Authorities yesterday said they found new evidence related to the disappearance of Brooklyn 25 year-old Laura Garza about a quarter-mile from the upstate sandwich shop co-owned by the prime suspect in her vanishing. New York State Police are working to determine whether pieces of carpet found near a highway could hold clues to Laura’s disappearance. The young woman was an aspiring dancer who moved to New York five months ago from McAllen, Texas, a city of about 130,000 people, and settled in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn.

Garza vanished on Dec. 3 after leaving the Chelsea club Marquee with Michael Mele, a registered sex offender. Cops have scoured the areas around his house in Wallkill, Orange County, as well as woods near the Bloomingburg, Sullivan County, home of his girlfriend, Lindsay Campbell. According to Mele’s girlfriend, he is believed to have ripped up a section of his carpet in his home after Garza disappeared.

Mele, 23, is being held on charges including violating the terms of his probation by drinking at the Chelsea club. He was convicted and sentenced to probation earlier this year on a forcible touching charge for inappropriately touching several women, in some cases attempting to masturbate on them.

Laura’s family joined the police and fire search teams, making sure that everything is being done in order to find her. In addition to that, they send her their love and promise to find her soon, in case she has the possibility to see or hear them, in order to encourage her to keep faith.