Translated material
11-year-old boy disappeared without a trace
Jacob Pritchett, 11, had autism spectrum disorder and couldn't speak and didn't go outside often, but his neighbors knew him. Some babysat him when he was younger, while others occasionally saw him walking with his mother or in the apartment window. So when the boy stopped showing up, they became concerned and called the police. However, Jacob's mother told police that she never had children. What happened to the boy from New York - in the material "Cold" .
His mother told police she never had children, but the apartment smelled strongly of cleaning products and there were children's toys lying around 
On September 25, social workers from the city Department of Children's Services arrived at the desired address - it was a three-story red brick apartment building in the poor Brownsville neighborhood of New York. But they were not allowed into the apartment, and then the social workers called the police.
On October 1, police officers and social workers arrived at the red brick house. This time the door to the apartment opened: a woman stood on the threshold - 50-year-old Jacqueline Pritchett. However, she said that she never had children. The police did not believe her and still went into the apartment.
There was no electricity in the room, but it was in impeccable order. Social worker Gabriel Martindale remembered the "very strong " smell of cleaning products. They went deeper into the apartment and saw two mattresses lying on the floor. Soon, police found children's toys in the bathroom and closet. But Pritchett still insisted that she lived alone. When Martindale asked if the toys belonged to Jacob, she replied that they were hers.
Martindale showed Pritchett the boy's birth certificate.
“She said she had never had children, that she had never had a period, that she had never been with a man,” Martindale recalled during the sentencing hearing.
During the conversation, Jacqueline became “loud and boisterous,” according to the report. In the end, she even called herself Jesus Christ. Then Pritchett was sent for a psychiatric examination, and the police began searching for Jacob.
Boy in the window
Investigators searched dumpsters behind the house for clues, but found nothing. Later, service dogs were brought into Jacqueline's apartment - one of them sniffed the room and pointed to the refrigerator, but there was nothing suspicious inside. The dogs also reacted to trash containers in the backyard. In addition, local residents spoke about the unpleasant smell that came from the containers after Jacob's disappearance. However, nothing was found there either - by that time the tanks had already been emptied by a garbage truck several times.
Neighbors told police that Jacob had not been seen for more than a month. “We were walking on the street when we [last] saw the boy in the window,” said local resident Evelyn Rolon, 49. — He was playing with a small car. Since then he hasn’t gone outside.” According to neighbors, Jacqueline has recently lost noticeably weight, a rash has appeared on her skin, and she has also begun to talk to herself.
On October 4, police released a sketch of Jacob and a photo of his mother. When asked why there was no photo of the child, a police spokesman replied : “That’s all we have at the moment. What we have, we publish.”
Police reviewed CCTV footage from the past few months, but there was no sign of Jacob. Therefore, they began to lean towards the version that the child was no longer alive.
The police nevertheless traced the path of waste from the tanks near Jacqueline’s house: from Brooklyn they were taken to a landfill in the city of Perinton, about 500 kilometers away. On October 9, police dispersed throughout the landfill and began methodically sorting through the waste. The search lasted more than two days, but did not lead to anything.
Abandoned child
11-year-old Jacob did not look his age—the neighbors thought he was no more than seven or eight years old. Jacob seemed “really abandoned” and his mother withdrawn, said Shamique Burchet, 23, who lived in the same house as the Pritchetts and saw them often.
As it turned out later, Jacqueline and her son moved to an apartment in Brooklyn about seven years ago. When Jacob was little, Jacqueline often left the stroller with him in the entrance while she went away. “Sometimes I had to sit with him,” said Shamik Berchet. “Eventually she came back.”
Jacqueline usually came to neighbors' parties without Jacob. At a picnic in early September 2025, a neighbor gave her two burgers, and Jacqueline wrapped one up with her, ostensibly for her son.
According to media reports, Jacob had autism spectrum disorder . “He couldn’t formulate words, he made sounds,” said neighbor Evelyn Rolon. “I don’t even want to think that the mother could somehow harm her son.” I hope she gave it to someone because she was overwhelmed."
Jacqueline often appeared alone on the street, and when she returned home, neighbors heard screams from the apartment. “We told her: “Stop yelling at the child like that!” - Rolon recalled . - Do you know how they yell at an adult? That’s how she used to yell at the child.” When she went out with her son, she carried him in a stroller, despite the fact that he was already big.
It is unknown whether Jacob went to school. Journalists from The New York Times wrote, citing sources, that social workers from the city's Department of Children's Services first noticed Jacqueline Pritchett in the fall of 2025. According to court documents, there were already 911 calls about Jacob in 2017. Probably, then the matter ended with nothing.
Smileys on the door
At the court hearing, Jacqueline again insisted that she had no children. On October 10, the court sent her under arrest to the Rikers Island jail for refusing to testify in the case. But even after this, Jacqueline continued to stand her ground.
“If you tell the court Jacob's whereabouts, I will release you from custody,” Judge Dawn Marie Orsatti told her at a regular hearing in December. Jacqueline silently looked at her lawyer Daniela Mancini - and she answered the judge that her client has the right not to testify against herself. After the hearing, Jacqueline was sent back to Rikers Island.
Lawyers, meanwhile, filed a petition with the Supreme Court. They said Jacqueline should be released from prison immediately because such imprisonment was a “violation of the constitution.” “The court is doing exactly what the constitutional guarantee against forced self-incrimination prohibits: the court is using its power to compel Ms. Pritchett to give testimony that could lead to criminal prosecution,” said attorney Brian Holbrook.
On December 9, Jacqueline was released - Supreme Court Judge Margaret Martin agreed with the lawyer's arguments. According to Martin, the previous judge illegally sent Jacqueline into custody. “She must be released immediately,” Martin concluded .
Jacqueline must still attend court hearings or face re-arrest. The court intends to get an answer from her - while all the past eight times Jacqueline refused to talk about Jacob.
On December 22, Jacqueline announced that she would not come to the next meeting. "I have no money. I have nowhere to live,” she said. The judge replied that they would pay her round-trip metro fare or she could connect via video link. On December 31, the court ruled that Jacqueline no longer needed to come.
Jacob has still not been found, and his mother now lives in a shelter. The police sealed off the Pritchetts' Brooklyn apartment, and someone pasted colorful smiley faces on the door. Whether Jacob is alive and what happened in their apartment remains unclear.
Author: Daria Voloshina
Photo: NYPD