"I promised her we'd call him that name until I found out his real name.

"My kids know what I'm working on. When my daughter, who's 10, , says her prayers at night, she prays for Baby Lollipops."

Maj. Alan Solowitz, chief of detectives:

"There are two things that get you in police work: crimes against children and crimes against the elderly, because here are two species of people who can't fight back. This one is particularly disturbing because of the manner in which this child was abused. His death was the final abuse.

"There's nowhere that I go these days that I don't think about him. I just got back from Jacksonville on another matter and talking to the chief of detectives there, I found it necessary to tell him about this case. I talk to chiefs of detectives all over the country, and I always find it necessary to tell them about it, too. I keep hoping that someone will think of something that we haven't done yet."

Detective Gary Schiaffo, lead investigator on the case:

"We're working every single lead, no matter how minor. I have that kid's face in my mind all the time. I've spent more time at work than at home since this happened. The poor little innocent.

"I'm thinking this child was a closet baby, and that's why no neighbors have missed him -- they never even saw him when he was alive. When I get home, my street's full of kids, and if I don't see so-and-so, I'll ask, and someone will say, 'Oh, he's got a cold today.' But this child may have been kept in and abused over a long time, punished by some sick mind.

"You get a hot lead, and you're thinking, 'This is it,' and the next thing you know, BOOM! -- you're back at the block. It's like climbing a ladder, and each time you get to the top rung it breaks, and you fall again to the bottom.

"When I go to the mall now, and I see little kids, I wonder if they're abused, too. Or I see somebody slap or shake their kid, and I go up to them and tell them to relax, count to 10. They look at me like I'm some kind of weirdo. But I was one of the first on the scene, and I saw that boy in the bushes, and I saw his face, and for me that'll always be a tender point right there.

"I hate to say it, but maybe it's better that he did die because now at least he's resting peacefully."

James Delaware, FPL cable splicer who found the boy's body:

"I was the one who pushed back the bushes and first saw his face. We thought for a few moments it was a doll. This was two days after Halloween, and we thought maybe it was a prank or something. It looked like it wasn't real.

"But dolls aren't that lifelike. When we realized what it was, I was trembling, in shock. I saw his face, and I will never forget that for as long as I live."

Rabbi Irving Lehrman, at Wednesday's memorial service:

"This child is our child. We are all mourners today. This tortured boy is now in Thy care, dear Lord, released from the pain and agony inflicted upon him during his short time on Earth.

"He is, at last, at peace."