Everman Police Chief Craig Spencer discusses the case of Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, who appears inset, on April 12, 2023. (Screengrab via KXAS; Patricia Paris)
Police in North Texas are investigating a new series of leads premised on potential areas of interest in the search for a long-missing, 6-year-old special needs boy whose disappearance and presumed death have galvanized the Metroplex region, Law&Crime has learned.
Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, who suffers from a host of ailments, has not been seen in months, according to the Everman Police Department. When initially contacted by law enforcement, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh said her son had been living with his biological father in Mexico since November 2022. Detectives later learned that was not true.
"Our team is still very actively working on this case," EPD Chief Craig Spencer told Law&Crime on Thursday. "The unfortunate reality of this case is that whatever happened to Noel, happened at least 5 months before we were notified. That delay has certainly provided some very unique challenges that we are having to overcome. The search of the property that was conducted on April 10th further solidified our belief that this case is in fact a death investigation."
Earlier this week, police revealed that the boy's mother paid for a new concrete patio to be poured in the backyard of a home she didn't own – just weeks before she and the rest of her family fled to India. Cadaver dogs signaled the presence of human remains on the soil directly underneath the patio. Dogs also alerted to the carpet previously used as the floor of a makeshift shed that once sat in the exact same place as the patio – that carpet was previously disposed of in a nearby dumpster by Rodriguez-Alvarez's stepfather, Arshdeep Singh. No forensic evidence was found at the home in Everman.
Search crews took a day to rest after the 20-hour process of meticulously removing the patio but are now back to work again based on recently-obtained information, the police chief said.
"Our investigative team is analyzing all of the data that is still coming in from various search warrants," Spencer continued in an email. "As this data is analyzed, theories are built on what may have potentially happened to Noel and then investigated. Today, we have officers in the field conducting surveys of some different areas that could potentially be searched in the coming days and even weeks."
The series of believed-to-be breaks in the case this week means investigators are closer to finding the boy's body now than when the search became a death investigation, Spencer told Dallas-based ABC affiliate WFAA on Wednesday. He added that forthcoming cellular phone data could be determinative.
The police chief struck a similarly confident tone on Thursday.
"There is no doubt in my mind that we have some of the very best investigators working on this case," Spencer told Law&Crime. "They are each committed and working non-stop to find Noel. I continue to have faith that we will find him and I will always continue to fight for Noel."
Rodriguez-Alvarez was fondly remembered by his former foster mother in a series of recent interviews with Fort Worth-based CBS affiliate KTVT and Dallas-based NBC affiliate KXAS.
"He was a sweet little boy," Patricia Paris told KTVT. "That was our boy. He loved to give hugs … just a sweet little boy."
Paris fostered the boy and his siblings beginning in 2020 through the end of 2021 when Rodriguez-Singh regained custody.
"I got a call from the agency that they had three siblings that they wanted to be placed with me and that one of the kids was special needs," Paris told KXAS. "They felt as though they would be a good fit for me since I had worked with previous kids with autism disorders, and they felt like I could do very well with Noel and his other two siblings."
The boy's mother has had a series of troubles with the law in the past – premised on alcohol abuse, police said. In the weeks before her son went missing, she allegedly described him as "evil," "possessed" or having a "demon" in him and told witnesses that she believed he was going to harm her newborn twin girls, according to police.
The former foster mother took issue with those comments.
"He wasn't mean, Paris told KXAS. "He wasn't demonic. To know that that happened to him, it breaks my heart. It really breaks my heart. I watch all the videos I have so, I will always have the memories of Noel."
"He was full of joy," she added. "He loved to play. He loved to laugh."
Everman is a small town some 11 miles due south of Fort Worth.
