Norwich — Police spent more than two hours Wednesday morning searching an apartment on East Main Street in connection to the death of a 26-year-old Norwich woman whose remains were found more than five years after she went missing.    

State police said detectives with the Eastern District Major Crime Squad received new information about the death of Erika Cirioni that led them to an apartment at 450 E. Main St.

A group of children playing off of Oxoboxo Dam Road in Montville discovered Cirioni's remains in March 2012.

The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner could not determine a cause of death for Cirioni, who was last seen alive on New Year's Eve in 2006, but considered her death a homicide.

Members of the New London County Cold Case Unit confirmed just after 9 a.m. that they were searching Apartment 1.

The apartment rests on the first floor of a building that also houses two upstairs apartments and East Side Discount Liquor.

A man who identified himself as the owner of the building led five members of the unit, dressed in white hazmat suits and blue shoe covers, first into the apartment and then to the cellar in the rear of the building.

He said he didn't know why the unit was conducting the search and did not want to be identified.

Records show M. Shah LLC, based in Preston, owns the building.

Unit members, after taking video and photos outside the house, took their equipment inside the two spaces, occasionally emerging with brown paper bags.

The unit had cleared the scene by 11:30 a.m.

Anyone with information is asked to call the toll-free statewide cold case tip line at 1 (866) 623-8058 or email cold.case@ct.gov.

l.boyle@theday.com