The human remains found behind the former Everman home of missing 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez earlier this week were positively identified as his, the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office announced Friday.
The discovery of remains at the home was announced on Thursday, but officials said they were waiting for them to be analyzed by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office.
Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells said in a recorded statement that dental records were used to identify the remains.
"We will continue to seek justice for Noel," Sorrells said. "We owe that to him and to the citizens of Tarrant County."
Noel was last seen alive in 2022 and had been presumed dead. His mother, Cindy Rodriguez Singh, was arrested and indicted for capital murder in Tarrant County last year.
Rodriguez Singh allegedly provided conflicting accounts of her son's whereabouts and never reported him missing. She fled to India in 2023 where she remained until FBI and Indian law enforcement officials extradited her back the U.S.
Officials declined to answer questions about what prompted them to excavate the backyard of Noel's last known home.
The yard was previously excavated after cadaver dogs were alerted to the scent of human remains. Investigators also partially dug up the concrete patio Rodriguez Singh had installed in the backyard after Noel went missing. Prosecutors at the time found the patio especially suspicious given she paid for its installation but didn’t own the home.
The search for Noel initially began on March 20, 2023, after Texas Child Protective Investigations notified Everman police that some of his family members reported they hadn't seen the boy since October 2022. CPI then requested a wellness check on the family's home.
Rodriguez Singh told police and family members various stories about her son's whereabouts — that he was with his biological father in Mexico, with his aunt in Mexico or had been sold to a woman in a Fiesta Mart parking lot. After investigating, authorities determined none of those stories were true.
Witnesses also told police Rodriguez Singh was known by relatives to be abusive toward Noel, who had intellectual disabilities.
Authorities said witnesses reported Rodriguez Singh calling her son "evil, possessed or having a demon in him" and not wanting him near her other children.
Rodriguez Singh, her husband and six other children left the country on a flight to India in March 2023 just days after an AMBER Alert was issued for Rodriguez-Alvarez. In July 2025 the FBI added her to the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
She was arrested and extradited a month later.
A psychological report in April found her incompetent to stand trial. Sorrells has indicated she will eventually stand trial.
"This case has weighed heavily on our community from the beginning,” he said in a news release Friday. “Noel was a child whose life mattered. He deserved protection, care, and love. Instead, he became the victim of an unthinkable crime.”
Dylan Duke is KERA's Breaking News Reporter. Got a tip? Email Dylan Duke at dduke@kera.org.
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