Girl, 3, Missing After Being Sent Outside for Not Drinking Milk

A 3-year-old girl who was sent outside in the wee hours of Saturday morning as punishment for not drinking her milk has not been seen since. Police say Wesley Mathews, 37, told them he sent his toddler daughter Sherin out of the family's Richardson, Texas, home around 3am and told her to stand outside near a tree about 100 feet from the house. He told police he returned for her 15 minutes later but she was gone; the family reported Sherin missing around 8am. An Amber Alert was issued for her, but has since timed out and was discontinued Monday afternoon due to a lack of new information in the case, NBC DFW reports. Wesley Mathews was arrested Saturday on a charge of abandoning or endangering a child.

Texas Child Protective Services removed Sherin's 4-year-old sister from the home Monday and placed her in protective custody. CPS says it has had past "contact" with the family but would not divulge details. Sherin has "developmental issues and ... limited verbal communication skills," per police. She was adopted from an orphanage in India two years ago. One member of the family's church calls the little girl "the cutest baby in our church," and a church elder says the girl's mother, who is not currently facing charges, is "very much worried and depressed." The tree where Wesley Mathews allegedly sent his daughter is behind a fence and across an alley from the family's home, the Dallas News reports. Per a police report cited by CBS DFW, "Wesley Mathews ... told [the detective] he knew coyotes had been seen in the alley where he left his daughter." (More missing toddler stories.)