LIVINGSTON, Texas – For the first time, the family of Audrii Cunningham is sharing the story of the 11-year-old girl whose abduction and murder by a family friend captivated the country during a desperate, days-long search.
Audrii’s grandparents, who she lived with alongside her father, gave KPRC 2 an in-depth look at the young life taken way too early.
Tabitha and Philip Munsch cared for Audrii while her dad was offshore working on ships.
“She just was a loving, caring, compassionate child,” said her grandmother. “I want Audrii’s story out. I want people to understand. There’s so much disinformation, you know, there’s just there’s too many things that people don’t know. So many people are focused on the monster.”
Audrii was reported missing February 15. After five days of searching, with hundreds of volunteers, Audrii’s body was found in the Trinity River.
Police charged Don Steven McDougal, a man living on the grandparent’s property in an old trailer, with capital murder.
Up until this point, Audrii’s family says the story has been focused on the man who killed the innocent young girl.
That’s what encouraged them to give KPRC 2 the nearly hour-long interview, where they talked about Audrii’s life, who she was, what she liked to do and who she wanted to be.
“She was creative in a way that amazed us sometimes,” said her grandfather. “That she would paint a picture. I mean, she’s 11 years old, so she still was learning, but our refrigerator was often covered with all of her little drawings and, and paintings that she did, and we encouraged it.”
“She loved her artwork,” her grandmother agreed. “And animals. She was the animal lover extraordinaire. She wanted to be a vet. She wanted to work with animals. She said either that or animal trainer.”
Her grandparents also shared how they plan to honor Audrii’s case by pushing for the creation of Audrii’s Law, legislation that would help prevent anything like this from happening again.
Watch our complete interview with Audrii’s family below: