RERUN Hell and Gone Murder Line: Audrii Cunningham

inherent in cold cases. We remind listeners that everyone has presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing in the podcast is intended to state or imply that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening.

including her grandmother, also lived on the same property. Audrey was born on February fifteenth, twenty thirteen, so she had just turned eleven years old. She loved animals. In fact, one of her favorite things in the world to do was in the morning, when she would walk to the bus stop, she would stop to pet her neighbor's dog. The first people to notice that Audrey was missing were

at her school. Apparently, school officials notified her father, Joshua at around noon that she never made it to school that day. Now, that's what law enforcement has stated, but I have seen other reports saying that in Texas, like in many other states, they have an automated system that techts parents when a child doesn't show up, So it may have taken longer for that to happen for her

father to receive that message. But either way, when Audrey did not come home after school, her family knew that something was very wrong. Audrey's custody situation sounds a little complicated. Apparently her dad had full custody and there seemed to be some animosity there between her dad and her mom. Apparently, Audrey's mother, Cassie, allowed her to live with her father, Joshua, and from what the mother has said, it seems like that arrangement was not court ordered. It was just something

they figured out on their own. It had been going on for a few years. Cassie said that she allowed Audrey to live with her father in order for her daughter to have a better life. But as we said, there were other people staying on that property. One of the people living there was a forty two year old friend of the famili's. He lived in a camper out back, and this was someone who, though he had a very disturbing criminal record, he was allowed to babysit for Audrey.

But apparently this did not raise any red flags with anyone until the day when Audrey vanished. Only then did people start taking a hard look at what was really going on behind the closed doors of this house. In rural Texas, we talk a lot about stranger danger and children, but with this case, we're going to see that sometimes the most terrifying people in a child's life can be

living inside the home. I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years of making my true crime podcast, Helen Gone, I've learned that there is no such thing as a small town where murder never happens. I have received hundreds of men messages from people all around the country asking for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families,

and their communities. If you have a case you'd like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight seven four four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four six one four or five. This is Helen Gone Murder Line now. As listeners of this podcast will know, I very rarely do cases that are currently being investigated. I tend to focus on cold cases that everyone else has kind of forgotten.

I also don't tend to do cases where there has been a person of interest arrested, where the case is closed to being closed. But I'm breaking all the rules this week because I think that the Audrey Cunningham case is a very important case to cover. First of all, I wanted to cover it because it unfolded in a really public way. Now Obviously, anytime a young girl is

murdered or goes missing, this is a tragedy. But in my opinion, in this case, the police have shared with the public in a way that has been very positive. As we will see, police were able to arrest a person of interest very quickly. They communicated clearly with the community and with other agencies, and they did not withhold information. I want to know what we can learn from this going forward, so that in cases where there are children

and young women missing for such a long time. I'm hoping that we can take something from this and hopefully apply these lessons to some of her other cult cases.

in the woods behind her house. At first, they may have been thinking maybe she went back there to look for animals, since she did love animals, or maybe she wandered away and got lost. Audrey's family started posting on social media immediately after she went missing. Her father, Joshua Cunningham, made a post that read, my daughter Audrey Cunningham is missing. She did not make it to the bus this morning. Contact me and the police immediately with any information.

who had access to this little girl. Immediately, both the community and friends of hers saw pictures of this family friend, forty two year old Don Stephen McDougall, who goes by his middle name Stephen, and they were asking a lot of questions about Stephen. Stephen had a long criminal history. He had a swastika tattoo on his shoulder, and a lot of people commented on social media and said this did not look or sound like the type of guy you would want to leave in charge of your children.

