PATRICK ALFORD - 7 yo (2010) - Brooklyn NY

The NYPD is asking for the public's assistance in locating a missing
child that was last seen on Friday, January 22nd at 9 pm, leaving the
lobby of "Spring Creek Development", his home. The boy lives in the
confines of the 75th precinct at 130 Vandalia Avenue in Brooklyn.


The missing boy is seven-year-old, Patrick Alford. He is a black male who
is 4’8 and 65 pounds. He has a thin build and is in good physical and
mental health. He was last seen wearing a red T-shirt, blue jeans and
black sneakers. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of
this missing is asked to call Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime
stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips
to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.

A 7-year-old Brooklyn
foster child who threatened to run away to his biological mother
disappeared Friday night when he left to take out the trash, police and
family said. Patrick Alford walked through the lobby of his Spring Creek Development home in East New York at about 9 p.m. with his foster mother to take a bag of garbage to a trash compactor, cops and family said. "She goes back inside, and the boy's not with her," a police source said. "She goes back out, but he disappeared." The
young boy had just moved in with his foster family three weeks ago, and
has attempted to flee to find his mother before, the family said."He's [been] running away from the day he come in," said his foster mother. "He's trying to get back to his mom." The 4-foot-8, 65-pound Alford was wearing a red T-shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers when he vanished. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS or to text a tip to 274673 (CRIMES) and enter TIP577.

Endangered Missing

PATRICK ALFORD DOB: Nov 28, 2002 Missing: Jan 22, 2010 Height: 4'8" (142 cm) Eyes: Brown Race: Biracial Age Now: 7 Sex: Male Weight: 65 lbs (29 kg) Hair: Black Missing From: BROOKLYN NY United States Patrick was last seen on January 22, 2010 and was last known to be in or near Brooklyn, NY. He was last seen wearing a red t-shirt, blue jeans, blue and black Jordan sneakers. Patrick has a scar on his left eyebrow.

ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) New York City Police Department - 75th Precinct (New York) 1-718-827-3551

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police are seeking the public's help in finding
a 7-year-old Staten Island boy who went missing from a Brooklyn foster
home over the weekend.

Patrick Alford was last seen at about 9 p.m. Friday, leaving the lobby
of the Spring Creek development at 130 Vandalia Ave. in East New York.

He had just been placed with a foster mother in the apartment complex
three weeks prior, after his own mother, Jennifer Rodriguez, 23, of New
Brighton, was arrested on petit larceny charges, said Ms. Rodriguez's
aunt, Brenda Ortiz.

Alford is described as 4 feet, 8 inches tall, 65 pounds, with a small
scar over his left eyebrow. He was last seen wearing a red T-shirt,
blue jeans and black sneakers.

"He had no coat on," Ms. Ortiz said, adding that police dogs lost his scent in the area of the Belt Parkway.

"We're looking ourselves," she said. "We went to Brooklyn, we put out fliers."

His foster mother, who authorities did not identify to the Advance,
told authorities that she and Patrick went through the lobby of the
building to throw out the garbage, according to Ms. Ortiz. She went
back upstairs to her apartment to take a phone call and when she came
back down, Patrick was gone, Ms. Ortiz said.

The foster mom told the Daily News that Patrick has been running away
from the day he come in.... He's trying to get back to his mom."

Ms. Ortiz said she didn't believe Patrick was trying to return to his
mother and couldn't think of where he might be headed. "We don't know,"
she said. "We think something happened to him. I don't know.
Everybody's a wreck."

Police are asking anyone with information on Patrick's whereabouts to
call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477). Tipsters
can also visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com,
or send information via text message, by texting 274637 (CRIMES) and
entering TIP577. All calls will be kept confidential, according to
police officials.

The search for a missing boy from Brooklyn is now it its fourth day.

Investigators say 7-year-old Patrick Alford ran out of his home on
Vandalia Avenue in East New York Friday night when his foster mother
went to throw out the trash.

Police have spoken to the boy's biological mother. They do not believe foul play was involved.

Alford is 4-foot-8 and weighs 65 pounds. He was last seen wearing a red T-shirt and blue jeans with black sneakers.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of this missing is asked to
call Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. The public can also submit their
tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at CrimeStoppers.com or
by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

The search continues in Brooklyn for a seven-year-old child who disappeared five days ago.Community
leaders, including City Councilman Charles Barron, were in East New
York today handing out flyers – hoping someone has information about
Patrick Alford's whereabouts.Alford was last seen in the lobby of the Spring Creek Development in Starrett City, where he lives with a foster family.The
Administration for Children’s Services would not go into detail about
how Alford went missing or why he was removed from the home of his
mother, but the agency says officials are working with police to find
him. "We're out here today appealing to our community,” said
Barron. “We've had success with this in the past we've been able to
find missing persons when our community really gets up and gets in arms
and goes out there and gets all the information. So we're appealing to
our community this morning; let's do it again, let's find Patrick."Alford is 4 foot 8 and weighs 65 pounds. He was last seen wearing a red t-shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers. Anyone
with information about the case is being asked to contact Crime
Stoppers by calling 1-800-577-TIPS, by texting TIP577 to CRIMES, or by
going to NYPDCrimeStoppers.com.

