The toddler’s body released to a funeral home.
(This post has been updated.)
A Dallas County Medical Examiner has confirmed to media that the body of Sherin Mathews, the three-year-old who disappeared under suspicious circumstances in Richardson, TX, has been released.
However, the examiner did not reveal to whom the body has been released. He also did not share any details about what caused the death of the child, who was adopted by Indian American couple Wesley and Sini Mathews from India last year.
Fox News reported on its website that the toddler’s body has been sent to a funeral home.
The India Association of North Texas conducted a prayer meeting and candlelight vigil in remembrance of the little girl who was found dead in a culvert last week after she went missing for two weeks.
The prayer meeting was attended by dozens of members of the Indian American community in the North Texas area.
The father of the child, Wesley Mathews, who was arrested after the retrieval of the toddler’s body, told police that she choked on milk while he tried to physically assist her. Mathews also said he removed the body from home after watching her die in front of him.
Initially, Mathews had told police that the child went missing after he shut her out of the house at 3 a.m. for not drinking milk.
Mathews is facing charges of the first-degree felony for causing injury to the child, not murder charges. Mathews’ wife, Sini Mathews, has denied any involvement.
Anupam Ray, the Consul General of India in Houston, was among those attended the prayer meeting and vigil. The official didn’t speak about the ongoing investigation, but in a tweet said they are actively involved in the investigation.
“It’s a tragedy the whole life and you know a lot of people failed her,” Salman Farshori, president of the India Association of North Texas, told NBC 5. “So it’s time for us to pray, for her get together and hope that and pray that this never happens again in this entire community.”