OfficerBlueRichardson, TX – The father of Sherin Mathews was re-arrested on Monday, after changing his story about what happened to his 3-year-old daughter, after a child’s body was found near his home.
Investigators announced on Tuesday that they had positively identified the child’s body, found on Sunday, as Sherin Mathews.
The Richardson Police Department said that Wesley Mathews arrived at the police department on Monday with his attorney, and was arrested after giving conflicting statements.
Mathews told police that after his daughter wouldn’t drink her milk, he “physically assisted” her, according to WFAA.
“She was coughing and her breathing slowed. Eventually, Wesley Mathews no longer felt a pulse on the child and believed she had died,” the arrest warrant said.
Mathews then admitted that he removed Sherin’s body from the home.
Sherin Mathew’s adoptive mother, Simi Mathews, is not co-operating with the police, nor helping provide details about her daughter’s disappearance, said Officer Kevin Perlich, of the Richardson Police Department.
The police confirmed said that more arrests are possible in the case, and the “dynamic” and “active” investigation into the disappearance of the three-year-old adopted Indian girl from an affluent Texas suburb, according to First Post.
“We want to make sure everyone understands this is still a continuing investigation, and because of that there are certain dynamics that may change as we go along that may result in additional arrests or modification of charges,” Officer Perlich told the Dallas News.
The child, who had mental disabilities which made it difficult for her to communicate, was reported missing by her father about two weeks ago, according to Fox News.
Detectives from the Richardson Police Department discovered a body around 11 AM on Sunday in a culvert beneath a road near her father’s residence. That body has now been positively identified as Sherin.
Questions have surrounded the adopted child’s disappearance, after her father initially said that he left her outside at 3 AM to punish her for not drinking her milk.
He reported her missing about five hours after he put her outside, in an area that he described as populated by coyotes.
Detectives also discovered on the night Sherin disappeared that someone had driven the family SUV away from their home in Richardson, and didn’t return until an hour later.
Mathews did not tell police until days after her disappearance that he had done laundry before he reported her missing.
Sherin’s mother, who is a registered nurse, was reportedly asleep when the little girl disappeared.
Police have used search warrants to seize multiple items of potential evidence, including a vacuum cleaner, trash bags, hair fibers, cell phones, and laptops.
Other items that were seized which may have significant evidentiary value include a blue string, dark hair-like fibers, vacuum contents, two yellow gloves, dish scrubber inside two grocery bags, the washer and dryer, and surveillance video from the neighbors.
Other items seized included receipts, grass, and other debris from three vehicles belonging to the Mathews family. DNA swabs have been collected by officers from Wesley Mathews and his wife.
Sherin was adopted by the Mathews in June of 2016, after she had been abandoned in her native country of India.
Wesley Mathews has been charged with child endangerment but has been released from jail on bond. He is wearing an ankle monitor to keep track of his location.
The couple’s four-year-old daughter is in the custody of a family friend. Child Protective Services has said that they are familiar with the family but would not release additional details.
Simi Mathews is working hard to convince authorities that her natural daughter will be safe in their home, but thus far has been unsuccessful.
Wesley Mathew’s current charge of Injury to a child is a first-degree felony punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison.