But this story doesn’t end with a manhunt. As investigators uncovered the beliefs that the mother had, attention turned to a controversial and often misunderstood folk saint: La Santa Muerte. Through anthropology, history, and firsthand accounts, we explore whether this figure represents something sinister... or whether fear and cultural bias have distorted her meaning.
This episode contains sensitive material and explores themes of child harm, belief, and justice. Listener discretion is strongly advised.
This episode contains true depictions of harm to and death of a child, so please take care of all listening. It was March twentieth, twenty twenty three, and the Everman Police Department was performing a routine request from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. It was basically a welfare check. The reason six year old Noel Rodriguez Albarez had not been seen since October of the year before in twenty twenty two, so they show up. They interview the mother, Cindy Rodriguez Singh, where she claimed that Noel was in Mexico with his biological father and he had been living there since November of twenty twenty two. The thing was that this young boy, Noel, had health issues they required intensive care. He had a developmental disorder, bone density problems, and chronic lung disease that required oxygen treatment. Because of this, he was completely reliant on his mother, Cindy, both for medical care and daily support. Here's where it starts getting a little bit strange. The family had applied for passports around November of twenty twenty two, when Noel was last seen. Annoela was not in the list for the applications. Were they thinking of leaving him behind. The story that he was with his father was false because the man had been deported and never met the child. The woman Cindy had even told a relative that she had sold the child at a Fiesta Market parking lot. All of these stories she was making up were highly suspicious, but will finally seal the deal was that she and the rest of her family packed up their bags two days after the welfare check and they were going straight to India. Also, her husband, our Deep Singh had been charged with the felony theft for stealing ten thousand dollars from an employer that same day. No it was because of these actions, all the lies, leaving, all that stuff that she ended up on the FBI Top ten Fugitives list. But it was what came after the investigation of what happened to Noel Rodriguez Alvarez and the story of the mother Cindy that revealed even more. The thing was she used to think that Noel was evil and possessed. There were hints that she used to worship La Santa Muerte or the Holy Death also known as Saint Death, in a way that people would worship a saint or another figure. Now, to an outsider, this might be a sign of evil. But as we're gonna find out in the second part of the story, worship of La Santa Moerte is far more complex than we know. My name is Edwin and here's a horror story. Immediately after the family fled to India, investigators went straight into trying to figure out the truth behind Cindy's lives and putting together a case to find out more Noel. They suspected that he was dead already and quickly moved away from the missing child investigation to something even more disturbing. This was now a full scale death investigation, and, as the Terrant County District Attorney Phil Sorels later said them leaving was a powerful indicator of culpability. Now, this phase was characterized by a meticulous effort to corroborate witness statements, analyze forensic clues, and build a compelling homicide case in the absence of a body. There were two main conflicting stories told by Cindy Rodriguees Singh to the family and authorities regarding Noel's whereabouts. Each of these accounts were systematically disproven, revealing a pattern of intentional deception. Noel was not with his biological father, and there was no evidence that she had sold them outside of Fiesta Market, so they went for more forensic indicates. Investigators discovered that the stepfather, our Steep Singh, had thrown away a carpet in a nearby dumpster before the family fled. This was a carpet that had once been on the floor of a shed that had been demolished on the family's rented property. A kadaver dog later alerted to the scent of human remains on the recovered carpet. Later on, they found out that the family used their tax refund to have a concrete patio constructed at the residence under a suspicious circumstance, asking for a thicker pore of concrete in one specific area. Good Averdog also alerted to this location, and although an excavation of the patio did not yield physical remains, good Averdog's alerts provided crucial circumstantial evidence supporting the theory Ane's body had been concealed there before being moved. So they went to find witnesses, and interviews with them provided a disturbing profile of Cindy Rodriguez Singh her beliefs and her treatment of Noel, which further supported the theory of foul