Found Deceased TX - Sherin Mathews, 3, Richardson, 7 Oct 2017 #4

[JaneEyre]

Ok, I don't understand this business about them searching there before...what does this mean?? So, either he moved her with his tracker on, or someone else placed her there? Or she was just not seen when they searched before? This is troublesome.

I've never believed that he was the only one involved.

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[Margo/Mom]

Forgive double post:
Your post brings up another aspect. International adoption and the the family adjustment that comes with it. It is not always the fairytale people think of. It takes great dedication and PATIENCE to help a child with such a background to trust and bond. There are many sad endings whether it be adoption disruption, parents overwhelmed and snapping, or worse. It has only been a little more then a year since she was adopted. Not long in the realm of all that is needed for family and child to adjust. I remind myself that this sweet child may not react to situations the same as those not having her background. Could she have run away? Wasn't she found in bushes in India? She seemed to be a survivor. There is a site that lists adopted children who are murdered by a parent/s. The numbers are many.and it is heartbreaking. I appreciate your post. It made me think.

Yes. Even though I lean in the direction of "something happened in the house," as a adoptive parent who has known a number of adoptive families, I know that those really cute toddlers with enticing pictures can simultaneously be capable of things we might never imagine. Even the most normally developing two-year-olds are a trial to be endured at times. Consider adding to that a child who is also fascinated by playing with fire, or who wanders indiscriminately, who gives hugs to random strangers, or takes things that do not belong to them, or hoards food, or hurts family pets. I recall reading once about an identifying symptom in certain kinds of attachment disorders is the pairing of a kid who appears to be intensely friendly and loveable with a parent who is hypervigilant. The reality is that what we would be seeing is a kid who lacks certain kinds of boundaries and parents who are suffering PTSD from living with that kid and trying to keep them and the rest of the family safe.

All of which is to say, that you are right. Without evidence we cannot yet totally rule out the possibility of Sherin wandering even what seems too great a distance during the wrong time of day simply because it doesn't fit with what we know about three year olds.

 

[HIM_Darling]

Not only this, but the size of a child that small is hard to comprehend. When you think of a toddler, even knowing the height and weight, you forget that they are sooo incredibly tiny. You don't think a 3 year old is going to be the size of many babies who are around the 1 year mark. Depending on her position, she could have looked like a shadow, a small rock... 20lbs doesn't take up much space... Yet as I know this rationally, I don't think I would be looking for a tiny little spot when I am told I am looking for a 3 year old, I would be picturing my own experiences with a 3 year old, someone who is thigh high...

If Sherin were a missing animal, I think a good visual analogy would be if they said they were looking for a small shepherd dog so you are looking for a shepherd, but in reality they want you searching for an 8 week old shepherd puppy... you wouldn't notice the puppy or notice it when you are looking for a small dog of the same breed... So, with Sherin, if people would have been of the mentality that they were looking for a child who is the size of a 1 year old, rather than a 3 year year old, that could have easily changed things up as far as perspective and perception went in what people thought they were seeing...

Right, and then add in that searchers may not have known she was supposedly non-verbal or speech impaired, they may have looked in the culvert, and called out to her, expecting movement or a response, and when they didn't get one, moved on to continue looking for her. We don't know if searchers were informed of WM's crazy story either.

 

[Grouchymom]

Probably, but it is horrible advice. It makes him look delusional.

he was in court because he was ordered to appear. It is civil court not criminal but one can be arrested for failure to appear

 

[DatelineFan]

To me this is Caylee Anthony all over again only this time its Dad.
I think he went to Cosco and bought Large Trash bags,,,,,
Instead of ToT mom we have Tot Dad!

So you think this was premeditated murder? The Costco trip was two days before.

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[DakotaMayi]

I am sorry for what I am about to type.

Due to the advanced state of decomposition that 2 weeks in Texas temperatures unless she was in some type of container (bag, box or tub) or wrapped in something resembling a shroud (remember the search warrant fabric and blue string) her body would not have been in shape for a quick move. The odor, sloughing of the skin, bloating, putrification, and insect infestation would all create problems for anyone attempting to move her without protective gear and tools. To then conceal her small limp decomposed body into the culvert would be even more difficult.

