Spencer Platt/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- New York City police are investigating whether they finally have someone in custody whom they can charge with murder in connection to the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz that happened 33 years ago.

Officials say the man in custody has implicated himself in the death of the little boy.

"An individual now in custody has made statements to N.Y.P.D. detectives implicating himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz 33 years ago," NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement Thursday morning.

One law enforcement official identified the man as Pedro Hernandez, who was taken into custody late Wednesday in New Jersey and moved to the Manhattan District Attorney's office, according to The New York Times.

Patz disappeared on the morning of May 25, 1979, soon after leaving his parents' apartment in New York's SoHo neighborhood, the first time he was to walk to the school bus stop by himself.

The search for the boy has been one of the largest, longest lasting and most heart wrenching hunts for a missing child in the country's recent history.  His photo was among the first of a missing child to appear on a milk carton.

Kelly said in the statement that further details would be released later Thursday.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jhi L. Scott(KITTERY, Maine) -- Seven people were injured Wednesday evening after a fire broke out aboard a nuclear-powered submarine docked at a shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

Firefighters responded to the blaze at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard around 5:41 p.m., the U.S. Navy said in a statement.  The fire broke out in the forward compartment of the USS Miami, which houses crew living areas and command and control spaces, and did not pose any nuclear danger.

"The ship's reactor was not operating and remains in a safe and stable condition as it has been throughout the event," Capt. Bryant Fuller, the shipyard commander, told reporters Wednesday night.

All personnel have been accounted for, according to the Navy.  Those wounded -- three Portsmouth Naval Shipyard firefighters, two ships force crew members, and two civilian firefighters -- were all treated for minor injures and have been released, Rear Adm. Rick Breckenridge announced at a press conference Thursday morning.

Fuller said a full investigation will be conducted to determine the cause of the fire.

The shipyard is expected to remain open for work on Thursday.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Scott Cunningham/Getty Images(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) -- Over 2,000 pages of evidence from the investigation into Florida A&M drum major Robert Champion's death were released by the Florida District Attorney's Office and they deliver a blow-by-blow of the night's events.

They also describe a culture that considers repeated "hot seat" beatings and the final "crossing over" gauntlet that killed Champion as rites of passage.

Band members said that the band director and bus driver were not on the bus for the "crossing over," but that they were sometimes up front watching movies during the "hot seat" beatings.

Jonathan Boyce, the head band member now charged with felony hazing, told detectives that Champion "was wanting to do it [cross over] all season," but Boyce had been reluctant to let him.  Champion could not participate without Boyce's permission, as dictated by the band's internal code of hierarchy.

The band was in Orlando, Fla., on Nov. 19, 2011 for the last game of the football season.  Boyce asked Champion if he still wanted to participate.

"I was like, 'Do you still want to do it?'  So he was like, 'Yes,'" Boyce told detectives.  "I was like, 'Fine.'"

Champion, 26, was a member of the college's famed "Marching 100" band when he collapsed and died Nov. 19 on a bus parked outside an Orlando, Fla., hotel after a football game.  His death was ruled a homicide and 11 people have been charged with felony hazing and two have been charged with misdemeanor hazing in connection to Champion's death.

That night, Boyce said he was in a friend's room at the hotel when he got a call that Champion was going to do it, so he rushed to the bus to "try to save him," according to his interview with the police.

Meanwhile, Champion had begun the hazing.  He was shirtless as dictated by the band's rules --women wear only sports bras as they "cross over" -- and he was the third band member to try to make his way to the back of bus that night.

Ryan Dean, another band member indicted for felony hazing, told detectives that he yelled into Champion's ear, "Come on, push through."  A woman was holding Champion back as fists rained down on him.

Keon Hollis went with Champion to the bus for the "crossing over."  When asked to explain the process, Hollis said, "Basically, get on the bus and you have to take your shirt off and you basically have to make it from the front of the bus to the back of the bus." 

