The desperate search for an 11-year-old Polk County child has come to a tragic end in southeast Texas.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office now says Audrii Cunninghamd's body has been found in the Trinity River about an hour northeast of Houston.
Sheriff Byron Lyons explains that searchers had narrowed their focus to a stretch of the Trinity River just south of Lake Livingston. The Trinity River Authority was able to reduce the release of water from the dam to lower the water level in the river. That allowed divers access to the area where Audrii's body was found.
Investigators had already arrested a man named Dan McDougal, a friend of Audrii's father, on an unrelated matter. But now with proof of Audrii's death, Lyons says McDougal will be charged with capital murder.
Police reports say Audrii's father had allowed McDougal to live in a trailer behind the family's home.
Audrii had been missing since last week when she left for school Thursday morning.
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