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Read the press release here.

NYPD Uses SoHo Mannequin in Bid to Find Missing Boy

By Kathleen Culliton | April 29, 2016 4:03pm
 Sculptors used photographs of Patrick Alford at age seven to create a three-dimensional model of how he might appear at 13.
Sculptors used photographs of Patrick Alford at age seven to create a three-dimensional model of how he might appear at 13.
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BBDO

MANHATTAN — The milk carton has been replaced by a mannequin.

A plaster replica of a boy who’s been missing for six years has been placed in SoHo boutique window as part of a Missing Persons Squad initiative to find him.

Patrick Alford Jr. disappeared from his foster home in East New York on Jan. 22, 2010, when he was 7 years old, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Now, an aged mold of his face has been sculpted onto a mannequin featured in a window at K-Way, a European sportswear shop at 424 W. Broadway in Manhattan.

The mannequin will remain in the store window until mid-May, and any window shoppers who recognize the face can find more information inside K-Way, on the Invisible Faces webpage, or by calling 1 (800) 577-TIPS.

“By putting a face on a store mannequin, it’s one more way we can make sure someone missing is not invisible,” said Missing Persons Squad commanding officer Lieutenant Christopher Zimmerman in a statement. 

“This is a brilliant idea for helping to make sure that someone missing is not forgotten.”

Sculptors from Standard Transmission, a Red Hook studio that partnered with Macy’s to build their Christmas window mannequins, built the model of Alford using drawings from the NYPD Missing Persons Squad as a guide.

The 13-year-old has thick eyebrows and small widow’s peak. He sports a red T-shirt similar to the one he wore the day he disappeared. 

“It was a fabulous opportunity to do something that feels important in the world,” said Standard Transmission producer Sarah Adams, who spent two weeks building the Hydrocal plaster model of the missing boy.

“But you think a lot harder about your kids being just five feet away from you.”

Zimmerman remains hopeful that the project will be a success.

“Patrick is out there,” Zimmerman said in a promotional video for the Invisible Faces project, “And we plan on finding him.”