Hollis told the detective that the goal is to "just get through it as quick as you can."

"They was using hands, straps, think [I] saw a comb," he said.  Hollis said they used drum sticks and kicks as well.

At the end of the ordeal, Hollis walked back to the front of the bus, through applause and "hooting and hollering" from his band mates.  When he got outside the bus, he threw up.

While Hollis tried to compose himself, Champion started down the aisle.  He battled through the storm of fists and feet with a female band member holding him back to prolong the punishment.

At its most severe, Champion collapsed into a seat, prompting a band member to brace himself on seat backs and jump up and down on the drum major for an estimated 15 seconds.  Champion was greeted with a flurry of seven to 10 punches when he pushed himself free and resumed his death march down the bus aisle.

At least one band member jumped from seat to seat to get to the back of the bus to get another chance at Champion.

"By the time I got there he was maybe like a foot or two away from the back of the bus," Boyce said.  "So I climbed over the seats all the way to the back."

When he reached Champion, Boyce said he grabbed him "to try to keep everybody off of him" and "put my body around his body" to try to stop the beating.

Moments later, Champion touched the wall indicating that he had made it to the back.

Champion asked for water and they gave him Gatorade.  He complained that he was having trouble breathing and that he couldn't see, though his eyes were wide open.

Band members got him to the steps of the bus, but he continued to say that he could not breathe.

"I checked him, he wasn't saying anything…he wasn't responsive or anything," band member Darryl Cearnel told detectives.  Cearnel said he had first aid training.  "They was calling his name and [he] wasn't saying anything.  And I checked his pulse."

They had Champion lay on the ground and someone called 911 while Cearnel did CPR.  Moments later an ambulance arrived.  Champion died on the way to the hospital.

Though band members told detectives that Champion "never approved" of the hazing rituals, they also said that in order to be considered for leadership positions, one had to cross over.

"Crossing over" was only one aspect of the band's hazing traditions.  Multiple band members told investigators that they were routinely called to the back of the bus by a tap on the shoulder by older students for a "hot seat" after doing something wrong.

In the "hot seat" they would have a blanket thrown over them and they were pummeled with fists, drum sticks and bass drum mallets.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Joseph Devenney/Getty Images(LAFAYETTE, La.) -- Dozens of people gathered Thursday to ride the route presumably taken by missing Louisiana college student Michaela "Mickey" Shunick when she vanished on her bike last Saturday.

Friends and searchers took to the route at dusk, following the path on which Shunick set out in the early hours of Saturday morning.  FBI, U.S. Marshals and local police are involved in the search that they are treating as a missing person case, but have not ruled out foul play.

Shunick, 22, a senior anthropology major at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, left friend Brettly Wilson's house on her bike just before 2 a.m. Saturday after a night out, and hasn't been heard from since.

"I asked her to be safe ... I saw her get to the driveway and that was the last time I saw her," Wilson said.

Friends and family held a candle light vigil Tuesday night, and announced a reward of $20,000 for tips leading to her whereabouts.  Searches by K-9 units, police and volunteers have turned up no hints of what happened, but her family remains hopeful.

"I think she's OK, I think she's alive.  I think she's out there," Shunick's sister, Charlene, told ABC News affiliate KATC-TV in Lafayette, La.

The FBI, state and local police, and nearly a thousand volunteers are searching Thursday morning, but have found no trace of the young woman.  Friends say she wasn't drinking, and that Shunick was an avid cyclist, so riding her bike at that hour was not unusual.

Shunick is 5-foot-1 and 115 pounds.  She was last seen wearing a pastel multi-colored striped shirt, light-wash skinny jeans and gray shoes.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images(LANGLEY, Va.) -- The CIA has revealed the identities of 15 of its fallen officers, some of whose secret ties to the spy agency are being made public for the first time in almost three decades.

