Friends, family and community members clad in different shades of light blue came together Saturday evening to remember Noel’s legacy and pay their respects through a public vigil.
Shambhavi Rimal
srimal@star-telegram.com
Not long before community members gathered to mourn, honor and remember 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez — “a happy little man” — two children dribbled basketballs at the playground dedicated to him in an Everman city park.
Noel had been laid to rest Saturday, Oct. 17, during a private funeral.
This Saturday, friends, family and community members clad in different shades of light blue came together at a public vigil to honor Noel’s legacy. They shared stories, memories and tears.
Lots of tears.
“It’s truly a moment where we can look back and finally say that we’ve got answers that we’ve been looking for the last several years — and not just answers, but just a little bit of closure,” City Manager Craig Spencer said. “And I know that closure doesn’t always fix things, but when we are able to come together and stand strong for one another, that makes it a little bit easier.”
“For many of us, although we never had the true opportunity to get to know Noel personally, we got to know him through that investigation, and he felt like one of our own, and he became one of our own,” Spencer said.
Spencer looked back at the Noel Angel Alvarez Playground that was dedicated in honor of Noel and said it is an inclusive playground that is dedicated to “serve children with special needs, children who may need just a little extra love and attention, children who are just like Noel.”
In November 2023, Everman dedicated the playground at Clyde Pittman Park to Noel, featuring a wheelchair-accessible see-saw, a “cozy dome” for overstimulated children and Rhapsody Vibra Chimes designed for sensory development.
Noel’s life was defined by a lack of respect and dignity that all people deserve — especially someone so innocent, Everman Police Chief Al Brooks said. The world watched as the investigation revealed the final tragedy in Noel’s life; he was buried secretly, treated not with the dignity that a human soul deserves, but discarded and concealed, he said.
“We are here this evening because we refused to let Noel’s memory be discarded. We are here to say that his life mattered. Every child mattered,” Brooks said with a heavy voice “We can’t rewrite the past, but we can choose how we respond to it, how we honor it, how we carry ourselves forward from now on.”
“Let us honor him by holding our own children a little tighter tonight, by checking on our neighbors tomorrow and dedicating ourselves to building a world where every single child is cherished, protected and loved,” Brooks said.
Fort Worth police officer Buddy Calzada read a letter written by Everman Mayor Ray Richardson during the vigil.
“Our community is devastated by the loss of a sweet 6-year-old little boy named Noel. Not a day goes by that you are not in our thoughts and our prayers. I will always remember the videos and the photos of you with your foster mom, Patricia Paris. In those videos, you were always laughing with a big smile on your face. What a happy little man you were,” the letter said.
As Calzada read the letter on stage, Richardson, dressed in light blue, Noel’s favorite color, stood in the audience with his head bowed as tears rolled down his cheeks.
“You’ve made an everlasting impact on me and the Everman community. You will be greatly missed by a community that truly loved you and will continue to do so until the end of time. You will never be forgotten, and we will work hard to keep your light alive,” according to the letter.
Items are left at the memorial for Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez at Everman Memorial Park on Thursday, May 21, 2026. Shambhavi Rimal FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM Noel’s mother charged with capital murder
Noel, who had physical and intellectual disabilities, was last seen alive in October 2022, but was not reported missing until March 2023. The child’s mother, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, has been indicted on a charge of capital murder of a person under 10 years old in her son’s death.
Witnesses have said Rodriguez-Singh withheld food and water from Noel because she didn’t want to change his diapers, and her brother said she struck the child with car keys after he drank water.
Rodriguez-Singh fled the U.S. in March 2023, flying from DFW Airport to India with her husband and six other children two days after Everman police arrived to check on Noel. The FBI arrested Rodriguez-Singh in July 2025.
‘Human kindness should be overflowing’
Longtime Everman residents Andy Booth and Yvonne Booth told the Star-Telegram that the news was especially difficult for them because Noel lived a block away.
“The police with their dogs would come out so many times and just walk up and down, looking for anything,” Yvonne Booth recalled. “It was hard. We checked around our house because the creek is down there.”
The couple remembered going up and down the creek several times looking in the hopes of finding him when he was reported missing.
“I’m sad that I didn’t get to know him,” Andy Booth said. “You see the pictures of that beautiful smile, and I’m a sucker for little kids anyway.”
“The horrific way that he died — it’s almost like he was an outcast in his own home,” Elizabeth Perez, who traveled from Crowley to attend the vigil, told the Star-Telegram. “That’s pretty devastating. And he had a disability that you couldn’t even see through his happiness.”
Sharing a message for the community, Perez added, “I think human kindness should be overflowing.”
Linda, a teacher who declined to give her last name, said one of Noel’s siblings was in her class. When asked why she joined the vigil, she broke into tears and could not answer further questions.
Like Linda, other community members wiped tears from their faces and embraced one another as photos and videos of Noel appeared on a stage screen.
In the videos and photos little Noel could be seen dancing, smiling, jumping on a trampoline and goofing around inside a laundry hamper. He was enjoying his brief life.
Around dawn a fiber optic stand that flickered light was turned on and everyone gathered held a moment of silence in memories of Noel.
This story was originally published October 25, 2026 at 6:21 PM.
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Shambhavi covers crime, law enforcement and other breaking news in Fort Worth and Tarrant County. She graduated from the University of North Texas and previously covered a variety of general assignment topics in West Texas. She grew up in Nepal.