A supposed family friend and the primary suspect in the death of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham has been charged with capital murder.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, 42-year-old Don Steven McDougal, who lived in a trailer behind a Livingston, Texas, home where Cunningham lived with her father, admitted that he agreed to take her to her school bus on February 15.
An AMBER Alert was issued by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office after Audrii didn’t show up for school and didn’t board her bus that morning. On February 20, police found her body in the Trinity River. A criminal complaint obtained by The Docket indicated that she had a large rock tied around her with a rope.
Police found her Hello Kitty backpack downstream from where they located her body.
McDougal Criminal Complaint by Leigh Egan
“Video footage and cell phone data places McDougal at three locations of interest,” the criminal complaint stated. “The rope used was consistent with rope that was observed in McDougal’s vehicle on a traffic stop two days prior.”
McDougal was arrested late Friday night and booked into the Polk County Jail on unrelated aggravated assault charges. On Wednesday, he was charged with capital murder and ordered to remain behind bars without bail.
The condition police found the body in has not been released, the sheriff said.
The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office will be responsible for determining her cause of death but Polk County District Attorney Shelly Sitton said Tuesday that the evidence against the defendant was enough to file a murder charge against him.
Check back for updates.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Feature Photo: Audrii/Polk County SO; McDougal/Montgomery County Jail]
