Police: Search for missing Everman boy is now a death investigation
EVERMAN (CBSNewsTexas.com) – Creek beds, overgrown woods, dilapidated barns and sheds - this is where investigators in Everman are now looking for 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez after turning up no sign of him anywhere else.
Everman police chief Craig Spencer said the search for the boy is now officially a death investigation, two weeks after anonymous family members first reported he had disappeared.
"It has led to a very unfortunate, unimaginable, and devastating conclusion, that Noel is likely deceased," he said in a press conference.
Police said the last time Noel met with a state therapist was July 21 of last year. He missed a number of later appointments and was last seen in October after his mother gave birth to his twin sisters.
In November, Cindy Rodriguez Singh got passports for herself and six other children, but not Noel.
"We have not located any information that would suggest noel has been sold or trafficked; we have additional been able to disprove stories that noel was given to other family members," said Chief Spencer.
At one point after being warned she could lose state benefits if Noel missed therapy appointments, police said Cindy asked an acquaintance to "borrow" her son. Investigators believe Cindy and Arshdeep Singh are still in India, where they flew days after police first started asking questions.
At the convenience store where Singh worked, employee Rahul Hamid said the developments were a shock. And though he remembered seeing kids come to see Singh, he couldn't recall ever seeing Noel.
"I think I was in a state of shock, you know? It was a new thing for us," Hamid said. "We hadn't like you know, think that this could happen to him. He's like, such a nice guy. I don't know why that happened."
The search for Noel's body has already started. Police are working with search organizations, looking around the neighborhood where the family lived and widening out across the area.
