BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) \u2014 An 11-year-old autistic Brooklyn boy hasn\u2019t been seen in almost a year, and six months after he was reported missing, his disappearance still baffles investigators trying to build a possible homicide case.<\/p>\n
Jacob Pritchett<\/a> was reported missing in October 2025, but the last confirmed sighting of the boy was in April of the same year by a property manager, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a press briefing Friday.<\/p>\n More Local News <\/a><\/p>\n The mom\u2019s sister also reported seeing Jacob in early 2025. The boy is still missing, and the search for his body is ongoing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere is he now?\u201d Kenny said.<\/p>\n Authorities were called to the Howard Avenue home on Oct. 1 to conduct a wellness check at the request of the Administration of Children\u2019s Services. The boy\u2019s mother, Jacqueline Pritchett,<\/a> 50, was acting evasive and claiming she didn\u2019t have a son, police said.<\/p>\n \u201cShe tells us that she is barren. She does not have a child named Jacob, although she has a Jacob tattoo on her arm,\u201d Kenny said. \u201cA lot of neighbors said (on Oct. 1) that she does, in fact, have a son, but nobody has seen the child in the last six to eight weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n Police got a search warrant for the apartment, and NYPD cadaver dogs got a possible blood hit in the refrigerator and on a mattress that was in the dumpster behind the building, police said.<\/p>\n Following that lead, cops searched 68 containers and millions of pounds of raw garbage at an upstate landfill but still didn\u2019t find the child.<\/p>\n \u201cThe presence of blood in multiple locations in the apartment, you know, the cadaver dog hitting, it\u2019s most likely going to be a homicide, but we\u2019re still working through it,\u201d the chief said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the mother has been in and out of Rikers Island<\/a> on a Family Court order to produce the child while authorities tried to get more information from her about the boy\u2019s disappearance.<\/p>\n The mom was invoking her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself in the investigation\u00a0before a judge dismissed the case, according to police and sources.<\/p>\n \u201cSo obviously, the case is still going on. We\u2019re still talking to her,\u201d Kenny said. \u201cI guess, in a perfect world, the kid pops up somewhere. It\u2019s going to be somebody finding something, you know, I hate to put it like that, a piece of the kid or something belonging to the kid, some DNA somewhere else than this location.\u201d<\/p>\n The NYPD will work with Brooklyn prosecutors to build a possible homicide case, police said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a perfect world, we find a kid somewhere upstate or with another family member, but I said, the presence of blood inside the apartment and a cadaver dog getting in the refrigerator is not usually a good sign,\u201d Kenny said.<\/p>\n Mira Wassef is a digital reporter who has covered news and sports in the NYC area for more than a decade. She joined PIX11 News in 2022. See more of her work here.<\/a> <\/p>\n Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n