Patrick Alford, age 7, was last seen on January 22, 2010 in Brooklyn, New York. He went missing while he was helping his foster mother take out the trash.
Background
He came into the world on November 28, 2002. When Patrick went missing, he was living in a foster home with his younger sister at the Spring Creek Towers (formerly Starrett City) on 130 Vandalia Avenue in Brooklyn, New York.
After their biological mother was arrested for theft in late 2009, just three weeks before Patrick went missing, the kids were taken away from their home on Staten Island.
At the time Patrick went missing, his real father was living on Staten Island by himself. Two years after Patrick went missing, his father was shot in the head during a robbery in East New York. This left him partly paralyzed. As of 2014, he was living in the Bronx in a nursing home.
Disappearance
On January 22, 2010, around 9 p.m., Patrick Alford was helping his foster mother take the trash out of their 11th-floor Brooklyn apartment at 130 Vandalia Avenue when she answered the phone.
When she turned back around, she couldn’t find Patrick anywhere. Since then, no one has seen or heard from Patrick.
Investigation
Patrick is said to have told his foster mother that he wanted to run away and go back to his real mother.
K-9 units followed Patrick’s scent until it ended at the corner of Pennsylvania and Shroeder Avenues. The police looked in the water of Fresh Creek Basin and in Spring Creek Park near his foster home, but they didn’t find any signs of where he was.
At first, investigators thought Patrick’s biological mother had something to do with him going missing. She was put in jail a week after he went missing. After being questioned a lot and passing a lie detector test, she was let out a few days later.
Patrick’s real mother says that he didn’t get along with his foster mother because she didn’t speak English and he didn’t speak Spanish. She says that after he was put in foster care, he threatened to leave, hurt his foster siblings, and hurt himself.
In the first two months of the investigation, police talked to about 14,000 people, searched 200 buildings, and knocked on 9,000 doors near his foster home on Vandalia Avenue and the home of his biological mother on Staten Island.
Patrick’s real mother sued the city, Patrick’s foster mother, and the foster care agency in Brooklyn federal court nine months after he went missing. She said they were careless.
After a long court battle, the city settled with Patrick for $6 million in 2018. The money is being kept by a corporate trustee for Patrick’s benefit if and when he comes back.
Authorities say that Patrick’s case is still being looked into, and they are asking the public for help. Crime Stoppers is offering a $13,000 reward to anyone who has information about where he might be.
Whereabouts
The location of Patrick Alford, as well as the circumstances surrounding his disappearance, remains unknown. His case is classified as endangered missing and remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Patrick Alford please contact the New York Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
A $13,000 reward is being offered to anyone with information regarding his disappearance.
