Audrii Cunningham was a happy girl who enjoyed reading and art, but little did she know there was a monster on her doorstep
Audrii Cunningham was a gentle 11-year-old girl, who lived in the small town of Livingston in Texas with her dad, Joshua Cunningham, her grandparents and other family members.
She made friends easily and was always singing and dancing. She loved animals, especially cats and dogs, and she enjoyed reading and painting.
On 15 February, 2024, Audrii set off to her school bus stop at around 7am like she always did. It had been her birthday just 10 days earlier. When she didn’t show up for her bus and didn’t arrive at school, the school contacted her dad. It was out of character.
An Amber Alert was issued for Audrii by the police, where a notification is sent to mobile phones telling members of the public a child has gone missing, in the hope that more people looking out for her will result in her being found. Audrii was described as 4ft 1in with blonde hair, blue eyes an wearing black trousers, a black hoodie with white lettering and black trainers.
A huge local search began that gained significant media attention. A $10,000 reward was offered and Audrii’s family appealed for her safe return. Her picture was spread far and wide.
When Audrii’s Hello Kitty backpack was found near Lake Livingston Dam, fears grew that she might have been abducted and it felt like a race against time to find her. Everyone got involved, including a family friend who lived on the property that belonged to Audrii’s family.
Don Steven McDougal lived in a trailer behind the family home. He’d been a friend of Audrii’s dad and would sometimes walk Audrii to the bus stop or drive her to school if she missed the bus. McDougal had told Audrii’s family he had fallen on hard times and needed somewhere to stay. They knew he had a criminal record for theft and drug possession going back to 2003, but he had said he was trying to turn his life around.
The family checked his convictions and when the records matched what he’d said, they agreed he deserved a second chance and said he could stay in their back garden.
When Audrii vanished, McDougal helped to look for her by knocking on neighbours’ doors and asking people whether they had seen her, giving the appearance of a concerned family friend. Although he’d said he would take Audrii to the bus stop on the day she went missing, he insisted he wasn’t involved in her disappearance.
“I have done everything I can to help find her. I have done nothing wrong,” he wrote on social media.
The day after Audrii disappeared, McDougal was arrested and taken into custody on a separate assault charge unconnected to the case. But the police then announced he was a person of interest and set about gathering more evidence.
What Audrii’s family didn’t know was that they’d had a sexual predator living in their back garden. McDougal did have a criminal record in Texas that matched what they’d been told, but they didn’t know that in 2007 he had also been accused of attempting to molest a child. He avoided being added to the sex offenders register after striking a plea deal. He had pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of enticing a child, which doesn’t require registration under Texas law.
Audrii’s family were horrified that a legal loophole had stopped them learning the truth about McDougal. Had he harmed Audrii as she’d made her way to the bus stop?
The search for Audrii continued, with the police using McDougal’s mobile phone to focus on areas where he’d recently been, and on 20 February, five days after Audrii vanished, search teams descended on Trinity River, 10 miles from Audrii’s home, which has a highway running above it. The water management authorities slowed the flow from the nearby reservoir to allow the water river level to lower to assist divers.
Audrii’s body was found tied to a rock with rope, which had been done in a failed attempt to weigh her body down. An autopsy revealed she had died from blunt force trauma. The rope used was consistent with rope found in McDougal’s vehicle.
McDougal was charged with murder.
The whole community was heartbroken that Audrii hadn’t been found alive. A candlelit vigil was held during which purple balloons were released. Purple was Audrii’s favourite colour. Her distraught mum, Cassie Matthews, called her daughter “perfection”.
Audrii’s dad and grandparents made a statement saying they had been attacked on social media for allowing a child molester to live on their property, but they had acted with faith. They said they had been “failed” by the system and had done due diligence in checking McDougal’s convictions. “Had we been aware of what we know now, this man would never have set foot on our property, much less been a part of our little girl’s life,” the statement said.
After insisting he was innocent, last month McDougal, 43, who has a swastika tattoo on his left shoulder, took a plea deal. He pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murdering Audrii and in return he was sentenced to life behind bars without the chance of parole or any future opportunity to appeal.
The court couldn’t impose the death penalty because McDougal was assessed and determined to have developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Audrii’s family gave emotional statements. “She gave my family purpose and you stole that from me,” Audrii’s dad said. Audrii’s grandfather, Philip Munsch, called McDougal a “monster” who had pretended to be Audrii’s friend. He expressed his disbelief that they had opened their home to McDougal and he’d betrayed them in such a despicable way.
Her grandmother Tabitha Munsch shared her anger. “You took away the life of our little angel. Your punishment in this life will never fit the crime,” she said.
“Nothing will ever bring her back and that’s your fault. May you rot in hell.”
There has recently been an application for Audrii’s Law that, if passed, would close the current gap in Texas law and require offenders convicted of enticing a child to be included in the sex offenders register. If Audrii’s family had known about McDougal’s past, she could still be alive today.
A portrait of Audrii hangs in the hallway of her school, along with the last art project that she completed with her classmates. She had signed her name on it in purple and added a heart.