POLK COUNTY, Texas – The body of a missing 11-year-old girl from Livingston, Audrii Cunningham, was found in the Trinity River on Tuesday near US 59, officials said. An AMBER Alert had been issued for Cunningham on Feb. 15.
A person of interest in the disappearance, Don Steven McDougal, 42, was arrested on Feb. 16 on an unrelated charge of aggravated assault. He was named as a person of interest after witnesses tied his dark blue 2003 Chevrolet Suburban to the case.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said Cunningham should have caught the school bus at her neighborhood bus stop last week on Thursday, but school officials told the Sheriff’s Office the school bus did not pick Cunningham up, nor did she report to school.
Investigators said McDougal lived in a camper behind Cunningham’s father and grandmother’s home. He sometimes took her to the bus stop or school if she missed it.
During a news conference on Tuesday, Polk County District Attorney Shelly Sitton said authorities are preparing an arrest warrant for McDougal for capital murder in the death of Cunningham.
Authorities did not give a cause of death for Cunningham; however, they said her body is being sent to the Harris County Medical Examiner.
