A New York woman who was jailed in October was released on Tuesday amid her 11-year-old son’s ongoing disappearance.
Jacqueline Pritchett, 50, was being held at Rikers Island as police searched for her son Jacob Pritchett, who is nonverbal and autistic. The New York Daily News reported that the boy had been missing since at least April — though Children’s Services only got involved in October.
On September 25, the Administration for Children’s Services conducted a welfare check at the Prichetts’ Brooklyn apartment. Case workers reportedly searched the home and found no sign of the boy, while his mother allegedly refused to show a birth certificate.
On October 1, the agency returned to the apartment with NYPD officers. However, they still could not find any evidence that Jacob Prichett had lived there. During that police visit, a K-9 cadaver dog reportedly detected human blood on a refrigerator in the apartment, which did not have electricity. It was then that the missing boy’s mother taken into custody.
According to the New York Daily News, Jacqueline Prichett said she was a virgin who had no children. She allegedly also identified herself as Jesus and claimed the toys in the home were hers.
According to reports, neighbors said they overheard the mother yelling at her son before his disappearance.
Days after her arrest, police conducted a search at the High Acres Landfill in Perinton. A dumpster behind Jacob Prichett’s Brooklyn apartment is apparently dumped at this landfill, but authorities did not say whether the case had shifted from a missing person investigation to a recovery mission.
Jacqueline Prichett, who reportedly has mental health issues, remained jailed for two months as she refused to reveal her son’s whereabouts. The New York Daily News reported that on eight instances, she has refused to speak to authorities about her missing son — and has even evoked the Fifth.
On Tuesday, Jacqueline Prichett’s lawyers successfully argued that she was being illegally jailed for exercising her Constitutional rights.
Despite her release, she is still ordered to appear in family court next week to undergo more questioning about Jacob Prichett. The city’s Law Department told the New York Daily News that it “is evaluating [its] next steps.”
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[Feature Photo: NYPD]