NYC mom who claims missing autistic son doesn’t exist has tattoo of boy’s name on her arm
Jacob was last seen April 2 when a property manager spotted him, police said.
The search continues for 11-year-old Jacob Pritchett, an autistic boy reported missing from his mother Jacqueline Pritchett’s NYCHA apartment on Howard Avenue in Brownsville, Brooklyn, last October, according to the NYPD.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Friday that the boy’s mother, 50, has repeatedly denied having a child, claiming she is “barren.” However, police noted she has a tattoo of Jacob’s name on her arm.
“We brought the mom in to speak to her,” Kenny said. “She tells us that she is barren and that she does not have a child named Jacob, even though she has a Jacob tattoo on her arm.”
Jacqueline Pritchett has been repeatedly sent to Rikers Island for failing to disclose her son’s whereabouts but was released in late December after a judge dismissed the case, the chief added.
Earlier in the investigation, cadaver dogs detected blood inside the apartment, on the refrigerator, and on a mattress near dumpsters outside, though no trace of Jacob was found. Investigators also searched through nearly three million pounds of garbage at a waste management plant in Greenpoint and visited the High Acres Landfill in Rochester, upstate, without success.
The last confirmed sighting of Jacob was on April 2, when a property manager reported seeing him. Earlier in 2025, he was seen waving from a window while speaking to his aunt outside, police said.
City Administration for Children’s Services officials told the NYPD that there are no records of Jacob attending school, and relatives said he was homeschooled.
Chief Kenny said the case is now “most likely going to be a homicide” due to the blood evidence. “We know he exists. We know that for a fact. It’s just where is he now?” he said.
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