Investigators have been searching for 7-year-old Patrick Alford
since he vanished from foster care in East New York last Friday, and
they think his mother knows where he is. So a judge ordered that
23-year-old Jennifer Rodriguez be detained at Rikers Island on contempt
charges until the boy turns up. "I have the authority to hold her
pending compliance with the court's order," said Staten Island Family
Court Judge Terrence McElrath. "Did she comply with order to produce
the child? No."

After Alford disappeared from his foster home almost a week ago,
Rodriguez—who lost custody of her son and daughter Jaleen when she was
arrested on theft charges—was overheard by a court officer saying that
her aunt was taking care of the kid, according to the Post.
And on her way out of court yesterday, she shouted at reporters: "Get
me out of here—call my aunt, she has him, she knows where he is."

But the aunt, 51-year-old Blanca Toledo, told police that she doesn't have the child. "My niece and I have a love and hate
relationship," said Toledo, who claims Rodriguez is mad at her because
she told authorities that Rodriguez was planning to "kidnap" the boy
from foster care. "I guess she has nothing else to say." Alford was
last seen near Starrett City in a red T-shirt, jeans, and black
sneakers.

Jennifer Rodriguez, the non-custodial mother of missing 7-year-old Patrick Alford of Staten Island, is going to spend the weekend on Rikers Island after she failed to convince a Staten Island Family Court judge that she doesn't know where the child is. Alford disappeared from his foster home last Friday.


The NYPD thinks Alford may have run away on his own. The Administration for Children's Services disagrees.

ACS, who removed the child from his mother's custody with a finding
of neglect, thinks she was involved in his disappearance. ACS
caseworker Carlene Anderson testified that Rodriguez both called and visited Alford's foster home, and that she questioned her son
about the public transportation route he and his foster mother took to
get to ACS offices. Anderson also testified that Blanca Toledo,
Rodriguez' aunt, told her during a supervised visit that Rodriguez was
planning to kidnap Alford.

Family Court Judge Terrence McElrath is also pretty sure Rodriguez
was involved. He ordered her held Tuesday on contempt charges until she
gives up the location of the child. She insisted to the court that she
doesn't know where he is, although she told reporters on the way out of
the courthouse on Thursday that Toledo has him. Toledo says she
doesn't, and that Rodriguez was punishing her for warning ACS.

Police are searching public areas near Alford's foster home, as well
as the homes of relatives in Florida and Baltimore. Rodriguez supplied
the court with more places to search on Friday, but continues to insist
that she doesn't know where he is. McElrath denied bail, at least until
the next hearing on Monday.

Meanwhile, there's a small seven-year-old child out there somewhere.
If you have any information, the NYPD are asking you to call
1-800-577-TIPS (8477), log on to WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, or text
274637 (CRIMES) and enter TIP577.

The search for 7-year-old missing Brooklyn Patrick Alford has grown dangerous.


Police officers searching for the boy Sunday night found themselves
in the middle of a “gang-related gunfight,” according to the New York Daily News.
An officer fired a single shot, but no one was hit. Three teens were
arrested and two firearms were seized, according to the paper.


The shootout was just the latest drama in the 11-day search for the missing boy.

Last week, helicopters and police dogs searched nearby neighborhoods and swamps, but found nothing.


And Friday, Alford's biological mother, Jennifer Rodriguez, was
jailed by a Staten Island family court judge who believes she is hiding
the child from police, according to the the New York paper. She is being held in contempt of court.


Her son was placed with a foster family last month after the 23-year-old mother was arrested on theft charges.


Police say he had threatened to run away from the foster home
because he wanted to be with Rodriguez. According to the New York
paper, police believe the boy may have left on his own freewill and
could be in danger.


The 7-year-old was last seen taking out the trash at his foster
home Jan. 22, according to CBS affiliate WCBS. Alford is described as
4-foot-8 and 65 pounds, with a scar on his left eyebrow. He was last
seen wearing a red t-shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers.


Anyone with information about the case is being asked to contact
Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-577-TIPS, by texting TIP577 to CRIMES,
or by going to NYPDCrimeStoppers.com.

