LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- For the second day in a row, investigators dug into a backyard in Louisville.

Jeffersontown Police, Louisville Metro Police and the FBI have been digging in a yard at a home in the 100 block of Ottawa Avenue in the Beechmont neighborhood. According to Jeffersontown Police, the search is in connection to the 2017 murder of Teressa McCoy and disappearance of Austin Gamez.

Teressa McCoy and Austin Gamez

This undated composite photo shows Teressa McCoy (left) and Austin Gamez (right). McCoy's body was found in a business on Strawberry Lane, and Gamez has been missing since 2017. (WDRB/archive)

Police said they began searching in connection to an ongoing narcotics investigation.

McCoy was found dead in an SUV in the parking lot of a business on Strawberry Lane, not far from the house, in December 2017. Gamez was never found.

Amy Gamez, Austin Gamez's mother, found out about this lastest search this week.

"The last 5 years ... frustrating, scary, my life has stopped," Amy Gamez said. "My family’s life has stopped."

She said the area around this property has been searched before and she's trying to not get her hopes up.

"I hope they find my son," she said. "I mean that's what I want most of all, to find Austin. I just want answers for my family."

In recent years, two people have faced charges in the case. Thomas Lanham was arrested in January 2020 in connection with the case, charged with two counts of complicity to murder and complicity to tampering with physical evidence. But he was released later that month after the charges against him were dropped. Prosecutors dismissed the case against him after determining that DNA taken from blood found in his vehicle did not tie him to the crimes.

Another man, Larry Sauer, was arrested in December 2019 after police said they were able to tie him to the case using search warrants, witness statements, phone records and video recordings. Police also said their investigation led them to finding "several items of evidentiary value" pointing to his alleged involvement in the case. He pleaded not guilty weeks after his arrest on charges of murder and tampering with evidence.

In February 2020, amended charges were filed against Sauer. He was initially charged with murder and tampering with evidence, but prosecutors dropped those charges on Feb. 21, 2020, citing a misread DNA analysis report on Gamez. He was then charged with complicity to murder and tampering with physical evidence in the case.

A court search conducted Monday didn't show any current charges against Sauer.

"I want (investigators) to do everything they need to do -- to get everything they need to get to secure a conviction. Not just an arrest, a conviction," said Amy Gamez.

She said she hopes this dig can bring some type of evidence that allows her to begin to heal, but said there will never be closure.

"I just want to find him. And I want the people responsible to pay for what they did," she said.

The search is not connected to the person currently living at the home, according to police.

Property records show the home is owned by a woman named Laura Lanham.

Police said it is unclear how long the search will continue. The FBI Mobile Unit was on scene for at least six hours Tuesday.

Anyone with information in the case can call LMPD's crime tip line at 502-574-LMPD (5673). Tips can also be submitted anonymously online through the department's crime tip portal by clicking here.

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