play. Witnesses stated that Singh believed that Noel was evil, possessed, or had a demon in him. She would say that she was afraid that Noel would harm her newborn twins. Noela was last seen around the time his mother gave birth to those twins, and witnesses said that he appeared to be malnourished and unhealthy. Investigators noted Cindy's worship of La Santa Muerte, a folk saint associated with death, as evidence by numerous shrines found inside the family's shed. Investigators considered this belief system relevant because it helped contextualize her statements to witnesses that Noel was evil or possessed by a demon. And this is where I needed some clarification, because even more were the accounts of severe abuse and neglect, including withholding food and water from Noel to avoid having to change his stapers and striking him with keys when he tried to drink water. Don't notice here the hints that they're trying to correlate the La Santae with evil and batter. This is for a little bit later now. The overwhelming weight of this circumstantial evidence, witness testimony, and her lies provided the probable cause necessary for formal criminal charges. The formal charges against Cindy while she was at a fugitive in India was a crucial legal step because these state and federal indictments enabled the US government to leverage its full resources, officially designate her an international fugitive, and initiate formal protocols so they could catch her and then bring her back. The charges filed against the subjects were capital murder of a person under ten years of age, took acounts of injury to a child, abandoning a child without intent to return, and a lawful flight to avoid prosecution. Following these charges, the FBI took major steps to publicly escalate the manhunt. On August twenty ninth, twenty twenty four, the FBI first announced a reward of up to twenty five thousand dollars. In July of twenty twenty five, Cindy Rodrigue Singh was added to the FBI's ten most Wanted Fugitives list, a significant designation, noting that she was a first mother accused of killing her own child that was placed on it. At the same time, the reward for information leading directly to her arrest was increased to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. These actions established her global fugitive status and also made way for a coordinated international effort for a capture. The search for Cindy Rodriguez Singh grew into a global manhunt. It was underscoring the commit meant of US law enforcement to ensure that international borders cannot be used as a shield to escape justice. The successful capture was a direct result of robust cooperation between the United States and its international partners. On October three, twenty twenty four, Interpol issued a red notice against Cindy at the request of the United States, officially alerting law enforcement agencies in all member countries to seek her location and provisional arrest. The US government then submitted an official request to Indian authorities formalizing the legal process for her return, and all these worked. Cindy was found and arrested in India in the joint operation. FBI Director Cash Mattel publicly credited the seamless cooperation and tremendous field work of the FBI, Indian law enforcement, and Interpol, as well as the US Department of Justice for the successful apprehension. This capture marked the end of a persistent international effort to bring a high profile fugitive the Justice so Cindia. Rodrigue Singh right now has been transported from India back to the US and when she arrived, she was turned over to the Texas authorities to face the state charges filed against her by the Arrant County District Attorney's office, including the charge of capital murder. Now, although the international manhunt is now closed, the judicial process in Arrant County, Texas is the next and final phase. So this is still underway and now they're trying to find answers about the murder of Noel Rodriguez Albarez. But this worship of La Santa Muerte that was deemed significant, let's talk about it for a little bit. What was it about, was that somehow connected to her belief that her own child was evil or possessed by a de entity or is it only an assumption between evil and this belief? Because I even found out there were these FBI documents that brief their own members on what La Santamerte is, sometimes even tying it to nautical culture and criminals. So I decided to look into it on my own, and I found a lot of things that I didn't know about this type of occult worship, mostly for menthropologists who study traditions of this sort. It must have been around the mid nineties when the belief of worship of La Santa Meerte was really climbing, and I remember hearing about it mainly around a show that my mom used to watch all the time. It was called Primiting Bacto. Now, this is a saint, a powerful, controversial Mexican folk saint that might also be known as Saint Death. She represents a direct, non judgmental