Indian Woman Mistaken for Sherin Mathews’ Mom Harassed Online

A photo of the wrong Mathew family is also being circulated, mistakenly identifying them as Sherin’s parents.

Sherin Mathews, who went missing on the 7 October, was found dead in a culvert about 1 km from her home in Dallas on the 22 October.

Photo: ANI

An Indian-origin woman, whose name closely resembles that of Sherin Mathews' adoptive mother, has received a barrage of unwanted attention on social media in a case of mistaken identity after the 3-year-old Indian girl was found dead.

Sherin, who went missing on 7 October, was found dead in a culvert under a road about 1 km from her home in suburban Dallas on 22 October.

Sherin was adopted by the Indian-American couple, Wesley Mathews and Sini Mathews, from an orphanage in India last year.

Also read: Does India Follow Up on Kids Adopted by Parents Abroad?

Enter Sini Mathew. You can see why people might be confused. Mathew has received a huge amount of unwanted attention after people on social media falsely identified her as Sherin Mathews’ adoptive mother. There was a photo of Mathew, her husband Ash and their family being circulated, reported local news station WFAA.

"When they posted the picture, that was the worst part," Ash told WFAA.

Also read: Sushma Swaraj Asks for Probe Into the Adoption of Sherin Mathews

People were sending friendship requests for her (Sini) because they think it’s her. We keep deleting them, but they keep coming.

Ash Mathew

Sini Mathew has since changed her name and privacy settings on social media, but it has not stopped the questions from rolling in.

“Why are you staying quiet? Why are we not saying anything? How can that man do that?”

Questions posed to the mistaken Mathews on social media

Wesley Mathews, 37, Sherin’s Indian-American adoptive father, has been charged with first-degree felony injury to a child due to a conflicting statement to police.

He had previously claimed that Sherin went missing after he sent her outside their home at around 3 am on 7 October as punishment for not drinking her milk.

Also read: Distraught Neighbours Doubt Parents’ Role in Sherin Mathew’s Death

He said that 15 minutes later, she was gone, and later claimed that coyotes had been seen in the very area where he had sent his daughter.

Later, Wesley voluntarily told the police that his daughter choked while drinking milk and he removed her body from the house as he "believed she had died".