The mother of a missing boy held a vigil in front of the building where
he disappeared and where he lived with his foster family.
The mother of 7 year old Patrick Alford, missing since January 22, made a plea for his safe return.
"I just want know where my son is. I love my son. He needs to be home
with his family and he needs to be safe," Jennifer Rodriguez said.
But the vigil outside Starrett City in Brooklyn took a strange turn on Wednesday night.
Shortly after Rodriguez made a plea for help finding her missing son,
police took her into custody. According to her family, there is a
restraining order against her and she was not supposed to be anywhere
near the foster family's home. Rodriguez was not arrested, they said.
Police still maintain a presence in the neighborhood, continuing to search for little Patrick a dozen days since he vanished.
Earlier in the day, the mother pleaded for the boy to come home.
"Patrick, if you're seeing this, I love you. I am not going to stop
looking for you. I just want you to be home, she said. "I feel like
this is a bad dream, a nightmare for me," adds Rodriguez.
Jennifer had been held in custody for several days on an ACS warrant,
stemming from problems she says that led to Patrick and his
four-year-old sister being taken from her and placed in foster care.
She was released Tuesday night, and says she wants people to know that
she did not have anything to do with her son's disappearance.
Patrick is 4'8" tall, about 65 pounds. He was last seen wearing a red t-shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers.
Police have largely focused their search in and around the massive apartment complex.
Eyewitness News was there exclusively as a canine unit went about
searching the park land along Hendrix creek just to the east and now
his mother is hoping someone will come forward.
"I'm willing to offer a $10,000 reward for any information that leads to my son," adds Rodriguez.
Jennifer admits she is trying to work through problems to get her
children back but she's also critical of ACS which oversees the
children's care.
"They're supposed to promise my son safety in their hands. There was no
safety and now my son is missing and no one knows where he is at,"
Jennifer said. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of this
missing is asked to call Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. The public
can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website
at CrimeStoppers.com or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then
enter TIP577.

The mother of a 7-year-old who disappeared from foster care more than
two weeks ago was ordered to bring her son to family court Tuesday.
But Patrick Alford's mom came alone, saying she has no idea where her son is and is desperate to find him. Alford's mother and family members continue their search for the boy, begging for his safe return. "It's been 19 days," mom Jennifer Rodriguez said. "I don't have my son,
and nobody I know has my son, but I believe my son's alive."
Patrick is 4-foot-8 and weighs 65 pounds. He has a slight build and a
distinctive scar over his left eye. Police have searched the Giant
Sugar Creek apartment complex, known to many as Starrett City, where
Patrick had been in foster care. "Patrick, if you're out there and you hear me, I love you and I'm going to find you, I promise," Rodriguez said. Rodriguez had been held briefly by police, but was released on
conditions that she help in the search and investigation. Back in
family court, she was allowed to remain free and repeated that she did
not take her son or know who has him. Some believe Patrick is
a resourceful young boy who could fend for himself out on the streets.
But his mother believes he must be getting help from someone. "I hope somebody is helping him, I just want them to find my son," she
said. "And if you're out there, please don't hurt my son. He's just a
boy and he needs to be with his family." It is a family torn
apart by the little boy's disappearance and the agonizing search that
is seemingly no closer to finding him. Anyone with information
on the whereabouts of this missing is asked to call Crime stoppers at
1-800-577-TIPS. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto
the Crime stoppers website at CrimeStoppers.com or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

Police are hoping more reward money will help them find a missing foster child from Brooklyn. The
New York City Police Department is offering $10,000 for anyone with
information that leads to an arrest and conviction of the person
responsible. That's in addition to the $2,000 reward being offered by
Crime Stoppers. Patrick Alford, 7, was last seen on January
22nd leaving the lobby of the Spring Creek Development in East New
York, where he lives with a foster family.Alford lived with his mother Jennifer Rodriguez in West Brighton on Staten Island before he was taken out of her custody. She was jailed for five days by a judge who thought she knew the whereabouts of her son, but she was later released.Family members say the boy had threatened to leave many times and police believe he may be a runaway.

Alford
is described as 4 foot 8 and weighing 65 pounds. He's in good physical
condition and mental health, and was last seen wearing a red t-shirt,
blue jeans and black sneakers.Anyone with information about the
case is being asked to contact Crime Stoppers by calling
1-800-577-TIPS, by texting TIP577 to CRIMES, or by going to NYPDCrimeStoppers.com.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The West Brighton mother who spent three weeks behind bars over her missing 7-year-old son was locked up again -- this time for allegedly fighting a Mariners Harbor woman.

While
police and child welfare authorities continue to comb the city for
Patrick Alford, his mother Jennifer Rodriguez, 23, threatened Noelly
Lopez by phone on Saturday, then clawed Ms. Lopez’s face on a Mariners
Harbor street corner yesterday afternoon, cops allege.

Ms.
Rodriguez was arraigned today at Stapleton Criminal Court on charges of
aggravated harassment, assault and harassment in connection with the
fight, which was reportedly triggered when Ms. Rodriguez allegedly told
Ms. Lopez to “keep her hands off” a man she identified as “Dwayne,” a
law enforcement source said.

Public defender Zoe Mair told
Judge Desmond Green that Ms. Lopez “attacked my client” by hitting Ms.
Rodriguez in the shoulder and puncturing a hole in her coat.

Ms.
Mair added that police from the North Shore’s 120 Precinct called Ms.
Rodriguez to the precinct stationhouse “under the pretext of a video”
then arrested her when she arrived.

