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RICHARDSON, Texas -- The father of a missing three-year-old girl who was found dead on Sunday has changed his story of what happened to her before she was reported missing, according to KDAF.
The body of Sherin Mathews, who was reported missing on October 7, was found on Sunday in a culvert beneath a road, police told reporters on Sunday. The official cause of death has yet to be determined.
The child's father, Wesley Mathews, was arrested on Monday night and charged with felony injury to a child. His bond was set at $1 million.
Cops say Mathews voluntarily showed up to the Richardson police station Monday with his attorney and told cops a different story about what happened the night Sherin disappeared.
Mathews changes his story
The arrest affidavit for Mathews shows he told police the girl choked on her milk while in the garage at the family's home. He told officers he had been trying to get the girl to drink her milk but she refused to listen.
Mathews told police he "physically assisted" the girl to drink her milk, but the child began to choke, cough, and breathe slowly. He told police he believed she was dead when he could not find a pulse.
Mathews admitted to police he removed Sherin’s body from the family’s home.
Here's the excerpt from the official affidavit:
In his original statement to police, Mathews originally told police he left his daughter outside around 3 a.m. on October 7 as punishment "because she wouldn't drink her milk," according to a probable cause document. He told police he asked her to stand by a tree approximately 100 feet away from the home, across an alleyway.
Mathews later told police he knew coyotes had been seen in the alley where he told her to stay, the affidavit said. Around 3:15 a.m., when he went to retrieve the child, he claimed the child was gone.
Police say Mathews didn't contact police for five hours after he realized the child was missing.