Engraved on a memorial wall at the CIA’s headquarters building in Northern Virginia are 103 stars, each representing a CIA officer who perished in the line of duty since the agency’s founding in 1947. For some, the star is all the public recognition they have -- many names have still not been made public out of concern for secret operations.

At a memorial ceremony Monday, CIA Director David Petraeus praised their service, saying the “103 souls represented by the stars on the wall behind me all heard the same call to duty and answered it without hesitation -- never for acclaim, always for country.”

The latest of the 103 was added this year, honoring Jeff Patneau, who was killed in a 2008 car crash in Yemen. Petraeus described Patneau as having “boundless talent, courage, and innovativeness to offer our country in its fight against terrorism.”

A CIA statement released Tuesday said Patneau was among the 15 names inscribed in the CIA’s Book of Honor this year, which allows “agency officers to publicly acknowledge those who have been represented by stars and whom we have silently mourned for years.”

Some of the individuals whose service as CIA officers was publicly confirmed Tuesday have been the object of speculation in the past as having worked for the spy agency.

For example, Matthew K. Gannon died in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Officially listed as a Foreign Service Officer for the State Department, Gannon’s links to the CIA appeared in press reports at the time of the crash.  However, the agency never officially confirmed that he was a CIA officer until this week.

Leslianne Shedd died in November 1996 in the high-profile crash of a hijacked plane off the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean.  Videotape of the plane’s fatal attempted water landing just off of a crowded tourist beach was seen around the world.  Shedd was also described as being a Foreign Service Officer.  According to the CIA statement, “Survivors of that flight tell us that Leslianne -- an outstanding young woman -- spent her final moments comforting those around her. ”

Another victim of terror was Molly N. Hardy, who was killed in the August 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. According to the CIA, Hardy “used her keen situational awareness to warn colleagues to take cover. ”

A former intelligence official told ABC News the CIA takes “very seriously” the process of when to publicly release the names of its fallen officers and publicly acknowledge their ties to the agency.

According to the official, the agency conducts thorough reviews of a fallen officer’s work history and takes into account any security and operational considerations.  The official said another factor is “the possible impact that making public the officer’s name might have on current missions and overseas relationships. ”

The seriousness with which the CIA decides when to publicly acknowledge a fallen officer’s links to the agency may be a reason why five of the officers were not named until Wednesday, despite having been killed back in 1983 in a car bomb attack on the U.S. embassy in Beirut that killed 63.

The five who are listed as having worked for the agency are Phyliss Nancy Faraci, Deborah M. Hixon,  Frank J. Johnston, James F. Lewis and his wife Monique N. Lewis.

According to the CIA statement Faraci “was one of the last four Americans evacuated from the Mekong Delta when Saigon fell. She was an intensely devoted officer who volunteered to work in Beirut. ”

Monique Lewis “was only hours into her first day as an agency officer when the bomber struck that terrible day.”

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Rogers and Clark Co/AFP/Getty Images(CAMBRIDGE, Mass.) -- It's Homecoming Week in Cambridge, Mass. Fifty years after leaving dear old Harvard, the distinguished members of the class of 1962 are renewing old ties.

In the Harvard alumni magazine, Alden writes he is retired from the bench, but still takes an occasional assignment as a Superior Court judge. Brian and his wife report they are working with inner-city kids when they're not at their place in Normandy.

John has just come out with his latest collection of essays.

And Ted has just started his 15th year at the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colo.

Ted, of course, is Theodore John Kaczynski, the notorious "Unabomber" who was sentenced in May 1998 to eight life sentences for killing three people and injuring 23 more in a campaign of terror that lasted nearly 20 years.

Kaczynski's class note appears, in its proper alphabetical place, just ahead of Joseph Kadane's. It was tweeted by a fellow Harvard alum, Alex Taussig, who calls it "morbidly amusing."

Kaczynski, 70, lists his occupation as "Prisoner." Those eight life sentences he puts under "Awards." Under "Publications" he lists that infamous 50-page screed against the modern world, which The New York Times and The Washington Post agreed to print in exchange for Kaczynski's promise to end his bombing campaign.

