Everman Texas missing boy: Did mother sell six-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez?

The mother of a missing Everman boy reportedly told family members she sold him to a woman at a grocery shop while telling the authorities that the boy was in Mexico with his father, according to a search warrant obtained by NBC 5. However, police claim there is no proof the Texas boy has been trafficked.

After hearing from family members that they hadn't seen six-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez since November 2022 and expressing concern for his welfare, Everman Police started looking for him last month. According to the authorities, Noel has a number of known medical conditions and requires a certain type of medical attention.

On March 20, police went to the family's rental home, a converted shed at the rear of a house on Wisteria Drive, and spoke with Cindy Singh, who said that Noel was with his biological father in Mexico. The boy's father, Mariano Alvarez Contreras, who was identified by police, later spoke with officers and admitted to having been deported prior to the boy's birth and claiming never to have had physical custody of him.

Cindy's brother Cantarino Rodriguez claimed in a search warrant obtained by NBC 5 on Tuesday that Cindy told her mother that she sold the boy at a Fiesta Market to an unidentified woman, adding that the woman threatened to contact Child Protective Services if she tried to get him back. 

The boy's name has been redacted in the search warrant. Police claimed there was no additional information on the search warrant concerning the purported buyer and no timeline for the suspected exchange.

At a news conference on March 27, Everman Chief of Police Craig Spencer stated that although there were rumours in the neighbourhood that the missing Everman boy had been sold, they had not discovered any evidence to support this. No proof that Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez had been harmed or that a crime had been committed was uncovered, according to Spencer, who added that they were exploring all possibilities.

After discovering Noel was not with his father in Mexico, Spencer said officers went back to the family's house two days after the initial welfare check to inquire further about the boy's whereabouts. Officers discovered Cindy and her husband had gone for India along with her other six children at that point, according to the chief, and that Noel was not travelling with them.

On March 31, Spencer announced that Arshdeep Singh, Cindy's husband, had both been charged with felony child endangerment or abandonment and that his agency could now work with federal authorities to track down the couple and extradite them back to the United States.

Everman Police said Tuesday they are "still working very hard to find Noel" and that though they had no major updates the case is "incredibly active."