NEW YORK (AP) - A law enforcement official says a man in custody who has implicated himself in the death of 6-year-old Etan Patz (AY'-tahn payts) was picked up late Wednesday in Camden, N.J., and has been tied to the case in the past.

The man was being questioned Thursday by the Manhattan District Attorney's office, which is heading the probe by the FBI and police.

A person familiar with the investigation says the man's emergence as a person of interest was not related to the search of a Manhattan basement in April.

Investigators are still trying to confirm details of the man's story.

Both the person familiar with the probe and the official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the ongoing probe into the boy's disappearance in 1979.

Etan vanished while walking to a Manhattan bus stop 33 years ago.