It was that "Manifesto" that led to his capture. Kaczynski's brother recognized the writing style and alerted the feds.

Kaczynski is not the only former Harvard student to be locked up. Henry David Thoreau spent a night in the Concord, Mass., jail rather than pay the poll tax. Folk singer and political activist Pete Seeger was sentenced to a year in prison for refusing to name names before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Not all Harvard's prisoners can claim to be prisoners of conscience. Jeffrey Skilling (MBA, 1979) is serving 24 years in prison for his role in the collapse of Enron. Other Harvard alums have been imprisoned for embezzlement, insider trading, identity theft and murder.

Kaczynski's slide from promise to prison might be the most extreme of all. An intellectual prodigy, he was accepted to Harvard when he was just 16. He earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Michigan and he was teaching at U.C.-Berkeley when he was just 25.

While the Harvard Class of '62 can claim many accomplishments, Gary Peterson tells the Harvard Crimson Kaczynski "is more famous than anyone else in our class."

So while Ted will not be attending Wednesday night's class dinner in the McCurdy Track Tent, he is certain to be a topic of conversation.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Trayvon Martin, 17, was fatally shot by neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman. (ABC News)(SANFORD, Fla.) -- George Zimmerman, who was not initially charged by police in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, was familiar with some of the officers in the Sanford, Fla., police department, having gone on several "ride alongs" with the cops, he told the city's mayor last year.

But Zimmerman, a criminal studies major, was harsh in his criticism of the cops he had met on the Sanford force, calling their on-the-job conduct "disgusting."

Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, voiced his opinion at a January 2011 city commission hearing that included then Mayor-Elect Jeff Triplet.

One officer "showed me his favorite hiding spots for taking naps, explained to me that he doesn't carry a long gun in his vehicle because -- in his words -- anything that requires a long gun requires a lot of paperwork and you're going to find me as far away from it," Zimmerman said.

He added the officer "took two lunch breaks and attended a going away party for one of his officers."

These rides, along with new video showing Zimmerman roaming the police department unescorted just three days after the shooting, are reviving old questions of Zimmerman's relationship with the department that decided against charging him with a crime on the night of the shooting.

When ABC News asked the Sanford Police force in mid-March whether Zimmerman had any contact or relationship with the police force, the answer on more than one occasion was no.

"We do not have specific dates Mr. Zimmerman may have ridden or with whom he rode, if in fact he ever did ride with SPD," Capt. Robert O'Connor of the Sanford Police Department said in a statement Wednesday.

Zimmerman was later charged by a state prosecutor with second-degree murder in Martin's Feb. 26 shooting death.

These revelations come as a number of witnesses who claimed to have seen or heard parts of Zimmerman's fatal confrontation with Martin apparently changed or expanded their testimony in the weeks after the shooting.

In a March 13 ABC News article on possible police missteps in the investigation, it was also noted that some of the witnesses felt that police had "corrected" their testimony.

Given that Zimmerman's trial may not take place for a year the memories of the dozen or so witnesses that dark rainy night -- memories that possibly influenced evolving coverage of the case in the news -- would likely be hotly contested in court.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GettyImages(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) -- Eight months after a repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, the U.S. Air Force Academy Wednesday graduated its first group of openly gay cadets.

As President Obama addressed the graduates, no rainbow flags could be seen on display. The LGBT students couldn’t be picked out of the crowd of white and blue.

But gay and lesbian advocates, academy alums, school officials and current students said they were there.

“The whole thing is we don’t want to be identified as anything different,” said Trish Heller, who heads the Blue Alliance, an association of LGBT Air Force Academy alumni. “We want to serve, to be professional and to be symbols of what it means to be Air Force Academy graduates.”

Heller said her group had connected with at least four members of the class of 2012 receiving diplomas Wednesday who had come out publicly as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.  There were likely others, but they preferred to keep a low profile, she said.

