Father of missing girl changes story after her body is found

Sherin Mathews, the three-year-old Indian girl missing for over two weeks, is dead, United States police said on Tuesday hours after her foster father admitted that she choked while drinking milk.

Richardson police said the Dallas medical examiner's office used dental records to confirm the identity of the body that was found Sunday. He initially claimed he had left her outside around 3 a.m.as punishment "because she wouldn't drink her milk", according to a probable cause document relating to an earlier charge leveled against the father.

A Dallas County judge postponed a Monday custody hearing until November 13 for the 4-year-old sister of Sherin Mathews to allow their father, Wesley Mathews, to hire an attorney.

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, police said. Mathews, 37, who hails from Kerala, is being held on $1 million bond. However, Perlich said more arrests are possible, as are changes to current charges in this case.

Wesley Mathews, the girl's father, earlier charged with abandoning and endangering the child, has now been charged with first-degree felony injury to a child.

In related news, Sherin's parents also have a four-year-old daughter, who was moved to a foster family by the Child Protection Services.

According to an official statement, Indian American Wesley Mathews changed his previous statement about sending the girl out for not drinking milk and provided an alternate statement of events regarding the disappearance of the toddler.

The police had all along doubted this version because he had reported her missing to the Richardson police five hours after she went missing on October 7.

He was arrested then and charged with felony endangerment to a child and was placed on electronic ankle monitoring. "Wesley Mathews then admitted to removing the body from the home".

According to a report on a local news website Star-Telegram, Wesley has now told police that on October 7, he was trying to get Sherin to drink milk in their home's garage. The couple described a special diet regimen that required her to eat whenever she was awake, in order to help her gain weight. Gonzales added, "We can begin looking into those relatives, but it is entirely up to the judge where she is placed". Mathews said he decided at that point to do laundry while he waited for daylight to look for the girl or for her to return. "Indian Embassy in U.S. is actively involved and they keep me informed", Swaraj tweeted on October 19. "We have established contact with the community and authorities", India's Consul General in Houston, Anupam Ray had tweeted.