RICHARDSON, Texas — The father of a missing 3-year-old girl who was found dead on Sunday has changed his story of what happened to her before she was reported missing, according to KDAF.
The body of Sherin Mathews, who was reported missing on October 7, was found on Sunday in a culvert beneath a road, police told reporters on Sunday. On Tuesday, the Dallas medical examiner confirmed the identity of the body using dental records.
The child’s father, Wesley Mathews, was arrested on Monday night and charged with felony injury to a child. His bond was set at $1 million.
Cops say Mathews voluntarily showed up to the Richardson police station Monday with his attorney and told cops a different story about what happened the night Sherin disappeared.
Mathews changes his story
The arrest affidavit for Mathews shows he told police the girl choked on her milk while in the garage at the family’s home. He told officers he had been trying to get the girl to drink her milk but she refused to listen.
Mathews told police he “physically assisted” the girl to drink her milk, but the child began to choke, cough, and breathe slowly. He told police he believed she was dead when he could not find a pulse.
Mathews admitted to police he removed Sherin’s body from the family’s home.
Here’s the excerpt from the official affidavit:
“On 10/23/2017 at 12:15 p.m., Wesley Mathews and his attorney came to the Richardson police Department voluntarily and requested an interview. Detective Diaz read Wesley Mathews his Miranda Warning and stated he understood them and agreed to speak with detectives. Wesley Mathews advised to Detective Diaz he had been trying to get the 3-year-old girl to drink her milk in the garage. Wesley Mathews said she wouldn’t listen to him. Eventually the 3-year-old girl began to drink the milk. Wesley Mathews then physically assisted the 3-year-old in drinking the milk. The 3-year-old girl began to choke. She was coughing and breathing slowed. Eventually, Wesley Mathews no longer felt a pulse on the child and believed she had died. Wesley Mathews then admitted to removing the body from the home.”
In his original statement to police, Mathews originally told police he left his daughter outside around 3 a.m. on October 7 as punishment “because she wouldn’t drink her milk,” according to a probable cause document. He told police he asked her to stand by a tree approximately 100 feet away from the home, across an alleyway.
Mathews later told police he knew coyotes had been seen in the alley where he told her to stay, the affidavit said. Around 3:15 a.m., when he went to retrieve the child, he claimed the child was gone.
Police say Mathews didn’t contact police for five hours after he realized the child was missing.
The cause of death has yet to be determined.