The body of 11-year-old Audrey Cunningham was found in a river Tuesday, five days after the little girl had been missing from a small town in Texas, and authorities say they plan to file charges against a man in the case. Have been.
“My heart is broken by this news,” Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons told reporters at a press conference announcing the tragic discovery. “We will continue to act on the evidence we collect to ensure justice for Audrey.”
The girl’s body was found in the Trinity River along U.S. 59, he said. She had been missing since Thursday after failing to board a school bus in Livingston, a small town about 70 miles northeast of Houston.
Lyons said the information collected in the criminal investigation is “substantial.”
Here’s what we know about Audrey and the man police plan to charge in her death.
One person will be charged in connection with Audrey’s death
District Attorney Shelley Seaton said law enforcement was in the process of preparing an “appropriate arrest warrant” for Don Steven McDougall, 42, who was supposed to drop Audrey off the school bus the morning she disappeared.
“At this time, we believe the appropriate arrest warrant in the case of Audrey Cunningham’s death would be for capital murder,” Sitton said. “I understand this is a very difficult time for Audrey’s family and our community.”
USA TODAY could not find an attorney listed for McDougal, who was being held Friday in the Polk County Jail on an unrelated felony charge of aggravated assault.
Lyons previously said of McDougall, “We believe his word that he was the last person who saw him.”
McDougal was talking to investigators, but law enforcement declined to share how involved McDougal was in locating Audrey’s body.
Who was Audrey Cunningham and how did the police find her?
Audrey Cunningham lived with her family in a lakeside community on the eastern shore of Lake Livingston.
Lyons said investigators were able to pinpoint the location of Audrey’s body using cellphone records, video and some information obtained from McDougal.
Where is Livingston, Texas?
The town, which had a population of just over 5,600 at the last census, is in Polk County, about 100 miles west of the Louisiana state line.
Livingston is 46 miles south of Lufkin, Angelina County’s largest city.
This small town is where a hero couple made national news last year after rescuing a 9-month-old baby abandoned in a shed.
‘Short dress and no diaper’Texas ‘hero’ couple rescue baby abandoned in shed
When did Audrey Cunningham disappear?
Audrey was last seen at 7 a.m. on February 15 when she left her home to catch the school bus.
When she did not get off the bus on Thursday afternoon, her parents reported her missing.
School officials told investigators that the bus did not pick him up and he did not report to campus.
Where did Audrey find her backpack?
Over the weekend, Texas Department of Safety officials announced that they had found a backpack belonging to Audrey and that the department had identified a person of interest in her disappearance.
On Saturday, Polk County Sheriff’s Lt. Craig Cummings said authorities found Audrey’s Hello Kitty backpack near a dam in Lake Livingston, the Austin American-Statesman, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.
Cummings identified the person of interest as McDougall.
During a news conference Monday, Lyons said McDougal lived in a trailer on the family’s property and would sometimes take the girl to the bus stop and school when she missed the bus.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, investigators believe McDougal’s vehicle, a dark blue 2003 Chevrolet Suburban, was involved in the disappearance.
The department was asking for the public’s help in reporting sightings of the vehicle Thursday or Friday.
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Contributing: Fernanda Figueroa with the Austin American-Statesman
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her at X @nataliealund.
