Body of Sherin Mathews released by US officials, no confirmation to whom

The body of 3-year-old Indian born Sherin Mathews who disappeared from her Indian-American foster parents home in Richardson has been released by the Dallas County medical examiner's office, though it declined to say to whom.

Sherin, who went missing on October 7 from her suburban Dallas home, was found dead in a culvert on October 22.

The missing child has become an international point of discussion and has raised several questions on the process of adoption.

Sherin was adopted last year by the Indian-American couple, Wesley Mathews and Sini Mathews.

Wesley Mathews was re-arrested after he changed his story about Sherin's disappearance from their home. He had earlier claimed that she went missing after he sent her outside their home at around 3 am as punishment for not drinking her milk.

On Monday, Wesley voluntarily told the police that Sherin choked on milk and died in the family's garage before he removed her body from the home.

Police are still investigating how Sherin died and how long her body had been in the drainage ditch located nearly 1 km from her home.
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She had no eating problems: Orphanage owner on Texas girl Sherin Mathews

The owner of a now-closed orphanage in India where a young girl was living before a Texas couple adopted her last year says the child had no difficulty eating despite her adoptive father's account to police when reporting her missing.

The body of 3-year-old Sherin Mathews was found on Sunday in suburban Dallas in a culvert under a road about a half-mile from her parents' home. Police and volunteers had been searching for the girl since Oct 7.

Investigators have said that her father, Wesley Mathews, initially told them he had sent the girl outside at 3 am on Oct 7 to stand near a tree across the alley from the family's fence because she refused to drink her milk. He said he went to check on her after about 15 minutes.

Mathews told police the girl had been malnourished when she was adopted and needed to eat whenever she was awake to help her gain weight. But orphanage owner Babitha Kumari told television station WFAA the girl had no problems and that Wesley and Sini Mathews appeared loving when they were going through the adoption process.

"The child had no problem at all when she was here, neither in drinking milk or eating," Kumari said.

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