FORT WORTH, Texas — More than 40 years ago, a 6-year-old’s disappearance led to the establishment of National Missing Children’s Day. Etan Patz disappeared from a New York City corner on May 25, 1979. In 1983, then-President Ronald Reagan declared May 25 as National Missing Children’s Day.

Just a year later, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) was launched. Since the center’s inception, more than 400,000 missing children have been found. In 2022, NCMEC had 27,644 cases of missing children. 

Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez disappeared in 2022 but was not reported missing until March 2023. An unknown caller requested a wellness check from the Department of Family Protective Services for the 6-year-old. Everman police visited the home of Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, the mother of Noel. The mother informed authorities that the child was living in Mexico with his biological dad.

It wasn’t long before law enforcement and DFPS learned that was false. 

“There was no reason to doubt. The officer that was on scene was able to take a look at the home, take a look at her and have a conversation. She was providing phone numbers and contact information,” said Craig Spencer, chief of Everman Police Department. 

“There was no reason to doubt what she was saying until investigators were able to make contact with the father and he denied that claim," Spencer continued. 

According to police, through their investigation, they learned Noel was last seen in November 2022.

On March 25, an Amber Alert was issued for Noel. Authorities learned Cindy, her husband and six children boarded a flight from DFW International Airport to Istanbul with their destination being India. Noel was not on the flight manifest.

Nearly two months later, the 6-year-old has not been found. His mother and stepfather, Arshdeep Singh, have not been extradited.

“We ultimately would like to have them here so we can interview her and him and the rest of the children and find out what happened,” said Spencer.

Despite the lack of cooperation from Cindy and Arshdeep, the Everman community has rallied together to seek justice for Noel.

“It’s been so impactful in the community that the City Council decided to go ahead and name a park playground after Noel,” said Spencer.

 Authorities announced in late March that the disappearance of Noel had turned into a death investigation, but to date he has not been found. 

Everman police have received assistance from federal agencies, Texas Search and Rescue and Equusearch.

“We followed it [leads] until there was nowhere else to go with,” said William Morgan, lead detective of Everman Police Department. “If it was out of state, out of town, if it was close by, we would drive out there.”

However, Everman police are not giving up.

“We want to make sure we’re going over everything with a very fine-tooth comb, double checking,” Morgan said, “and then once we’re done checking, we have some of our partnering agencies are assisting us, triple checkout work.”

Chief Spencer urged people to recognize Missing Children's Day but to be mindful every day, and if you suspect abuse, report it

“I feel like if somebody would have spoken up sooner, this probably could have been prevented,” Spencer said.

In Texas in 2022, there were 3,144 reports to NMEC. There are still 338 active cases from last year.