The judge set $500 bail for Ms. Rodriguez. She is due to return to court on Monday.

Ms.
Rodriguez was jailed last month by a St. George Family Court judge who
believed she was involved in Patrick’s disappearance after the boy vanished from a Brooklyn foster home Jan. 22.

Patrick
is black, stands 4 feet, 8 inches tall and has 65 pounds on his slight
frame and a scar on his left eyebrow. He was last seen wearing a red
T-shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers.

The NYPD and Crime
Stoppers are offering $12,000 for information leading to the
youngster’s whereabouts.Anyone with information regarding Patrick
Alford may contact police at 212-694-7781, Detective Borough Brooklyn
at 718-287-3239, or 800-577-TIPS.

Those calling the Crime Stoppers tips line should refer to Crime Stoppers Poster Number BK-1726.

Despite an exhaustive month-long police search, the disappearance of Brooklyn foster child Patrick Alford remains a drama-filled mystery.
Less than three weeks after being placed with a foster family in Starrett City, the homesick 7-year-old disappeared while taking out the garbage on the night of Jan. 22.
In the weeks since, Patrick's biological family has waged a bitter finger-pointing battle, while police have pressed what NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne called "one of the most intensive searches for an individual in recent memory."
Suspicion has surrounded Patrick's biological mother, Jennifer Rodriguez,
who lost custody of her son after she was arrested on theft charges.
Her aunt has blamed her in the disappearance, and a judge locked her up
for contempt because she wouldn't divulge her son's whereabouts.
"I had nothing to do with my son's disappearance," insisted
Rodriguez, who passed a lie-detector test. "I believe that my son is
still alive."
Rodriguez rejected the idea that the boy - who had threatened to run
away before - fled on his own and initially suggested her relatives
were involved.
She quickly contradicted herself, saying, "To my knowledge, no one in my family has my son."
The pressure-packed investigation to find Patrick - which boasts a $12,000 reward - has been extensive.
Cops have interviewed some 14,000 people and searched 214 buildings, knocking on 9,100 doors near the East New York foster home and Rodriguez's Staten Island home, police sources said.
Seven registered sex offenders living near the foster family's
apartment complex were interviewed, as were 28 bus drivers, employees
of seven Brooklyn car services and 21 family members, friends and
acquaintances.
Cops also analyzed 81 surveillance videos, including one from the Staten Island Ferry terminal in Manhattan that showed a boy fitting Patrick's description being led away by a woman. His family says it's not him.
Patrick's relatives say they are stumped and have numerous theories
about what happened to him. The boy's father, also named Patrick Alford
- who has since been granted custody of Patrick's younger sister - said
he suspects Rodriguez and the foster mother were in cahoots, noting
Rodriguez had foster mother Librada Moran's phone number.
"Her [Moran's] whole story sounds ridiculous. It sounds fake," he
said. "If he was threatening to run away, why would you bring him into
the hallway [to take out the garbage] with you?"
Rodriguez and her Brooklyn aunt Blanca Toledo have blamed each other in Patrick's disappearance. But Toledo doesn't rule out that the child ran away, saying his spirit seemed "broken" after he was placed with Moran, 58.
"He wanted to come home," said Toledo. "This kid was out of it."
Toledo has been visited at least nine times by detectives, but she says they are wasting their time.
"The boy's not here - he's not here!" Toledo thundered. "I wish he was."
If you have any information about the case, call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.

Exclusive photos have been released of the last meeting
between a 7-year-old foster child and his biological mom, about a week
before he vanished from an apartment building in Canarsie, Brooklyn.

The cell phone pictures show 7-year-old Patrick Alford happy, when he's
posing in front of a dinosaur painting, but forlorn when he's hugging
his mother, as the visit was ending.

The boy's grand-aunt, Blanca Toledo said, "Patrick was
arguing with his mother, 'Why can't you take me home?' He was
upset...There was a big scene; Patrick threw himself on the floor. He
said 'Why? Why?' It was horrible."

Patrick disappeared, while taking out the garbage with his foster
mother, back on January 22, from the Spring Creek Tower apartments in
Canarsie. Police launched a huge search, interviewing 14,000 people,
but the boy has seemingly vanished.

Blanca Toledo described her niece as a very good mother who doted on
her three, young children, until she fell in with the wrong crowd about
two years ago. 23-year-old Jennifer Rodriguez is currently in rehab to
treat a drug problem.

Police are urging anyone with information about Patrick Alford to call 1-800-577-TIPS.

