Father of Texas Toddler Sherin Mathews Charged With Murder

The father of 3-year-old toddler, Sherin Mathews, whose body was found near their home in Dallas, Texas this past October, has been indicted on a capital murder charge by a grand jury.

CBS News reports Dallas County court records show Wesley Mathews will also face charges of abandoning a child and tampering with evidence. The 37-year-old father, who is already charged with felony injury to a child, initially told investigators that his daughter "choked on her milk."

Mathews is being held on a $1 million bond. The father of Sherin has given numerous accounts of what happened to his daughter, with the initial story given to investigators that the child vanished after he sent her out for "not drinking milk." He alleges upon returning, the child was gone and only reported she had been missing five hours later.

However, according to another arrest warrant released by police in Richardson, Texas, Mathews "had been trying to get the 3-year-old girl to drink her milk in the garage" on Oct. 7. When she didn't listen to him, Mathews then "physically assisted" Sherin in drinking the milk, which she began to choke on.

With the stories not matching and constantly changing, investigators probed further until discovering the child's body nearly two weeks later on Oct. 22 after Mathews eventually revealed he placed her body in the back of his car with a "bag of garbage," drove to a shopping center and disposed of the garbage, then to a "culvert where he hid the body."

His wife, Sini, 35, is being held on charges of abandoning a child. Investigators believe Sini Mathews was asleep when their child went missing Oct. 7. Her abandonment charges are based upon police accusing the woman of leaving the toddler home alone for more than an hour, while she, her husband and the couple's biological child went for dinner.

Sherin was adopted from India in 2016. Mathews told investigators the child had "developmental disabilities" and was malnourished.

In a press conference on Friday, Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson states evidence from the autopsy of the toddler led prosecutors to seek a capital murder charge, which carries a possible death sentence. Johnson says she hasn't decided whether to seek the death penalty

The district attorney says she wouldn't give further details of how Sherin died, but that her office "has some information in terms of what happened" but is still investigating the homicide.

"We will be tenacious, we will be persistent, and we will prosecute this case to the fullest," she said.

Photo credit: Twitter / @NBCDFW