People wanted to know who was this friend of the famili's and how was he allowed access to an eleven year old child. The Polk County Sheriff's Department did a press conference and the Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons described Stephen McDougall as a friend of the family, a friend of Audrey's father's. Stephen McDougall lived in a camper on the property, but he reportedly had access to the kitchen and the bathroom area pretty much the entire house. Reporters

and police talked to Audrey's mom, Cassie. She said that it was her understanding that Stephen would sometimes babysit Audrey, and Audrey's routine apparently was that every day she walked to the bus stop, and often Stephen was the person who walked with her. On occasion, or if she was running late or something like that, Stephen would drive Audrey to the bus stop in his two thousand and three navy blue Chevy Suburban, or he would drive her to school. Cassie made a public plea for help.

Polk County Police were already talking to Stephen. They confirmed Stephen was the last person to see Audrey before she disappeared. And I'm not exactly sure of the timeline here, because they started talking to Stephen on Thursday, February fifteenth, but at some point during their multiple interviews of Stephen. Stephen apparently admitted to police that he did leave the house with Audrey that morning, but he wouldn't talk about whether or not she ever made it to the bus stop.

This regional story very quickly made national news. Police were focusing on the area around Lake Livingstone Dam, a few miles from Audrey's home. Then, on Friday, one day after Audrey was reported missing, the local news station KHOU eleven reported that searchers had found a wet backpack believed to be Audrey's. More items of clothing belonging to a child were reportedly found near the waterline. The Polk County Sheriff's

office held a press conference at Bowders Marina. Sheriff Lines announced that the FBI and the Texas Rangers and multiple other agencies were involved and said they had boats and dogs searching the area. And he said in this press conference that police hadn't made any rest, but he stated that there were persons and he used the plural there persons of interest. Meanwhile, police continued to talk to Stephen.

And what was crazy was this entire situation with the police approaching Stephen and talking to him was playing out on social media. People were posting Facebook videos of the police talking to Stephen outside a donut shop, then Stephen getting into a squad car and going to the police station. And then it was reported that on February fifteenth, very soon after that donut shop confrontation, Stephen was arrested and he was taken to the Polk County Jail on an

unrelated assault charge. So now the public is wondering why if Stephen had warrants out on him, and given the violence of his past crimes, how was he allowed to roam free. Then on February twentieth, there was another press conference. That's when the Sheriff's office announced that Audrey Cunningham's body

had been found. At the press conference on February twentieth, Sheriff Line said that finding Audrey's body had been a coordinated effort, and he talked about how many groups were involved, including the Texas Rangers, Game Wardens, FBI, Harris County Sheriff's Office, and there were a lot more. The Trinity River Authority actually played a key role here because that agency agreed to lower the water level so that the divers could

do their searches around there. The Polk County District Attorney Shelley Sitton said quota resources that were marshaled by sheriff lines should show you that in this county they will come out when they need to protect our children. The sheriff said that Audrey's body had not been visible from the surface, so it required special equipment and teams to

locate her. There was a sonar boat they used to scow the river, and again the river authority had slowed down the outflow from the reservoir so that water level could be lowered. After they found Audrey's body, it was transported to Harris County Coroner's office. They did not release any information about the condition of her body, but later investigators revealed that Audrey's body had been tied to a large rock with a rope. And I just want to

mention here something that I noticed as an investigator. During the press conference, the sheriff talked about how powerful social media had been. They said they actually thanked people who were communicating on social media. The sheriff said that it had helped in their investigation, that it had helped pinpoint his location, and that in addition to getting cell phone data from Stephen's phone, that the social media chatter had really helped the case. This does not often happen in

criminal investigations. If you listen to this podcast, you know we've seen way too many where the police give no information out and bodies are not recovered quickly. So I have to say I think that Paul County did a really good job in communicating with the media and the public and maintaining the integrity and investigation while also giving

people information so that they could help. The sheriff also said during the press conference there was no evidence that Audrey had been held somewhere else before she was put in the water, but he said they were still analyzing data. It did not take long for amateur detectives and journalists to start delving into Stephen's criminal record. The news channel Fox twenty six in Houston reported that he had a string of arrests and convictions for violent crimes, including dui theft,

drug possession, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The most shocking, though, was enticement of a child. One news channel did an interview with a guy who had worked with Stephen and said that Stephen seemed like a nice guy. They worked together at a body shop and one night, they got into an argument. Things turned physical and they ended up kicking Stephen out of their house. Then Stephen came back with a knife and tried to stab this guy.

