It's been 7 days since Sherin Mathews, a 3-year-old Indian American child living in Texas with her adoptee parents, disappeared.
Even as police, FBI and citizens of Texas state continue their search for the missing child, there had been no reaction from the family back in India till now. Though it was known that Sherin's adoptee parents Wesley Mathews and Sini Mathews are from Kerala, the family has chosen not to speak out on the disappearence.
Breaking their silence, Sherin's grandparents (Wesley's parents) who live in Kochi city told TNM that they were shocked at the news of the disappearance. Her father Wesley, who TNM has learned works with the Citi group, told police that he made Sherin go out of the house and stand near a tree at 3 am last Saturday, when she refused to drink her milk.
Later, at 3.15 am he allegedly discovered that she was not outside their home.
Sam Mathews and his wife Valsamma, Sherin's grandparents, live in a two storied house in a residential colony in Kochi. Sam, who works with a finance company in the city was at first reluctant to speak. His wife who was sobbing kept saying that they had no information about what had happened to Sherin and that their only source of information was from the media.
She was upset at a report in a Malayalam paper that declared that that child was no more, and repeatedly mentioned it.
The family confirmed to TNM that Sherin had been adopted from an orphanage in Bihar in July 2016. Wesley and Sini already had a biological child, when they adopted Sherin.
According to Richardson police, Sherin had developmental issues and could not communicate well. As per Wesley, she was malnourished and would refuse to take her meals because of her medical condition.
Though Wesley had been arrested by the Richardson police for endangering and abandoning his child, he was let off on bond.
However, there has been much pressure on the Richardson police to investigate the father further, with public opinion completely against him. The police have now said that a car belonging to the family had left the house for an hour immediately after Sherin's disappearance.
This revelation by the police has put the needle of suspicion back at Wesley Mathews.
Sam Mathews however said that the family loves Sherin and would never harm her.
"We love her. My son did too. If they didn't love her, why would they adopt her?" he asked TNM. When asked about the accusations against his son, Sam said, "My son is a good man. He loves his children."
The couple added that they were fervently praying for good news.