Never-Ending Pain, Never-Ending Hope Over iPod Lost 4 Weeks Ago

CHERRY HILL, NJ -- Paul Altobelli's iPod, iPaul, was only two years old when it vanished July 4th weekend, 2009.

iPaul was playing one of Altobelli's playlists one minute, gone the next. "Just like that," recalled Altobelli's wife, Lisa. "My husband loved that iPod," Lisa confessed, "and that's why he named it iPaul."

Last weekend, iPaul's owner returned to the garage and to the scene of the disappearance. He came to remember iPaul and to rededicate the almost one month mission to find him.

Even with the passage of time, his faith has not wavered.

"I've never doubted that it's ... out there," Paul Altobelli said. "Until its proven otherwise, I hope one day we will be reunited."

His hope has been bolstered by investigators with the FBI and the Camden County Sheriff's Office, which reopened the case yesterday after hearing of a recent conversation.

"A lead was sparked when Mamata Sahoo and Winona Wyatt were talking about what happened while at work," FBI spokesman Matt Henry wrote in an e-mail to the media.

As cold case cops know, a wisp of a lead can turn into a big break, a fact FBI Special Agent Tim Weaver believes can solve the iPaul mystery.

"Even if [people] think it's insignificant, it's probably not," Weaver said. "Each little piece of the puzzle may not mean something, but when you put it all together, you get the big picture."

"iPaul was a fifth generation, 80 gig, black iPod," Altobelli said proudly. "It rocked."

"iPaul was a great iPod that never seemed to need power," Andi Height tweeted July 20, 2009. "Paul took iPaul along with him when he came to England earlier this year. He loved that iPod and I can understand why he would miss it so much."

"I strongly believe that someone out there knows what happened to iPaul," an optimistic Altobelli said. "I hope to find it safe and sound soon."

The FBI is also seeking information on iPaul. It has published two photographs of it on its Web site. One shows the iPod, taken in the days before its was abducted. The other picture is age-progressed, depicting what iPod would look like today almost 4 weeks later.

If you have any information on the missing iPod case, email Paul Altobelli or contact the FBI, your local police or the Camden County Sheriff's Office in New Jersey.