More than 100 police officers began sweeping a desolate swath of
parkland near the Brooklyn-Queens border Wednesday in a desperate search
for a 7-year-old foster boy missing for more than two months.
Patrick Alford vanished from his foster mother's Starrett City home
on January 22 and, despite one of the NYPD's most intensive manhunts for
a missing person in recent years, the trail has gone cold.
But as the weather has improved, cops turned out in full force in
Gateway Park, fanning out through 100 acres of marshland to search the
tall weeds with dogs as an NYPD helicopter thundered overhead.
Bones were found near the shoreline around 10 a.m. but it was not
immediately clear if they were human or animal, police said.
"This is all about letting the family know we haven't forgotten about
him," said NYPD Deputy Chief Steven Silks.
"We don't have any new leads or tips, we're just expanding our
search. There's not going to be any leaf, any stone left unturned here."
Other bones were found scattered throughout the massive park but
investigators cautioned that the weeds - some of which grow up to 10
feet high - are littered with remains of small animals.
Search teams from the city and federal Parks Departments were
assisting with the search. A shovel was found buried under a piece of
plywood in the park but its significance was not clear.
Patrick vanished while taking out the trash from his foster mom's
home and cops immediately focused their attention on his biological
mother.
Jennifer Rodriguez was temporarily locked up by a Staten Island
family court judge who suspected she knew her son's whereabouts.
But Rodriguez - who briefly claimed one of her relatives had Patrick,
before retracting her statements - was later released.
She is participating in today's search.
"We really hope he's somewhere healthy and safe, playing X-Box,"
Silks said. "This could be anyone's kid, their neighbor's kid, a loved
one - we just want to do a diligent and thorough search here and not
rush through it."
Cops have interviewed about 14,000 people and searched more than 200
buildings near the East New York foster home and Rodriguez's Staten
Island home, police said.
Seven registered sex offenders living near the foster family's
apartment complex were interviewed, as well as two dozen family members
and friends, cops said.
Alford, whose picture was distributed among onlookers curious about
the massive show of police, was recently shown on America's Most Wanted
in hopes that someone would recognize him.

A frantic search for a Brooklyn foster child missing for nearly
three months led police to a grassy area of Howard Beach last week, but
all that turned up was dog remains, police said.

Patrick Alford,
7, has been missing since Jan. 22 after threatening to run away from his
foster family’s Starrett City, Brooklyn, home. Police dogs tracked his
scent to a bus stop two blocks away from his Brooklyn home after he was
reported missing.

Patrick’s distraught biological mother,
Jennifer Rodriguez, stood on the sidewalk by 165th Avenue near Spring
Creek as officers on horseback searched through tall grass for her son
last week.

“I’m just devastated. I need my son. I believe he’s
alive out there. They need to bring him home. I can’t live without my
son. How am I supposed to live?” said Rodriguez, 23, who lives on Staten
Island.

About 100 officers from Brooklyn scoured the area near
Cross Bay Boulevard, but only found the remains of a dog, a police
spokeswoman said.

Rodriguez said she last saw her son Jan. 8
during a visit and said she did not believe he was the type to flee
home.

“That’s not like him to run away,” she said.

Patrick
was taken from Rodriguez after she was charged with theft and the city
Administration for Children’s Services found her to be an unfit
caregiver, according to published reports.

Police believed
Rodriguez may have had something to do with Patrick’s disappearance
because she apparently knew where his foster family lived, but ruled her
out as a suspect after she took a lie detector test, according to
published reports.

Police also followed up on leads that Patrick
may have run off to relatives in Baltimore and Florida, but officials
said that was not the case.

Rodriguez said Patrick’s disappearance has taken its toll on her.

“I’m
not doing good at all. I try to take it one day at a time,” she said.
“It’s hard for me to get up in the morning, but I’m trying to stay
strong for my son.”

Hunt for B'klyn boy hits a wall

By IKIMULISA LIVINGSTON and MURRAY WEISS


Last Updated:8:13 AM, April 11, 2010

Posted:3:22 AM, April 9, 2010

An exhaustive NYPD effort to find a missing 7-year-old Brooklyn
boy has come up totally empty, leaving investigators baffled and
frustrated, police sources said yesterday. More than 500
detective reports have been filed since Patrick Alford vanished on Jan.
22 from his foster family's home in Starrett City. All 6,000
residents of the complex have been interviewed, and police have scoured
hundreds of acres of empty parkland near Jamaica Bay, on the
Brooklyn-Queens border, without turning up a trace of Patrick.
Detectives have also gone around the country interviewing hundreds of
relatives, friends and acquaintances of the biological and foster moms,
the sources said.

"Bad things happen to children, and we find out, and there's
closure," a top police source said. "This is very unusual."
Patrick was last seen taking out the garbage at his foster family's
home. Police dogs tracked his scent to a bus stop a couple blocks away
-- but beyond that, nothing.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/hunt_for_klyn_boy_hits_wall_L4EfAHTZM3DrmyMId8gPTN

http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewChildDetail&LanguageCountry=en_US&searchLang=en_US&caseLang=en_US&orgPrefix=NCMC&caseNum=1139843&seqNum=1

