Police say the long-term investigation into a missing 11-year-old Brooklyn autistic boy has taken a bizarre turn after the child’s mother attempted to convince detectives her son never existed despite sporting a tattoo with his name on her arm.
Jacob Pritchett was reported missing in October by an Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) investigator from his Brownsville apartment located at 614 Howard Ave., yet he had not been officially sighted since April. The mother, 50-year-old Jacqueline Pritchett, has repeatedly told investigators that Jacob never existed, but police are not buying it.
“We know the kid exists. She’s denying it, and it’s just a matter of finding him,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said. “We know he exists. We know that for a fact.”
However, at this point, police say they now do not expect to find him alive. After obtaining a search warrant for the home, an NYPD canine specialized in discovering bodies combed through the apartment and alerted cops to traces of blood in the refrigerator and on a mattress discarded behind the building in a dumpster.
This led officers to trace the garbage disposal to the Waste Management Plant in Green Point, New York, and a High Acres Landfill in Rochester, New York. Both the NYPD and the New York State Police waded through a total of 2,920,360 pounds of raw garbage, though nothing meaningful was found. Even after all this, Pritchett maintained to authorities that she never had a son.
“She tells us that she is barren, she does not have a child, being Jacob, although she has a Jacob tattoo on her arm,” Chief Kenny said.
Police say there is no evidence that Jacob ever attended school, and it is believed he was home-schooled. He was last seen by a family member earlier in the year, waving from the apartment window. Pritchett herself has been in and out of Rikers Island after failing to produce her son, and is currently released.
Officials say they will continue to pursue the case doggedly.
“Forensics proves that something took place in that apartment,” Chief Kenny said.
Anyone with information regardingJacob Pritchett is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (formerly Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
