CNN
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[Breaking news update at 12:59 p.m. ET]
Don Stephen McDougall, the family friend accused of killing 11-year-old Audrey Cunningham in Livingston, Texas, was charged Wednesday with capital murder, according to court documents filed in Polk County.
McDougall, who was already in jail in connection with an unrelated assault case, was ordered held without bail.
“Video footage and cell phone data showed McDoo to be at three strategic locations on Tuesday, including along the Trinity River where Audrey's body was recovered,” the criminal complaint said. .
Investigators said McDougall, who lived on the same property as Audrey's family, had agreed to take the girl to the school bus stop the morning she disappeared, but she never arrived. In the complaint, sheriff's deputies said they have evidence that “McDougal lied about his whereabouts and activities on February 15, 2024.”
Court documents state that when Audrey's body was discovered, large stones were found wrapped around her body. “The rope used matched the rope observed in McDougal's vehicle during a traffic stop two days earlier,” the complaint states.
No attorney is listed for McDougall in court documents filed Wednesday or in jail records.
[Previous story, published at 11:41 a.m. ET]
The suspect in 11-year-old Audrey Cunningham's death is a family friend who was tasked with walking her to the school bus the morning she disappeared. She then took part in a massive search operation before her body was discovered. Officials say it's a river in east Texas.
Polk County officials said Audrey's family believed Don Stephen McDougal had simply taken the girl to the street when she left her home Thursday morning. . However, she was not allowed on the school bus or in her classroom, and a bag resembling her bright red Hello Kitty backpack was later found near a local dam.
Polk County District Attorney Sherry Sitton said Tuesday that prosecutors are preparing an arrest warrant for McDougall, 42, and believe the evidence supports a capital murder charge.
Polk County Jail/AP
don stephen mcdougall
Audrey's body was found Tuesday in the Trinity River, downstream of a reservoir near where the backpack was found. Sheriff Byron Lyons said it was one of several locations McDougall told investigators he visited at the time of his disappearance.
Lyons said investigators used cell phone records, video analysis and information from McDougall to locate Audrey's body.
The condition of Audrey's body has not been released and the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office will determine her cause of death, the sheriff said.
To help find the body, Lyons said, water officials slowed the flow of water from Lake Livingston Reservoir, one of the state's largest reservoirs with a surface area of 83,000 acres, to allow the body to be exposed. It is said that this made it possible for the water level of the river to drop.
“We extend our deepest condolences and condolences to everyone who knew, cared for, and loved Audrey,” the sheriff said. “We will continue to process the evidence collected to ensure justice for Audrey.”
The suspect was arrested Friday night on an unrelated aggravated assault charge and is already in custody, the sheriff's office said.
CNN has not been able to determine whether McDougall has obtained legal representation and has contacted his family. He has not been reached for comment on the charges against him.
The sheriff said McDougal, a friend of Audrey's father, lived in a mobile home on the family's property and would sometimes take her daughter on a neighborhood school bus. He was the main person of interest in her disappearance as authorities desperately searched Livingston, a rural East Texas town about 110 miles northeast of Houston.
McDougal joined the search effort and was seen knocking on doors in the neighborhood asking if anyone had seen Audrey, the sheriff's office told CNN. But Lyons doesn't believe his efforts are genuine.
“To me, it's simply that he's trying to make it seem like he's not playing games or not responsible for her disappearance, and that (he's) part of the party that was trying to find her. That's true,” Lyons said Tuesday.
According to activity on a Facebook account believed to belong to the suspect, in the days after Audrey's disappearance, McDougal said in several social media comments that he was innocent in Audrey's disappearance and that there was nothing wrong with her disappearance. I haven't done it,'' he claimed.
The day after Audrey was reported missing, a post on the Facebook page True Crime Community said: “I'm not guilty.”
“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. ”
CNN has reached out to investigators for comment on the Facebook comments.
McDougal has a lengthy criminal history dating back to at least 2003, with convictions for violent crimes and child enticement, according to court records in several Texas counties.
Chronology of Don Stephen McDougall's imprisonment
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice listed McDougal's sentence as follows:
- February 2003: Three years in prison for assault on a public servant outside Liberty County.
- February 7, 2006: 8 months for theft from Harris County.
- February 14, 2006: 180 days for possession of less than 1 gram of methamphetamine from Harris County.
- March 2007: Two years in prison for luring a child from Brazoria County.
- July 2009: 180 days for unauthorized use of a vehicle outside Harris County.
- February 2010: Four years in prison for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon from Harris County.
- September 2020: Two years in prison for unauthorized use of a vehicle outside of Liberty County.
- September 2022: McDougal is released after completing his sentence.
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.
Online records do not detail specific allegations in the child enticement case. However, this crime is defined as “intent to interfere with the lawful custody of a child under the age of 18” when a person “tempts, persuades, or removes the child from the custody of a parent or guardian.” .
McDougall was also convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2010 and 2019.
The victim in the first aggravated assault case said McDougall, a former co-worker, attacked him after he was kicked out of his home.
“He showed up with some other friends of mine,” Eric Bryan told CNN on Tuesday.
Brian said McDougall 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.”
He was sentenced to four years in prison for this aggravated assault case.
Audrey's loved ones are now grappling not only with the agony of her death, but also with the criminal investigation of the suspect, who was once thought to be a family friend.
The Livingston Independent School District said in a statement on Facebook that the fifth-grade student's classmates and teachers are also grieving.
“While the details of this tragedy are still being determined, our entire community is heartbroken in the face of this heartbreaking loss,” said Superintendent Brent Hawkins.
During the days-long search for Audrey, her mother said she understood the pain of parents of missing children they had only heard about on the news.
“There are no words for it. There's more than one emotion you feel. It's a roller coaster. You're broken, you're crazy, you're empty. And now I'm empty,” Matthews said Friday. He told CNN affiliate KPRC.
“There are so many opportunities ahead of her and she has every right to reach those opportunities.”