spiritual force for millions of followers. Her appeal is rooted in a single strong principle of equality captured in a popular prayer. And here's how it goes, Santisimamurte, we believe in you because you are fair and do not discriminate. You take a young person just as you take an old person, a rich person just as a poor person. Okay, so let's take it back to the very beginning. Who is this skeleton saint how is she worshiped and why does she inspire both fierce devotion and outright condemnation. And when you first see this figure out there, La sant Aime Meerte, it is literally like a skeleton, like a grim reaper with a scythe right, and when you see it, it's supposed to be a personification of death itself. This is found as a holy figure capable of granting petitions and offering protection. Santame Wertha is universally depicted as a female skeleton, often robed in a long gown carrying us, resembling a feminine grim reaper. She is known by a variety of affectionate sort of names like sant A Muerte, the Saint Death, the White Girl, Nina Blanca, the white Sister, which is in Mana Blanca, the black Lady, or a lady of the shadows, the great One. Of course, not everyone might approve of you worshiping this saint right, so to avoid judgment from disapproving friends and family, some people secretly refer to her as Santa Martha Saint Martha, believing she will understand the need for discretion. The follower se La Santa Muerte, as the mother of all cycles, a fundamental force, recognizing that all that begins must end, and that all lives must die. Her most defining characteristic is her impartiality, because death comes for everyone, rich, powerful or marginalized, a sinner or a saint, and she is seen as an incredibly powerful and non judgmental ally. She listens to anyone's prayers, and before her all people are truly equal. Now this core belief in a fair and absolute power shapes the vibrant and deeply personal ways that her followers think of Her devotion to La Santa Muertes expressed through vibrant public ceremonies, personal altars, and practical magical rights. One of the most famous public rituals is the monthly rosary held at the Alfadria Street altar in Tepito, a bustly neighborhood in Mexico City. The scene is a powerful urban spectacle. Families arrive carrying their personal statues from home altars, vendors sell posters, candles, cigarettes for offerings. The sounds of mariachi bands and celebratory bottle rockets fill the air. A dense crowd gathers before the main altar, which houses a human size statue known as La Grande. The The Beato Rosary is modeled on the Catholic sorrowful mysteries, but its prayers that have been carefully adapted to address the real world's struggles faced by the community. This transforms a traditional ritual into a powerful expression of communal hope and support. For example, they have it as the agony in the garden, which is adaptive for all prisoners, whether they are justly incarcerated or not, scourging at the pillar, which is for those who are hospitalized or those who are consumed by poisons, which is another way of saying suffering from addiction. Then there is a crowning with thorns those for work problems, and the caring of the cross for protections from deceptions, spells and envy. And finally the crucifixion, which is in memory of those who have recently died. And beyond public gatherings, the faith is deeply personal and often involves elements of folk magic. People maintain altars in their homes and bring offerings like apples, flowers, tequila, and cigarettes to public shrines. The practice of giving small gifts trigaalitos, is what they're known as to strangers during the public ceremonies is seen as a way of repaying La Santa Meerte for favors that she has granted. Followers also seek out traditional healers, which are known as curanderos, for ritual cleansings. These ceremonies are performed to remove negative energy, bad luck, or suspected Hexes may involve things like fresh basil or eggs, which are passed over the person's body. People also perform spells, which are known as echisos, for practical goals related to love, money, health, and protection. The color of a candle or the saint's robe often corresponds to the spell's intent. For example, a red statue or a candle is typically used for matters of love. Now, while these public and private rituals show how people worship, the true power of the faith is revealed in the personal stories of why they turned to her in the first place. The power of La sant A Morte is best understood through the personal stories of her followers, which reveal a deep relationship built on trust, love, and desperation, like this one Donie Elena, the keeper of a prominent shrine in Wahaca. She became a follower after two life altering events. After being bedridden for twelve years. Donie Elena says that the Santa Muerte appeared to her one night in a carriage drawn by owls and granted her a miraculous cure of the next day completely healed. When her son had gone crazy