Richardson police say the parents of a 3-year-old girl who went missing after being left outside Saturday have hired attorneys and are no longer cooperating with investigators. (Published Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017) 
 
 An attorney representing the mother of a missing 3-year-old girl in Richardson said Wednesday that the woman is "distraught" over the disappearance of her daughter. 
 
 Attorney Kent Starr met with Sini Mathews at the family's home and then briefly addressed reporters outside. Starr said the parents have two attorneys to avoid any potential conflict of interest. 
 
 Starr said Mathews has spoken with Richardson police and has cooperated with police. He said all she wants is for her daughter back and is "very hopeful that her daughter will be returned." 
 
 But Richardson police told NBC 5 that both parents stopped co-operating over the weekend. 
 
 Attorney Says Mother of Missing Richardson Girl 'Distraught' 
 
 An FBI Evidence Response team worked through the night Tuesday to process the Richardson home of a missing 3-year-old girl. (Published Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017) 
 
 The child, Sherin Mathews, was reportedly last seen at 3 a.m. Saturday by her father, Wesley Mathews. 
 
 Mathews told investigators that he told the child to stand by a tree, 100 feet from their home, after not drinking her milk, according to police. He reported the child missing five hours later, police said. 
 
 Wesley Mathews was arrested Saturday on a child endangerment charge, and he was released Sunday night on $250,000 bond. 
 
 Police have said the girl's mother was asleep and is not facing charges. 
 
 Speaking as to why Sini Mathews has hired an attorney, Starr said everybody has a right to legal council and the fact the Wesley Mathews may be accused of a crime is not indicative that his wife is involved. 
 
 "There has been no accusations of wrongdoing against Mrs. Mathews," Starr said. 
 
 Attorney Says Mother of Missing Richardson Girl 'Distraught' 
 
 An FBI Evidence Response team worked through the night Tuesday to process the Richardson home of a missing 3-year-old girl. (Published Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017) 
 
 FBI Evidence Team Processes Home 
 
 An FBI Evidence Response team worked through the night Tuesday to process the family's Richardson home. 
 
 The search for the adopted girl has also expanded beyond the immediate neighborhood. 
 
 The FBI Evidence Response team arrived at about 7 p.m., shortly after Richardson police knocked on the door with a search warrant. The team could be seen combing for clues in the front and back yards. 
 
 Richardson police would not elaborate on what prompted the search, only saying it is where the "natural progression of the investigation" led them. 
 
 One of three vehicles taken from the home of a missing 3-year-old to be examined for possible clues in the child’s disappearance has been released, according to Richardson Police. 
 
 
 
 Raw Video: Attorney for Mother of Missing Richardson Girl Speaks 
 
 An attorney representing the mother of a missing 3-year-old girl in Richardson speaks to reporters after meeting with the woman at the family's home. (Published Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017) 
 
 A Lexus, driven by Sini, was returned to her late Wednesday. Two other vehicles, an Audi and a minivan, remain in police custody. 
 
 Police confirmed the girl is still considered missing and said no arrests have been made in her disappearance. 
 
 An Amber Alert was discontinued Monday afternoon because there had been no new information in the case, but authorities said the alert could be re-activated in the future. 
 
 A criminal defense attorney spent about an hour at the home late Tuesday afternoon, but left without answering questions from the media. 
 
 Meanwhile, Richardson police provided Tuesday a more detailed timeline of the disappearance of the girl and the time that elapsed before she was reported missing by her father, 37-year-old Wesley Mathews. 
 
 According to police, the girl's father told detectives he directed the girl to stand next to a tree behind the fence at their home after she wouldn't drink her milk at about 3 a.m. Saturday. The tree is across an alley and about 100 feet away from the home. 
 
 FBI Evidence Team Processes Home of Missing Girl, 3 
 
 The FBI Evidence Response Team investigates a Richardson home Wednesday morning where a three-year-old girl went missing early Saturday. (Published Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017) 
 
 A police affidavit said Mathews returned to get his daughter about 15 minutes later, but he discovered that she was gone. He set out to try to find her, but was unable to. 
 
