New York: The FBI and other US federal agencies are working to extradite a couple who fled to India after arrest warrants were issued against them for abandoning/endangering a child, who is now feared dead, police said.
Six year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, who has special needs, was last seen in late October or early November last year shortly after his twin sisters were born, Everman Police Chief CW Spencer said during a press conference.
The police have active felony warrants for the arrest of the couple, which “is a second-degree felony”, he said.
“We want these fugitives arrested and extradited to the US so that we can seek answers for the disappearance of Noel.”
Noel was one of the 10 children born to Cindy Rodriguez-Singh. Three siblings lived with their grandparents, while Noel and the others lived with their mother in a shed in Everman, a suburb of Fort Worth.
Spencer said that Indian-step father Arshdeep Singh, Cindy, and six other children got on a plane and travelled to India just before a welfare check conducted on March 20 at the family’s home found Noel missing, NBC News reported.
At the time Cindy told police that Noel was in Mexico with his biological father, which investigators later found out to be false.
Police investigations found that Cindy neglected and abused Noel, which included depriving that child with food and water.
She had reportedly told relatives that the child was “evil” or “possessed”.
According to multiple media reports, Noel was born prematurely and suffered from several physical disabilities and developmental disorders.
The NBC report said that at the time the couple flew to India, there were no warrants against them, thus helping them board the flight.
Police said that the body of the child is yet to be found, adding that extensive search operations involving sniffer dogs have already begun.
–IANS
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