His picture has been plastered around in fliers.
Now, there is a renewed effort to find him.
"I want my son found. I want my son found. If this is what needs to be done, this is what is going to happen," said Jennifer Rodriguez, Patrick's mother.
Jennifer Rodriguez is now filing a federal lawsuit against New York City, the Administration for Children's Services, a foster mother, and the apartment complex on behalf of her son Patrick, in her latest desperate effort to find him.
"Lawsuits provide answers. Let everyone involved come forward and give testimony under oath, what they know, what information they have as to where Patrick Alford is and how he went missing," said Robert Osuna, an attorney.
On a cold January night outside the apartment building in the Spring Creek Development, formally known as Starret City, Patrick, who was 7 at the time, disappeared while he and his foster mother were emptying garbage.
Police though, soon turned their attention to his mother, Jennifer Rodriguez, who desperately pleaded for her son's return.
"Patrick, if you see this, I love you and I'm not going to stop looking for you," Rodriguez said.
She was briefly jailed and ordered to help police in their investigation, but she told Eyewitness News, she did not take her son.
"I do not know where my son is. No, I did not take my son," Rodriguez said.
Eyewitness News was there exclusively as police brought in a K9 team that exhaustively searched the marsh land around the giant complex.
In April, officers mounted an all out search of the marsh land in nearby Howard Beach.
Officers, some on horseback, spent the entire day searching with absolutely no sign of Patrick.
Still, Jennifer Rodriguez says she hopes again to hold Patrick in her arms.
"I hope my son's OK. My son better be OK. Hopefully, we can get answers," Rodriguez said.
