FRED West's son is helping police after six "anomalies" were found at a cafe where missing Mary Bastholm is feared to be buried.
Specialist technology has discovered holes in the concrete floor of toilet cubicles at the Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester where the serial killer carried out renovations.
Mary, 15, was working at the establishment before she disappeared in 1968.
Detective Chief Inspector John Turner confirmed his team have now visited West's son Stephen to explore what his dad told him regarding the teenager's disappearance.
Stephen last week revealed his evil dad, who killed 12 women, had confessed to murdering Mary and 30 others before he hanged himself in prison in 1995 while awaiting trial.
He said: "My dad told me that he'd been working on the cafe at the time she went missing and that one day the police would find her there.
"I said to him, 'Did you do it? You've always denied it'. He said 'yeah, I did do it. I did take her'."
DCI Turner also said cops could quiz Rose West, who is serving a whole life term at HMP New Hall, if anything "significant" is found.
The team used a ground penetrating radar and found a void in the basement of the cafe within two toilet cubicles.
They drilled the area, allowing holes for ventilation so that police dogs could get an indication of human remains.
The insertion of an endoscope in one of the holes also identified a grainy image of a 'blue looking material within the gap.'
Mary was last seen wearing a blue coat and blue and white dress when she vanished from a bus stop.
Cops are now working in an area to the side of the basement which builder West converted into toilets. The material and "suspected bones" are under a partition.
DCI Turner said the work is expected to take around two weeks and could reveal "once and for all" if Mary was buried at the site.
He added: "There is a possibility that we will be speaking to Rose West.
"But what’s important now is that we review and excavate what is in the basement.
"What I’m saying is, there is something that looks like blue material within the void. What I’m not saying is: ‘That’s Mary Bastholm’ before we find any human remains."
The major breakthrough comes days after a 39-strong police team led by three archaeologists began analysing the basement of a café in Gloucester, half a mile from West’s home at 25 Cromwell Street.
Gloucestershire Police had received possible evidence from a TV production company to suggest the body of the missing teenager could be buried at the location.
West was a regular at the café, where Mary worked as a waitress before she went missing in January 1968.
He killed himself aged 53 in 1995 while awaiting trial for 12 murders — but admitted he did 20 more.
Mary’s family said in a statement released by police: "Senior investigating officer John Turner has sat with us and explained the ongoing investigation as well as his intentions to excavate the cafe to try and find Mary.
“We are extremely happy Gloucestershire police is continuing to try and search for Mary and this gives us a chance to potentially put her at rest after all these years.
“We want to thank everyone who has wished us support through this distressing time, and we are continuing to be in close touch with the investigation team, and are being kept up to date with any new developments.
“We hope this is a chance to finally get closure for Mary and would like to continue to ask for privacy whilst the excavation is ongoing.”
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