\u201cAfter intense and diligent review of the law and medical records, the determination was made that Don Steven McDougal was not eligible for a death penalty sentence under the existing law. This resolution ensures that Don Steven McDougal is being punished to the fullest extent available under the existing law and spares the family the emotional toll of a prolonged trial and appeal process.\u201d
\nShelly Bush Sitton, Polk County District Attorney<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Audrii was the subject of a Feb. 15, 2024 Amber Alert after she never showed up to school at Creekside Elementary. The Polk County Sheriff\u2019s Office and the Trinity River Authority then found Audrii\u2019s body in the Trinity River on Feb. 20 near the Polk and San Jacinto county line under State Highway 59 south. Her body was found rope tied to a large rock after the Trinity River Authority lowered the output on the reservoir which lowered the river level, according to Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons.<\/p>\n
McDougal lived in a camper on the Cunningham\u2019s property and was tasked with dropping Audrii off at the bus stop in his 2003 Chevrolet Suburban on the day she didn\u2019t show up for school.<\/p>\n
The rope used to tie Audrii to the rock was reportedly consistent with rope seen in McDougal\u2019s vehicle during a traffic stop. Additionally, officials said cell phone data and video footage placed McDougal at three locations of interest, including at the Trinity River.<\/p>\n
McDougal was charged with capital murder after officials said he had lied about his location on Feb. 15. McDougal was then indicted by a Polk County Grand Jury on two counts of capitol murder in April.<\/p>\n
Records from the Harris County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office listed Audrii\u2019s cause of death as \u201chomicidal violence with blunt head trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plea represents the culmination of months of diligent work by prosecutors, law enforcement and support staff. The Polk County District Attorney\u2019s Office would like to thank everyone involved for their hard work and dedication on this case to bring justice for Audrii.\u201d
\nShelly Bush Sitton, Polk County District Attorney<\/p>\n
According to Houston-area NBC affiliate KPRC, Audrii\u2019s father, aunt, grandmother and grandfather spoke in court on Friday to give victim impact statements.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe gave my family purpose, and you stole that from me,\u201d Audri\u2019s father Josh Cunningham said. \u201cI hope you have a very short life sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no punishment severe enough for the things that you have done,\u201d Audrii\u2019s aunt Julie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou took away the life of our little angel. Your punishment in this life will never fit the crime. Nothing will ever bring her back, and that\u2019s your fault,\u201d Audri\u2019s grandmother Tabitha Munsch said. \u201cMay you rot in hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMay you burn in the eternity and the flames of hell,\u201d Audrii\u2019s grandfather Philip Munsch said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
POLK COUNTY \u2013 The Polk County District Attorney\u2019s Office said that Don Steven McDougal has pleaded guilty to the Feb. 2024 kidnapping and murder of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham. According to our news partner KETK, McDougal\u2019s plea agreement means he will spend the rest of his life in prison and will never be eligible for parole. … Continue reading Man pleads guilty to killing 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1384112,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2025\/01\/2025-01-17_235355-201x200.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1384110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-10 18:28:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2025\/01\/2025-01-17_235355-201x200.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1384110"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1384331,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384110\/revisions\/1384331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1384112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1384110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1384110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1384110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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POLK COUNTY \u2013 The Polk County District Attorney\u2019s Office said that Don Steven McDougal has pleaded guilty to the Feb. 2024 kidnapping and murder of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham. According to our news partner KETK, McDougal\u2019s plea agreement means he will spend the rest of his life in prison and will never be eligible for parole. The district attorney\u2019s office had originally asked for the death penalty back in August but they explained that McDougal has a documented history of intellectual and developmental disabilities that legally limit him from being executed.<\/p>\n