The ruling pauses the capital murder case while doctors try to restore Cindy Rodriguez Singh’s competency.
FORT WORTH, Texas — A Tarrant County judge has ordered Cindy Rodriguez Singh, the North Texas mother charged in the presumed death of her 6-year-old son, Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, transferred to a state hospital after finding she is not competent to stand trial.
The ruling marks another delay in one of North Texas’ most closely watched child death cases. Prosecutors accuse Rodriguez Singh of killing Noel, who has not been seen since the fall of 2022 and is presumed dead, though his body has never been found. With the competency finding, the criminal case cannot move forward until doctors determine whether treatment has restored her ability to understand the case and help in her own defense.
The latest court action followed a mental health evaluation arranged in late March inside the Tarrant County jail system. Court records cited by local news outlets showed Rodriguez Singh was evaluated after concerns were raised about whether she could understand the charges against her and work with her attorney. On Tuesday, the judge ordered that she be sent from jail to a state mental health facility once a bed becomes available. Until then, she is expected to remain in the Tarrant County jail. The judge’s decision also halts related proceedings involving the parental rights case tied to her other children because she must be able to participate in court.
Rodriguez Singh is under indictment for capital murder in Tarrant County in the death of Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, a boy from Everman whose disappearance stunned the region. Officials have said Noel was last seen alive in October 2022. Police were not alerted until March 20, 2023, when the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services requested a welfare check. Investigators have said Rodriguez Singh falsely told officers that Noel was living with his biological father in Mexico and had been there since November 2022. Two days later, authorities said, Rodriguez Singh, her husband and six other children boarded a flight to India. Noel was not on that flight.
The case quickly widened from a missing-child investigation into a homicide inquiry. Authorities later said they believed Noel was dead, even though his remains had not been recovered. That detail has shaped the case from the start: prosecutors are pursuing a murder charge without a body, while investigators continue trying to answer the basic question that has haunted the town of Everman for more than three years — where Noel is. The FBI joined Everman police, Texas Rangers and child welfare officials in the search, and the case drew national attention as officers retraced the family’s movements and examined contradictory statements about the boy’s whereabouts.
The criminal case gathered speed in late 2023, when Rodriguez Singh was charged with capital murder in Tarrant County. A federal warrant followed on an unlawful flight charge after authorities said she had left the country. In August 2024, the FBI offered a reward for information leading to her arrest and conviction. By July 2025, the bureau had added her to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list and raised the reward to as much as $250,000. She was arrested in India and returned to the United States in August 2025, a move the FBI described as the result of coordination between U.S. and Indian authorities.
The ruling this week shifts the case from pursuit to pause. Competency findings do not address guilt or innocence. Instead, they deal with whether a defendant can take part in the legal process. Texas law generally requires treatment aimed at restoring competency before a criminal case can continue. For Noel’s relatives, investigators and the Everman community, the wait now stretches further. The central facts remain unchanged: a boy vanished, police say his mother lied about where he was, and prosecutors allege he was killed. But the next courtroom step now depends not on evidence alone, but on whether doctors can stabilize the woman accused in his death.
For now, Rodriguez Singh will stay in custody while officials wait for an opening at a state hospital. The murder case remains on hold, and Noel’s remains have still not been found.
Author note: Last updated April 15, 2026.