Searchers moving on in search for missing boy

Tuesday, June 13th 2006, 9:59 am

By: News On 6

WOODWARD, Okla. (AP) _ Workers used heavy equipment to remove about 15 feet of garbage in a second area of the Woodward County Landfill where authorities hope to find the remains of a missing 6-year-old boy.

Deputies on Friday finished a hand search of tons of refuse in the area they thought Logan Tucker might be found.

``I am still confident he is in there,'' Undersheriff Monty Clem said Monday. ``It is just a matter of finding him.''

The search, which started in early April, has focused on an area investigators thought was the most likely dump site for trash from Logan's neighborhood in 2002.

Satellite photos taken about the time of Logan's disappearance showed where trash was being dumped. Letters and other items found during the search confirmed deputies had come across garbage from the same area and time frame, but workers haven't found the child, Clem said.

It will take about a week to remove the garbage that has been piled on top of the landfill since 2002, Clem said.

If Logan isn't found there, investigators plan to call off the search, he said.

The child's mother, Katherine Rutan, also know as Katherine Pollard, has been charged with murder in the case.