Past Victim of Audrii Cunningham’s Alleged Murderer Speaks Out: ‘He’s a Nasty Man’
A victim of Don McDougal, the man accused of murdering 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham and dumping her body in a Texas river last week, has spoken out about her chilling experience with McDougal in an interview with Houston’s ABC 13.
Carissa Davis, now in her 20s, said she was just a year younger than Cunningham when McDougal hopped in a bed with her and tried to take off her pants in 2007.
Davis said the horrifying incident occurred at a family gathering, where she was lying in a bed with her cousin before McDougal “yanked” her loved one away so it was just the two of them. She said she fought back against McDougal, though, stopping him from taking things any further.
“[He] tried to take down my pants, and I immediately jumped up at that moment,” she said, fighting back tears. “I remember looking at him. I was like, ‘Do you know how old I am?’”
Davis recalled that McDougal tried to grab her, but she was able to escape by hitting him and running for the door.
“He grabbed me, and when he did, I just swung my arm and I hit him,” she said.
Davis said she hid in the house while McDougal searched for her. She eventually found her aunt before McDougal could get to her, she said, and they alerted authorities.
Davis said that moment has stuck with her for over a decade and that she wishes she could forget McDougal’s face. She said “he’s a nasty man” who should have faced more punishment than he did.
McDougal was arrested over the incident and later pleaded guilty to a charge of enticing a child, a conviction that sent him to prison for two years. He wasn’t required to register as a sex offender—something Davis says was a failure by authorities that may have led to Cunningham’s death.
“I think Brazoria County definitely failed me and failed Audrii, and possibly more [girls],” she said.
McDougal was in an out of jail repeatedly after the incident with Davis. Some of those convictions were on charges of theft, driving while intoxicated, unauthorized use of a vehicle, drug possession, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Despite his sketchy past, and multiple photos showing he had a swastika tattooed on his right arm, McDougal was permitted to live in a camper on the same property as Cunningham and her father, Joshua Cunningham, whom authorities described as being a family friend of McDougal’s. Cops said McDougal would sometimes take Audrii Cunningham to the bus stop or all the way to school in the small town of Livingston, Texas, about an hour north of Houston.
Cunningham vanished on Feb. 15, with her loved ones reporting her missing after she didn’t return home from school. School authorities flagged that Cunningham never made it onto her bus or to class at all that day, however, and a massive manhunt was launched.
McDougal briefly participated in the manhunt himself, authorities said, but he was quickly deemed a suspect by the local sheriff’s office. He was arrested Friday on unrelated assault charges and was charged Wednesday with capital murder for Cunningham’s slaying.
Mom of Texas 11-Year-Old Shares How She ‘Failed’ Murdered Daughter
Cunningham was found Tuesday after authorities lowered the water levels of the Trinity River, where they found Cunningham’s body tied to a large rock. Authorities have yet to say how she was killed, but Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons said there is “substantial evidence” against McDougal, including cellphone data that links him to the crime.
A charging document for McDougal alleges that he lied to authorities about his whereabouts on the day of Cunningham’s disappearance, with prosecutors saying his story didn’t add up with phone data, video footage, and other forensic evidence.
Davis said she recognized McDougal the second his mugshot was spread by authorities over the weekend. In the wake of Cunningham’s death, she said she wonders how close she was to meeting the same awful fate.
“Everybody was still asleep,” she said of the night McDougal tried to assault her. “I mean, my uncle’s backyard was the woods. I mean, it could have been me.”
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