If she were moved by a human, it would have to of been in the early days. There is more than one reason you see LE wearing those white tyvek outfits with shoe covers and gloves. Not only for evidence preservation and to prevent crime scene contamination but everything that comes into contact with a decomposing body and it’s by products, absorbs and retains that horrific odor. As bad as the odor we have all experienced driving by old road kill can be, human decomposition is much worse. Only pigs have a similar odor. It stays in your nostrils sometimes for days and it is an odor that is so “thick” you feel like you can taste it. It is bitter and acidic. I only say this not to be disturbingly graphic, but to show how desperate or deranged someone would need to be to move a body if they didn’t have to.

If those claiming to have previously searched that culvert are not trying to get their 15 minutes or are not mistaken or didn’t miss her when they looked, then I think any move that might possibly have been made in the last week might have been made by animal predation.

JMHO

This last part has me worried. If that was the case, all evidence pointing in the direction of this "Dad" would be tampered with and his BS story may just stand.

 

[Eileen730]

So you think this was premeditated murder? The Costco trip was two days before.

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,
No I actually thought he got mad rage took over he killed her,

But I do not believe the milk story the putting her outside by a tree at 3 am
So its a possibility......

 

[MarisaS1985]

We saw a glimpse of her...I dont know how people can say she didnt seem to care or seemed like she was upset, I couldnt see much of anything in the short amount of time they showed her face. :dunno:

My post I was referring to both parents, they both IMO looked to be worried, they both looked exhausted etc, but it was more in what they were wearing and such that I had noticed. I would have to look again as I have looked at a ton of different things since I saw it, but if I recall, moms hair was partly up and loosely styled, and dad was wearing a nice and well fitted shirt and pant suit. I KNOW they were attending court, BUT they JUST "found out" that their youngest child is likely DEAD, they have to go to the ME office and help to ID her body.

Cameras or not, I wouldn't have been digging through a closet and rushing around to make my hair look decent and that sort of thing... Again, this is just my own opinion based on personal experiences with deceased family members. It simply struck me as "odd" or "off" on both parents sides, IF this is the first they knew that Sherin has actually passed.

I guess my thought is, I spent a TON of time yesterday crying and praying about this tiny body found, praying for Sini and this older daughter, I looked a hot mess with tear stained cheeks, I struggled to fall asleep as I have almost nightly since Sherin went missing, and today I have a crick in my neck, a headache, a messy mom bun and I feel nauseous while waiting to hear any news from LE on the ID of this little one as well as if/when they plan to make an arrest...

I know from the comments last night that I wasn't the only one very upset, even Maria Guerrero was sobbing in her feed yesterday afternoon, I guess I just feel like I personally could not have pulled it together enough to care about a little bit of vanity (or heck even hygiene), so I wonder how they did.

I know that Sini seems to have a good support team, with her family and even her lawyer initially seemed to be around the house a lot, so perhaps they helped her and she was just going through the motions while they helped her to be presentable today in court.. We don't know... WM may have the same support from friends or church members or his lawyer... we simply don't know.

Those few seconds really are a case of judging a book by its cover...

 

[MarisaS1985]

This last part has me worried. If that was the case, all evidence pointing in the direction of this "Dad" would be tampered with and his BS story may just stand.

IF animals of any type moved her since she passed, even if it was immediately after, the injuries would be shown to have happened after death, not before. No healing, no active bleeding or signs of bleeding, no defensive wounds, and so on. Plus, they will also be able to check for animal DNA and that sort of thing to see which type of animal whether dog or coyote caused these injuries. This little one wouldn't be the first body to have been moved by animals, even if it is miles, and likely won't be the last, but forensics will be able to say when the injuries occurred, and unless this little one is skeletonized already the body will have a HUGE story to tell, if it is a skeleton already, it would mean TOD was much farther back then two weeks ago, which certainly wouldn't help the case at all...

 

[DakotaMayi]

IF animals of any type moved her since she passed, even if it was immediately after, the injuries would be shown to have happened after death, not before. No healing, no active bleeding or signs of bleeding, no defensive wounds, and so on. Plus, they will also be able to check for animal DNA and that sort of thing to see which type of animal whether dog or coyote caused these injuries. This little one wouldn't be the first body to have been moved by animals, even if it is miles, and likely won't be the last, but forensics will be able to say when the injuries occurred, and unless this little one is skeletonized already the body will have a HUGE story to tell, if it is a skeleton already, it would mean TOD was much farther back then two weeks ago, which certainly wouldn't help the case at all...

Thanks Marisa. I'm not thinking today. I'm sure this news has consumed me and I'm not thinking logically.