Conversations with dozens of current academy students and some new graduates presented a picture of a smooth transition from the military’s ban on openly gay service members serving to the repeal of that ban. There have been no major incidents of overt discrimination or harassment since the policy was repealed in September.

But many signaled the change in policy would continue to hold a tender and personal meaning for those cadets who were weighing the decision to come out of the closet.

“It’s just been really open, a lot of acceptance. I haven’t heard anyone say, ‘I hate this. I can’t serve in the military with this,’” said 3rd Class Cadet Kevin Wise, a second-year management major. “It’s a sense of ‘OK, this is their lifestyle, but they’re still the person I’ve spent 21 credit hours a semester next to or I’ve gone through this with,’” he said.

Wise said he knew several classmates who chose to come out in the past few months. “Honestly, for me, it was, ‘Oh well, I kind of had a suspicion since I’ve known you for two years now, but you just move on,'” he said.

Acacia Miller, a sophomore from Shreveport, La., praised the school’s leadership for setting the right tone before the repeal. “They did a good job preparing us. There were lots of briefings about it. They stated how the military was going to go forward with it, how we should act. It was pretty much just like any other repeal, segregation, all that stuff. We just got told this is what’s going to happen and we all need to be adults about it,” she said.

Gay cadets at all the U.S. military service academies have been forming clubs and support groups, slowly making their existence known online and at campus social events. The Air Force Academy group -- called Spectrum -- was officially sanctioned earlier this month and had about 30 members from across all classes, the organizers said.

The Air Force Academy’s administration has also allowed the Blue Alliance to have a more high-profile role on campus. The group flew rainbow flags during a tailgate party before a home football game in November, Heller said, and hosted a dinner attended by the dean of faculty, Gen. Dana Born. In February, the group participated in a campus leadership symposium, she said.

“Things have gone very smoothly at the academies since repeal,” said Sue Fulton, a 1980 West Point graduate and spokeswoman for the LGBT military advocacy group OutServe.

The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was approved by President Clinton in 1993 as a compromise toward ending a long-standing ban on allowing homosexuals to serve in the military. Gay service members could enlist but had to keep quiet about their sexual orientation.  Advocates said it essentially forced them to live a lie.

Congress passed a law in 2010 formally ordering repeal of the policy. After a period of preparation and training for lifting the ban, the Pentagon gave the green light for final certification in September 2011.

Advocates said they never believed the repeal would prove problematic on campus, given that younger generations of students were generally more accepting of homosexuality, and the military’s commitment to following the rules set by leaders.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GettyImages(WASHINGTON) -- Touting his foreign policy record, President Obama on Wednesday told students graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy that they will be entering into a “new era of American leadership” because of the steps taken by his administration.

“Today, we can say with confidence and pride -- the United States is stronger, safer and more respected in the world,” the president told the roughly 1,000 graduates gathered in the Air Force football stadium.

Rather than offering the traditional advice, the president used the commencement address to hit upon several campaign themes and draw stark contrasts with his GOP rival Mitt Romney.

The president made clear his belief that “America is exceptional,” a defense against Romney who has questioned Obama's belief in America as a unique and unrivaled world power.

“The world stage is not a popularity contest,” Obama said as he defended his foreign policy decisions. “As a nation, we have vital interests, and we will do what is necessary to defend the country we love---even if it's unpopular.  But make no mistake, how we’re viewed in the world has consequences---for our national security, for your lives.”

Obama argued “there’s a new feeling about America” because of the progress made by his administration. “There's a new confidence in our leadership.  And when people around the world are asked 'Which country do you admire most?'...one nation comes out on top---the United States of America,” he said.

The president pointed to the end of the war in Iraq and the winding down of the war in Afghanistan as proof that the cadets are stepping into “a different world.”

