Girl found dead in river ‘roped to rock by family friend who walked her to school bus’
An 11-year-old girl found dead in a river was tied to a rock with a rope linked to a family friend who walked her to a school bus stop.
Audrii Cunningham’s body was recovered from the Trinity River in Texas on Tuesday, five days after she went missing on her way to school with her father’s friend, Don Steven McDougal, 42.
‘Upon recovery of the child victims’ body, law enforcement discovered a large rock tied to the child victims’ body,’ states the capital murder charging document for McDougal obtained by KPRC 2 on Wednesday.
‘The rope was consistent with rope that was observed in McDougal’s vehicle on a traffic stop two days prior.’
Audrii and McDougal left her home in the Lake Livingston Village area on Thursday in his 2003 Chevrolet Suburban so he could drop her off at a school bus stop, states the document.
She did not make it on the bus, and did not show up at Creeskside Elementary.
Among those who joined in a search effort for Audrii was McDougal, Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons previously said.
McDougal was a friend of the Cunninghams and lived in a camper on the family’s property, states the charging document.
Surveillance footage and cell phone data showed that McDougal was at three places of interest in the death investigation, according to the document. Evidence connecting McDougal to Audrii was recovered from two of the three locations including the river.
As Audrii’s body was pulled from the river, Polk County district attorney prepared capital murder charges against McDougal, and brought them later that day.
Audrii’s mother, Cassie Matthews, that night took some blame for her daughter’s death.
‘I’ll make this clear one time and one time only, I failed my daughter by being bullied into submission by her fathers family and being made to believe she was in a safe, loving, and normal home with her father,’ she wrote on Facebook, according to the Daily Mail.
In other posts, Matthews wrote that she had custody of Audrii and criticized people ‘spreading bulls***’ on the Internet.
‘If your speculation was true I’d be sitting in the same boat as the man who has taken my baby from the family that loves her,’ wrote Matthews, referring to McDougal.
Audrii’s cause of death has not yet been determined.
McDougal has been denied bond.
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