Woman wanted since 2023 in alleged murder of her 6-year-old son arrested: FBI
A woman wanted for capital murder in the suspected death of her 6-year-old son has been arrested more than two years after she boarded a flight from the United States to India, FBI Director Kash Patel announced on Wednesday.
Cindy Rodriguez Singh, who had been named a top 10 most wanted fugitive by the FBI, faces charges in Texas for allegedly murdering her son, Noel Alvarez, authorities said.
Noel had not been seen since October 2022, according to police in Everman, Texas, where the family lived at the time. He 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. During the welfare check interview, Rodriguez Singh allegedly lied to officers about Noel's whereabouts when she said the boy had been living with his biological father in Mexico since November 2022, according to the FBI.
Two days later, she 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, local police said.
Noel has never been found and is presumed dead, according to state and federal authorities.
Rodriguez Singh is not believed to have returned to the U.S. since boarding the flight to India, the FBI 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. A month later, a federal arrest warrant for the charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution was issued against her, the FBI said.
Rodriguez Singh, 40, was added to the FBI’s "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list in July. The agency had been offering up to a $250,000 reward for information leading to her arrest and conviction.
Patel thanked the FBI's local partners in Texas, the Justice Department, and "as well as partners in India for the coordinating." He did not say when or where specifically Rodriguez Singh was arrested.
"This is the 4th '10 Most Wanted" fugitive arrested in the last 7 months," he said in a post on X. "That's a credit to tremendous field work, law enforcement partners, intelligence operatives, and an administration who is letting good cops do their jobs."
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said on X that he is "glad to see Rodriguez Singh being brought back to Texas from India, where she will finally face justice for the alleged heinous crime of murdering her child."
