Mother marks 8 years since son's disappearance

Monday marked eight years since a young boy vanished from Starrett City, what is now known as Spring Creek Towers.

Patrick Alford was 7 years old at the time and would now be 15.

Jennifer Rodriguez, the missing boy's biological mother, says she can only think of Patrick while cradling her newborn son Joshua.

"It's a blessing from God and it gives me hope," she says. "Patrick's still out there."

Police say Patrick disappeared around 9 p.m. on Jan. 22, 2010. He had been removed from his mother's custody and placed in foster care. He lived with a woman on the 11th floor of a building in Starrett City who told police he had run off.

Police in the following days searched extensively for Patrick, using aviation, harbor and K-9 units.

"I just need my son back," Rodriguez told News 12 days after Patrick's disappearance. "I love my son so much."

She at one point was taken into custody after authorities accused her of lying about her son's whereabouts. She still maintains that she had nothing to do with his disappearance.

"They were so focused on me and my family they couldn't find my son," Rodriguez says.

There is a $12,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the case. Police ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.