Remains of missing 6-year-old Texas boy found years after his alleged murder
The remains of a 6-year-old Texas boy whose disappearance led to a capital murder charge against his mother were found during a search of his former residence, more than three years after he was last seen alive, officials said Friday.
Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez was last seen alive in October 2022, according to police in Everman, where the family lived at the time.
During a welfare check in March 2023, his mother, Cindy Rodriguez Singh, allegedly falsely told officers the boy had been living with his biological father in Mexico since November 2022, according to the FBI. Days later, she fled to India, police said.
Noel was presumed dead, and his mother was charged with his alleged murder, authorities said. She had been named a top 10 most wanted fugitive by the FBI before her arrest in August 2025.
During a search of Noel's former residence in Everman on Wednesday, law enforcement recovered human remains, according to Everman Police Chief Al Brooks.
The remains have been confirmed to be Noel's, the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office said Friday.
"This case has weighed heavily on our community from the beginning," Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells said in a statement Friday. "Noel was a child whose life mattered. He deserved protection, care, and love. Instead, he became the victim of an unthinkable crime."
Noel was last seen alive around the birth of his twin sisters, "appearing unhealthy and malnourished," police said.
Everman police conducted a welfare check for him on March 20, 2023, at the request of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, according to the FBI.
Two days later, Rodriguez Singh boarded a flight to India with her husband and six other children, the FBI said. Not on the flight was Noel, whose mother had applied for passports for all of her children except him in November 2022, police said.
She was charged with capital murder of a person under 10 years of age in October 2023 in Tarrant County district court, authorities said.
In April, she was found incompetent to stand trial and ordered to a state hospital for competency restoration, the district attorney's office said.
Sorrells said that the psychologist who conducted the exam believes Rodriguez Singh will regain competency in the foreseeable future.
"She will stand trial for this," Sorrells said during a press briefing on Thursday announcing the discovery of the remains.
Everman City Manager Craig Spencer, who was the police chief at the time Noel was reported missing, said details involving Wednesday's search cannot be released at this time.
During the initial search of the property, police "conducted a thorough professional search with experts and teams that were here to the extent that we were allowed and able and capable of doing," Spencer said during Thursday's briefing.
In the excavation at the property on Wednesday, the district attorney's office "brought in resources beyond what we were capable of doing to be able to succeed in the search that we conducted," he said.
