A 6-year-old missing from Texas in the United Sates since November is believed to be dead according to the local police. The parents of the child have fled US to India and face felony charges of abandoning and endangering their child, PTI reported.
Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, who has special needs, was last seen in November of last year, after his twin sisters were born in October, as per the news agency.
Everman Police Chief, Craig Spencer, said on Thursday that the search for the missing boy has now turned into a death investigation, and they are looking to recover the body.
Spencer told the media, that they have active felony warrants for the arrest of the mother Cindy Rodriguez Singh and Arshdeep Singh for abandoning and endangering a child, which is a second-degree felony.
"We want these fugitives arrested and extradited to the United States so that we can seek answers for the disappearance of Noel,” said the Everman Police Chief, according to PTI.
Noel is one of 10 children to his mother Cindy, 37. Three of his siblings live with grandparents, while Noel and the others lived with his mother and Indian-origin step-father in squalor. The family lived in a shed in Everman, a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas.
The search for Noel began after the Texas Department of Family Services asked the Everman police to conduct a welfare check, on March 20.
On March 22, Noel’s mother, Cindy, her husband and six children got on a plane and travelled to India, Spencer said, but Noel was not with them.
According to the police, on March 22, Cindy and Singh along with their six children travelled to India. Authorities have issued warrants for the arrest of Cindy and her husband Singh on felony charges of abandoning and endangering a child, reported the news agency.
They are trying for extradition of the couple from India, days after police began investigating an anonymous tip that Noel had been missing since November.
“We are working with our federal partners and they are engaged with us. They're on the case working side by side. As we get more information, we will update," the police said. Adding, "We rely on our relationship with international agencies. When they have information to share back with us, they'll obviously communicate that with us, but they're working on it”, as per PTI.
The circumstantial evidence, paired with interviews and work that has eliminated all other possibilities, has led the police to believe that Noel is dead. After investigators disprove multiple lies told by Cindy they came to the conclusion that Noel was likely dead.
The lies include that the boy was in Mexico with his biological father or aunt and that he had been sold to a stranger at a local grocery fiesta market parking lot.
“However, thanks to technology interviews, search warrants and the assistance of authorities in Mexico, investigators verified each one of these claims. Throughout the investigation, we learned that Cindy had been known to be abusive and neglectful," Spencer said, as per PTI.
Through the interviews the police learned that Cindy referred to Noel as “evil, possessed or having a demon in him” and believed he would harm the twins.
Investigators were told by relatives and witnesses that water and food was often withheld from Noel because Cindy did not like changing his dirty diapers. A relative witnessed Cindy strike the minor in the face with keys because he drank water, Spencer said.
When Noel was last seen, he was described as “appearing unhealthy and malnourished,” police said.
Authorities previously disclosed Noel was born prematurely and had several physical disabilities and developmental disorders.
They also revealed that the mother had an “extensive criminal history” and explained she was the subject of a previous investigation by Child Protective Services, the New York Post reported.
The pair are believed to have fled to Singh’s home country of India before the warrants were issued, it said.
On November 1 last year, Cindy obtained passport photographs of all the children living with her except for Noel. The next day, she applied for passports for herself and all six of the children except for Noel.
Investigators continue to work tirelessly to comb through all of the electronic data and other information that has been obtained through a multitude of search warrants.
"We have not located any information that would suggest the child has been sold for traffic. We have additionally been able to disprove stories that Noel was given to other family members,” Spencer said.
“Although the course of this investigation has changed our commitments, we will continue to fight for Noel," he asserted.
The following steps in the investigation will be to try to determine possible locations to search for the boy’s remains.
"We are engaging with several experts and highly qualified organisations to assist us in this venture. Some organised searches have already begun and are expected to continue in the coming days," Spencer said.
The couple lived mostly in a converted shed in the backyard of their home on Wisteria Drive.
Noel and some of his siblings mostly stayed in bedrooms in the main house, according to homeowner Charles Parson.
Investigators thoroughly searched the property, including digging under a concrete patio that Cindy paid to have installed. But the search has not led to evidence of Noel’s location, police said.