how he was killed, how long he had been dead when his body was found and how close police are to solving this case.

Police say they have no suspects.

“Any time a small child is murdered, we all personalize it,” said Lieutenant Colonel Tim Emington of Metro Police. “Our hearts and prayers go out to the family.

About an hour after Emington and several others informed the family, he answered questions about the case, revealing few new details of what is now a homicide investigation.

One new clue, though, comes from officers sifting through thousands of pounds of trash from the garbage truck where Ivan’s body was found in a plastic trash bag Saturday morning.

“We know from the placement of where the body was in the truck about how many pickups had been made since then.”

Emington says cadaver dogs and officers had searched the area as late as Friday morning, so he believes the body was placed in a trash can sometime between then and Saturday morning. But who did it? No suspects are in custody.

“We're looking at all possibilities,” said Emington. “The family is not the focus of the investigation at this time.”

Police are also backtracking from a previous timeline that estimated the last time Ivan was seen was between 3:30-4 p.m. the day he was reported missing.

“We do have other witnesses who did see the boy after he disappeared.”

Coroner Ron Holmes says the state medical examiner should release how Ivan was slain within 24 hours. He says the body will be released to the family within 48 hours.

Even though the family knew this news was coming from authorities, it didn't make things any easier when they got the official identification.

The family of 4-year-old Ivan is relieved to know their son has been found but says this is just the beginning. Now they have to wait to see their son's killer brought to justice.

“Both of them took a deep sigh,” said family spokesman Christopher 2X. “You could see how upset they were getting minute by minute.”

The family will attend a prayer vigil for Ivan Monday night at Churchill Downs and speak at a press conference Tuesday.

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.

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Earlier coverage:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Still no official word at this hour on the identity of the body found in a garbage truck over the weekend.

All signs point to the body being that of the little boy who has been missing, but there appears to some sort of delay in identifying him.

I talked to family spokesperson Christopher 2X this morning.  He says the missing boy, Cesar Ivan Aguilar-Cano, had visited a dental clinic in Louisville, so there should be a dental record.

2X says the family is anxious to get the final word from the coroner, and they expect that Monday.

Ivan’s father, mother and her boyfriend all attended a reflection ceremony Sunday night near where Ivan was last seen. 2X says they have come to terms with the likelihood that the body found in the garbage truck on Saturday is Ivan.

“We have been prepared for the worst news, hoping for the best. As time goes on, we are finding that we need to prepare more and more for the inevitable news to come,” says Churchill Downs Chaplain Ken Boehm.

“I can just tell you that it was not by natural means, but the specific cause of death, the coroner is going to have to release that,” says Metro Police spokesperson Alicia Smiley.

Officials are sifting through the trash that was in that garbage truck to pinpoint which trash can the body was in.

Police had brought in cadaver dogs several times last week in this same area, so it's likely that the body was put in the trash can not long before the garbage truck picked it up on Saturday morning.

Police are with the parents today, but they tell me that the family is not the focus of the homicide investigation, and that police are looking into other leads.

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.  

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From The Associated Press:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Authorities have not yet positively identified the remains of a male child found near Churchill Downs over the weekend, but that could come within two days, an official with the Jefferson County Coroner's office said.

Deputy coroner Gayle Norris said authorities hoped to make a positive identification on the body within the next two days.

Louisville police on Saturday found the body of a small male in the same neighborhood in which 4-year-old Cesar "Ivan" Aguilar-Cano was last seen on June 29.

Norris said authorities were looking at a "homicide of unknown means."

The body was found inside a bag in a city garbage truck Saturday morning, Norris said. Trash workers discovered the body in the truck while at the corner of 3rd St. and Central Ave., one block from Churchill Downs.

At a press conference on Saturday, Metro Police Chief Robert White said that foul play could be suspected.

Police and volunteers had searched the neighborhood daily since the boy's disappearance. And his family offered a $5,000 reward and said it would bypass the police in order to get information about the boy's whereabouts.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- About 70 officers and recruits fanned out around Churchill Downs Friday, looking for any information about Cesar Ivan Aguilar-Cano, who has been missing for a week.

“We give motorists fliers, we ask if they know anything about the case,” says Police Recruit Melody Harrel. “We ask if they travel this way regularly, we ask them if they know anything about this case, and if yes, we direct them to the detectives.”

Chief Robert White said they're canvassing this area to catch people who work in and around Churchill Downs before this racing season ends on Sunday.

“What we really wanted to do is make sure we get out as much information between now and Sunday in case one of those employees saw something or by some chance we missed it,” says the chief.

WHAS11

Cesar Aguilar-Cano, age 4, went missing from his home Friday evening, June 29, 2007

Most drivers had already heard about the missing boy. Recruit Harrel talked with only one woman who wasn't aware of him. A few people talked with detectives about the case. Police had Spanish-speaking officers available to take any information of any kind.

“Any little piece of information could be critical,” White says.

While the roadblock was going on, Ivan's family announced they're offering a reward for anyone who has information about the little boy.

Family members from Virginia have saved up $5,000 they say they'll give to the person who helps them bring Ivan home.

Ivan's uncle, Rene Aguilar Quedebo, says the family believes the boy has been kidnapped and that the person or people who have Ivan are afraid to bring him back.

“We think that someone took him and that the person who took him is afraid that the police will put him in jail. Right now, someone has him. Communicate with us, and we'll come to a solution without any violence or problems. What's important to us is that he's returned,” says Aguilar Quedebo.

He says if someone knows where Ivan is, they can call him directly and they'll work something out.

The family is printing up new fliers with the family’s personal cell phone numbers, which they’ll distribute Saturday.

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.