Father of missing Richardson girl booked into jail, put on suicide watch

DALLAS - The Richardson father who admitted to disposing of his 3-year-old daughter’s body was booked into the Dallas County jail Wednesday morning and is under a suicide watch.

Wesley Mathews arrived a little after 10 a.m. and was greeted by more than a dozen cameras. He had his head down as he made his way toward the jail entrance.

He didn’t answer when reporters asked about his adopted daughter, Sherin, and why his story about her disappearance changed. He was still wearing the same clothes he wore in court on Monday attempting to get custody back of his four-year-old biological daughter.

Mathews reported Sherin missing on Oct. 7. At the time he told police he left her by a tree around 3 a.m. as punishment for not drinking her milk.

But on Monday, a day after Sherin’s body was found in a culvert not far from their house, police said Mathews showed up at the Richardson Police Department and asked to speak to detectives. He reportedly changed his story and told police his daughter choked and died while he was trying to get her to drink her milk in the garage. He admitted to removing her body from the home.

Mathews is charged with injury to a child. The medical examiner is still investigating the girl's cause of death. His bond remains set at $1 million.

His wife, Sini Mathews, has not been charged with a crime but investigators have publicly stated they would like her to be more cooperative with their ongoing investigation.

Sini's newly appointed criminal defense attorney, Mitchell Nolte, pushed back on RPD's claims and said his client has been working with police. He said that Sini talked with police "at length" the morning Sherin disappeared and then spoke with police again that night. She also voluntarily, he said, went back to police a few days later and agreed to be questioned for hours with no attorney.

"Now that Mr. Mathews has turned himself into the police and told them what happened to Sherin, we see no need for Mrs. Mathews to endure further police interrogation. She had nothing to do with Sherin's death or the removal of her body from the home," Nolte said in a statement. "Mrs. Mathews is trying to grieve for her lost daughter while still caring for her remaining daughter. She is struggling to pick up the pieces of a shattered life."

Police said additional charged and arrests could be made in the case.