due to witchcraft, Donie Lena asks for help from her local curandera, who was also a follower of the saint, and through the Curandera's rituals, her son was cured and he made Donie Lena and maybe even her son, a lifelong follower. Abby, Donielena's granddaughter, centers her devotion on protecting her boyfriend, Mark, a fisherman who also works as a marine drug runner, and Mark is currently in jail in a Capulco where he has been awaiting his final trial for the last three years. Abbey credits to La Santa Erte with saving his life during arrest by marine police. She always performs rituals such as the Olympia, a cleanse to remove suspected hexas placed on the relationship by a jealous family member, and praise for his eventual freedom. Getting some stories and ideas for these podcasts. You might be surprised at the amount of stories I encounter where there is a jealous family member, one that does witchcraft to wish them harm, but it happens either way. These intimate accounts of love and crisis show us that the Saints has a personal appeal, but also that they exist alongside a much more public and continuous reputation that casts along shadow over her followers. A Lasanthim where this rapid rise has been met with suspicion and condemnation, placing her at the center of a cultural and religious debate. Because La Somethime, where this popularity grew at the same time as the expansion of organized crime, she was quickly labeled a nautical saint by the media. While some criminals, like the infamous kidnapper Dan Niel Ladi'smandi el Moto Rejas has been a follower of this connection is often sensationalized. Films like Men on Fire have reinforced the stereotype of a death cult. It portrayal that most average followers reject as gross misrepresentation of their faith. As expected, the Catholic Church officially condemns this thea sant A Meerte, viewing it as a dangerous deviation from true faith. Church leaders have called the devotion a mask for Satanism and argue from a theological standpoint that death cannot be holy because Christ overcame death. But for the vast majority of followers, sant Amerte is a source of shelter an aid, not an icon of violence. The perspective is best understood through two key concepts, which are amparo, meaning shelter, aid or protection, and the sampio, which is the loss of protection or abandonment. Many followers feel abandoned by the state, the legal system, even the official church, so they turn into La sant a Berte for the ambato that they cannot find elsewhere. The carefully worded prayers at the Debato Rosary, which asks for justice for the unjustly incarcerated and help for those who are suffering from addiction, reveal the focus that is therapeutic and non violent, which kind of goes against the sensationalized media portrayals. Now, by moving past the sensational headlines and understanding the search for protection at the heart of the faith, we can begin to see the deeper social forces that are feeling La sant a Mertes rise. Now I'm mixing the thoughts of this because it's difficult for me to pinpoint the difference between La sant a Morte and other types of saints, and the more I find out about it, the more I realize that the saint itself does not stand for evil, but cases like the one that I talked about in the beginning with Cindy in the presumed murder of her son, them finding evidence as she worshiped La sant am Erte was immediately considered as a fault in her beliefs, something that almost meant that she worshiped the devil or something like that. For all we know, she might have been asking for answers, and then again, only she knows the truth and reasoning behind her actions. I now know that La sant Ammerte is far more than a simple Narco saint or leader of a death cult. She's a complex, multifaceted folk saint whose worship is a direct and powerful response to the realities of modern life. Her explosive popularity can be understood as a search for justice and protection in a world where many feel vulnerable and abandoned. For those living in the shadow of institutional failure, economic trouble, violence. That's some time. What the offers a powerful, non judgmental protector who promises that in the end, everyone, absolutely everyone, will be treated equally. Do you consider the saint death something bad? Has Western religion left it no choice but to end up in the category of occult for the majority of us. I'm interested in knowing what you think about this. Also, to end the episode here, I wanted to give a shout out to those who have left comments in our last episode, Ghosts in the Fog. I received some comments and really really awesome comments here about I had mentioned the loss of my friend here. I got comments from a breed Patterson here saying I'm so sorry for your loss. Campy's porn Shack says, Duffy's cut is a really cool bit of history that I never heard about before. The question here that I asked, is it possible for spirits to return for us to share their untold stories? And then she continues, isn't