CONCORD – Police have shifted their search for a missing five-year-old boy from Merrimack to Abington, Mass., where they are scouring the area of Chestnut Street, according to a news release from Attorney General John Formella.

They are looking for Elijah Lewis, 5, who was brought to the attention of the state Division for Children, Youth and Families eight days ago. He hadn’t been seen for about 30 days by independent people when living at 7 Sunset Drive in Merrimack, authorities said.

Police are searching in Abington based on information learned in the investigation.  The search is being conducted by the Massachusetts State Police with assistance from personnel from the New Hampshire State Police Major Crime Unit.

Elijah’s mother Danielle Denise Dauphinais, 35, and her boyfriend Joseph Stapf, 30, were arrested Oct. 17 by officers of the New York City Transit Authority in the Bronx, New York, on witness tampering and child endangerment charges and are being held on preventive detention in New Hampshire.

Both pleaded not guilty on Wednesday. Two of Dauphinais’s brothers spoke to reporters that day asking her to provide information to help find Elijah.

According to the state, the witness tampering charges allege that they each asked other people to lie about Elijah and where he was living knowing that child protection service workers were searching for Elijah.  The endangerment charge alleges that they violated a duty of care, protection or support for Elijah.  

Anyone with information on Elijah’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Merrimack Police Department’s Crimeline at (603) 424-2424 or New Hampshire State Police Communications at (603) 223-4381 or 603-MCU-TIPS (603-628-8477). Lead Investigator Detective Sergeant Kelly Healey, Major Crime Unit, can be contacted directly at Kelly.A.Healey@dos.nh.gov.