Where is Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez? Missing Texas boy, 6, lived in cramped shed with six siblings
EVERMAN, TEXAS: A six-year-old boy who has been missing for four months was reportedly living in a cramped shed with six siblings when he disappeared. Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez was last seen in November but was not reported missing until late March.
Authorities believe Noel's mother Cindy Rodriguez-Singh fled to India on March 23 with her husband and six of her children, who are said to be between five months and 11 years of age. The 37-year-old woman lived in the refurbished shed with seven children, including Alvarez. Police said her other three children were living with their grandparents.
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Cramped conditions
Video footage obtained by Fox affiliate KDFW showed the cramped space was cluttered with garbage as investigators tried to piece together what led to the boy's disappearance. "The circumstantial evidence is certainly building up to a level where it becomes criminal," Everman Police Chief Craig Spencer said. According to KDFW, the home, which had just two beds, was filled with toys, clothes, baby products, and food. Personal belongings were strewn everywhere after police searched the shed several times hoping to find clues about the little boy's whereabouts.
VIDEO: 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez — who is an Endangered Missing Child — was living in a shed with his mother, stepfather and six of his nine siblings.
— David Sentendrey (@DavidSFOX4) March 28, 2023
The property owner gave @FOX4 a look inside the shed, Tuesday afternoon. MORE: https://t.co/V6Vp2Wloog pic.twitter.com/AfSSzelLcK
Charles Parson, the owner of the shed, told the outlet that he was "shocked" to hear that Rodriguez-Singh had left the country and that he does not believe she would hurt her son on purpose. The 71-year-old landlord said the woman considered him a "godfather" to Noel and her other children after he took the family in about a decade ago. Parson said that he met the embattled mother at a grocery store when he learned about her situation and offered to help. She reportedly lived in the house at the front of the property for years before moving to the back shed when her family grew too large to be accommodated in the original space.
Left without saying goodbye
Parson bemoaned that Rodriguez-Singh and her family left without saying goodbye. "They're scared they're going to get in trouble with the law," he told KDFW, adding, "They're afraid they may have done something wrong." The owner said he has health issues and was in the hospital just last week with Rodriguez-Singh and her husband offering to pick him up after. However, they never turned up.
On March 20, Everman police were called for a wellness check on Noel and interviewed his mother. Responding officers reportedly said she avoided questions and claimed that her son was with his father in Mexico. When Child Protective Services got in touch with the biological father, he said he had never met his son because he was deported before his birth. Authorities reached out to Rodriguez-Singh again on March 23, but they believe she was already on her way out of the country at the time. An Amber Alert was issued for young Noel two days later.
ACTIVE AMBER ALERT for Noel Rodriguez Alvarez from Everman, TX, on 03/25/2023, TX plate PLS7091 pic.twitter.com/PsQKFUGguf
— Texas Alerts (@TX_Alerts) March 25, 2023
Police investigation
Investigators later learned that Noel was never enrolled in a school. "We have a six-year-old disabled boy [who] cannot be accounted for,” Police Chief Spencer said, adding, “He has a requirement to be on oxygen at certain points in time and we don’t know if he’s getting that." According to Spencer, his investigators believe family members who were interviewed had been instructed to say the boy was seen more recently than he actually was. Several tips have come in from across the country, with one claiming to be a passenger on the same flight as Rodriguez-Singh and her children on March 23. The family is believed to have flown out of the country, going to Turkey and then India.
Investigators scoured through documents uncovered at the family's residence and from their 2012 Chevrolet pickup truck that was found parked at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport over the weekend. They reportedly found a travel visa for one of Rodriguez-Singh's other six children inside the vehicle. Spencer said the document was obtained a day after authorities conducted the welfare check. “There [are] 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,” he explained. The police chief even deployed a cadaver dog to search the family's living space and yard “to cover all our bases.” He said that Homeland and the FBI had been brought in to aid the investigation, and an arrest warrant has been issued against Noel's mother for giving a false report about a missing person charge, per KDFW.