Richardson Police Arrest Father of Missing 3-year-Old

On Monday afternoon police arrested the father of a 3-year-old Richardson girl, who was reported missing and found dead over the weekend. 

Wesley Mathews appeared voluntarily at the Richardson police station with his attorney to speak with detectives. He was arrested on a charge of injury to a child, a first-degree felony that carries a sentence of five to 99 years in prison. On Tuesday, authorities announced that her body had been positively identified. 

The Richardson Police Department reported on its Facebook page that Mathews provided "an alternative statement of events" regarding the disappearance of his adopted daughter, Sherin Mathews. The arrest affidavit says he claims the girl choked to death on a glass of milk.

Mathews originally said that he had put his daughter outside the home at 3 a.m. one morning, leaving her next to a tree in an alley about 100 feet from their home.  He didn’t report her missing until five hours after she disappeared.

The Mathews adopted Sherin from an orphanage in India. Police described her as a child with special needs who struggled with verbal communication.

When police interviewed Mathews, he said he realized the 3-year-old was missing around 3:15 a.m. He searched for her, but it was too dark, so he decided to wait for daylight and did some laundry.  Police reported that his wife, Sini Mathews, was sleeping at the time. She hasn’t been charged with a crime.

Wesley Mathews was originally charged with child endangerment for abandoning his daughter and was released on a $250,000 bond with an ankle monitor. The couple’s 4-year-old biological daughter was removed from the home.

On Sunday morning, after two weeks of searching, police found the body of a child in a culvert about a half-mile from the Mathews’ home. The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s office is working to identify the body.

Both Wesley and Sini Mathews went to court Monday morning in an attempt to get their 4-year-old daughter back from Child Protective Services, but the judge delayed the trial. Wesley Mathews' attorney says his client is cooperating with police to identify the body.