LIVINGSTON, Texas – The family of Audrii Cunningham, the 11-year-old Livingston girl found dead in the Trinity River, says the man who they let stay on their property lied to them while Audrii was missing.
Don Steven McDougal is facing capital murder charges in the death of Audrii Cunningham.
The fifth grader went missing on February 15. Her family called 911 after she never made it to the bus stop.
Her disappearance prompted a five-day search that covered hundreds of square miles in Polk and San Jacinto Counties, with a focus on the Trinity River near Lake Livingston.
While investigators searched for clues, McDougal was taken into custody on an unrelated charge. It’s then the family says McDougal lied to them, saying he never would hurt Audrii.
“I spoke with him while she was missing. In hopes he would tell us where she was or what happened or anything,” said Tabitha Munsch, Audrii’s grandmother. “And that’s something else I have to live with.”
Audrii lived with her paternal grandparents, along with her dad.
“That man had the gall to tell us absolute lies to my face. And then hug me and call me mama. Because that’s who he called me all the time. That’s what I was to him, was a mom figure,” said Munsch. “For him to lie to my face and then hug me and tell me I love you, mama. I’d never do anything to hurt her. It angers me to no end.”
According to Audrii’s grandparents, she trusted McDougal and so did the family. Despite McDougal’s long criminal past, they never realized he was convicted of a sex crime against a child because he wasn’t in the sex offender registry.
“Audrii loved him. Treated him like part of the family. We just don’t understand,” said Audrii’s grandfather Philip Munsch.
Days later, Audrii’s body was found weighted down by a rock in the Trinity River. McDougal is now facing charges of capital murder.