Honk News (Houston, TX) – A Texas man has confessed to the abduction and murder of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham, whose body was discovered in a river almost a year after her short disappearance.
Don Steven McDougal has acknowledged his role in the kidnapping and murder of Audrii Cunningham and will serve a life sentence in prison without the chance for parole or appeal, as stated by the Polk County District Attorney’s Office on Friday, Jan. 17.
On February 21, McDougal faced capital murder charges, just one day after the discovery of Audrii’s body, which was found bound to rocks in the Trinity River, approximately 76 miles from her residence in Livingston, Texas, according to authorities.
A fifth-grade student named Audrii was reported missing when she failed to arrive at school on February 15.
Dr. Brent Hawkins, the superintendent of the Livingston Independent School District in Texas, shared that McDougal had taken her to school just three days before she went missing.
McDougal, previously convicted for enticing a minor, was a family acquaintance of Audrii’s father, residing on his property and assisting in the search for the girl after she went missing.
During the hearing on Friday, Audrii’s family members shared heartfelt memories of the young girl and expressed their deep sense of betrayal by McDougal.
“She gave my family purpose, and you stole that from me,” Audrii’s father Josh Cunningham said in court.
“You took away the life of our little angel. Your punishment in this life will never fit the crime,” her grandmother Tabitha Munsch said. “Nothing will ever bring her back, and that’s your fault. … May you rot in hell.”
Audrii’s grandfather, Philip Munsch, described McDougal as “a monster pretending to be her friend” who “violated her trust.”
Philip expressed that Audrii was a “gifted and joyful” child who “illuminated the lives of everyone around her.”
Last week, the DA’s office announced that McDougal was found ineligible for the death penalty based on a state law that restricts its application for individuals with “significant documented Intellectual and developmental disabilities.”