The search for 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham, of Polk County, has ended. At a press conference held outside the Texas DPS office in Livingston on Tuesday, Feb. 20, Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons and Polk County District Attorney Shelly Sitton shared the grim news that the girl’s body has been recovered. Her body was transported to the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy Tuesday afternoon.
Audrii’s body was found near the Trinity River Bridge on US 59 where San Jacinto and Polk counties converge. Murder charges have been filed against Don Steven McDougal, who was identified early on in the investigation as a person of interest in Audrii’s disappearance. McDougal, who has a lengthy criminal history that includes child sex abuse cases in other counties, was being held on an unrelated charge of Aggravated Assault.
McDougal, who lived in a camper trailer behind Audrii’s home and was a friend of her family, is believed to be the last person who saw her. She was reported Thursday, Feb. 15, after she failed to turn up after school. Investigators soon learned that Audrii did not get on her school bus that morning and never made it to school.
Since her disappearance, searches for her have centered around the Trinity River and Lake Livingston Dam after some of the child’s personal items were found by a passerby near the Lake Livingston spillway. Her body was found several miles further down the river at the US 59 bridge.
After her body was discovered, Lyons asked the Trinity River Authority if it was safely possible to reduce the outflow of water coming through the dam. The outflow was reduced, which caused a drop in the river levels. This made it possible for authorities to safely recover Cunningham’s body on Tuesday.
Lyons said that the area where she was discovered was one of their first areas of concern initially.
“It wasn’t the location where he said he took her, but where he said he had gone,” Lyons said.
When asked if McDougal had confessed to dumping the child in the river at that location, Lyons was tight-lipped, saying, “Right now, when we start talking about how we link this to Mr. McDougal, we are going to be very careful about how we do that. There is substantial evidence we gathered and from the wonderful people on social media who helped us come up with these locations.”
Lyons added that evidence collected from cell phones and videos aided in the investigation.
DA Sitton said that the collective efforts of everyone who brought the search for Audrii to a resolution, though not the outcome hoped for, are proof that Polk County and law enforcement officers will come out when needed to protect the community’s children. She vowed to stand with the sheriff’s office in the difficult days to come as they work through all the evidence in the case.
Lyons thanked all the agencies that assisted through the ordeal and the media for keeping Audrii’s disappearance in the public eye.
“Your help has been immensely appreciated,” he said, adding, “I express my deepest condolences to everyone who knew, who cared for and loved Audrii. We will continue to process the evidence to ensure justice for Audrii.”