The foster father of a missing 3-year-old Indian girl in the US was on Tuesday arrested and charged with first-degree felony injury to a child, a day after the body of a small child was found in a culvert less than a kilometre from the family’s home.
Wesley Mathews, 37, was arrested after he changed his story about his adoptive daughter Sherin’s disappearance, Texas police said.
Mathews, who hails from Kerala, provided “an alternate statement of events” about Sherin after the body of a small child was found, police said, without providing any additional details.
He had previously claimed that Sherin went missing after he sent her outside their home at around 3 a.m. on October 7 as punishment for not drinking her milk.
Sherin was last seen outside her family’s backyard in Richardson city in Texas on October 7.
Mathews reportedly adopted Sherin two years ago from an orphanage in Bihar.
He was charged with first-degree felony injury to a child, a crime punishable by up to life imprisonment.
“This afternoon, Wesley Mathews was arrested and charged with Injury to a Child (TPC 22.04), a first degree felony punishable by life or from five to 99 years in prison,” according to Richardson Police.
“He voluntarily arrived at the Richardson Police Station with his attorney and asked to speak with detectives. He provided an alternate statement of events from those which he had given previously, regarding the disappearance of Sherin,” police said.
“Mathews is currently in the Richardson City Jail and his bond has been set at USD 1,000,000. We are still awaiting a positive identification from the Dallas County Medical Examiners office for the child’s body found yesterday, believed to be Sherin Mathews,” a police spokesman said.
Investigators are awaiting confirmation that the body of a child found in a culvert is that of the missing girl.
