Alford was last seen in the New York City borough of Brooklyn at approximately 9:00 p.m. on January 22, 2010. He had been placed in a foster home in the Spring Creek Development complex, also known as Starrett City, three weeks before. He told his foster mother, Librada Moran, that he planned to run away to rejoin his biological mother, Jennifer Rodriguez. A photo of Rodriguez is posted below this case summary. Alford was last seen assisting his Moran with household chores; he took out the trash and never came back. He has never been heard from again.

Rodriguez, who lives in the New York City borough of Staten Island, lost custody of Alford and his four-year-old sister for alleged neglect. She reportedly knew the address of his foster home, and her aunt claims she had threatened to kidnap Alford. A few days after Alford's disappearance a judge ordered her to present her son at a family court hearing. Rodriguez didn't do so, stating she didn't have Alford and didn't know his whereabouts. She was briefly jailed for contempt, then released after she passed a polygraph test. She still maintains her innocence in her son's disappearance, stating she believed he ran away and is hiding somewhere. Various other members of Alford's family, including people as far away as Maryland and Florida, have been investigated in his case. Several of Alford's relatives have accused each other of hiding him.

In October 2010, Rodriguez filed a federal lawsuit against New York City, the Administration for Children's Services (ACS), Alford's foster mother and the foster parents' apartment complex. She alleged that the ACS took Alford from her custody without sufficient cause, and that they were negligent when they placed him in an unfit foster home instead of with relatives. In her filing, Rodriguez alleged that Moran couldn't communicate with Alford because she didn't speak English and he didn't speak Spanish, and that Alford had repeatedly tried to run away and even threatened to harm himself after he was placed in Moran's home. A federal judge threw out the suit in March 2011, but ruled that Rodriguez could sue individual caseworkers and St. Vincent's Services, the child care agency in charge of Alford's case. Rodriguez stated she filed the suit to get answers in her son's disappearance.

Alford may still be in the Brooklyn area. Little information is available in his case, which remains unsolved.

Above: Jennifer Rodriguez