“You are the first class in nine years that will graduate into a world where there are no Americans fighting in Iraq,” he said. “For the first time in your lives--and thanks to Air Force personnel who did their part--Osama bin Laden is no longer a threat to our country.  We've put al Qaeda on the path to defeat.  And you are the first graduates since 9/11 who can see clearly how we'll end the war in Afghanistan.”

“We aren't just ending these wars, we're doing so in a way that makes us safer, and stronger,” he added.

Obama also highlighted the Arab Spring, saying the U.S. “led from the front” in Libya, a response to Republicans who have said the president is leading from behind.

Looking to the future, the president defended budget cuts that will create a “leaner” military, insisting the U.S. will remain “the finest, most capable military the world has ever known.”

“We'll keep our military, and our Air Force, fast, flexible and versatile,” he said. “We will maintain our military superiority in all areas -- air, land, sea, space and cyber.”

The president then stood for over two hours and saluted each graduate, shaking their hands as they received their diploma and saluted their Commander in Chief in return.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

File photo. Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- A New York woman who faked a cancer diagnosis to get others to pay for her wedding is out of jail.  She was sentenced Wednesday to time served and probation.

Jessica Vega had everyone fooled. “It was very convincing,” said Lisa Stoker, who donated flowers. “I mean she cut off her hair she shaved her head.”

Tom Cavanaugh donated the wedding rings. “There's lots of ways to trick people,” he said. “Why would you do that?”

A dress shop gave Vega a gown and other donors paid for a honeymoon in Aruba. Everyone felt compelled to help, prosecutors said, because Vega had terminal cancer.

Vega pleaded guilty, spent two months in jail, and a judge has now let her out -- but not before ordering her to pay back everyone she scammed.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

David Livingston/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Former first lady Nancy Reagan has been recovering from several broken ribs incurred by a fall in her California home six weeks ago.

The accident didn’t become public until Tuesday night, however, when Reagan canceled a personal appearance at a speech by Republican Rep.  Paul Ryan at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. The director of the Reagan Library announced that the former first lady was at home recuperating from a fall.

“Falls in someone this age can be very serious. They are one of the leading causes of death,” says Dr. Richard Besser, chief health and medical editor at ABC News. “A broken rib makes it hard to take a deep breath, and that can set you up for pneumonia, which in the elderly, in particular, can be deadly.”

Last summer, the former first lady lost her balance at the Reagan Library, but Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., saved her from hitting the floor. In 2009, Reagan broke her pelvis in a fall.

As the widow of Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, now 90-years-old, is a revered figure in the Republican Party. Her last public appearance was at a GOP primary debate last September at the presidential library, where the candidates gave her a standing ovation.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The director of the Secret Service on Wednesday apologized for the distraction caused by last month's sex scandal in Colombia, testifying to Congress that the agency is taking steps to prevent future embarrassing encounters from happening.

Director Mark Sullivan tried to assure a Senate committee that Secret Service agents make appropriate decisions the "overwhelming majority" of the time, but "we had some individuals who made very bad decisions" on the trip to Cartagena before President Obama's arrival.

Sullivan said he is reviewing the Secret Service's ethics policy and training as a result of the investigation into the agents who brought prostitutes back to their hotel after a night of partying.

"Any type of misconduct we take extremely seriously," Sullivan said.

Sullivan had not spoken publicly about the scandal until Wednesday morning.  He appeared nervous at times, once calling Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine "secretary" before correcting himself.

The night before, the Washington Post reported that four Secret Service employees who lost their jobs in the fallout from the scandal are challenging their dismissal.  The agents reportedly say they were made into scapegoats even though the Secret Service has tolerated similar behavior.

The sex scandal and subsequent investigation were an embarrassment for the agency and resulted in a handful of agents losing their jobs, and a dozen military members being accused of hiring prostitutes as well.

