Two houses 100 miles apart are being searched by police after a man was arrested on suspicion of murdering missing university chef Claudia Lawrence.
A 59-year-old man was arrested yesterday, North Yorkshire Police said.
He was named locally as Michael Snelling.
Officers said Miss Lawrence, who went missing from her home in York in March 2009, has not been found.
Mr Snelling’s house in Burnholme Grove, York, was the subject of an intensive police search after officers arrived at the run-down semi in a quiet cul-de-sac.
It later emerged another house, in North Shields, Tyneside, is also being searched as part of the same investigation.
People living near Mr Snelling in York said they were shocked about the police activity in their street.
Neighbours said he had worked at York University as a lab technician until recently and he had lived in the house for more than 20 years.
Terry Ellis, who has lived in Burnholme Grove since 1961, said: “The first thing I saw this morning was when the police investigation car came up.
“I thought that maybe someone had broken in, because he’s had someone break in before.”
Next door neighbour Adam Wadsworth, 19, said: “I’m pretty shocked.”
Another neighbour, Rita Harrison, said the area was “lovely” and “very quiet”. “Everyone’s shocked,” she said. “But they need to get to the bottom of it.”
Mr Snelling’s house is about half a mile from the small house where Miss Lawrence lived by herself in the Heworth area of York.
Police officers and white-suited forensic scientists could be seen coming and going from the property throughout the day.
This afternoon contractors arrived to board up the doors and some of the windows and uniformed police cordoned off the property with tape.
The house, which has a drive, a garage and pebbled front garden, is about half-way down the cul-de-sac, It has a small rear garden with a patio and lawn.
Miss Lawrence, who worked in a kitchen at York University, was 35 when she was reported missing by her father Peter on March 20 2009.
She was last seen at around 3.05pm on March 18, walking towards her home, and that night she spoke to both her parents on the phone.
It is thought something happened to her after she left for work early on March 19. Police launched a review of the investigation last year.