The body of Texas 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham, who was last seen on her way to school, was found in the Trinity River, authorities said.
Cunningham was last seen 15 February around 7am when she was allegedly heading for her school bus stop, but school officials told police that she was never picked up and that she never arrived at school.
“Audrii’s body was located at the Trinity River under US Highway 59,” Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Authorities are preparing arrest warrants for Don Steven McDougal. The office believes “the appropriate arrest warrant is for capital murder,” said Polk County District Attorney Shelly Sitton.
Mr McDougal, 42, was arrested Friday in Polk County — and is still in jail — on an unrelated charge of aggravated assault.
Mr McDougal is a friend of the girl’s father, and resides in a trailer on behind family’s home, ABC13 reported.
He had previously been identified as a person of interest in Cunningham’s disappearance.
Last week, the Texas Department of Public Safety said they recovered a small backpack that likely belonged to the young child near Lake Livingston Dam.
Authorities said her body is with the medical examiner’s office to determine her cause of death.
