WATCH 'Crime Stories with Nancy Grace' On Merit Street Media! Click Here For Channel Finder

collage: Audrii Cunningham

Authorities Name ‘Person of Interest’ in 11-Year-Old Audrii Cunningham’s Disappearance
by

Texas investigators have named a person of interest in the disappearance of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham, who hasn’t been seein since early Thursday morning.

Earlier, the Texas Department of Public Safety said it was looking for a “vehicle of interest,” a 2003 dark blue Chevrolet Suburban, as CrimeOnline reported. But later, they said the vehicle in question belonged to Don Steven McDougal, 42, and called him a “person of interest” in Cunningham’s disappearance.

McDougal was arrested late Friday night and booked into the Polk County Jail on unrelated aggravated assault charges. According to KPRC, investigators said they “have control” of McDougal’s Suburban but are looking for anyone who may have seen it on Thursday or Friday.

Search crews were in the area of Lake Livingston early Saturday morning, and DPS said it was. “location of interest.”

DPS spokesperson Craig Cummings said that investigators had located a backpack near the dam that appeared to be a child’s backpack. They are currently evaluating the packs contents.

Don Steven McDougal/Polk County Sheriff’s Office

Cunningham was last seen at about 7 a.m. Thursday on Lakeside Drive in Livingston, which is near where she lives with her father. Her loved ones reported her missing after she failed to get off the bus that afternoon, prompting an AMBER Alert. It was later determined she never got on the bus and was not at school.

“Hard is an understatement, this is the stuff you see on TV and you can only imagine what the family and the parents are going through and there’s not words for it,” Cunningham’s mother, Cassie Matthews, said. “There is not one feeling you feel, its a roller coaster, you are broken, you are mad, you are empty and right now I am empty. She has so many opportunities ahead of her, and she deserves every right to be able to reach those opportunities.”

Cunningham is a white female, about 4-foot-1, and around 75 pounds. She has blonde hair and blue eyes and was last seen wearing black pants, a black hoodie with white lettering, and black high-top shoes.

Polk County Crime Stoppers is offering a $7,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Cunningham’s disappearance.

To report information about Cunningham or her location, call the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at 936-327-6810.

For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.

[Featured image: Audrii Cunningham/Polk County Sheriff’s Office]