The victim called the police and Stephen was arrested. The victim told the news channel quote terrifying, it really was. He seemed like this nice guy, but he's got this whole other side to him that no one seemed to know about until now end quote. In fact, this guy said he was so horrified by everything that he had heard about Stephen that his only actual regret was that he didn't kill Stephen, that he didn't shoot him dead

the night that he was attacked. On February twenty second, the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office released Audrey Cunningham's cause of death. It was blunt head trauma and the manner of death was homicide. Again, I think it was a very good call to release this information. Making it publicly available definitely helped cut down on the wild rumors and online speculation. So again, this case is happening in real time.

Stephen has not been convicted of this crime, and we actually don't know if anyone else is going to be arrested or charged. But I have some questions about this timeline. Let's take a look back, because at first, police said their theory was that Stephen and Audrey drove in the car on Thursday morning and that he told Audrey he was going to drop her off the bus stop as normal. Then they speculated he took a d tour and took Audrey somewhere else. But again a lot of their information

was based on what Stephen was telling them. So I'm wondering could something have happened to Audrey before Thursday. The first meetia reports that came out said that Audrey had last been seen at around seven am on Thursday, February fifteenth, the day she reportedly disappeared, But at least according to my research, no one but Stephen and possibly others in the home say that she was ever seen that morning.

There was a neighbor who was interviewed by a news channel, and this neighbor said she always saw Audrey walk by her house every single day on her way to the bus stop, and that Audrey would stop to pet her dog well. The neighbor told a local news station that she remembered seeing Audrey on Valentine's Day, Wednesday, February fourteenth. She had actually said Happy Valentine's Day to Audrey, but crucially she said she did not see Audrey on Thursday

the fifteenth. And then there are the disturbing messages that Stephen was sending. People were posting Facebook messages saying that around the time Audrey disappeared that Stephen was trying to solicit them for sex. Stephen allegedly sent some messages about wanting to hook up with someone on the night of Wednesday, February fourteenth. He was offering, in exchange for sex, the title to his truck, meaning the Suburban, or one thousand dollars.

The messages are disturbing, not necessarily because he was wanting to hook up, but because these women are saying no. One woman responds and says she's engaged. Then she says, look, this is disgusting. I'm not a prostitute. I don't know why you're offering me money for this. Basically, she blew

them off. And it's also interesting to me that Stephen was making comments about trading in the suburban, because if that's true, if he really wanted to get rid of the car that in itself is interesting, there was potential evidence inside that car. Later investigators said they found rope inside Stephen's suburban and that that rope was consistent with the rope that had been found tied to Audrey's body. And then there are the messages that Stephen supposedly sent

to Audrey's mother, Cassie. Cassie posted text messages she said she exchanged with Stephen, and in these text messages, she claims that Stephen was trying to entice her to meet with him and with Audrey on Thursday, February fifteenth. So, as we mentioned, Cassie was having custody issues with her ex husband and she wanted to have more visits with her daughter. So the messages that were exchanged between Cassie and Stephen were basically Stephen offering to intervene and to

help Cassie out. Cassie wrote, quote, it makes me sick to my stomach that they think that's okay. She has an innocent, fragile child's mind and them warping it with chaos is not right man end quote. So basically, Cassie's saying that she believes that her ex husband is kind of turning her daughter. Against her. Stephen seems to be acting like this good guy who's a friend of the family who's going to plan a meetup with her mother.

