Body of toddler found in culvert, likely of missing Indian girl in Texas

Texas : Texas authorities have discovered a child's body from a culvert near the house of three-year-old Indian American Sherin Mathews, who has been missing since October 7, the media reported.

Law enforcement officials recovered the body from the narrow 75-foot long culvert, underneath a road near a railway track in Richardson on Sunday, reports The American Bazaar daily.

The body was discovered by search dogs less than a mile away from the home of Sini and Wesley Mathews, who adopted Sherin in June 2016.

Police have not confirmed if the body is that of Sherin Mathews. 

However, Richardson Police's Sgt. Kevin Perlich said: "The indications are that it is most likely her, however, we have not had positive ID. So until we have a positive identification we are not going to say it is Sherin."

The body will be identified and the cause of death determined by a medical examiner.

Perlich added that police received "more and more" leads during the investigation and "we followed up on that".

"It led to the search of that area with canines, and that's how we came across the body." 

Sherin had developmental disability and was malnourished, according to her parents.

Wesley Mathews reported to police that Sherin went missing after he punished her by sending her out of the house for not drinking milk around 3 a.m. on October 7, The American Bazaar reported.

He told the police that he looked for the girl 15 minutes after he locked her out of home, but she was missing by then.

Wesley Mathews was arrested and charged with child endangerment. He is currently out on bail.

Sini Mathews, who told police that she was sleeping when the child was sent out, has not been charged.

Following the incident, the Child Protective Services has taken custody of the biological child of the couple.

The Indian American couple adopted Sherin the Mother Teresa Anath Seva Sansthan in Bihar, India.