Foster father of missing 3-year-old Indian girl in the US arrested

The foster father of a missing 3-year-old Indian girl in the US was today arrested and charged with first-degree felony injury to a child, a day after the body of a small child was found in a culvert less than a kilometre from the family's home.

Wesley Mathews, 37, was arrested after he changed his story about his adoptive daughter Sherin's disappearance, Texas police said.

Mathews, who hails from Kerala, provided "an alternate statement of events" about Sherin to the detectives after the body of a small



child was found, without providing any additional details, police said.

He had previously claimed that Sherin went missing after he sent her outside their home at around 3 a.m on October 7 as punishment for not drinking her milk.

Sherin, who has developmental issues and limited verbal communication skills, was last seen outside her family's backyard in Richardson city in Texas on October 7.

Mathews reportedly adopted Sherin two years ago from an orphanage in Bihar.