CNN
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The body of Audrey Cunningham, an 11-year-old Texas girl who went missing on her way to school, was found Tuesday in the Trinity River, Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons said.
“Audrey's body was found in the Trinity River under Route 59,” Lyons told reporters at a news conference Tuesday. Her body was then taken to the Harris County Coroner's Office, where authorities said they were awaiting information on her cause of death.
Polk County District Attorney Sherry Sitton said she is preparing an arrest warrant for Don Stephen McDougal, 42, adding that she believes a capital murder charge is appropriate.
“Based on all the evidence law enforcement has collected, we are in the process of preparing the appropriate arrest warrant,” Sitton said. “At this time, we believe the appropriate arrest warrant is for capital murder in the death of Audrey Cunningham. He remains in jail on an unrelated felony charge.”
Asked by reporters how Audrey was killed, Sitton said: “I can't talk about that.”
The sheriff said McDougal, a friend of Audrey's father, gave investigators a list of places he had been, but did not say where the body was. Lyons added that authorities also used cell phone data and video in finding her body.
The sheriff's office said McDougal was arrested Friday night on an unrelated aggravated assault charge and was already in custody.
According to court records in several Texas counties, McDougal has a long criminal history, including convictions for violent crimes and child enticement charges.
In 2007, he was convicted of luring a child in Brazoria County, Texas. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years in prison, but was given 527 days of credit, according to court records. Brazoria County online records do not list details about the specific allegations in the case.
He was also convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2010 and 2019.
The victim in the first case, who was sentenced to four years in prison, told CNN on Tuesday that McDougall, a former co-worker, attacked him after he was kicked out of his home.
“He showed up with some of my other friends,” Eric Bryan said. “Eventually we kicked him out of the house, but he came back with a knife.”
Brian said McDougal began stabbing the door before coming back inside.
“He came at me with a knife and I had a shotgun and I hit him in the face with it,” Brian said. “I didn't know he was like that.”
CNN is trying to determine whether McDougall has legal representation and has reached out to his family for comment.
McDougal was participating in the search effort for the missing girl, the sheriff's office told CNN earlier Tuesday.
“Some witnesses even said he was in the area and was knocking on doors…asking if they had seen her,” the sheriff told CNN.
“To me, it's simply that he's trying to make it seem like he's not playing or not responsible for her disappearance, and (he's) part of the party that was trying to find her. That's what I'm trying to convey.”
McDougall appeared to proclaim his innocence on social media last week.
The day after Audrey Cunningham was reported missing, a comment from a Facebook account believed to belong to McDougall saying “I'm innocent” was added under a post on the Facebook page “True Crime Society.” Ta.
“I was there too and was questioned. I am not running or hiding,” McDougall wrote, before commenting again, saying: I didn't do anything wrong. ”
Another comment read: “I'm the one who knocked on the house near the bus stop to take the video.”
Most of the posts were created early Friday morning.
Law enforcement officials did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment on the post.
The sheriff said McDougal lived in a mobile home on the family's property and sometimes took Audrey to the bus stop.
The family home is located near Lake Livingston. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, the lake is “one of the state's largest reservoirs with a surface area of 83,000 acres.”
Authorities said around 7 a.m. Thursday, McDougal and Audrey left their home for the bus stop. That was the last time Audrey's family saw her. She didn't go to school or the school bus that day.
Her backpack was found Friday near a dam on the lake, about eight miles from where her body was found Tuesday.
The sheriff said there was no sign of a struggle where the bag was located.
CNN's Steve Almasy, Raja Razek, Andy Rose, Jillian Sykes and Carroll Alvarado contributed to this report.
