There are plans to name a new inclusive playground after a boy whose disappearance remains under investigation, according to the Everman mayor.
For the past two months, authorities have been looking for clues into what happened to Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez. The 6-year-old has been missing since October 2022, which is the last time authorities could confirm anyone had seen him alive. In April, investigators said they believed he was deceased after finding no evidence to support claims or rumors that the boy is either living with family members abroad or had been sold to a woman outside of a local grocery store.
“I just wanted to keep his memory alive and put his story out there,” Everman Mayor Ray Richardson said. “When kids get hurt and stuff, it rubs me the wrong way. I don’t understand it.”
According to Richardson, the Everman City Council has already given their support behind naming an inclusive playground by Clyde Pittman Park after Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez. A vote on Tuesday night is for formality purposes, Richardson said.
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“When you watch the videos, I think it’s a sad state of affairs when you see the pictures of him when he was at his house over here [Everman]. He was not a happy child,” he said. “But then you see the video of him with the foster mom. He’s calling her mom. He’s laughing and he’s smiling. He’s two different kids. It gets to you. It makes you wonder what he went through.”
On Friday, Everman Police Chief Craig Spencer announced a new team of investigators will be brought in to review the case. Dozens of investigators from multiple agencies have assisted so far, Spencer said.
“We’ve had task force agencies from the secret service and other federal organizations, homeland security. We’ve had officers that have been a part, have an expertise in human trafficking be a part of this investigation,” Spencer told NBC 5 Friday.
By having more investigators take a look, Spencer said he hopes it will add a level of meticulous review.
“When you’re looking at a case, sometimes we get honed in a theory or maybe we get honed in a piece of evidence. So, we want fresh eyes to come in occasionally and just take a look at the whole case and that we’re not missing anything,” he said.
Officials have previously announced the boy’s mother and stepfather are believed to have traveled to India with their six other children after police started looking into the boy's disappearance in March. The FBI is working with international partners to locate and extradite Cindy and Arshdeep Singh who are currently charged with felony child abandonment and endangerment in the missing boy's case.
While federal authorities are working on locating the boy’s mother and stepfather, Everman officials say they will not stop looking for him.
“If he’s dead, then he needs to be located so we can give him a proper burial,” Mayor Richardson said. “Whatever happens, happens. I just want to find him. I know Craig [Spencer] and them are not going to give up until they do.”
The inclusive park is expected to be open sometime later this summer, according to Richardson.
