The body of 11-year-antique Audrii Cunningham was found in a river Tuesday after the little girl went missing from a small Texas metropolis for five days, and the government says they plan to file charges against a man inside the case.
“My heart aches with this tragic news,” Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons told newshounds at a news convention announcing the tragic discovery. “I express my deepest sympathies and condolences to anyone who knew and cared for her and loved her. We will continue to proceed with the proof that has been gathered to ensure justice for Audrii.”
The woman’s body was discovered inside the Trinity River alongside U.S. Fifty-nine, he stated. She had been lacking because of Thursday after failing to make it to the faculty bus inside the small metropolis of Livingston, about 70 miles northeast of Houston.
Lyons said the statistics collected in the crook investigation “is widespread.”
Here’s what we recognize about Audrii and the person the police plan to charge in her demise.
Man-to-stand expenses in connection with Audrii’s dying.
District Attorney Shelly Sitton stated that law enforcement became inside the system of preparing the “suitable arrest warrant” for 42-year-old Don Steven McDougal, who can even think of losing Audrii off on the school bus the morning she disappeared.
“At this time, we trust the arrest warrant will be for the capital murder of Audrii Cunningham,” Sitton stated. “I apprehend that this is a very hard time for Audrii’s family and for our community.”
Reporters could not locate a lawyer indexed for McDougal, who was being held at Polk County jail for an unrelated criminal rate of aggravated assault on Friday.
“We do believe at this point he turned into the last man or woman who saw her,” Lyons previously stated, approximately McDougal.
McDougal was speaking with investigators. However, law enforcement declined to proportion how worried McDougal became in locating Audrii’s frame.
Who Turned Into Audrii Cunningham And The Way The Police Found Her?
Audrii Cunningham lived together with her circle of relatives in a lakeside community at the jap seashores of Livingston Lake.
Lyons stated that investigators have been able to zero in on the vicinity of Audrii’s body through the usage of cell phone information, videos, and some records they obtained from McDougal.
When Did Audrii Cunningham Disappear?
Audrii changed into the final scene at 7 a.m. On Feb. 15, she left her home to seize the college bus.
Her mother and father pronounced her missing after she did not get off the bus on Thursday afternoon.
School officers suggested to the investigators that the bus did not pick her up and he or she did not come up to the campus.
Where Was Audrii’s Backpack Found?
Over the weekend, the Texas Department of Safety officers announced they observed a backpack belonging to Audrii, and the department identified someone of interest in her disappearance.
On Saturday, Polk County sheriff’s Lt. Craig Cummings stated officers observed Audrii’s Hello Kitty backpack close to a dam at Lake Livingston.