Audrii Cunningham’s cause of death revealed
The autopsy report of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham, whose body was found tied to a rock at the bottom of a Texas river six days after she vanished, was released Thursday.
The young girl from Livingston died of “homicidal violence including blunt head trauma,” according to the Harris County medical examiner’s office.
Cunningham was reported missing Feb. 15, after she never made it onto her school bus and failed to show up to class.
She was last seen with her family’s friend, 42-year-old Don McDougal, who was charged with capital murder for her death Wednesday.
The child’s lifeless body was found by divers in the Trinity River in Livingston the day before, though investigators believe she was killed the same day she was reported missing.
The frantic search for Cunningham turned up a Hello Kitty backpack believed to be the child’s was found on the river bank days before her remains were recovered.
McDougal — a reported neo-Nazi with a lengthy rap sheet including prison time for enticing a child — was friends with the girl’s family and was living on their property in a camper, according to charging documents.
He would often walk Cunningham to her bus stop before allegedly murdering the young girl and dumping her body in the river in the horrifying crime.
When investigators pulled Cunningham’s body from the waters, they found “a large rock tied to the child victim’s body,” the docs said.
“The rope used was consistent with rope that was observed in McDougal’s vehicle on a traffic stop two days prior,” the document added.
McDougal was first taken into custody on an unrelated assault charge — for an alleged stabbing — on Feb. 16 and was sitting in Polk County Jail when police found the girl’s body. He is now being held without bail.
The alleged killer has links to the Aryan Brotherhood, Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons confirmed to KHOU11.
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