Kochi police clueless about Texas child case

KOCHI: Kochi police is clueless as new reports emerge linking the parents of missing three-year-old Indian girl child in Texas, United States, to Ernakulam as their base. Agency reports quoting US media reports said the FBI searched the home of the child who is missing since Saturday when her foster father reportedly sent her outside around 3 am as punishment for not drinking her milk.
Sherin Mathews, who has developmental issues and limited verbal communication skills, was last seen outside her family’s backyard in Richardson, Dallas. Richardson police along with an FBI evidence recovery team entered the house of Wesley Mathews to execute a search warrant.

The search was part of the "natural  rogression" of the investigation, a police officer was quoted as saying by the Dallas Morning News. Police went door-to-door in the neighbourhood and used search dogs and helicopters to look for Sherin. Back in Ernakulam IG of Police P. Vijayan told DC on Thursday that he has no communication or information regarding the parents. Assistant commissioner of city special branch and rural special branch DySP also said that they have no information linking the parents of the child to Ernakulam and presence of their relatives in the district.

Sherin's father, Mathews, 37, was arrested on Saturday on a charge of abandoning or endangering a child. He was released from custody on Sunday after posting a $250,000 bond. Mathews told police that he put Sherin outside and told her to stand next to a large tree. The tree was behind a fence, about 100 feet south of the family's home and across an alley. Mathews admitted to police that he knew coyotes had been seen in the alley, the affidavit said.

Mathews told the police that he checked on Sherin about 3:15 am and she was gone, the affidavit said. After looking around for her, he said he then went inside to do laundry and decided to wait until morning to continue searching or for her to return on her own. Police were not alerted to her disappearance until about five hours later. The girl's mother does not face any charges.