Police, FBI search for body in Camden, N.J.

CAMDEN, N.J. -- Several law enforcement agencies descended on a home in Camden Tuesday in search of a body believed to be linked to a cold case investigation.

The FBI is assisting the Camden County Prosecutor's Office with the investigation.

Dozens of FBI, police and county detectives took over the 300 block of Erie Street without warning.

It was around 6:00 a.m. when they arrived on the scene, starling neighbors.

Neighbor Maria Sierra says, "I hear somebody say, 'Open the door! Open the door!' ... So I look and I saw the FBI."

They came with heavy equipment, including a backhoe, a dump truck and jack hammers.

Neighbors say they went to work in the basement of the house. They were at it for about 10 hours.

A woman who lives in the house was free to go after the police left. She refused our request for comment.

At this point, investigators aren't saying what, if anything, they found.

Benjamin Ortiz, who lives nearby, tells us, "Well, I woke up at 8:00 this morning hearing some racket. My dog's going crazy so I look outside and I see some tents and a bulldozer. So I'm thinking, you know, maybe they're probably doing construction. And then I see crime scene tape and FBI shirts, so the first thing that comes to my mind is possibly drugs."

This neighborhood was a hotbed of drug activity until a massive crackdown last November. The feds moved in and rounded up 47 suspects in, what they called "Operation North Pole".

Investigators say the suspects were tied to Mexican drug cartels and sold massive quantities of heroin and cocaine.

The operation was centered around 4th and York streets, just two blocks from the scene.

Neighbors say one of the ringleaders has a connection to the people who live in the house that was raided today.

Officials aren't commenting.

Many neighbors are not surprised.

Neighborhood resident David Torres says, "In a way it's shocking, and in a way it's not. Since I've been around North Camden, I hear a lot of deaths and I hear a lot of gunshots, since I was little. So, it don't surprise me if they did find something like that."

This is apparently a cold case that suddenly got hot today. Camden has a homicide clearance rate of 35 percent - far below the national average.