EVERMAN, Texas — Nearly three months since police began investigating the case of missing Everman boy Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, who police believe is dead, there’s still no sign of the 6-year-old’s body.
The Everman Police Department released airport surveillance photos Friday of Noel’s family preparing to board a flight out of the country without Noel.
“They just continued on through the airport like it was just another day,” Everman Chief Police Craig Spencer said.
The photos, captured in March at DFW Airport, are the last U.S. sighting of the family. Noel's mother, stepfather and six siblings boarded an international flight to Turkey on March 25, then flew to New Dehli, India. Noel was last seen the last week of October 2022, police said.
“This is your child. Why would you wanna completely leave the country? Unless it’s something nefarious,” Spencer said.
There are warrants out for the arrest of Noel’s mother, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh and his stepfather, Arshdeep Singh.
Everman police were called in March to the family’s home, a converted backyard shed on Wisteria Drive.
Police say Noel’s mother told them the boy was with his biological father in Mexico. Police say they’ve determined that statement to be false, along with a rumor that the child may have been sold.
Everman police turned Noel’s case into a death investigation on April 6.
“Almost immediately after law enforcement starts questioning them about Noel, they rushed to the airport in a rush to get out of the country,” Spencer said.
According to Everman police, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh paid for a new concrete patio in the backyard where the family lived.
On April 11, investigators tore through the concrete patio. Newly-released police footage shows several cadaver dogs alert to soil in one particular area repeatedly. Police say a carpet Ashdeep Singh disposed of used to sit above the soil cadaver dogs alerted to.
Cadaver dogs also alerted to the carpet, which police recovered from a dump. Police say Noel's stepdad disposed of the carpet days before the family flew out of the country.
Noel’s remains may have sat on the carpet at some point, but to date, nothing forensic has been found, Spencer said.
Police say Arshdeep Singh allegedly stole thousands in company cash to purchase the plane tickets used to flee out of the country.
Spencer told WFAA investigators are still working the case, along with a new team of investigators to ensure they’ve checked every bit of information. The lack of physical evidence in the case has been a challenge, he said, but investigators have uncovered new information the department isn’t ready to release.
“I’m confident in the team, the investigation and where it’s going,” Spencer said.
Billboards in Everman and along Fort Worth highways remind drivers the little boy's body is still missing.
“I do worry that we may never find his body,” Spencer said. “But that’s not gonna stop us from doing our jobs, from seeking justice.”
Spencer said the missing piece of this puzzle is bringing Noel’s mother and stepfather back to the states for questioning, but federal agents tasked with extradition have not provided him with an update.
Police have obtained arrest warrants for Cindy Rodriguez-Singh and Arshdeep Singh on charges of abandoning or endangering a child.