 Mathews then went inside his home, hoping she would return on her own, according to police Sgt. Kevin Perlich. Mathews then did a load of laundry and wanted to wait for daylight to search for her again. 
 
 
 
 The father didn't notify police that his daughter was missing for about five hours, Perlich said, adding that the delay in reporting the matter "is certainly concerning to us." 
 
 "That does not seem like a normal response that one would do if you have a missing child," Perlich said. 
 
 The girl's father was arrested Saturday on a charge of abandoning or endangering a child. He was released from jail Sunday night on a $250,000 bond. 
 
 Police said the girl’s mother was reportedly asleep during the entire incident. She does not face charges at this time. 
 
 Missing for 4 Days, Search for Child Intensifies 
 
 The search for 3-year-old Sherin Mathews intensified Wednesday, four days after she was first reported missing. (Published Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017) 
 
 Officials with Texas Child Protective Services removed the toddler's 4-year-old sister from the family Monday and placed her in protective custody as police continue to search for the missing child. 
 
 CPS would only say they have had "contact" with the Mathews family before, but "details are confidential." 
 
 Police said Wesley Mathews told detectives he knew coyotes were seen in the area where he left his daughter, but investigators say there's no indication one may have dragged the girl away. 
 
 Ongoing Search 
 
 The search for the girl has expanded beyond the neighborhood and include making contact with sex offenders in the area and businesses that could potentially have useful surveillance video. 
 
 "We don't have any other indication or evidence that she was forcibly abducted from that area," Perlich said. 
 
 FBI Evidence Team Now at Home of Missing 3-Year-Old 
 
 Richardson police are providing a more detailed timeline of the disappearance of 3-year-old Sherin Mathews and the time that elapsed before she was reported missing by her father. (Published Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017) 
 
 Sherin Mathews is described as 3 feet tall and 22 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a pink top, black pajama bottoms and pink flip-flops. 
 
 Police said the toddler has "developmental issues and has limited verbal communication skills." The Mathews family adopted the girl two years ago at an orphanage in India. 
 
 Sherin was malnourished when the couple took her in, and Mathews told investigators it wasn't unusual for the girl to wake up late at night to eat so that her weight would increase, Perlich said. 
 
 Investigators have seized three vehicles, cellphones and laptops from the family in an effort to find out what became of Sherin, Perlich said. Footage from surveillance cameras in the area also is being reviewed. 
 
 Community Reacts 
 
 “I don’t know what happened,” said Philip Mathew, Sherin Mathews's great-uncle. 
 
 3-Year-Old Richardson Girl Missing Since Saturday 
 
 Richardson police are providing a more detailed timeline of the disappearance of 3-year-old Sherin Mathews and the time that elapsed before she was reported missing by her father. (Published Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017) 
 
 Mathew and others arrived at the family’s home on Monday evening, but no one answered the door. 
 
 Mathew insists the girl's parents are good people. 
 
 “They’re nice people. The parents are believers in Christ,” he said. 
 
 Meanwhile, members of Emmanuel Bible Chapel in Irving, where Sherin and her parents are members, printed fliers with the girl's description and posted them in and around the Richland Meadows neighborhood over the weekend. Joanna Cherian walked around to any post she could find and taped fliers. 
 
 “I can’t believe I have to do this right now,” she said in disbelief. “I never thought this day would come that the cutest baby in our church has gone missing.” 
 
 Church elder Jose Cherian was asked about the allegations surrounding the girl's father. 
 
 3-Year-Old Richardson Girl Missing Since Saturday 
 
 An Amber Alert for 3-year-old Sherin Mathews, of Richardson, has been discontinued Monday afternoon, but the child remains missing. (Published Monday, Oct. 9, 2017) 
 
 “I can’t say anything about that,” he responded. 
 
 Cherian did speak about the girl’s mother, who police say is not facing any charges at this time. 
 
