Texas police on Sunday discovered the body of a child in the course of their search for an adopted Indian-American girl who went missing in the early hours of October 7 when her foster father reportedly left her outside their home as punishment for refusing to drink milk.
While the identification process was still on, police officers of Richardson in suburban Dallas said the body was “most likely” that of three-year-old Sherin Mathews, who was adopted by Wesley Mathews from an orphanage in Bihar two years ago. The cause of death was still to be determined.
The foster father, a 37-year-old Indian-American, was arrested late on October 7 on charges of abandoning or endangering the child. He was released a day later after posting a $250,000 bond.
Police told reporters that they discovered the body of a small child in a culvert that was less than a mile from the home of Mathews in suburban Dallas.
“Worst news finding child’s body,” Richardson Police Chief Jimmy Spivey tweeted and vowed to bring those responsible for the death to justice. Police are reported to have taken DNA swabs, receipts, grass and other debris from three vehicles belonging to the Mathews family. Spokesman Sgt Kevin Perlich said that while a medical examiner was still to see the child’s body and make a positive identification, “it’s most likely” Sherin Mathews. Her adoptive parents were notified of the discovery.
Media reports quoted Perlich as saying that investigators have no reason to believe that the body belonged to some other missing child. Further action for positive identification and autopsy to determine the cause of death is under way.
Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, US Marshals and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, participated in the fortnight-long search for Sherin. Investigators combed Sherin’s neighborhood and surrounding area with K-9 teams and helicopters and executed a search warrant at the Mathews’ home on October 10, CNN reported.
It was at the unearthly hour of 3 am on October 7 that Wesley Thomas left his daughter outside their Richardson home as punishment “because she wouldn’t drink her milk”. He reportedly told her to stand near a tree some 100 feet away from the home, across an alley. He told the police that around 3.15 am, he went out to retrieve the child, but she was not to be found there. Mathews, however, did not contact police for five hours after finding that the child was missing. later that evening, Mathews was arrested and charged with abandoning or endangering a child.
The Richardson Police Department, according to CNN, said on October 12 that a vehicle belonging to Mathews had left the residence the morning Sherin went missing, between 4 and 5 am.
As for feeding the child at the odd hour, Mathews told police Sherin was malnourished and had to be on a special diet to gain weight, so she had to be fed whenever she was awake. Mathews reportedly spoke of his frustration when Sherin was not cooperation as he tried to feed her. “We’re working to verify all that,” police spokesman Perlich said.
local media reports said that Mathews has stopped cooperating with the police. So has been the case with his wife Sini, who has not faced any charges so far as she was reportedly asleep and unaware of what her husband was doing while dealing with Sherin on the fateful day.
Mathews, according to the Dallas Morning News, was required as part of his bail condition to surrender his passport and wear an electronic monitoring bracelet to enable authorities to track him at all times.