that the basis of nine nine percent of ghost folklore? The stories are left untold or we have window with these mysteries. This is very cool, very cool loss origion toy. Although it's it is obvious right like the way you say, yeah, it's true. Oh, pretty much all stories can be traced down to this. So really cool, really cool reresponse here, Natalia says, a great episode. It's good that the truth can be uncovered. Mcadalin says, you're a great guy. I appreciate that. Thank you so much. In Salia Kim with two m says, Inside of Immaculata University there's a small room that is a Duffy's Cut museum. They have several key items and artifacts. In the past year or so, they have also discovered another mass grave in or near Northwood Cemetery in Downington that could also be connected to the cholera outbreak. Really cool information here might be interesting to visit for those of you who are near nearby where the last episode took place, where I talk about Duffy's Cut might be interesting. They're actually doing really good work there with solving this mystery. It's really cool what they're doing. Thank you for that. Tired Peach says, see sending you all the love in the world. Laws is incredibly hard. Take your time. I will always come and check to see if you've posted every week. I appreciate you posting this one. I appreciate that tired Peach. Yeah, yeah, it was a little bit difficult, you know, to I guess it's like if you kind of get shaken up, you know, so everything kind of falls out of place. But yeah, I appreciate the comment here. Melissa Newends nineteen says, I am so happy to have you back. I've been going through some withdrawal's not hearing story from you, sorry, loll have been listen to you for a couple of years now, and waiting for your stories is one of my goals for the week. So it's a bit shocking not to hear from you in a while. But I hope all that's going well and that you've been going through with all that you've been going through in recent times. Sorry to hear about your loss, Those are always at times. Yeah, it's true, and I appreciate you listening. This is really cool. Sorry to keep everyone waiting for these episodes, but we're back. We're really getting all this and I say we was really just me with this at least with this show. Now bring it back, getting back into the whole research mode and finding more stories for you guys. If there's any more ideas that you have for stories, I've been getting a few. I see them here in the comments and also through email, so I keep sending them in. I keep searching through all this stuff, and I always find really cool little threads there. Thank you for that. Kevin says it was an interesting story. Keep going. Thank you. Ramona mau Mao says, one hundred. It's just one hundred double orderline here. It's so over cool. Thank you for the Ozzy. Great episode. Crazy to think that I never knew this and A'm from Philadelphia, Yeah right, Like to me, actually, when somebody told me about this specific case about Duffy's cut. And by the way, this is a story of a mass grave that was found, and it was found because actually the mystery of who these men were was found because somebody had told the ghost story and they had actually seen figures out there. And when I heard about it, I'm like, wow, like this is so cool. I'd never heard of this. And then I look into it and I see all these videos and audios and files and everything about this, and I'm like, wow, I really didn't know. But yeah, some of these things are new for some of us. Traydon says, I believe this is a real great episode. Thank you for that, and Cardona says, sorry to hear a bunch of friends passing my Condolan says, and thank you for sharing this story. As a daughter of immigrants parents immigrant parents, the story hit home in a way, and it's true, it's true like these I kind of felt that the same way because these were immigrants. We're just trying to trying to work, trying to make it work, and they, you know, things didn't work out for them. But I'm glad that they're identifying their names and we can now share their stories. But yeah, they should have been treated a lot better, a lot better back then. But there's all the comments. By the way, I read these comments from Spotify the comments section that we have there, and that's right. You can leave comments on Spotify next time. We can also actually go through some of the reviews on Apple Podcasts if you guys leave some stuff there for me to read. Anyway, thank you all for listening or for your comments. Remember tap follow or subscribe so you get next week's story. And that's all I got for you this week. For ideas and everything. Can reach out to me. You can go to horror story dot com. You can also email me Edwin at horror story dot com for this specific podcast, or find me on social media. I'm Edwin Cove. That's E d W I N C O V all one work. I'm on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. Anyway, thank you very much for listening. Keep it scary everyone, See us soon