Missing Texas boy is likely dead; mom called him ‘evil,’ ‘possessed,’ Everman police say
The search for missing 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez has now become a death investigation, Everman police announced at a news conference Thursday.
Although the child’s remains have not been found, the evidence collected by investigators led them to conclude that Noel is likely dead, Police Chief Craig Spencer said.
Noel was last seen in the weeks after his mother, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, gave birth to twin girls in October, Spencer said. Noel was present for the births and appeared malnourished and unhealthy around that time, witnesses told police.
Rodriguez-Singh made statements that she thought Noel, who had developmental and physical disabilities, was “evil” and “possessed by a demon” and that she was afraid he might harm his baby sisters, according to police interviews with witnesses.
Around November, the mother began telling various stories to friends and relatives to explain Noel’s disappearance, police said. Through interviews, cellphone geolocation and other means, investigators have been able to disprove each of those stories, which included Rodriguez-Singh claiming that Noel was with his biological father in Mexico or that she had sold him to a woman in a Fiesta Mart grocery store parking lot, Spencer said.
Investigators also learned that Rodriguez-Singh asked to borrow a friend’s child to pose as Noel at one of his medical appointments so she could try to keep receiving government benefits for Noel, Spencer said. Investigators learned that Noel, who had serious disabilities including a lung condition, was last seen by a speech therapist in July and missed other doctors’ appointments around that time.
Witnesses also told police that Noel’s mom abused the boy and withheld food and water from him because she didn’t want to change his dirty diapers. In one incident referenced in a search warrant, Rodriguez-Singh’s brother said that she hit Noel in the face with her car keys because the child drank water when she didn’t want him to.
Authorities have issued warrants for the arrest of Rodriguez-Singh and her husband on felony charges of abandoning and endangering a child. Authorities said they are trying to extradite the couple from India, where they fled in March, days after police began investigating an anonymous tip that Noel had been missing since November.
The couple, who had custody of seven children including Noel, lived mostly in a converted shed in the back yard of a home on Wisteria Drive. Noel and some of his siblings mostly stayed in bedrooms in the main house, according to homeowner Charles Parson and the search warrant.
Parson said that Rodriguez-Singh told him that Noel had gone to stay with a relative in Mexico and he didn’t have a reason to disbelieve her story.
Investigators thoroughly searched the property, including digging under a concrete patio that Rodriguez-Singh paid to have installed. But the search so far has not led to evidence of Noel’s location, police said.
The next steps in the investigation will be to try to determine possible locations to search for the boy’s remains.
The City of Everman plans to hold a candlelight vigil for Noel at 8:30 p.m. Monday at the Everman Civic Center, 213 N. Race St.
Spencer said he and detectives haven’t stopped working since the day they started investigating the case, and they don’t plan to stop looking for Noel now. Early in the investigation, Spencer said he would hold onto the belief that Noel was alive until he had evidence to the contrary.
On Thursday, Spencer said the circumstantial evidence, paired with interviews and work that has eliminated all other possibilities, has led police to the conclusion that Noel is dead.