Stephen replied, quote, I might take you out to the doc to fish and accidentally pull up with her to fish. End quote. So here he's offering to set up a meeting with Audrey. Cassie replied, quote, I want to meet her too, but if this comes back on me in any bad way, I can lose her forever and I would kill you then myself. Man, no threat but a promise end quote. So then he says, quote it wouldn't as long as no one says anything about it being set up. No one would even know, and she won't

say anything to them. I'm your daughter's favorite person, and she will not tell she wants to meet you. I told you I'm on your team. End quote. Now, Cassie apparently got cold feet and did not agree to this proposed meeting. I've seen reports that once she suggested to Stephen that her boyfriend with her, that he kind of cut it off, But either way, the meeting didn't happen. But rereading these texts is kind of horrifying because I'm

wondering what was Stephen planning to do on Thursday. Could Audrey have already been dead and he was trying to lure her mom out so that he could potentially say there had been a parental abduction? Was he planning on doing something to Audrey's mother? As it happened so often in these cases, there was not only panic and drama in the community, but there was also the family drama

that was playing out on social media. Early in the search for Audrey, online groups were created that, of course friends or people connected to the family were contributing to. And then of course a lot of people were saying the mother and the father should have known what was going on. Audrey's mom, Cassie confronted these rumors, and the rumors included a lot of commenters saying that Cassie had lost custody of Audrey because she failed or because there

were rug's involved in some way. She has said that that is an absolute lie. She wrote that she had nothing to hide, and she accused people of spreading bullshit online. Audrey's mother also spoke out and asked anyone with information about Audrey's whereabouts to come forward. She told the news channel KPRC. We have no leads, so we are grasping at any string, any signs anything. In general. You were broken, you're mad, you're empty, and right now I am empty.

Later there was an online post that Cassie made visible. The Daily Mail reported on it, and the Daily Beasts followed up. She wrote, quote, I'll make this clear one time, and one time only, I failed my daughter by being bullied into submission by her father's family and being made to believe she was in a safe, loving and normal

home with her father. End quote. Joshua Cunningham side of the family has been quieter, but a man named Chris Booth addressed a crowd of reporters and people from the community and said that he was speaking on behalf of the family.

talk on Facebook. You don't know the circumstances. Leave it alone.

Carissa was ten years old. She was at a family gathering and Stephen, who was a friend of the families, came into the bedroom that night where she was sleeping with one of her cousins. She said, Stephen pulled her cousin out of the bed and then crawled in there. She said, quote he tried to take down my pants and I immediately jumped up at that moment. I remember looking at him. I was like, do you know how old I am? End quote. The grand jury indictment backed

up Caris's version of events. The indictment explained that Stephen had removed another female from the bed where his victim was sleeping, then pulled down her pajama bottoms and underwear. But it didn't stop there because Carissa managed to break free and she tried to run outside, but then Stephen chased her and grabbed her again. She said she started hitting him and she managed to break free. Her family

called the police and he was arrested. Stephen was originally charged with attempted indecency with a child, but he was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of child enticement. Now crucially, this meant he did not have to register as a sex offender, so if you look him up in the sex offender registry, nothing would come up under his name. And in addition to that, even though he was sentenced to two years in prison, he got credit for time served for the time he'd been waiting around

for trial, so he was out in six months. And even more shocking than this to me is the fact that members of Stephen's family said this incident was just exaggerated. They backed him up, and some of them actually seemed to blame the victim. I have seen this lay out in so many other cases, and it is always shocking to me. Stephen's mother joined one of the social media

groups that was created after Audrey disappeared. Now, according to commenters, this post has been removed, but there were comments in there, allegedly made by members of Stephen's family that called this ten year old victim a little bitch. And there are screenshots that people in the group have taken of other

people in Stephen's family liking that post. And another commenter, someone who said that she was a friend of one of Stephen's sisters, said she had ended the friendship with that sister because she claimed that when she brought up the incident, the sister said it was exaggerated and that this little girl had made up the story, And this person said they had told Stephen's sister they don't believe