"Between the alcohol and, I don't know, the environment, these individuals did some really dumb things," Sullivan told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Republicans have tried to tie the flap to the Obama administration, arguing that the president is responsible for overseeing all federal agencies.  The White House has said that none of its employees were involved in the scandal in the days before Obama arrived in Cartagena.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

ABC News(NEW YORK) -- For more than a minute, a father and mother scrambled to get their 1-year-old out of a spinning washing machine at a Camden, N.J., laundromat.

The surveillance video of the May 11 incident, which was first posted on YouTube under the name “Epic Parenting Fail At A Laundromat,” shows an unidentified man placing his son in a washing machine. After shutting the door, the machine locked and began its spin cycle, tossing the child in circles.

The parents realized the child was stuck inside the machine and began pulling on the door. The child’s mother sprinted across the laundromat to alert an employee.

The quick-thinking worker, who was identified as Kong Eng, pushed two tables out of the way, opened the back panel and shut off the power.

“I pulled the baby out and then the baby still had a life and I’m very happy,” Eng told ABC affiliate WABC.

The child had a few bruises, but was laughing, witnesses told the station.

The incident doesn’t appear to be criminal, however prosecutors said they hope the mother and father will come forward to prove the child is unharmed.

The video has received more than 6 million hits since it was posted last week.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Strong public support for same-sex marriage exceeds strong opposition by a significant margin for the first time in ABC News/Washington Post polls, and African-Americans have moved more in favor, perhaps taking their lead from President Obama on the issue.

Overall, 53 percent of Americans say gay marriage should be legal -- a figure that has been steady in the past year but is up from 36 percent in 2006.  Thirty-nine percent “strongly” support it, while 32 percent are strongly opposed -- the first time strong sentiment has tilted positive.  Six years ago, by contrast, strong views on the issue were negative by a broad 27-point margin.

Further, this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, finds that support for gay marriage has reached a new high among African-Americans in ABC/Post polls, up from four in 10 in recent surveys to 59 percent now.

Another result shows increasing exposure: Seventy-one percent of Americans now say they have a friend, family member or acquaintance who’s gay, up from 59 percent in 1998.  People who know someone who’s gay are 20 points more likely than others to support gay marriage.

Regardless of that shift, Obama’s May 9 announcement of his support for gay marriage shows no measurable impact on political preferences.  While more support than oppose his position -- 51-41 percent -- Americans divide on whether it’s a political plus or minus, with most saying it’s not a major factor in their vote choice.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Joseph Devenney/Getty Images(LAFAYETTE, La.) -- Police in Lafayette, La., are intensifying their search for a young woman who has been missing for four days.

Michaela "Mickey" Shunick was last seen riding a bike home from her friend's house at about 2 a.m. Saturday, according to police.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Lousiana State Police have joined the search, along with volunteers scouring the area where she was last seen.

Friends and family held a candle light vigil Tuesday night, and announced a reward of $20,000 for tips leading to her whereabouts.  Searches by K-9 units, police and volunteers haven't turned up any hints about what happened, but her family remains hopeful.

"I think she's OK, I think she's alive.  I think she's out there," Shunick's sister Charlene told ABC News affiliate KATC-TV in Lafayette, La.

Instead of celebrating her brother's graduation on Saturday and her own 22nd birthday on Tuesday, Shunick's family and friends were hitting the pavement, hanging fliers and searching for clues along the route they believe she last traveled.

Her parents say she is an avid cyclist, so for Shunick to be riding her bike at that hour was not unusual.  They do say that their daughter would never disappear for days on end like this.

"We want our daughter back -- that will make everything better," Nancy Rowe, Shunick's mother, told ABC News.

Police say the search is particularly difficult because the area they are searching is so large.

"It's a very wide scope for us to look at," Cpl. Paul Mouton said to KATC.  "We're canvassing and checking a lot of different businesses for video evidence."

Shunick, a senior anthropology major at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, is 5 feet, 1 inch tall and 115 pounds.  She was last seen wearing a pastel multi-colored striped shirt, light-wash skinny jeans and gray shoes.  She also reportedly always carries a can of mace with her when she rides her bike.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio