We're learning new information on how an Everman family living in squalid conditions managed to get the money to flee the country amid the search for a six-year-old boy.
Arshdeep and Cindy Singh, along with their six children, took one-way flights to India as investigators were closing in on the couple in relation to the disappearance of Cindy's six-year-old son, Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez.
Everman Police Chief Craig Spencer told an afternoon news conference that investigators made a startling discovery in looking into Arshdeep's bank records.
"Investigators also noticed an abnormally large cash deposit into Arshdeep's bank account," said Chief Spencer. "This deposit took place on March 22, just hours before fleeing the country."
Spencer said that deposit was made with money that Arshdeep stole from his employer.
"Investigators learned that Arshdeep first fraudulently altered the company's cash deposit records, likely in order to prevent detection, and then removed over $10,000 in cash from the company safe, traveled to the nearest bank and deposited $8,000 of that cash into his own personal account," Spencer said.
Arshdeep had worked for convenience stores, with a primary responsibility of picking up and delivering items to various stores.
He also had access to the stores' safes.
"They didn't have the finances to support their operations and what they were looking to do here in fleeing the country," said Spencer. "I mean, the finances just weren't there. So clearly he chose to steal it from his employer."
Along with the other charges the couple is facing, Arshdeep is now also charged with felony theft.
Everman Police are continuing to work with the FBI in finding the couple in India and bringing them back to the U.S.
Mother planned escape months in advance
Chief Spencer also said Noel's disappearance was earlier than originally thought.
"Noel's disappearance most likely occurred near the last week of October 2022, approximately six months ago," said Spencer.
And shortly after that was when Cindy started planning the escape to India.
"She clearly started planning this starting November 1," Spencer said. "First, you've got to consider that there's a delay in getting passports. I mean, we can't just apply for a passport and get it right away. So I would imagine that that probably played a key factor into their ability to leave the country."
Investigators have said at this point, they have no reason to believe Noel is still alive.
Searchers from Texas Search And Rescue were out over the weekend looking for clues into Noel's disappearance.
Spencer said they collected some items, and those items are being tested to see whether they're related to Noel's disappearance.
"We don't have any more further ground searches planned as of yet, so we're going to continue to analyze the data," says Spencer. "We have cleared over 500 acres of nearby tracts of land, so we're feeling more and more confident about the areas that we visited."
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