that children make up stories like that. The bottom line was this friend of Stephen's family's absolutely believed there were people in this family who knew, or at least should have known, about his proclivities. Sheriff Lynes told CNN that before Stephen was arrested, he had been out searching for Audrey. Stephen had inserted himself into the case. He'd been going door to or looking for her. We've seen this a lot in these cases. There seem to be two responses

in general from guilty people. Some people completely avoid looking or being present at all, or sometimes they seem a little too overly involved in the investigation. Now, again, Steven is innocent until proven guilty. We don't know what he has said to police. Law enforcement has stated when the Texas Rangers initially questioned him, he said, quote, I'm not guilty. I was there and was questioned. I am not running or hiding. I've done everything I can to help find her.

I've done nothing wrong end quote. And again, I just want to say I think the police did a great job, not only with finding Audrey's body in cooperating with other agencies, but also they put out a photo of Steven's two thousand and three Chevy Suburban and they asked anyone who had seen that vehicle to come forward, and it worked.

A store clerk at the Exxon in Cold Spring told the news channel KPRC two that after she saw the Amber alert, she realized she had seen Stephen in her convenience store at around nine am on the morning of February fifteenth. Now, this would have been around two hours after Audrey missed her bus. She said she definitely remembered Stephen, because he's, in her words, so ugly. It's a face you don't forget. So because of this quick work by the police in issuing the amber alert and the vehicle

of interest, the gas station attendant called the police. Police came in and they were able to pull the gas station video. Again, this is a great thing because we know in so many of these cases sometimes law enforcement waits too long and the footage has been deleted or taped over. Police were also able to obtain social media information from Stephen. Later that night, the evening of February fifteenth, Stephen or someone using his account posted as Faiseo page.

Stephen was selling a lot of stuff. According to KPRC two, whoever posted those messages wrote all must go. This included a set of weights with one of the weights missing, an everlast boxing bag, and a green paddle and the total for all these items was twelve hundred and thirty four dollars. So I have a couple of questions about this, like what did he do with the twenty five pound weight? Why was that missing? Was it just a coincidence that

Audrey's body was weighed down? Is that weight somewhere random or could it be in the river too. I'm sure that much more information will come out about what actually happened to Audrey as we get closer to a trial or a plea deal. As of now, Don Stephen Cunningham is in the Polk County jail. So we've talked about the good news, how law enforcement has said, how vital citizen information and footage was in helping in the search

for Audrey and the criminal investigation in this case. And now we're going to get to the bad news because the reality is, yes, the guy was caught quickly, but an eleven year old girl is dead, and the fact that this was allowed to happen, that she was allowed to be taken care of for so long by this sexual predator, just shows, in my opinion, how she was

failed by so many people on so many levels. We've seen this over and over in past cases, with the Cass County three, with Christina Pipkin's case, how there are sexual predators who were allowed to interact with children. And it's too late for little Audrey, but there are so many other children out there who can be helped. Stephen's former victim, Carrissa Gates, who was attacked by Stephen when

she was ten years old. The one who bravely shared her story wrote something at the bottom of her Facebook post. She wrote, I'm not the only victim, and that's the terrifying part. There are so many other victims out there, as many of you know. I'm all about calls to action on this podcast. So many people always ask what can I do? And I'm reading a lot of these social media comments and people are leaving bouquets of flowers or photoshopping angel wings onto Audrey, or suggesting painting a

bridge or a park bench in her honor. And don't get me wrong, those are all lovely sentiments, but for me, honestly, if you want to do something to help victims, my suggestion is that you take a hard look around your family, your friends, and your community and look for situations where

children could be at risk, because they are everywhere. Let's not wait to drag a body out of a river before other victims of sexual assault are helped and these predators and potential killers are exposed and put behind bars where they belong. I'm Catherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. Helen Gone Murder Line is a production of school of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It's written and narrated by me Catherine Townsend and produced by Gabby Watts. Music

contributed by Ben Sale. Executive producers are Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr, and Elsie Crotley. If you have a case you'd like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight seven four four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four six one four five.