More than two months since the body of 3-year-old Sherin Mathews was recovered from a culvert not far from her house in Texas, United States, the autopsy report has revealed that the Indian-American girl died of homicidal violence.
According to multiple US media reports, the autopsy report of Sherin who was adopted in 2016 by Keralite couple Wesley Mathews and Sini Mathews, reveals the manner of her death, but not the cause of her death.
An official from the Richardson police department reportedly confirmed to medie house WFAA that Sherin had died due to homicidal violence. The cause of the death could not be ascertained since the child's body was extensively decomposed, says the report.
The Dallas County District Attorney's Office released the autopsy report to the attorneys of both Wesley and Sini, who have been in jail for charges of causing felony injury to the child, and abandoning/endangering the child, respectively.
Speaking to WFAA, Sini's attorney Mitch Nolte said that there was nothing in the autopsy report that implicated Sherin's adoptive mother Sini.
During previous Child Protective Services (CPS) hearings, a doctor had testified that Sherin had multiple injuries on her body months before the child went missing.
A few weeks ago, the custody of the couple's biological daughter -who was initially put under foster care - was released to a family member in Houston.
The case
Sherin was reported missing on October 7.
While Wesley was first arrested on charges of abandoning and endangering the child, he was bailed out soon after. However, a day after Sherin's body was recovered on October 22, Wesley surrendered to the Richardson police department.
He also changed his earlier statement that Sherin went missing at 3 am, after he sent her out as punishment for not drinking her milk. In his changed statement, Wesley told police that Sherin had choked on her milk and that he removed her body thinking she was dead. Following this, he was charged with causing felony injury to the child with a bond of $1 million.
His wife Sini too was arrested a few days later.