Missing Texas girl’s body identified
Mathews, the three-year-old Indian girl missing for over two weeks is dead, US police said on Tuesday.
Sherin, who had developmental issues and limited verbal communication skills, was last seen outside her family’s backyard in Richardson city in Texas on October 7. The Richardson Police earlier announced that they discovered the remains of a small child in a tunnel beneath a road, expressing apprehension that it was “most likely” that of Sherin. The body was found about 1km from the house of her adoptive parents Wesley and Sini Mathews. Police said medical examiners used dental records to identify the child. Her cause of death is still pending. The girl’s father was arrested for the second time on Monday and charged with causing injury to a child, which could get him life in jail.
Police said Wesley, who came to speak to investigators voluntarily accompanied by his lawyer, offered a contradictory version of events around the disappearance of his daughter on October 7. “It was not what he had told us earlier,” Sergeant Kevin Perlich said. He refused to spell out the contradictions, saying the case was still under investigation and there was a possibility of additional arrests and modification of charges. Wesley was booked into the Richardson City jail on a bond of $1 million after the interview. Perlich said he was being charged with causing injury to a child, a Level 1 felony that can get him from 5-99 years in prison if found guilty. Wesley and his wife, who are from Kerala, had adopted Sherin two years ago from Nalanda, Bihar. She was undernourished and weak then and grew up lacking in communications skills compared to someone her age. The couple has an older child, who has been placed in foster care by authorities.
Wesley told police that he sent Sherin out of the house to stand in an alley as punishment for not finishing her milk. It was 3am then, and when he went back for her 15 minutes later, she was not there. He went on to do the laundry and decided to wait for her to return, he is said to have told the police. His wife was in bed and was unaware of these events.
The family informed the police at 8am, five hours after, and Wesley was arrested later that day, charged with endangering the life of a child, a Level 2 Felony, with a less severe punishment. He was released on bail, but made to wear an electronic monitor. He and his wife appeared before a local judge on Monday to determine if they can regain custody of their other child. The judge postponed the hearing to November 13.