Marc Bookal

NEWBURGH – As each day of searching for Marc Bookal goes on, law enforcement officials hold out less hope of finding the 4-year-old boy alive.

Friday, the fifth day of the search, Police said the situation looks grim .

Police are now using a special search and recovery canine provided through the National Center for Exploited Children, said Newburgh Police Sgt. Paul Weber. Agencies involved in the search are Newburgh and Beacon city police departments, State Police, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and K-9 teams from Ramapo Search and Rescue.

At one point during th esearch Friday afternoon, police lifted a manhole cover at Benkard and Liberty, looking for clues.

Mayor Nicholas Valentine is praying for the boy’s safe return. “We just hope and pray that he is OK; that is the most important thing right now,” he said.

Police Chief Eric Paolilli said the winter weather is against the searchers. “The weather doesn’t help if anybody is outside for this amount of time; however, the tracks and the scents will be attacked for dogs to be picked up, if they are out there,” he said.

Orange County Sheriff Carl DuBois, who has K-9 teams in Newburgh, is worried. “We would all want this to be a happy story, but as time goes by, the outlook is just that much more bleak.”

Police from a number of jurisdictions have joined the search for the little boy who walked out the front door of his family’s home on Benkard Avenue in the City of Newburgh early Monday afternoon.

His mother’s boyfriend, Cory Byrd, 30, was arrested earlier this week for endangering the welfare of a child and a parole violation. Weber said Cory requested an attorney during questioning on Monday, December 14. That ended the police ability to take to him. The department has contacted his attorney, Legal Aid attorney Erik Indzonka and told him they would like to administer a polygraph test to Byrd. They are awaiting a reply.