PUNTA GORDA, Fla. -- Dozens of local and federal investigators continue to dig for evidence outside a home in Charlotte County in the case of a child missing since 1999.

Police recently received an anonymous tip in the search for the child, leading investigators to search a property in Punta Gorda Tuesday.

Pilar Rodriguez was 3 years old when she was reported missing in January 1999. She was last seen at the Hollywood home where she lived with her father, Marco Rodriguez. When he allowed baby-sitter Melissa Cooper to take Pilar with her to visit boyfriend Keith Wilson in Punta Gorda, the child was never seen again.

Local 10’s Julie Summers traveled to Charlotte County where detectives are working alongside FBI investigators. They’ve set up a methodical grid and are carefully searching the yard of the home at 5052 Duncan Road, hoping to uncover answers in this cold case.

The house belongs to Wilson's grandmother. Investigators said the boyfriend was never charged when Pilar disappeared, but he has remained a person of interest all these years, Local 10's Julie Summers reported.

This is not the first search for evidence in the case. Several times in 1999, when Pilar first disappeared, investigators searched several areas, including a lake not far from the home they were investigating Tuesday. The lake was drained, and investigators found a blanket and a book they said might have belonged to Pilar.

But because the child's body was never found, investigators continue to search and hope.

"It's not just another job. We certainly hope that we find something on this property and at least put that part to rest and then get on with the thing about arrests and anything like that," said Bob Carpenter of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.

Although they are hopeful the new search will yield some answers, police also want to be clear that the grandmother who owns the property is not in any way a suspect in the child's disappearance.