Body of missing Texas girl found; family friend faces capital murder charge
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Texas officials have located the body an 11-year-old girl who disappeared on her way to school last week.
The family of Audrii Cunningham reported her missing Thursday after she failed to return after school to their home in Livingston, which is north of Houston.
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Investigators later discovered she didn’t get on the bus for school that morning.
Authorities arrested a man Friday, described as a person of interest in the case, on an unrelated assault charge. They said the man, identified as Don Steven McDougal, 42, is a friend of the girl’s father and lived in a camper on the family’s property near Lake Livingston.
According to NBC affiliate KPRC, McDougal admitted to leaving the house with Audrii on Thursday morning.
“He agreed to work with us and has taken us to certain locations,” Sheriff Byron Lyons said, according to KPRC.
Audrii’s body was recovered from the Trinity River, believed to be one of the locations McDougal pointed deputies toward, after officials lowered the reservoir as part of the search effort. Her cause of death is pending a medical examiner’s report, according to Polk County, Texas officials.
McDougal will be charged with capital murder after the cause of death is determined, officials said. In 2007, he was accused of attempting to engage in sexual contact with a girl under the age of 17, according to records obtained by KPRC.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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