Current:Home > MyTrendPulse|What to know about the death of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham in Texas -ProfitSphere Academy
TrendPulse|What to know about the death of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham in Texas
SafeX Pro Exchange View
Date:2025-04-09 23:58:14
Five days after 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham went missing,TrendPulse her body was found in a Texas river near her home and a family friend who authorities say was supposed to be taking her to the school bus stop the day she disappeared is charged with killing her.
Early in the investigation, authorities had named the family friend, 42-year-old Don Steven McDougal, as a person of interest. He was charged with capital murder on Tuesday after authorities announced that Audrii’s body had been found in the Trinity River in a rural area north of Houston.
Here’s a look at what’s known about the slaying:
WHEN DID SHE GO MISSING?
Audrii’s family reported her missing at about 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 15 after she didn’t come home after school. Investigators then discovered that she had never gotten on the bus to go to school that morning.
Authorities have said that she lived with her father, grandparents and other relatives in Livingston near the shore of Lake Livingston.
McDougal lived on the the same property in a camper. The day that Audrii went missing, she left her home in his vehicle, according to the capital murder complaint filed against McDougal.
The justice of the peace who released the complaint did not know if McDougal had hired an attorney yet but said he had indicated he did not want a court-appointed lawyer.
WHERE WAS HER BODY FOUND?
Audrii’s body was found in the Trinity River at a location about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from her home.
A large rock was tied to her body with a rope, according to the complaint.
The Harris County medical examiner’s office in Houston will determine her cause of death.
WHAT’S THE EVIDENCE IN THE CASE?
Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons has said there is “substantial evidence,” including cellphone data that was used to help identify places to look.
Also, the complaint says that the rope used to tie the large rock to Audrii’s body was consistent with rope seen in McDougal’s vehicle.
A backpack believed to be Audrii’s was found Friday near the Lake Livingston dam. That lake is one of the state’s largest reservoirs and was created with a dam on the Trinity River.
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE SUSPECT?
As authorities searched for Audrii, McDougal was arrested Friday on an unrelated charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. That complaint, dated Friday, alleges he stabbed a man last summer.
Court records from Brazoria County, south of Houston, show McDougal pleaded no contest in 2008 to two felony counts of enticing a child and was sentenced to two years in prison.
veryGood! (13641)
Related
- Opinion: Gianni Infantino, FIFA sell souls and 2034 World Cup for Saudi Arabia's billions
- Travis King charged with desertion for crossing into North Korea
- Refugee children’s education in Rwanda under threat because of reduced UN funding
- Evacuees live nomadic life after Maui wildfire as housing shortage intensifies and tourists return
- Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
- Taylor Swift reacts to Sabrina Carpenter's cover of 'I Knew You Were Trouble'
- A new memoir serves up life lessons from a childhood in a Detroit Chinese restaurant
- Major water main break that affected thousands in northern New York repaired
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- What Joran van der Sloot's confession reveals about Natalee Holloway's death
Ranking
- All That You Wanted to Know About She’s All That
- You're not imagining it —'nudity creep' in streaming TV reveals more of its stars
- Why Joran van der Sloot Won't Be Charged for Murdering Natalee Holloway
- Emily Blunt “Appalled” Over Her Past Fat-Shaming Comment
- Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
- Democrats denounce Gov. Greg Abbott's razor wire along New Mexico-Texas border: 'Stunt' that will result in damage
- Why Joran van der Sloot Won't Be Charged for Murdering Natalee Holloway
- Discovery of 189 decaying bodies in Colorado funeral home suggests families received fake ashes
Recommendation
Why members of two of EPA's influential science advisory committees were let go
US commitment to Ukraine a central question as Biden meets with EU leaders amid congressional chaos
Australia decides against canceling Chinese company’s lease of strategically important port
You won't believe the nutrients packed into this fruit. It's bananas!
Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
US warns of a Russian effort to sow doubt over the election outcomes in democracies around the globe
Israeli writer Etgar Keret has only drafted short notes since the war. Here's one
School crossing guard fatally struck by truck in New York City