Audrii Cunningham, left, was last seen on Feb. 15, 2024, leaving her home for the bus stop in Livingston, Texas. Authorities found her body on Feb. 20, 2024, in the Trinity River. Prosecutors say Don Steven McDougal, right, will be charged with capital murder. (Texas Department of Public Safety)
The body of an 11-year-old girl missing since Thursday has been found in a Texas river, authorities announced Tuesday.
Dive teams found Audrii Cunningham’s body on Tuesday in the Trinity River under U.S. Highway 59, said Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons at a press conference. An autopsy will determine a cause and manner of death, Lyons said.
“My heart aches with this news,” Lyons said.
Don Steven McDougal, 42, arrested on Saturday, will be charged with capital murder, Polk County District Attorney Shelly Bush-Sitton said. McDougal is in jail on an unrelated aggravated assault charge.
Audrii was last seen around 7 a.m. Thursday in the 100 block of Lakeside Drive in Livingston, about 80 miles northeast of Houston, when she was supposed to catch the bus to school. Her family called the cops after she didn’t get off the bus after school. The Texas Department of Public Safety issued an Amber Aler,t which described her as an abducted child.
She wore a black hoodie with black lettering, a camo backpack, black pants, and black high-top tennis shoes. She also was carrying a bright red, Hello Kitty-styled backpack at the time of her disappearance. School officials said she never made it to school on Thursday.
Detectives honed in on a 2003 blue Chevrolet Suburban on Saturday. McDougal was the owner of that vehicle.
Lyons told reporters that cellphone location data and other evidence led investigators to her body. Cops have previously said that they believed McDougal was the last person to see Audrii alive, but he had not been very cooperative with detectives.
Audrii’s mother, Casey Matthews, said in an interview with local CBS affiliate KHOU that her daughter was always smiling, laughing and would make everyone else smile and laugh.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at 936-327-6810 or Polk County Crime Stoppers at 936-327-STOP. Crime Stoppers was offering a $10,000 reward, but it’s unclear whether the money will be dispersed.