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

Anyone know which way the water would flow through that particular culvert? What is the slope from Mathews' house to the culvert? Up or down? I think that provides a clue about if the body could have moved further in or further out due to water....<snipped for focus>

I've thought about this all morning. A quick answer to your question - I don't know.

When I walked and searched the larger Spring Valley culvert just a couple miles west of this one (close to 75/Central) last weekend, I specifically noted that the culvert water was flowing toward me when I was standing on the bridge looking south. The water was flowing north. It surprised me at first because the terrain of the land suggested somehow that it should flow away from me. But then I saw my google map and remembered that this was a tributary (Floyd Branch) coming from White Rock Creek, which ultimately comes from White Rock Lake--and then it made sense. (I think, lol. More on that.)

The culvert where Sherin was found is a much smaller one further east on Spring Valley (at Bowser); it is also not directly sitting on a blue tributary line on the map. Though if you keep following the railroad easement south a mile or so, you do see the tributary north of Walnut St called Audelia Branch, that forks and eventually, again, connects to White Rock Lake. And I suppose this might flood and contribute to rising waters in the area during a hard rain?

So here's the question I've been puzzling over this morning...if the water flow was in a northerly direction in the larger Spring Valley culverts just a couple miles down the road (and it definitely was), does that mean during heavy rains *all* the tributaries and flood waters flow away from White Rock Lake in that northerly direction? Or, was it just the one I was searching that day? (I'm geographically challenged--I'd been thinking land elevation also came into play.) Or, does the run off at the smaller Bowser Rd culvert maybe flow south, towards the sewers at Centennial?

If all the waters in the area flow the same direction during rain storms, then her body theoretically would have been washed northward in that culvert pipe, though I still couldn't tell you for sure where that means she'd have ended up. That drainage area is so very broad on the map (300' wide at least), I think it would have taken several days worth of hard rain to build up enough torrent to even move her body from the south end of the culvert toward the north end, in other words.

 

[Tealgrove]

Waiting patiently to see ARREST OR ARRESTS in the title soon.

 

[MarisaS1985]

he was in court because he was ordered to appear. It is civil court not criminal but one can be arrested for failure to appear

Where I am in Canada, the parent doesn't have to appear in this type of situation, BUT all parties, including family and legal reps are noted as the judge basically does a court room attendance. If you fail to show up, or only send representation, you risk losing your rights. I am sure both parents could have said they were in no state to go to court today and had their lawyers rep them, but that wouldn't have looked good in trying to prove that either of them are good parents who are capable of parenting Older Mathews girl through this extremely hard time either... And, if WM's story is true in anyway and he didn't do anything more than "endanger" Sherin, he may have extreme hope that the endangerment charge will be withdrawn and that he will be able to father the child he has left...
I honestly don't think he thought the story he was telling would get him arrested or was criminal at all or he wouldn't have said what he did... So in trying to prove his innocence he has to show a vested interest in his other child as well...

 

[DakotaMayi]

Waiting patiently to see ARREST OR ARRESTS in the title soon.

Me too. I'm getting impatient...

 

[MsMarple]

On the cps issue. What is a civil attorney going to be able to do for wm? A condition of his bond is no contact with any minor child, that includes his bio child. It is probably a mute point as there is a good chance he will be charged with murder before that November 13th hearing, but if not, the best I can imagine a civil attorney doing is telling WM there is nothing he or she can do for him until the condition of his bond is removed and I don't see that changing any time soon.

Yeah it's a little weird. Early on WM hired Gregg Gibbs, who practices criminal law and family law, while SM hired Kent Starr, who is a criminal defense and DWI attorney. I thought it would have made more sense if SM had the family law attorney. But whatever. Now WM has criminal defense attorney Rafael De La Garza representing him.

I'm not clear on whether or not Gibbs is still working for WM. If so then he wouldn't need a new attorney since Gibbs practices family law. Why would he need a civil attorney and not a family law attorney for custody hearings about his daughter? Is he planning to sue someone?

I can't find a name for the second attorney for WM mentioned in this morning's tweets, just Starr for Sini and De La Garza for WM. Does anyone know?

http://www.mckinneylaw.com/lawyers/gregg-m-gibbs/
http://criminaldefenseattorneyplano.com/
http://www.delagarzalaw.com/

 

[iliketotalk15]

Are the two parents together working to get their child back?

