A three-year-old Indian American girl sent out into the night by her father as punishment for not finishing her milk has gone missing in Texas.
Wesley Mathews asked his daughter Sherin to stand next to a tree behind the fence at their home at about 3 a.m. on Saturday in Richardson, Dallas, according to media reports quoting local police. When the 37-year-old father went back in 15 minutes, the girl had disappeared, according to his statement to the police. Mr. Mathews reported the incident to the police five hours later.
He was arrested on Saturday on a charge of abandoning or endangering a child, and was released on Sunday night on a bond of $250,000.
The Texas Child Protective Services has taken the custody of the toddler's 4-year-old sister from the family. Police said Mr. Mathews told the police that he knew coyotes were seen in the area where he left his daughter.
Police and volunteers continue to search for the missing child. “During the past three days, numerous searches have been conducted around the neighborhood and surrounding areas where Sherin's adoptive father, Wesley Mathews, last reported seeing her on Saturday morning. Those thorough searches involved the use of Reverse 911 (a system to notify residents in a specific area on an emergency), trained search experts… helicopters and door to door canvassing,” the Richardson Police said in a statement on Monday.
According to police Sergeant Kevin Perlich, quoted by NBC news, the delay in reporting the matter "is certainly concerning” to the police. "That does not seem like a normal response that one would do if you have a missing child,” the channel quoted Mr. Perlich as saying. He said the child has "developmental issues and has limited verbal communication skills." The family, hailing from Kerala, had adopted the girl two years ago from an orphanage in India.