A Brooklyn judge ruled on Tuesday that Jacqueline Pritchett, the mother of a missing 11-year-old autistic boy, is no longer required to attend Brooklyn Family Court for questioning about her son’s disappearance. This decision comes despite ongoing concerns from law enforcement that the child may have fallen victim to foul play.
The ruling temporarily releases Pritchett, who police sources describe as having mental health issues, from any legal responsibilities connected to the investigation into her son Jacob Pritchett’s mysterious disappearance.
Pritchett has repeatedly denied having a child, even when presented with evidence to the contrary. After spending over two months in contempt of court at Rikers Island, her legal team successfully argued before a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge that her detention was an undue punishment for her refusal to disclose information about Jacob’s whereabouts.
The New York Police Department recently circulated a sketch and computer-generated image of Jacob, who is non-verbal, alongside a mugshot of Pritchett, in hopes of garnering public assistance in locating the boy. He was last seen by a relative in January.
A search of a landfill in upstate New York, where refuse from the family’s Brownsville apartment is disposed of, yielded no physical evidence of Jacob. However, police continue to suspect foul play in his disappearance.
Despite asserting that she has no children and is unfamiliar with Jacob, Brooklyn Family Court Judge Dawn Orsatti has confirmed that Jacob exists and identified Jacqueline Pritchett as his mother.
Police released a computer-generated image of Jacob Pritchett (inset), who was reported missing from Jacqueline Pritchett’s residence on Howard Ave. in Brooklyn on Oct. 3. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News; NYPD)
Jacqueline Pritchett has contended she does not have any children and that she doesn’t know who Jacob is. Brooklyn Family Court Judge Dawn Orsatti has ruled that Jacob does exist and that Jacqueline Pritchett is his mother.
When cops and Administration for Children’s Services workers were inside her apartment on Oct. 1, Prichett said the toys in various closets belonged to her and that she is Jesus Christ, according to court documents.
She also claimed to be a virgin and a single woman, after first referring to herself a single mother, according to the documents.
Orsatti noted that nothing has changed since then, with Pritchett still providing no information about Jacob.
“It’s been three months,” Orsatti said Tuesday as Pritchett, her lawyers and ACS staffers appeared virutally in his court. “I don’t think at this point Family Court is the appropriate venue for this matter.”
The judge noted that if new information about Jacob is learned ACS can again ask the mother be held in contempt.
