Days after 11-year-old Audrey Cunningham went missing, divers recovered her body from the Texas River, and authorities are preparing to charge her father's friend who lived on the family's property with murder. the sheriff announced Tuesday. afternoon.
Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons said Audrey's body was discovered by divers during a search in the Trinity River in rural areas north of Houston. Her body was found about 10 miles from her home near Lake Livingston.
“I am heartbroken to hear this news,” Lyons said.
Audrey's family reported her missing on Thursday after she failed to return to her home in Livingston after school. After she was reported missing, investigators discovered that she had not gotten on the bus to go to her school that morning.
Polk County District Attorney Sherry Sitton said authorities are preparing an arrest warrant for Don Stephen McDougal, 42, on a capital murder charge. She doesn't yet know whether she will seek the death penalty in the case, she said.
Mr Lyons said there was “substantial evidence” in the case and that cell phone data and video helped locate the search area. He added that the Trinity River Authority lowered the water level in the river, which led to the discovery of her body.
Authorities said McDougal was a friend of the girl's father and lived in a camper on the family's property. Audrey lived with her father, grandparents and other family members, authorities said.
Lyons said that in the past, McDougal would walk Audrey to the bus stop and take her to school if she missed the bus.
On Friday, a backpack that authorities believe belonged to the child was found near a dam on Lake Livingston, one of the state's largest lakes.
McDougal was arrested on Friday on an unrelated assault charge after authorities named him a person of interest last week as they investigated Audrey's disappearance. He remained in jail on that charge Tuesday. Jail records did not list an attorney for him.
McDougall was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading no contest to two felony counts of child enticement stemming from a 2007 incident, according to court records in Brazoria County, south of Houston.
The girl's body was taken to the Harris County Coroner's Office in Houston to determine the cause of death, the sheriff said.
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Associated Press writer Sean Murphy contributed to this report from Oklahoma City.
