Authorities are renewing their search for a missing Brooklyn boy who vanished five years ago after being placed with a foster family.
Patrick Alford was 7 when he disappeared Jan. 22, 2010 from his foster home in the Starrett City housing development in Spring Creek.
Officials said at the time they believed Alford, who had been handed over to child services after his biological mother Jennifer Rodriguez was arrested on a shoplifting charge and admitted using drugs, may have run off in search of Rodriguez.
Authorities questioned relatives locally and as far away as Maryland and Florida but came up with no leads. Police said they received their last tip in 2014 but declined to say what it was or where it came from.
On Thursday, five years to the day since he disappeared, NYPD officers posted new signs in Starrett City that showed what Alford might look like now, as a 12-year-old. Officers also drove a police van around with a loudspeaker, informing the public about the circumstances of the boy's disappearance and giving out the number for Crime Stoppers. They announced a $12,000 reward for information.
Residents were seen pausing to look at the signs throughout the day. Some remembered the little boy, including one man who said he recalled seeing him around the complex and that he was a good kid.
A person who answered the door at the address where Alford's foster mother lived when he went missing said she doesn't live there anymore.
An attorney for the child's biological father said his client remains hopeful his son will come home and thanked the officers for their renewed efforts to find him. Neither Alford's biological mother nor her attorney responded to messages from NBC 4 New York.
