Police said Thursday that the search for a 6-year-old boy in Texas who hasn’t been seen since October is now a death investigation, but they still plan to find his body.
Late last month, Texas authorities put out a dangerous missing person alert for Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, who is from the city of Everman in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
After talking to families and looking into stories they think his mother made up to cover for his disappearance, like that she sold him, Everman Police Chief C.W. Spencer said Thursday at a press conference that Noel is probably dead.
Noel Was Last Seen Alive in October
Noel was last seen alive around the time his twin sisters were born in October. Spencer said that Noel “looked unhealthy and malnourished.” Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, his mother, applied for passports for all of her children except Noel at the beginning of November, the police chief said.
Around that time, Spencer said, Rodriguez-Singh “began trying to explain where Noel went” by telling different stories, such as that he was with his biological father or aunt in Mexico, or that Noel was sold to another woman in the parking lot of a Fiesta Market.
“Each of these stories has been proven false by investigators,” Spencer said.
The tweet below confirms the news:
The search for a missing 6-year-old Texas boy who hasn't been seen since October is now a death investigation, police say. https://t.co/nc9lAERqqx
— ABC News (@ABC) April 7, 2023
Family members told police that Rodriguez-Singh was “abusive and neglectful” to Noel. They told police that she “often” didn’t give him food or water and once hit him in the face with a set of keys, Spencer said. The police chief said that she also said that he was evil, possessed, or had a demon in him.
Spencer said that Rodriguez-Singh, her husband Arshdeep Singh, and six of her other children are in India. The police chief says that the couple has been charged with a felony for leaving a child alone and putting the child in danger.
Spencer said, “We want these people who are on the run to be caught and sent back to the United States so we can find out what happened to Noel.”
The chief said that recovery operations and organized searches are now being done to find Noel’s body.
Spencer said, “No one is more committed, determined, or eager to find Noel than this investigation team.”
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