Everman Police and Texas Search and Rescue teams searched more than 200 acres on Saturday looking for Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, a missing 6-year-old boy whose family fled to India after police began looking for him in March.
Rodriguez-Alvarez has been missing since October, the last time police say they can confirm people saw the boy alive. Rumors swirled that the boy was sold or was living with relatives in Mexico, rumors that police dismissed. Everman Police believe Rodriguez-Alvarez is deceased and are conducting a death investigation.
Last week a team of cadaver dogs indicated to police that a discarded rug and topsoil contained traces of human remains at some point in the past. No physical evidence that could be tested was identified, prompting further searches.
Saturday’s search consisted of a team of 50 people, including investigators, volunteer TEXSAR search and rescue experts, and Everman police. The team searched land along Shelby Road and Village Creek in Everman.
Everman Police Chief Craig Spencer told reporters that the investigation had utilized between 30 and 40 investigators thus far.
The FBI is also involved in efforts to extradite Rodriguez-Alvarez’s mother and stepfather from India. Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, Rodrigez-Alvarez’s mother, and her husband, Arshdeep Singh, fled to India when police announced they were searching for the child in March.
The couple abandoned their truck at the DFW airport before taking a flight to India with a brief stop in Istanbul, Turkey.
Rodriguez-Singh had reportedly made comments that her child was possessed by demons and was evil.
It was later revealed that she apparently worships the cult figure Santa Muerte, a Mexican folk religion that worships a saint known as “Our Lady of Holy Death.” The cult is closely associated with Mexican drug and trafficking cartels.
Rodriguez-Singh reportedly had iconography of the cult figure in her home, shed, and vehicle.
Cindy and Arshdeep Singh will both face a second-degree felony charge of abandoning or endangering a child if they are successfully found and extradited from India.
Rodriguez-Singh also faces charges for giving police a false report about a missing person.
