FORT WORTH, Texas — Police and members of TEXSAR, a search and rescue group, have new leads Tuesday in the search for the body of Everman 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, who hasn’t been seen since November but was not reported missing until March.
Noel was last seen in the weeks after his mother, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, gave birth to twin girls in October, according to police. 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 was “evil” and “possessed by a demon” and that she was afraid he might harm his baby sisters, according to police interviews with witnesses.
New leads provided by human remains detection dogs that alerted to multiple areas in the family’s back yard led investigators to believe Noel’s body may have been kept around the yard and at one point possibly buried there or concealed in a large carpet that was thrown away hours before the family fled the country on an international flight.
Authorities said in a Tuesday news release that the new leads have been found with the help of detection dogs provided by TEXSAR. Based on where the dogs alerted, police believe Noel’s body may have at some point been inside a “make-shift” shed that stood where an “unpermitted and suspicious” concrete patio was built about a month ago.
Forensic anthropologists from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office were called to the residence, in the 3700 block of Wisteria Drive, to assist with the dig after the cadaver dogs alerted to the topsoil under the concrete.
The dogs first alerted to a large indoor-outdoor carpet that investigators recovered after it was thrown in a dumpster by Noel’s stepfather, Arshdeep Singh, the evening before he and Rodriguez-Singh fled the country with six children on a Turkish Airways flight bound for Istanbul, police said in the news release. The family is confirmed to have boarded a connecting flight in Istanbul to India, where Singh is from.
The carpet was at one point used as the base floor for the shed that stood where the patio was later built by a contractor paid by Rodriguez-Singh, according to police. Investigators removed part of the concrete about two weeks ago in an area where radar detected an anomaly, and later got a warrant to remove the whole patio.
Authorities began digging up the entire patio Monday in a search that ended early Tuesday without locating Noel’s remains, police said. The dogs did not alert to dirt deeper than the top layer.
Police also began Monday searching wooded areas to the north and east of the home. Nothing in particular led investigators to search those areas except for their proximity to the house, according to the Tuesday news release. Canines and first responders searched along with trained volunteers from Texas Search and Rescue (TEXSAR), who searched on foot, on horseback and with drones.
Everman police said that after a 20-hour work day Monday, search teams were taking time off Tuesday while investigators continue working to determine more specific areas to search.
Police said city crews were working Tuesday to clear debris created by the search from the back yard and will begin the process of working with a registered contractor to replace the patio with proper permits and plans.
Police have previously said the man who owns the home, Charles Parson, has been cooperative with authorities.
Parson told the Star-Telegram on March 28 that he welcomed Rodriguez-Singh into his home nearly 10 years ago when he saw her sleeping in a car out in front of his house. He had two spare bedrooms and told her she and the children could stay there as long as they needed. They stayed until police said they fled the country, even installing a large air-conditioned, one-room shed in the back yard to expand living space. The larger shed where the family was living was not the same shed that stood where the patio was built.
Everman Police Chief Craig Spencer has described Parson as a generous and kind person who is not suspected of any involvement in the disappearance or death of Noel.
Community mourns Noel at vigil
Spencer said at a candlelight vigil Monday night that as police have learned more through the investigation, it’s left him “more and more angry or more confused.”
Although Noel’s remains have not been found, police announced on Friday that Noel is presumed to be dead based on the evidence.
Monday’s vigil at the Everman Civic Center drew hundreds of people, including faith leaders and law enforcement. They shared messages of grief at the loss of life, outrage at what investigations have uncovered about how Noel was treated and how hope could be found in community and prayer.
The crowd gathered around a stage set up behind the civic center, holding tea candles in transparent plastic cups or other candles they’d brought from home. Some brought prayer candles to set in front of the stage.
Spencer said it was important to remember what the event was all about.
“Tonight’s not about mom, it’s not about stepdad, it’s not about anything to do with the case,” Spencer told the gathering. “Tonight’s about Noel. ... Tonight, we honor him by finding ways to stop these tremendously horrible acts that go on.”
Investigation and warrants
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 the boy, 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, Arshdeep Singh, 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.
Police have not released any updates on whether or not the extradition request to the Indian government has been approved or how long they expect an extradition to take.
