Sherin Mathews (Richardson Police Department)

A Dallas judge has blocked Sherin Mathews' parents from having contact with their surviving child after prosecutors argued that they failed to protect Sherin, whose body was found in a culvert in October.

The judge's ruling means that due to the allegations against Wesley and Sini Mathews, Child Protective Services doesn't have to work with the Richardson couple to reunite them with their biological 3-year-old daughter. When the agency removes children from their homes, it typically offers the parents services such as parenting classes and counseling to help them regain custody of their kids.

Sherin, the Mathewses' 3-year-old adopted daughter, was found dead more than two weeks after her parents reported her missing Oct. 7. Autopsy results are pending.

"They have each failed to protect the children in their home," Dallas County prosecutor Denise Hale said at a custody hearing Tuesday. "The father has told many lies."

Both parents face criminal charges in Sherin's case. Wesley Mathews was arrested on a charge of injury to a child after he told police that Sherin choked while he forced her to drink milk. His original version of events was that the girl went missing after he sent her to an alley behind the home at 3 a.m. to punish her for not eating.

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Sini Mathews, a registered nurse, was arrested on a charge of child abandonment or endangerment based on her husband's admission to police that he and his wife took Sherin's sister out to dinner and left Sherin home alone the night before the girl died.

David Kleckner, an attorney for Wesley Mathews, argued in court that the Mathewses are not bad parents and that the focus should stay on their treatment of Sherin's sister.

"If anything, they took her to dinner that night," he told the court. "They didn't leave her home."

The Mathewses remain in jail. The question of whether they will retain their parental rights will be decided in a civil trial, which has not been scheduled. Their attorneys will reconvene in court in January.

In the meantime, CPS has custody of Sherin's sister, who has been temporarily placed with relatives.

After two days of testimony, state District Judge Cheryl Lee Shannon ruled Tuesday that the Mathewses subjected their biological daughter to "aggravated circumstances" that should keep them from being able to see her.

Rafael De La Gaza (right) talks to client Wesley Mathews during a custody hearing at the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Building on Dec. 5, 2017, in Dallas. (David Woo / Staff Photographer)

A CPS investigator testified that when she came to the home to remove Sherin's sister, Sini Mathews was not emotional.

"She was eerily calm," Kelly Mitchell testified. "I really took note of it because typically a mother would be very upset about her child being removed."

While Mitchell was there, she said, Wesley Mathews arrived home after posting bond following his initial arrest for child endangerment. Sini Mathews "did not appear upset with him in any way," Mitchell said.

She said she noticed many photos of Sherin's sister in the home, but none of Sherin. Mitchell also testified that Sherin was never mentioned while CPS workers were there. She said she felt it indicated that the couple had different relationships with their two daughters.

Wesley Mathews' attorneys said the couple loved their daughters "very much the same," even if they didn't display photos of Sherin in their home.

"This child was very disfigured," attorney Rafael De La Garza said at a news conference after the ruling. "You're not going to post an unflattering picture of the child for everybody to see. You'll learn about all that stuff later."

The girl had a problem with one of her eyes, and her parents had been concerned about her weight and her ability to walk, according to court testimony.

Richardson police Detective Jules Farmer testified that Wesley Mathews told police he first found out about Sherin's medical conditions when he went to India last year to pick her up. Farmer said that the father described the girl as "challenging" and that he was concerned she wasn't eating enough.

The father told police he was trying to feed Sherin a bottle of milk in the garage the night before she died, according to court testimony. Farmer said the father indicated he grew frustrated with Sherin as he tried to get her to eat.

The night Sherin died, Wesley turned off the geo-locating setting on his phone. When Farmer asked him about this, he said Wesley had a look of shock on his face. He also said he noticed Wesley had a dark stain on the shorts he was wearing at the time. — Claire Ballor (@claireballor) December 5, 2017

Wesley Mathews told police that he held Sherin as she died, the detective testified.

As the girl became stiff and cold, her father "was trying to warm her up," Farmer said.

The detective told the court that Wesley Mathews couldn't offer police a good explanation about why he hadn't roused his wife, a nurse, for help.

Wesley Mathews told police that he placed Sherin's body in the back of his car with a bag of trash, according to Farmer's testimony. The father said he tossed the trash at a shopping center and then hid Sherin's body in the culvert where she was found by police more than two weeks later.

Farmer said Wesley Mathews turned off a setting on his phone that would show his location the night Sherin died.

Police found some of Sherin's clothes in a trash can at the home. They had stains and are being tested, along with the stained jean shorts that Wesley Mathews was wearing when police interrogated him.

Jules Farmer, a Richardson police detective, testifies during Wesley and Sini Mathews' custody hearing in Judge Cheryl Lee Shannon's courtroom at the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Building. (David Woo / Staff Photographer)

Sini Mathews told police that she woke up around 5 a.m. Oct. 7 and noticed Sherin was not in her crib, Farmer testified. The woman said she found her husband sitting at the kitchen table with a strange look.

The couple was waiting for the sun to come up to look for Sherin, according to court testimony.

"They were crying and praying," Farmer told the court. They did not call police until about 8 a.m.

When police asked Sini Mathews if she knew whether her husband had done anything to Sherin, she said she was not sure.

As police and the FBI searched for her child, Sini Mathews asked officers whether she would still be able to go to a baby shower she was planning to attend that day, Farmer testified.

Sini Mathews' attorneys have said she had nothing to do with her daughter's death.

Last week, a doctor testified that Sherin had several bone fractures that led the doctor to call CPS in March with concerns of child abuse. The head of the agency said last week that the state had failed Sherin.

He said Sini told him she woke up around 5 a.m. and that Sherin was not around and that Wesley was sitting at the kitchen table with a weird look on his face. — Claire Ballor (@claireballor) December 5, 2017

The doctor, Suzanne Dakil of the Referral and Evaluation of At Risk Children Clinic, also known as REACH, was back on the witness stand Tuesday. She testified that she did not see any signs of abuse in Sherin's sister the one time she examined her before the girl went into foster care.

Last week, the judge heard testimony that Sherin was treated for an elbow fracture in 2016. The family said Sherin was injured while playing when her sister pushed her off the couch.

Then, in January, a doctor found that Sherin was underweight. The following month, Sherin was hospitalized for a skin infection and a possible joint and muscle infection. She also had injuries to the bones in her upper arms, according to testimony.

Sini Mathews told Dakil that she grabbed Sherin when her daughter slipped at the playground. But the injuries would not have been caused by someone grabbing the girl, the doctor testified. X-rays showed more bone fractures in Sherin's legs.

Wesley and Sini Mathews both took the stand during the hearing last week but repeatedly invoked their Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate themselves.

Mitch Nolte, one of Sini Mathews' attorneys, said her legal team was disappointed by the judge's ruling, but not surprised.

Sini Mathews, however, "sobbed repeatedly until I took her back into custody," Nolte said.