That's most likely the case. However, seems to me both children had arm 'issues' in the past---which makes me suspicious.
Add to that the bizarre and cruel stories he/they came up with regarding Sherin's disappearance and the fact she was dumped like trash in that nasty culvert, makes me wonder if they aren't depraved.
ETA: They had time, before they called the police, to come up with a story that put them in the best possible light in regards to Sherin's disappearance----- and what they came up with horrified the rest of us.
For those wondering why some of us wonder if Sini had more of an active role in Sherin's death, the bolded part is one of my reasons for suspecting this.
Most parents who've been shown to have had something to do with their child's death seem to want to say, "I'm a wonderful parent, the most loving and gentle parent ever". This guy is saying "I'm a lousy parent" but his example of this is mostly made up. Maybe he has guilt and wants to admit to being a rotten parent without saying exactly what happened. But if he wants to admit it so badly, why not just say what did happen?
Others have been suspecting sexual abuse, because if this is his 'good' story, what horrors could the truth entail?
I suspect he's not so much trying to cover
what happened, but
who was involved in what happened.
Then I look at Sini's behavior. I could think of half a dozen good reasons for not searching, not wanting to be seen in public in that first week. But there only seem to be two or three suggestions for her lack of cooperation with the police.
1) she's an abused wife and terrified she'll end up making things worse and punished by WM when he comes out. It might not be an entirely rational fear, but more of a deep fear and years of not telling anyone anything that could get her or her daughter(s) into trouble.
2) she was scared of the 'interrogation' tactics of the police and scared they would twist whatever she said to charge her and take her from her remaining child. Well, given the current charges that could be a valid fear.
3) her husband hasn't been too abusive to the children, and so she really doesn't have a lot to share with LE to help them build a case against
him. IE. What she's trying to keep from the police isn't so much about WM, or not solely/wholly about WM. If the two of them spent that night planning what to say to the police, then she doesn't want to complicate things and wants to let WM take the lead in giving versions of the story that allow him to take 100% of the responsibility/blame, because, logically if you have two people not able to communicate with each other and trying to each make up stories, they're going to end up diverging and bring more suspicion. The only way to keep the stories convergent is for one person to keep their mouth firmly shut, and the other to just affirm everything the first person says. But why? Why not just tell the truth and let him go to prison for the rest of his life, and Sini and her remaining daughter be safe from whatever abuse he's given them over the years? So that makes me suspect it might be more about protecting Sini and not WM.
In my mind, option 3 is the one that matches best with WM's stories and it feels like two pieces of the puzzle that actually fit together to give an explanation for both their behavior.
I could be completely wrong. We know so little that there must be a lot that I am not seeing, and even if I knew everything it might not make sense to me. I'm not blaming Sini, I'm not screaming that WM is innocent. I'm just suspicious that there might be something in this vein going on.
Another thing is, I think the story of what led up to Sherin's death starts before they went out for dinner. I don't think there were two incidents with WM forcing the milk on Sherin, I think there was only one. So now, Sini isn't asleep, we haven't been told she was out of the home, it's implied now that the whole family was in the home and it was before dinner time. It makes a lot less sense to me if WM is forcing Sherin to drink and Sherin chokes when Sini's awake and moving around the house, maybe in the next room but at least can run within 60 seconds to help Sherin, or at worst to try to do CPR and insist they call an ambulance or drive straight to the hospital. It doesn't make a lot of sense in the middle of the night when Sini's sleeping, but it makes a lot less sense late afternoon when she's active in the house.
However, at that earlier time of day, whichever of them was most involved/culpable, we can still ask "why didn't the other intervene or call an ambulance?" And I'm curious what possible answers there might be to this question.