patrick alford is still missing

Patrick Alford is still out there ... somewhere.
It’s this hope that keeps Jennifer Rodriguez going. A hope beyond hope.
And a prayer that, at any second, her phone will ring and Patrick’s
well-remembered voice will be on the other end telling mommy to open the
door because he’s coming home.
Last night, at a vigil for the missing 7-year-old New Brighton boy held at Mount Sinai United Christian
Church in Tompkinsville, which Jennifer’s aunt Brenda Ortiz attends,
the Rev. Dr. Victor A. Brown helped Jennifer and several family members
keep that hope alive by taking to Pike Street and locking hands in a prayer circle.
“We believe in the power of prayer,” Rev. Brown
said. “We know what prayer can do. “I don’t think at this point the
family has reason to give up hope,” the minister added.
After four months, hope is all they have left.
Hope ... and so many prayers, you wonder how God manages to keep up.
“I’m still devastated,” Jennifer said. “I’m depressed. I just want him to come home.”
“This has been very emotional for us,” said Brenda Ortiz.
“There are no leads. The whole family is torn apart. There are no answers.”
There should not even have been a question, not when
the avowed priority of the city Administration for Children’s Services
is to try to place the child with family first.
ACS did nothing of the kind when it stripped Jennifer of custody of Patrick and his
4-year-old sister, Jailene, after Jennifer was arrested in December for shoplifting.
Patrick told the ACS caseworker he wanted to go with
his father, Patrick Alford Sr. Jennifer “begged” ACS to put both kids with their father.
If the father couldn’t take them, there were
plenty of family members — Brenda Ortiz, aunt Claudia Ortiz, even
Jennifer’s mother, Debra Ortiz — who could have taken in both kids until
Jennifer got back on her feet.
According to the ACS caseworker’s report, Jennifer’s pleas and Patrick’s expressed wishes to
be with his dad fell on deaf ears because she lied in court that Alford
Sr.’s girlfriend abused her children.
“Unfortunately that lie [Ms. Rodriguez] told in court is keeping the children in foster care,”
the ACS caseworker wrote in the report, “and only the judge can determine what happens next.”
With former St. George Family Court Judge Terrence McElrath’s blessing, ACS dragged Patrick and
Jailene out to Brooklyn’s Spring Creek Development in Starrett City to
live with a stranger, a foster mother named Librada Moran.
Patrick didn’t want to be there. Every time he spoke with his family on the
phone, he pleaded to come home, his grandma Debra Ortiz said a couple of months ago.
On Jan. 22, when it became obvious that nobody was
going to let the little boy go home to his family, Patrick made a run for it.
Ms. Moran told police she and Patrick were taking trash
downstairs to the lobby of her building. She said she took a call on her
cell phone and ... poof, Patrick was gone.
That’s her story.
Little Jailene had her own version: She said her brother took out the trash
that night. Why believe a 4-year-old over an adult? Because it
doesn’t make sense for Ms. Moran to lug her trash down 11 flights to a
bin in the lobby when a trash outlet was located next to her apartment.
She had only to walk a couple of feet outside her door and toss it down the chute.
It’s a moot point now. Jailene lives with her father and Patrick hasn’t been seen since.
Police haven’t given up hope any more than Jennifer has. Last month, they scoured 1,000 acres of
woods and marshland near Howard Beach in Queens, not far from where
Patrick was last seen, after one of their dogs picked up Patrick’s scent on the ground.
There were no signs of Patrick. But the old adage, no news is good news, sustained the family.
“I believe he’s alive,” Claudia Ortiz said last night. “I believe he wants to come home.”
Jennifer echoed her aunt nearly word for word.
“I do have faith,” she said. “Every day I have faith.” Faith ... and a prayer.

He should be doing what most little 8-year-old boys are doing this summer.
Playing ball. Swimming. Video games with buddies.
Chasing down the ice cream truck.
Anything but missing.
It’s been nearly six months since Patrick Alford vanished into thin air, and only God and — whoever has him if
he’s still alive — are left to fill in the blanks.
The rest of us can only pray those blanks are not our worst fears over
what happened to a little West Brighton boy who did nothing to deserve
his mother’s failures or a system that snatches kids every day and turns
them into just another case file.
Sure, blame everybody for Patrick vanishing Jan. 22 from a Brooklyn foster home in Starrett City’s
Spring Creek Development. It’s just that blaming anybody at this point is old news.