 “She’s very much worried and depressed,” he said. “If anyone have in possession baby Sherin, please bring back and report to police, to Richardson police. Those who, any of you who brings the baby God will bless you. God will reward you,” he said. 
 
 Anyone with information about Sherin Mathews or her location was asked to contact the Richardson Police Department at 972-744-4800. 
 
 NBC 5's Diana Zoga contributed to this report. 
 
 
 
 Copyright Associated Press / NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth ||||| RICHARDSON (CBSDFW.COM) – The disappearance of a three-year-old girl in Richardson could have started as punishment for not drinking her milk. 
 
 The new information is emerging as police release a report following yesterday’s arrest of the little girl’s father. Meanwhile, little Sherin Mathews is still missing. An Amber Alert was issued Saturday afternoon. 
 
 The report released by Richardson police is Wesley Mathew’s version of events from early Saturday morning. Mathews told police he took his daughter outside their backyard at 3 a.m. 
 
 “Wesley Mathews said he directed his daughter to stand near a large tree… because she wouldn’t drink her milk,” says the report. “At approximately 3:15 a.m., he went back to the spot where he directed his daughter to stay and she was gone.” 
 
 The report says Mathews showed police where he left the three-year-old, about 100 feet outside the family’s backyard fence. 
 
 “Wesley Mathews later told [the detective] he knew coyotes had been seen in the alley where he left his daughter,” says the report. 
 
 A neighbor who asked to not use his name says Wesley and his wife, who was interviewed by police but is home now, struggled to conceive. They finally gave birth to a little girl, who is a year older than Sherin. About a year and a half ago, the couple announced they adopted a little girl from India. 
 
 “They felt since God gave them that baby as a miracle baby, they could help another little one without a family out,” said the neighbor. 
 
 With Sherin still missing, Richardson police flooded the neighborhood Sunday, asking neighbors for surveillance video. Yesterday, the family’s van and two SUVs were towed by police. 
 
 The Mathews’ church friends are doing their best to help, passing out fliers in the neighborhood. They wouldn’t say how they are reconciling information put out by police and the man they went to church with. 
 
 “We, at this moment, we are not saying anything about that,” said church member Jose Cherian. “We are not sure about anything. I don’t want to say anything if we are not sure about it.” 
 
 The Amber Alert that was issued for Sherin yesterday is still active. Her father is being held at the Richardson jail, charged with child endangerment. ||||| The father of a 3-year-old Texas girl missing since Oct. 7 told police that he watched his daughter choke on milk and die, and then removed her body from the home, according to an arrest affidavit. 
 
 The graphic statements from Wesley Mathews were revealed in an arrest warrant released by police in Richardson, Tex., on Tuesday morning. 
 
 Mathews “had been trying to get the 3 year old girl to drink her milk in the garage” early Oct. 7, the affidavit said. “Wesley Mathews said she wouldn’t listen to him.” 
 
 At that point, Mathews said that he “physically assisted” Sherin in drinking her milk and that the girl choked on the drink. 
 
 “She was coughing and her breathing slowed. Eventually, Wesley Mathews no longer felt a pulse on the child and believed she had died,” the affidavit said. 
 
 Then, he told police, he removed her body from the home. 
 
 Mathews provided the “alternate statement of events” to detectives the day after Sherin’s body was found, Richardson police said. He has been charged with injury to a child, a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison, and is being held on a $1 million bond, police said. 
 
 
 
 Wesley Mathews. (Richardson Texas Police Department via AP) 
 
 Mathews had previously claimed that his adopted daughter, Sherin, went missing Oct. 7 after he sent her alone into an alley as punishment for refusing to drink her milk. 
 
 But Monday night — not long after authorities said they had “most likely” found the girl’s body — police said Mathews “voluntarily arrived at the Richardson Police Station with his attorney and asked to speak with detectives.” 
 
 He revealed the new details and was arrested. 
 
 [His mother’s ashes were lost in the mail. In his search, he’s found only frustration — and fury.] 
 
 On Tuesday, police said they used dental records to confirm the body was Sherin’s. 
 
