Body of toddler identified in Texas
DALLAS — The body of a young child found Sunday in a culvert in a Dallas suburb has been identified as that of missing 3-year-old Sherin Mathews, police confirmed Tuesday.
Richardson police said the Dallas medical examiner’s office used dental records to confirm the identity of the body that was found Sunday. Her cause of death has not been determined and police haven’t said whether or not they suspect foul play.
Sherin’s father who originally told police he sent her out to an alley as punishment is facing a felony charge after offering a new account Monday of how the girl went missing two weeks ago.
Wesley Mathews, 37, faces a charge of injury to a child, said police Sgt. Kevin Perlich. His arrest came the day after officials discovered a young child’s body less than a mile from Sherin Mathews’ home. Police said earlier that the body was “most likely” hers.
On Monday, Mathews — accompanied by his attorney — voluntarily gave police a new version of events: He had been trying to get Sherin to drink her milk in the garage, but she wouldn’t listen.
Eventually, the girl began to drink her milk, and Mathews “physically assisted” her, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Sherin began to choke, her dad told police. He said she was coughing and that her breathing slowed.
At some point, Mathews no longer felt a pulse on his daughter and believed her to be dead, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. He admitted to police that he removed her body from the home.
Mathews, who reportedly adopted Sherin from her native India last year, was being held in the Richardson City Jail. Bail was to be set at $1 million.
Sherin had been missing since Oct. 7, when Mathews originally told police that he had sent the girl outside to an alley near their house about 3 a.m. because she refused to drink her milk.