Timeline of events in search for missing Everman, Texas, child Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez
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The search for missing Everman, Texas, child Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez
Here is what’s known about the investigation and the events that police have pieced together so far.
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Police in North Texas are searching for 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, who hasn’t been seen since October 2022 and is presumed dead.
Here’s a timeline of the investigation and the events that authorities said they have pieced together so far:
- An investigation into Noel’s whereabouts started on March 20, 2023, when Texas Child Protective Services received an anonymous tip that Noel hadn’t been seen since the fall of 2022. CPS had prior involvement with the family.
- Everman police conducted a welfare check on March 20 at the family’s home on Wisteria Drive and spoke with Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, Noel’s mother. She told them the 6-year-old was in Mexico with his father. At the time, police said, they did not have reason to believe she was lying. The mother avoided later attempts by investigators to contact her again, according to police.
- Police have learned that on March 21, one day after the welfare check, Rodriguez-Singh obtained travel visas to fly to India, with a stop in Turkey.
On March 22, Rodriguez-Singh left the U.S. with her husband, Arshdeep Singh, and the other six children in her custody on a flight from DFW Airport to Istanbul, Turkey. Noel was not with them on the flight. Police said their travel itinerary showed they had a connecting flight to India, and police later confirmed they were on that flight. They were not stopped at the airport because an Amber Alert had not been issued yet.
On March 23, investigators spoke to Noel’s biological father, who told them he’d never had the opportunity to meet Noel because he was deported to Mexico before his son’s birth. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed his statement and that federal authorities had no record of Noel crossing the border into Mexico.
On March 23, Noel’s four older siblings, aged 7 to 11, were found to be absent from school after Rodriguez-Singh contacted their school in Everman ISD to ask about unenrolling them. Noel, who has serious disabilities including a chronic lung disease that requires medical treatment and occasional oxygen treatment, was not enrolled in school, according to police. His mother had custody of seven of her children, including Noel and his half-siblings, who were 5-month-old twins. Three other children lived with Rodriguez-Singh’s grandmother, police said.
On March 24, after learning Noel was not with his father, investigators tried to contact Noel’s mother again but could not reach her.
On the morning of March 25, police issued an Amber Alert for Noel with a description of his mother and her pickup truck. Police did not know yet that the mother and other family members had left the country.
- On the night of March 25, police learned the family had left the country. Rodriguez-Singh’s truck was found at DFW Airport. The alert for Noel was changed to an Endangered Missing Person alert.
- Over the next few days, Everman police searched the property where the family lived in a converted shed in the back yard of a house on Wisteria Drive and said they were investigating all possibilities and tips.
- On March 30, police obtained a search warrant to look for specific items including financial and medical records. An affidavit supporting the warrant included police interviews with relatives who alleged that Rodriguez-Singh had been seen hitting Noel, that she withheld drinking water from him, and that she told a story about having sold her son to a woman outside a Fiesta Mart grocery store. Police have since said they’ve disproved her claim that she sold Noel.
- On March 30, investigators also dug in the dirt under a concrete patio that Rodriguez-Singh paid to have built in the back yard on Wisteria Drive.
- On March 31, police announced they had obtained arrest warrants for Cindy Rodriguez-Singh and Arshdeep Singh on charges of abandoning/endangering a child. Authorities began working to extradite the couple from India back to the U.S.
On April 6, police announced the search had transitioned to a death investigation. While Noel’s remains have not been found, interviews and evidence led police to conclude the boy is likely dead. Police have ruled out stories told by his mother claiming that Noel was with other family members or had been sold to a stranger, then Police Chief Craig Spencer said.
On Oct. 30, 2023, a Tarrant County grand jury indicted Noel’s mother, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, on charges including capital murder.
On Aug. 29, 2024, the FBI announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Cindy Rodriguez-Singh.
On July 1, 2025, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh was added to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. The reward for information leading to her arrest increased to $250,000.
On Aug. 20, 2025, the FBI announced that Cindy Rodriguez-Singh was arrested in India and transported back to the United States. She is expected to be extradited to Texas to face trial.
This story was originally published March 28, 2023 at 12:21 PM.