 Her body was discovered by officers and search dogs examining a culvert near Spring Valley and Bowser roads, less than a mile from the family’s home in the suburb of 100,000 about 15 miles north of Dallas. 
 
 Richardson Police Chief Jimmy Spivey vowed to bring to justice whomever is responsible. 
 
 Monday’s arrest was Mathews’s second in the case. He was arrested on child abandonment and endangerment charges the day Sherin went missing but had been released on bail. 
 
 As part of his bail condition, he was required to surrender his passport and wear an electronic monitoring bracelet so authorities could track him at all times, according to the Dallas Morning News. 
 
 Earlier Monday, Mathews and his wife, Sini, attended a court hearing to determine whether they could regain custody of their biological daughter. 
 
 The 4-year-old had been taken into custody by Child Protective Services and placed in foster care after Sherin was reported missing. The judge postponed the hearing until Nov. 13 to give Mathews time to hire a civil attorney, a spokeswoman for CPS told the Associated Press. 
 
 “We do have the names of some relatives who have expressed interest in taking care of her,” said the spokeswoman, Marissa Gonzales. “We can begin looking into those relatives, but it is entirely up to the judge where she is placed.” 
 
 [A teenage girl was ‘brainwashed’ before she was abducted by her teacher, her father says] 
 
 After the hearing, the father’s attorney, Rafael De La Garza, told the Dallas Morning News that his client was “mourning the death of his child.” De La Garza did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 
 
 The murky details of Sherin’s disappearance have transfixed the Dallas area for most of this month. 
 
 Her father originally told investigators that he looked outside 15 minutes after he sent Sherin into the alley but that she was gone, according to police affidavits. 
 
 Not yet too worried, the father said, he then did a load of laundry, according to the affidavit. He waited until after sunrise before he reported the disappearance to police. They began searching for the 22-pound girl last seen wearing a pink top, black pajama bottoms and pink flip-flops. 
 
 Detectives and FBI agents searched the Mathews house midweek and subsequently announced that someone left in the family’s sport-utility vehicle about 4 a.m. on the day she disappeared. That vehicle returned home within the hour, they said. 
 
 Police said Sherin’s mother was asleep during the incident and has not been charged. Her attorney said she has cooperated with authorities in trying to help identify Sherin’s body. 
 
 Mathews and his wife adopted Sherin about two years ago from an orphanage in India, said Sgt. Kevin Perlich, a Richardson police spokesman. Mathews told police that Sherin was malnourished and had to be on a special diet to gain weight. 
 
 Herman Wong contributed to this post. 
 
 Read more: 
 
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 A 7-year-old girl was kidnapped and thrown off a bridge. She survived and swam to shore.
– A 3-year-old girl who was sent outside in the wee hours of Saturday morning as punishment for not drinking her milk has not been seen since. Police say Wesley Mathews, 37, told them he sent his toddler daughter Sherin out of the family's Richardson, Texas, home around 3am and told her to stand outside near a tree about 100 feet from the house. He told police he returned for her 15 minutes later but she was gone; the family reported Sherin missing around 8am. An Amber Alert was issued for her, but has since timed out and was discontinued Monday afternoon due to a lack of new information in the case, NBC DFW reports. Wesley Mathews was arrested Saturday on a charge of abandoning or endangering a child. Texas Child Protective Services removed Sherin's 4-year-old sister from the home Monday and placed her in protective custody. CPS says it has had past "contact" with the family but would not divulge details. Sherin has "developmental issues and ... limited verbal communication skills," per police. She was adopted from an orphanage in India two years ago. One member of the family's church calls the little girl "the cutest baby in our church," and a church elder says the girl's mother, who is not currently facing charges, is "very much worried and depressed." The tree where Wesley Mathews allegedly sent his daughter is behind a fence and across an alley from the family's home, the Dallas News reports. Per a police report cited by CBS DFW, "Wesley Mathews ... told [the detective] he knew coyotes had been seen in the alley where he left his daughter."