Richardson police confirmed that the child died of physical abuse and not of any natural causes.Houston: After the Richardson police confirming that the three-year-old Indian toddler Sherin Mathews, adopted by a Kochi-origin couple, died in Dallas of 'unnatural reasons', it has now emerged that the toddler was subjected to continuous physical abuse.
Depositions from the doctors who checked her before and after death has confirmed that physical abuse was the reason behind the multiple fractures and other injuries in different stages of healing on her body.
The autopsy report of Sherin Mathews on Wednesday had confirmed 'homicidal violence' as the reason for death.
With the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office Wednesday ruling that the death of Sherin, the adopted daughter of Indian-American couple Wesley and Sini Mathews, was homicide, suspicions have been confirmed and the Richardson police in the US state of Texas Thursday said they would pursue the case to ensure justice for the 3-year-old.
Sherin had gone missing from her home in Richardson on October 7 and her body was found on October 22 under a culvert in suburban Dallas after an intense search. The highly decomposed body was identified days later from her dental records.
Abuse suspicions raised before death
It has emerged that a doctor had contacted the Child Protection Services after finding multiple fractures in various stages of healing on Sherin in March. Sherin sustained injuries to her upper-arm bones and fractures in her leg bones that were in various stages of healing, according to court testimony.
Dr Suzanne Dakil of the Referral and Evaluation of At Risk Children Clinic, testified at a November hearing involving custody of the couple's biological daughter that she suspected Sherin had been injured at the hands of her parents.
"I had no explanation other than this child had been physically abused," Dakil testified.
An autopsy that shook conscience
The medical examiner's office did not release any additional details on her death, in part because her 9.98-kg body was so badly decomposed after being out in the elements for two weeks.
The police department says it is trying to keep as much information private until the case goes to trial. Perlich said the autopsy report will be pivotal during the trial.
No additional charges
Richardson police Wednesday had filed no additional charges against her adoptive parents - Wesley and Sini, who are already locked up in the Dallas County Jail.
A grand jury this month is expected to review charges filed against Sherin's adoptive parents.
The medical examiner's ruling is likely to help Dallas County prosecutors build a criminal case against Sherin's adoptive father, Wesley, who was arrested on a charge of injury to a child in October, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Sherin's mother, Sini, was arrested on a charge of child abandonment or endangerment in November. That charge stems from an allegation that the couple left Sherin alone on October 6, the night before she died when they went to dinner with their biological daughter, now 4.
Wesley, 37, originally told police that Sherin disappeared after he punished her by sending her out at 3 a.m. for not drinking her milk.
Police said he changed his story after her body was found on October 22, saying he removed her body from the home after she choked on her milk. He put Sherin's body in his car with a bag of trash. Her body was discovered under the culvert October 22.
Both Wesley and Sini are now expected to appear in court on January 26 for a custody hearing of their biological daughter, who was removed from the home by officials of the Child Protective Services (CPS) soon after Sherin's disappearance. A court had allowed the girl to live with a family member in the Houston area.
A scheduled custodial hearing Wednesday was pushed back to January 26. The Indian-American couple, hailing from Vytilla in Kochi, adopted Sherin in 2016 from an orphanage in Nalanda, Bihar.
