The autopsy of 3-year-old Sherin Mathews reveals the girl adopted from India died of "homicidal violence", Dallas News reports.
Details of the autopsy results, including any more information about how Sherin died, were not immediately released.
Ruling Sherin's death as homicide means that someone caused her death intentionally, knowingly or with criminal negligence, the report states.
The department in a brief statement said that it "is continuing to work with the Dallas County district attorney's office in pursuit of justice for Sherin."
Mathews was first reported missing by her adoptive parents, Wesley and Sini Mathews, on October 3rd last year and her body was later discovered from a drain, not very far from where the family lived.
Both parents have been arrested. Wesley is charged with first-degree felony injury to a child and Sini is charged with child endangerment or abandonment relating to the death. They are locked up in the Dallas County Jail.
Suspicions about Sherin's care had been raised before her death. A doctor who had treated the girl in March last year told the court she found Shrein had several bone fractures and had called the Child Protective Services (CPS) to report concerns that the 3-year-old had been hurt at the hands of her parents.
Source: Richardson Police
Paediatrician and child abuse expert Susan Dakil of Referral and Evaluation of At Risk Children Clinic testified that the X-rays taken in September 2016 and February 2017, showed visible injuries on Sherin.
These details emerged during the custody hearing of Wesley and Sini Mathews' 4-year-old biological daughter who was taken away by US Child Protection Services (CPS) after Sherin's disappearance. She has been placed in relative’s care.
The couple adopted Sherin from India in 2016. Wesley's bond is set at $1 million and faces up to life imprisonment if convicted of the first-degree felony.
Source: Dallas News
Sini's bond is set at $100,000 and faces up to two years in a state jail if convicted of child abandonment or endangerment.
