New Details Released In Death Of 3-Year-Old Texas Girl Whose Dad Said He 'Put Her Outside Alone For Punishment' After Mom Also Arrested
Sini Mathews reportedly turned herself in on child endangerment charges.
New details about the death of 3-year-old Sherin Mathews are coming to light after police announced that her adoptive mother Sini Mathews was arrested and turned herself in after being charged with abandoning or endangering a child.
Wesley Mathews, Sherin's adoptive father, reported her missing Oct. 7. He first told police the toddler disappeared after he ordered her to stand outside in their backyard at 3 a.m. as punishment for not drinking her milk. He alleged that he went inside for 15 minutes, and when he returned, she was gone.
But when her body was found in a culvert not too far from their Texas home two weeks later, he changed his story. Welsey now claims he "physically assisted" Sherin in drinking her milk and that she choked and died in their home. He said he moved her body and later called the police to report her missing.
Though officials are still working to determine the girl's cause of death, Wesley was charged Oct. 23 with child endangerment. Police are now focusing on Sini and the night that Sherin allegedly died.
According to the affidavit, Sini and Wesley took their 4-year-old biological daughter to a restaurant on Oct. 6 and left Sherin behind.
"The Mathews family went out to dinner Friday evening, left Sherin behind without any kind of adult supervision or anything like that," said Sgt. Kevin Perlich with Richardson Police. They were gone for an hour and a half, and said that when they returned home, Sherin was "still in the kitchen."
Wesley said he "grew impatient" when Sherin refused to drink her milk and asked the family to come to dinner with him. Sini went to dinner voluntarily. According to the police report, by leaving the toddler at home, her parents placed her "imminent danger of death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment."
However, this new information doesn't necessarily reveal exactly how the toddler died. Both parents say Sherin was alive when they got home from dinner, though police haven't confirmed that information.
"The time that they left, she was not under the care of any other adult or of any other person, she was left home alone by herself and it's for that reason that you see this particular charge," said Perlich. "It's not necessarily related to her death, it's related to her care that she was being given while she was in that home."
Sini has maintained to police that she was asleep when Sherin disappeared and has no idea what happened between the girl and her adoptive father. She claims she had nothing to do with her death was was distraught while she was missing.
Before her arrest, she was in court on Monday asking for custody of her biological child that has been in foster care since Sherin's disappearance.
Wesley remains in jail on a $1 million bond, and Sini is being held on a $250,000 bond. Police are still waiting for the results of Sherin's autopsy to determine her cause of death
Emily Blackwood is an editor at YourTango who covers pop culture, true crime, dating, relationships and everything in between. Every Wednesday at 10:20 p.m. you can ask her any and all questions about self-love, dating, and relationships LIVE on YourTango’s Facebook page. You can follow her on Instagram (@blackw00d) and Twitter (@emztweetz).