Mother Jennifer Rodriguez, who lost custody of
Patrick and little sister Jailene in December over a shoplifting charge,
has recently spent a good amount of time in rehab swearing she wants to
get her life together for when she gets her son back.
Not if...when she gets Patrick back.
Judge Terrence McElrath has since been transferred out of St. George Family Court and reassigned to
Brooklyn Family Court.
Better way over there in Brooklyn than here on Staten Island for a judge who blew off the family’s pleas to
keep the little boy with them as if they were gnats buzzing his authority.
The Administration for Children’s Services maintains its top priority is to place children with family-first, preferably in
the home borough to encourage “permanence.”
Dad Patrick Alford Sr., grandma Debra Ortiz and aunts Brenda Ortiz and Claudia Ortiz were
ready and willing to take Patrick and Jailene on the spot, so ACS had family options here.
Funny thing about options: They’re only viable if you practice what you preach.
But when you say your policy is to put kids with family first, then you stick them with
strangers living a planet away to a little boy who misses mommy and home
so much it hurts, you’re inviting the worst-case scenario to explode in your face.
Worst-case scenario, meet Patrick Alford, the little grenade that did.
Why should we care? We have too much going on
in our own everyday lives to worry about tax dollars funding a system
that doesn’t do kids very well but has that public policy thing down to a Stepford science.
As long as it’s not our kid, right?
Bull.
What happened to Patrick could happen to any kid who gets tossed to the wolves.
Too many parents can’t get out of their
own way. And most adults who work off the public for the so-called good
of the child could screw up a glass of water.
But as easy as it is to sit back and blame a mother we don’t know, a judge we can’t
overrule, or an agency we can’t understand, laying blame now is
pointless because there’s a little boy who is still nowhere to be found.
Police twice searched a wooded area around Howard Beach near
Spring Creek where dogs once picked up a trace of Patrick’s scent.
Nothing.
Jennifer, family and friends took to Pike Street
outside Mount Sinai United Christian Church in Tompkinsville a couple of
months back and joined hands in prayer to summon divine guidance to point Patrick home.
As consoling as the Rev. Dr. Victor A. Brown’s words were that night, Patrick is still gone.
“Where’s Patrick?” is not a question now. It’s a neon sign.
Where is the little boy with the wide, toothy grin who bounced with a fresh energy
and fed off as much food as his grandma could put on the dinner plate?
Swimming?
Thumbing a new video game? Charming a few extra sprinkles out of Mr.
Softee? Tucked away with family somewhere else, as some detectives still believe?
Or, is Patrick a pile of remains identified only by teeth lying in a place nobody has looked yet?
“He’s still alive,” aunt Brenda Ortiz says. “I believe he wants to come home.”
God help us all if he can’t.

---Written by Jeff Harrell as transmitted on Staten Island (SI) live

WTH is Patrick? There are 4 possibilities.
1. He was snatched off the street by a stranger when he took the trash down.
2. He ran away and was snatched off the street by a stranger.
3. He was taken by his bio family and is hidden somewhere.
4. He was murdered and his body was put out in the trash by his foster mother.

I'm less inclined to think 2 is likely because children uprooted from their family and placed with strangers tend to cling to each other and I think if a 7 year old was going to attempt to get back to his family he would have taken his 4 year old sister with him. I'm sure he tried to look out for her. 3 is not likely for the same sort of reason. The family would want to snatch both their kids I would have thought.
He could have been snatched by a stranger when he took the trash out but it doesn't sound as though there are any leads - sightings or suspicious people seen around - that point the investigation in that direction. I wonder if the foster mother lost her temper. I imagine Patrick may have been very challenging as he desperately didn't want to be there; he wanted his mom. Maybe he was unco-operative and told her he hated her etc all the time. Maybe the foster mom finds it very difficult to lie, like most people, and has given a story as close to the truth as possible. Patrick went out with the trash. It sounds like LE treated this as a runaway from the very beginning and may have missed the opportunity to investigate the other possibilities. Did they search the landfill or wherever the trash ends up?

Anguished mom Jennifer Rodriguez rips police 8 months after son, Patrick Alford, vanishes

BY Simone Weichselbaum and Alison Gendar
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Sunday, September 26th 2010, 4:00 AM

Rosier/News
Jennifer Rodriguez, 23, at her home in Staten Island with a photo of her son, Patrick Alford, 7, who went missing while in foster care eight months ago.


