A 3-Year-Old Went Missing. Her Father Was Just Arrested After Changing His Story

The father of a missing 3-year-old Texas girl has been arrested after police said he changed his account of how his daughter disappeared. The arrest comes a day after her body was recovered.

Authorities on Monday said they have charged Wesley Mathews with injury to a child — a first-degree felony — after Mathews showed up to the Richardson Police Station and gave an “alternate statement of events” about what happened to his daughter, Sherin Mathews.

Wesley Mathews initially said Sherin vanished Oct. 7 after he made her stand outside near a tree, in the middle of the night, as punishment for not drinking her milk, the Associated Press reported. Authorities said Mathews did not alert police about what happened to his daughter until about five hours after she went missing.

Police found the body of a small child Monday morning during a search for Sherin. Authorities on Tuesday confirmed it was Sherin’s body.

It’s unclear what Mathews told police in his new statement. The father was being held in jail with a $1 million bond Monday. He was initially arrested Saturday for abandoning or endangering a child, but had posted bond, Perlich told the AP.