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Fastexy Exchange|What to know about the death of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham in Texas
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Date:2025-04-07 08:27:51
Five days after 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham went missing,Fastexy Exchange her body was found in a Texas river near her home and a family friend who authorities say was supposed to be taking her to the school bus stop the day she disappeared is charged with killing her.
Early in the investigation, authorities had named the family friend, 42-year-old Don Steven McDougal, as a person of interest. He was charged with capital murder on Tuesday after authorities announced that Audrii’s body had been found in the Trinity River in a rural area north of Houston.
Here’s a look at what’s known about the slaying:
WHEN DID SHE GO MISSING?
Audrii’s family reported her missing at about 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 15 after she didn’t come home after school. Investigators then discovered that she had never gotten on the bus to go to school that morning.
Authorities have said that she lived with her father, grandparents and other relatives in Livingston near the shore of Lake Livingston.
McDougal lived on the the same property in a camper. The day that Audrii went missing, she left her home in his vehicle, according to the capital murder complaint filed against McDougal.
The justice of the peace who released the complaint did not know if McDougal had hired an attorney yet but said he had indicated he did not want a court-appointed lawyer.
WHERE WAS HER BODY FOUND?
Audrii’s body was found in the Trinity River at a location about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from her home.
A large rock was tied to her body with a rope, according to the complaint.
The Harris County medical examiner’s office in Houston will determine her cause of death.
WHAT’S THE EVIDENCE IN THE CASE?
Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons has said there is “substantial evidence,” including cellphone data that was used to help identify places to look.
Also, the complaint says that the rope used to tie the large rock to Audrii’s body was consistent with rope seen in McDougal’s vehicle.
A backpack believed to be Audrii’s was found Friday near the Lake Livingston dam. That lake is one of the state’s largest reservoirs and was created with a dam on the Trinity River.
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE SUSPECT?
As authorities searched for Audrii, McDougal was arrested Friday on an unrelated charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. That complaint, dated Friday, alleges he stabbed a man last summer.
Court records from Brazoria County, south of Houston, show McDougal pleaded no contest in 2008 to two felony counts of enticing a child and was sentenced to two years in prison.
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