It's been eight months since 7-year-old Patrick Alford disappeared in Brooklyn - and cops now say his mother may not be behind it, after all.
But Jennifer Rodriguez, 23 - whose lawyer says she's taken and passed two lie-detector tests - is not relieved the cloud of suspicion is drifting.
Instead, she's angry police focused on her instead of chasing other leads.
"He is still missing. It's killing me," said Rodriguez, who fears the public has forgotten about the second-grader.
"They thought I was behind it, but now all these months later, where is my son?"
Patrick went missing Jan. 22, but detectives only recently asked Rodriguez for a piece of his clothing to isolate a DNA sample that can be used in a wider probe.
In the meantime, Rodriguez says she spends her days in agony - and alone.
"My father died when I was young," she said. "The only love that I knew was my children. My children made me look forward to the day."
Rodriguez has three children by two men. Her youngest, 3-year-old Jennifer, was living with her father while Rodriguez took care of Patrick and 5-year-old Jailene.
In December 2009, Rodriguez was arrested for shoplifting. She said she knew she needed help, so she called the Administration for Children's Services and admitted she was getting high.
Patrick and Jailene were sent to foster mom Librada Moran, who lived in the Spring Creek Development.
On a cold night in January, Moran says, she went downstairs with the boy to dump some trash and left him in the lobby. She got distracted by a cell phone call. When she turned around, she said, Patrick was gone.
Since stranger abductions are so rare, police theorized Patrick ran away to Rodriguez's Staten Island home or was snatched by her or a relative.
Bolstering that scenario: an NYPD K-9 unit followed Patrick's scent from Moran's apartment to the Belt Parkway, child welfare records show.
Authorities were so convinced that Rodriguez was hiding Patrick that a Staten Island judge briefly jailed her for contempt.
Police have carried out an exhaustive search, involving hundreds of cops and treks as far as Maryland and Pennsylvania.
They have knocked on the doors of 14,000 apartments, and spoken to at least one resident in each of the 6,000 apartments in the foster mom's complex.
Rodriguez's Staten Island neighborhood was repeatedly canvassed. All bodies of water in the area were searched, along with parks and beaches. Hundreds of officers took part in what Deputy Police Commissioner Browne called "one of the most intensive investigations ever."
The case has now appeared on "America's Most Wanted" three times. Three Patrick look-alikes were tracked down.
Through it all, there has been no trace of the boy - and no evidence tying his disappearance to his mother, her family, or the foster mom, police sources said.
"It is an actual mystery," one source said. "There are lots of theories, and some still believe that the mother is still somehow involved, but there is no evidence, and, unfortunately no signs of the little boy.
"There are no productive leads. We can't tie anything to the mother or the foster mother. There is nothing concrete on where this kid is. It's as if this kid disappeared from the face of the Earth."
Rodriguez took and passed two extensive lie-detector tests, said her lawyer, Robert Osuna, who said cops should have had an open mind from the start.
"I am not saying that they haven't done anything, but the focus of the investigation so far has been on Jennifer," he said.
When cops requested DNA, he told them he wanted to be there when the samples were taken. He said the NYPD hasn't gotten back to him.
"They had an idea in their mind that she took him, and they investigated to find facts to meet that theory," he said.
Rodriguez, who is on probation, plans to be at a Brooklyn street fair today to raise awareness about Patrick's case.
"I don't know how I can go on like this," she said. "I don't know how I will live my life if my son is not found."

kiwimom wrote:WTH is Patrick? There are 4 possibilities.
1. He was snatched off the street by a stranger when he took the trash down.
2. He ran away and was snatched off the street by a stranger.
3. He was taken by his bio family and is hidden somewhere.
4. He was murdered and his body was put out in the trash by his foster mother.

I'm less inclined to think 2 is likely because children uprooted from their family and placed with strangers tend to cling to each other and I think if a 7 year old was going to attempt to get back to his family he would have taken his 4 year old sister with him. I'm sure he tried to look out for her. 3 is not likely for the same sort of reason. The family would want to snatch both their kids I would have thought.
He could have been snatched by a stranger when he took the trash out but it doesn't sound as though there are any leads - sightings or suspicious people seen around - that point the investigation in that direction. I wonder if the foster mother lost her temper. I imagine Patrick may have been very challenging as he desperately didn't want to be there; he wanted his mom. Maybe he was unco-operative and told her he hated her etc all the time. Maybe the foster mom finds it very difficult to lie, like most people, and has given a story as close to the truth as possible. Patrick went out with the trash. It sounds like LE treated this as a runaway from the very beginning and may have missed the opportunity to investigate the other possibilities. Did they search the landfill or wherever the trash ends up?

I fear you may very well have been correct.

Mother of missing foster boy files lawsuit

Updated at 05:47 PM today
.
NEW YORK (WABC) -- It has been nearly nine months since little Patrick Alford disappeared. His picture has been plastered around in fliers. Now, there is a renewed effort to find him. "I want my son found. I want my son found. If this is what needs to be done, this is what is going to happen," said Jennifer Rodriguez, Patrick's mother. Jennifer Rodriguez is now filing a federal lawsuit against New York City, the Administration for Children's Services, a foster mother, and the apartment complex on behalf of her son Patrick, in her latest desperate effort to find him. "Lawsuits provide answers. Let everyone involved come forward and give testimony under oath, what they know, what information they have as to where Patrick Alford is and how he went missing," said Robert Osuna, an attorney. On a cold January night outside the apartment building in the Spring Creek Development, formally known as Starret City, Patrick, who was 7 at the time, disappeared while he and his foster mother were emptying garbage. Police though, soon turned their attention to his mother, Jennifer Rodriguez, who desperately pleaded for her son's return. "Patrick, if you see this, I love you and I'm not going to stop looking for you," Rodriguez said. She was briefly jailed and ordered to help police in their investigation, but she told Eyewitness News, she did not take her son. "I do not know where my son is. No, I did not take my son," Rodriguez said. Eyewitness News was there exclusively as police brought in a K9 team that exhaustively searched the marsh land around the giant complex. In April, officers mounted an all out search of the marsh land in nearby Howard Beach. Officers, some on horseback, spent the entire day searching with absolutely no sign of Patrick. Still, Jennifer Rodriguez says she hopes again to hold Patrick in her arms. "I hope my son's OK. My son better be OK. Hopefully, we can get answers," Rodriguez said.http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=7720757