A missing special needs Texas boy is likely dead, Everman police announced during a Thursday afternoon press conference.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Everman Police Chief Craig Spencer said that Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, 6, hasn’t been seen in months. His mother, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, along with her husband and other children, boarded a plane to India last month without Noel.
During the conference, Spencer announced that the last time Noel was physically seen was in October, when his mother gave birth to twins at an area hospital. Police said the boy appeared unhealthy and malnourished.
Police also revealed that Rodriguez-Singh was said to have been abusive to Noel. She didn’t want to feed him because she didn’t want to change his diaper. She’s also alleged to have hit Noel with car keys when he wanted water because, again, she didn’t want to change a wet diaper.
Family members told police that Rodriguez-Singh referred to the child as an evil “demon” and said she feared Noel would harm the twins.
In July 2022, Rodriguez-Singh applied for passports for her entire family, Spencer said, except for Noel.
Months later, in November 2022, she reportedly began telling different stories about Noel’s whereabouts, claiming the boy was with his dad or his aunt in Mexico or that he was sold at a flea market.
Each story has been disproved, Spencer said.
Spencer added that Noel missed numerous doctor appointments, which threatened Rodriguez-Alvarez’s government benefits. She then asked another mother to borrow her child for Noel’s medical appointment, so she could continue to receive benefits.
“I understand this is not the news we were all hoping for and praying for,” said Spencer. “We must continue to stand together as a community and fight for Noel.”
Investigation Into Noel’s Disappearance
Police began an investigation into the case on March 20, after receiving an anonymous tip that said the child hadn’t been seen in months.
WION reports that officials tried to locate Rodriguez-Singh, who avoided contact with them. When a Child Protective Services investigator ultimately reached her at the family home off Wisteria Drive in Everman, they learned that Noel was missing, while his mother told the investigator that he went to Mexico with his father.
“It appeared to the [child protective services] investigator that the mother was intentionally evading authorities,” Spencer previously said.
When police spoke to the child’s father, he said he had never met or seen the boy. Homeland Security later confirmed that the father had left been deported to Mexico shortly before Noel’s birth.
“What I do know is that a 6-year-old, severely disabled boy cannot be accounted for and is missing, the mother has not been willing to cooperate with investigators to help us simply assure the child is safe and we desperately need the public’s help,” Spencer said last month.
On March 23, Child Protectives Services and law enforcement learned that four of Noel’s siblings, ages 7 through 11, had been absent from school and his mother contacted the school about un-enrolling them. Noel was not enrolled in school.
Also on March 23, police learned that the family, including the mother, stepfather, and six children (including Noel’s 5-month-old twin half-siblings), boarded a plane to India, with a layover in Istanbul, Turkey.
So far, police have no physical evidence of foul play or an abduction.
“We are coming up empty-handed on every traditional aspect,” Spencer said. “It’s going to be that one small tip that snowballs.”
Meanwhile, 71-year-old property owner, Charles Parson, who knew the family and considered Noel and his siblings as godchildren, told Fox 4 that he met Rodriguez-Singh in a grocery store during a time the family was going through a rough time years ago. He ended up renting a home to the family.
Parson reportedly said Rodriguez-Singh lost custody of her children previously but managed to get them back. He said he didn’t think she would harm Noel but doesn’t know what could have happened to the child.
Spence declined to speculate on whether Noel was harmed or what investigators think happened.
“There is a lot of holes within the answers that we have been getting as a part of this investigation that we have got to continue to fill,” Spencer said.
Parson allowed police to search a shed behind the home where the family lived. He told Fox 4 that the family had lived in the main home for nine years, but recently moved into the shed in the backyard. The family, according to Parson, included 10 children, with six of the children, including Noel, living with Rodriguez-Singh.
The other siblings live with grandparents, Parson said.
Anyone with information should contact the Everman Police Department at (817) 293-2923 or call 911 immediately.
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[Feature Photo via Evanston police]