 

[MissMalowe]

Since LE has been so tight-lipped not only about who (besides the parents) last saw Sherin but also about simply WHEN, I'm hoping time of death can be pinned to occuring before the 7th. Otherwise, I can see how a defense attorney could easily create doubt by presenting the idea that something happened (by the hands of someone else) after 3am.

How accurate of a timeframe can TOD be determined after 2+ weeks? Does anyone know?

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

I think if that were the case, I don't see why the person who hid the body would have hid it so close, unless they were colluding with the dad to try and back up his coyote story. If it was someone else, they could have driven to the middle of nowhere and hidden her somewhere she wouldn't have been found for a long time, if ever.

Yes, that is why I'm theorizing that there is an accomplice (who hid the body after the first LE search, and after the ankle bracelet).

 

[georgiajean]

I've thought about this all morning. A quick answer to your question - I don't know.

When I walked and searched the larger Spring Valley culvert just a couple miles west of this one (close to 75/Central) last weekend, I specifically noted that the culvert water was flowing toward me when I was standing on the bridge looking south. The water was flowing north. It surprised me at first because the terrain of the land suggested somehow that it should flow away from me. But then I saw my google map and remembered that this was a tributary (Floyd Branch) coming from White Rock Creek, which ultimately comes from White Rock Lake--and then it made sense. (I think, lol. More on that.)

The culvert where Sherin was found is a much smaller one further east on Spring Valley (at Bowser); it is also not directly sitting on a blue tributary line on the map. Though if you keep following the railroad easement south a mile or so, you do see the tributary north of Walnut St called Audelia Branch, that forks and eventually, again, connects to White Rock Lake. And I suppose this might flood and contribute to rising waters in the area during a hard rain?

So here's the question I've been puzzling over this morning...if the water flow was in a northerly direction in the larger Spring Valley culverts just a couple miles down the road (and it definitely was), does that mean during heavy rains *all* the tributaries and flood waters flow away from White Rock Lake in that northerly direction? Or, was it just the one I was searching that day? (I'm geographically challenged--I'd been thinking land elevation also came into play.) Or, does the run off at the smaller Bowser Rd culvert maybe flow south, towards the sewers at Centennial?

If all the waters in the area flow the same direction during rain storms, then her body theoretically would have been washed northward in that culvert pipe, though I still couldn't tell you for sure where that means she'd have ended up. That drainage area is so very broad on the map (300' wide at least), I think it would have taken several days worth of hard rain to build up enough torrent to even move her body from the south end of the culvert toward the north end, in other words.

Well done! I just found this report, which has drainage information for Audelia Branch in appendix B. Looks like it has directions of flow. I just don't have time right now to dive into it, so posting it here in case you do, or so I can come back to it later! https://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txd...ainage Reports/Final Drng Dsn Report-West.pdf

 

[MarisaS1985]

Since LE has been so tight-lipped not only about who (besides the parents) last saw Sherin but also about simply WHEN, I'm hoping time of death can be pinned to occuring before the 7th. Otherwise, I can see how a defense attorney could easily create doubt by presenting the idea that something happened (by the hands of someone else) after 3am.

How accurate of a timeframe can TOD be determined after 2+ weeks? Does anyone know?

https://www.livescience.com/57304-necrobiome-time-of-death-forensics.html I would say with a good ME and the fact the FBI is going to be a part of the autopsy and collection of evidence from the body (presumably, they tend to do this in most cases they are a part of), that TOD will be fairly accurate after only 2 weeks...

The weather to my knowledge has been relatively stable in humidity and temperature so the body wouldn't have been preserved "more" on one day and less on another type of thing, as in, it wasn't freezing one day and 120 degrees a few days later to confuse things.

I hate to say it, but bugs AKA maggots/blow flies are often a really great indicator as forensic pathologists not only look at the number of bugs, but at these bugs life cycle really tells a story, and they ascend on a body within minutes of death which really does help pinpoint a fairly accurate TOD...

This summer a baby bird I was struggling to keep in his nest actually fell out and hung himself by getting caught on something, it had been 1 hour since I had checked him and he was running about and fine, to when I found his body, there was no smell or anything, but he was already covered in fly's. I was able to swat them away and remove him from his position and go and bury him, the bugs followed me. This was a baby bird, probably only weighed about 60 grams... and the flies were there so fast it really blew my mind as an hour before he wasn't "dying".