Texas cops announced Tuesday that they have found the body of Audrii Cunningham, an 11-year-old girl who vanished last week.
Cunningham was last seen on Thursday when she disappeared from a bus stop after being dropped off on her way to school.
The six-day hunt has ended in tragedy as Cuningham’s body was found near the Trinity River, Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons said.
‘My heart aches with this news,’ Lyons said – adding a medical examiner is still working to establish a cause of death.
Audrii Cunningham, 11, went missing after her father dropped her off at her bus stop on Thursday. Her body was found Tuesday
A chilling mugshot of Don Steven McDougal, 42, the last person to see the youngster alive, according to police
A family friend of Audrii’s father, Don Steven McDougal, was previously named by police as a person of interest, and was seen in a menacing mugshot image on Friday after being charged with separate offenses.
He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and has a criminal history dating back to 2001 that includes convictions on two counts of enticement of a child, Fox26 reported.
McDougal lives in a camper behind Audrii’s home, and allegedly offered to drop her to the bus stop that day. Cops described him as the ‘last person to see her alive.’
While in custody on the unrelated assault charges, Polk County District Attorney Shelly Bush-Sitton said charges of capital murder are being prepared for McDougal.
He is currently being held at the Polk County Jail on $500,000 bond. His mugshot shows an array of body tattoos including a swastika and the words ‘Ain’t Scared’ across his chest.
Audrii sparked a state-wide search after she vanished early Thursday morning in Livington, around an hour north of Houston, when she didn’t turn up for school.
Investigators quickly identified a dark blue 2003 Chevrolet Suburban as a ‘vehicle of interest’ tied to the girl’s disappearance, which cops said matched McDougal’s car.
Then on Saturday, on the third day of the search, a small backpack likely belonging to Cunningham was found near the Lake Livingston Dam, People reported.
Though police did not disclose further details about the backpack that was recovered, the day she disappeared she was carrying a bright red ‘Hello Kitty’ backpack.
McDougal’s dark blue 2003 Chevrolet Suburban has been a vehicle of interest in the case and, according to the authorities, is tied to the young girl’s disappearance
Audrii sparked a state-wide search after she vanished early Thursday morning in Livington, around an hour north of Houston, when she didn’t turn up for school
The missing girl’s mother, Cassie Matthews, said she believes McDougal was a friend of Audrii’s father.
When the search was still ongoing, she pleaded for help from the public and said it was not like her daughter to just run off or disappear.
‘We have no leads so we are grasping at any string, any signs, anything in general,’ she told KPRC at the time.
‘There is not one feeling you feel,’ she explained. ‘You are broken, you are mad, you are empty and right now I am empty.’
‘I am not going to be the same unless my baby is returned to me and neither is her family, any of us, any of her friends, any of the people that she has been connected to in the community.’
The desperate search sparked fervent speculation online and drew in multiple law enforcement agencies, as a statewide Amber Alert was raised.
Police began searching the wooded area near the young girl’s home as she is a lover of wildlife and nature, her family said.
It was determined shortly into the search that the disappearance was not an accident, as Lieutenant Craig Cummings said at a press conference that ‘based on the evidence that we’ve got we understand foul play is a factor.’