Parents Of Missing Texas Toddler Sherin Mathews Refuse To Cooperate With Police

As police continue to search for missing Texas toddler Sherin Mathews, authorities said her parents are no longer cooperating with the investigation. The 3-year-old’s father was arrested on charges of child endangerment after he told police he left her outside in the middle of the night as punishment for not drinking her milk but was released after he posted bail. Her mother was not accused of any wrongdoing, but both parents have now retained lawyers and are not speaking to police.

“We’ve reached out to the mother and the attorney,” said Richardson Police Sgt. Kevin Perlich, according to KDFW-TV. “And they’ve refused to speak to us any further.”

Sherin’s father, 37-year-old Wesley Mathews, said he made her stand under a tree about 100 feet from their home at 3 a.m. as punishment for not drinking her milk. When he returned 15 minutes later, she was gone, he told police. But he didn’t notify authorities until 8:12 a.m. Sherin’s mother, Sini Mathews, was reportedly sleeping at the time of her disappearance.

Police announced Friday after searching the family’s home that the Mathews’ car was missing the morning Sherin disappeared. The car was gone from the house from 4 a.m. to 5 a.m., Richardson Police said. Investigators asked the public and local businesses to come forward with any surveillance video from that morning that may have captured the car leaving the Mathews’ home.

Authorities said both parents have retained lawyers and stopped cooperating with the investigation.

“She does not know the whereabouts and all she wants is for her daughter to be returned,” Sherin’s mother’s lawyer, Kent Starr, told KTVT.

Both parents did not attend a vigil held in the neighborhood Friday for Sherin, KDFW reported. Child Protective Services said they had previously had contact with the family, though they did not release details. A 4-year-old girl was also removed from the home by CPS after Sherin’s disappearance. Police expressed concern that Sherin’s father waited so long after she went missing to call authorities.

The Mathews adopted Sherin two years ago from an orphanage in India. She has limited communication skills and suffers from developmental issues. Babita Kumari, the secretary of Mother Teresa Anvant Seva Sansthan, the NGO where Sherin lived in India before getting adopted, said the child had never before had problems drinking her milk.

“As a small NGO, we could provide milk to only 50-odd children in the morning,” Kumari told the Indian Express. “After all children would line up, we would offer them milk and they drank it without any fuss. Saraswati [Sherin] would also eat whatever was given to her. We are shocked to learn that she has gone missing.”