The mother of Audrii Cunningham, the 11-year-old who was found dead in a Texas river Tuesday night, nearly a week after she was reported missing, admitted in a tragic Facebook post that she was “abandoning her daughter “let it go”.
Cassie Matthews posted the news before her daughter's body was found in the Trinity River, about 10 miles from where the child lived with her father, grandparents and other family members.
Police are preparing a murder charge against a “family friend,” a Nazi tattoo artist named Don Steven McDougal who lives in a trailer on her father's property.
Officials said McDougal had taken Cunningham to the bus stop in the past or would take her to school if she missed the bus.
In her post, Matthews criticized online rumors that she lost custody of her daughter due to a failed drug test. The grieving mother said it was a rumor spread by her child's father.
“I just want to make this clear once: I failed my daughter by being forced into submission by her father's family and made her believe she was in a safe, loving and normal home with her father,” wrote them in a follow-up post.
Cunningham's father Joshua pictured with the man accused of killing his daughter Don Steven McDougal. The suspect's swastika and SS tattoo are clearly visible on his left arm
Audrii's family reported her missing on Thursday after she failed to return to her Livingston home after school
The girl's mother, Cassie Matthews, pleaded with the public for help during the six-day search for her daughter, crying as she said the loss left her feeling “empty.”
Pictured: A creepy mugshot of McDougal, who police say was the last person to see the teen alive
In other, sometimes rambling, Facebook posts, Matthews said she never chose drugs or did drugs in front of her.
Matthews said she had “nothing to hide” as she accused people of “spreading bullshit” online.
“The most important and only important thing for me is to find my daughter!” I don’t give a shit what everyone thinks. What you think and what you judge will not return anything to my daughter.'
Matthews refers to McDougal's statement: “If your speculation were true, I would be in the same boat as the man who took my baby away from the family that loves him.”
In a later message, Matthews reiterated that she never lost custody of her daughter.
“This is my daughter and I have never lost any rights to her, so as her parent I will interfere in whatever I please regarding my child!” “I'm tired of all the bullshit and I'm tired of too to be silent, afraid and once again forced into submission by people I don’t fucking know,” she wrote.
Polk County District Attorney Shelly Sitton has confirmed that murder charges are being prepared against McDougal, 42. Sitton did not say whether this would be a death penalty case.
Lyons said there was “significant evidence” in the case and that cellphone data and video helped identify locations to search. He added that the Trinity River Authority lowered the river's water level, which led to the discovery of her body.
Audrii Cunningham's body was found Tuesday in the Trinity River near US-59, Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons announced. “This news hurts my heart and I extend my deepest sympathy and condolences to everyone who knew, cared for and loved Audrii,” Lyons said
Sheriff Lyons said there was “significant evidence” in the case and that cell phone data and video helped identify locations to search
The sheriff also said the Trinity River Authority lowered the river's water level, which led to the discovery of her body
The search for little Audrii Cunningham lasted five days before it came to a tragic end on Tuesday evening
McDougal allegedly accompanied Audrii to school on the morning of her disappearance
McDougal has a criminal history dating back to 2001 that includes convictions for two counts of solicitation of a child
Audrii sparked a nationwide search after she disappeared early Thursday morning in Livington, about an hour north of Houston, when she failed to show up for school
As authorities investigated Audrii's disappearance last week, they named McDougal as a person of interest and he was arrested Friday on an unrelated assault charge
Court records from Brazoria County, south of Houston, show McDougal pleaded no contest to two felony counts of soliciting a child in connection with a 2007 incident and was sentenced to two years in prison.
The sheriff said the girl's body was taken to the Harris County Coroner's Office in Houston to determine the cause of death.
Audrii's family reported her missing on Thursday after she failed to return to her Livingston home after school. After she was reported missing, investigators discovered she never got on the bus to go to school that morning.
A backpack that authorities believe belonged to the child was found Friday near the dam on Lake Livingston, one of the state's largest lakes.
As authorities investigated Audrii's disappearance last week, they named McDougal as a person of interest and he was arrested Friday on an unrelated assault charge.
As the search continued, the girl's mother appealed to the public for help, saying it was not like her daughter to simply run away or disappear.
“We don't have any leads, so we're grabbing any lead, any sign, anything in general,” she told KPRC at the time.
“There is not a single feeling that you feel,” she explained. “You’re broken, you’re crazy, you’re empty and right now I’m empty.”
“I will not be the same unless my baby is returned to me, and neither will her family, none of us, none of her friends, none of the people she is associated with in the community. “
The frantic search sparked intense online speculation and attracted multiple law enforcement agencies as a nationwide Amber Alert was triggered.
Police began searching the wooded area near the young girl's home as she is a lover of wildlife and nature, her family said.
Shortly after the search began, it was determined that the disappearance was not an accident, as Lieutenant Craig Cummings said at a press conference: “Based on the evidence we have, we understand that foul play is a factor.”