Missing Indian-American toddler choked on milk and died: 10 key developments

In a fresh twist, the foster father of a three-year-old Indian girl Sherin, who was missing for over two weeks, told police that his daughter choked on milk and he "believed she had died", media reports said on Tuesday. Wesley Mathews, the father of Sherin was re-arrested following his confession.

Mathews confessed that he "physically assisted" Sherin in drinking her milk when she wouldn't listen to him, according to the warrant.

"She was coughing and her breathing slowed," the warrant noted. "Eventually, Wesley Mathews no longer felt a pulse on the child and believed she had died," it added. He admitted that he removed the body from their home, the warrant said. 

Mathews was arrested a day after the body of a small child was found in a culvert near their home in suburban Dallas and police confirmed that it was Sherin's body.

 

Here are the highlights of this case:

1. Mathews and his wife adopted Sherin about two years ago from an orphanage in Bihar, said Sgt. Kevin Perlich, a spokesman for the Richardson Police Department. 

2. Reportedly, Mathews told police that Sherin was malnourished and had to be on a special diet to gain weight.

3. Sherin had developmental issues and limited verbal communication skills, according to the parents. 

4. In his initial report, Mathews claimed that  Sherin went missing on October 7 after he sent her alone outside as punishment for refusing to drink milk at around 3 am.

5. Following his earlier claim, Mathews was arrested and charged with felony endangerment to a child and was placed on electronic ankle monitoring. He had also surrendered his passport as a condition of making bond on 9 October. However, he was out on bail. 

6. Police said Sherin's mother, Sini Mathews was asleep during the incident and has not been charged.

7. Sherin was last seen outside her family’s backyard in Richardson city in Texas on October 7.

8. Investigators from the Richardson Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation spent hours on Sunday combing through a field where police search dogs helped find a body inside a narrow 75-foot culvert, less than a mile away from the home of Sini and Wesley Mathews. Later, they confirmed that it was Sherin's body. 

9. Currently, Mathews is re-arrested for felony injury to a child after providing investigators at the Richardson Police Department with the conflicting story.

10. Mathews' bond has been set at $1 million and he was booked into the Richardson City Jail.