WEBVTT - RERUN Hell and Gone Murder Line: Audrii Cunningham 0:00:46.480 --> 0:00:51.961 School of Humans. Helen Got Murder Line actively investigates cold 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.361 case murders in an effort to raise public awareness invite 0:00:55.401 --> 0:00:58.761 witnesses to come forward and present evidence that could potentially 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.961 be further investigated by law enforcement. While we value insights 0:01:03.001 --> 0:01:06.160 from family and community members, their statements should not be 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.961 considered evidence and point to the challenges of verifying facts 0:01:10.041 --> 0:01:14.041 inherent in cold cases. We remind listeners that everyone has 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.160 presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 0:01:17.961 --> 0:01:20.840 Nothing in the podcast is intended to state or imply 0:01:21.041 --> 0:01:23.601 that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime 0:01:24.161 --> 0:01:29.121 is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening. 0:01:29.761 --> 0:01:32.401 Her eleven year old granddaughter would grow faf at the 0:01:32.401 --> 0:01:35.041 bus about seven am this morning and never made it 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:37.121 on the bus and has not been seen since ty 0:01:37.161 --> 0:01:40.320 twenty six. Female is about cross my four for eleven 0:01:40.401 --> 0:01:43.641 eighty six pounds, blond, long hair, blue eyes, lasting war 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:44.521 her dark colored. 0:01:47.681 --> 0:01:51.921 On February fifteenth, twenty twenty four, the day after Valentine's Day, 0:01:52.481 --> 0:01:55.561 eleven year old Audrey Cunningham, a fifth grade student at 0:01:55.561 --> 0:01:59.441 Creekside Elementary in Livingston, Texas, never made it to the 0:01:59.441 --> 0:02:04.321 bus stop. Audrey's parents are divorced. She lived with her father, 0:02:04.561 --> 0:02:08.041 Joshua Lee Cunningham, in Livingston, which is about seventy five 0:02:08.081 --> 0:02:12.281 miles north of Houston in Polk County. Some other family members, 0:02:12.321 --> 0:02:16.881 including her grandmother, also lived on the same property. Audrey 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:20.281 was born on February fifteenth, twenty thirteen, so she had 0:02:20.361 --> 0:02:24.321 just turned eleven years old. She loved animals. In fact, 0:02:24.321 --> 0:02:26.441 one of her favorite things in the world to do 0:02:27.001 --> 0:02:29.321 was in the morning, when she would walk to the 0:02:29.321 --> 0:02:32.081 bus stop, she would stop to pet her neighbor's dog. 0:02:33.001 --> 0:02:35.960 The first people to notice that Audrey was missing were 0:02:36.001 --> 0:02:40.561 at her school. Apparently, school officials notified her father, Joshua 0:02:40.601 --> 0:02:42.680 at around noon that she never made it to school 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:46.561 that day. Now, that's what law enforcement has stated, but 0:02:46.641 --> 0:02:50.201 I have seen other reports saying that in Texas, like 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:53.041 in many other states, they have an automated system that 0:02:53.121 --> 0:02:56.401 techts parents when a child doesn't show up, So it 0:02:56.481 --> 0:02:58.961 may have taken longer for that to happen for her 0:02:58.961 --> 0:03:02.441 father to receive that message. But either way, when Audrey 0:03:02.481 --> 0:03:05.561 did not come home after school, her family knew that 0:03:05.641 --> 0:03:11.201 something was very wrong. Audrey's custody situation sounds a little complicated. 0:03:11.601 --> 0:03:14.921 Apparently her dad had full custody and there seemed to 0:03:14.961 --> 0:03:19.561 be some animosity there between her dad and her mom. Apparently, 0:03:19.641 --> 0:03:23.161 Audrey's mother, Cassie, allowed her to live with her father, Joshua, 0:03:23.721 --> 0:03:26.241 and from what the mother has said, it seems like 0:03:26.281 --> 0:03:28.961 that arrangement was not court ordered. It was just something 0:03:28.961 --> 0:03:31.601 they figured out on their own. It had been going 0:03:31.641 --> 0:03:35.321 on for a few years. Cassie said that she allowed 0:03:35.401 --> 0:03:37.721 Audrey to live with her father in order for her 0:03:37.801 --> 0:03:41.641 daughter to have a better life. But as we said, 0:03:41.761 --> 0:03:45.161 there were other people staying on that property. One of 0:03:45.161 --> 0:03:47.401 the people living there was a forty two year old 0:03:47.401 --> 0:03:50.481 friend of the famili's. He lived in a camper out back, 0:03:51.841 --> 0:03:54.521 and this was someone who, though he had a very 0:03:54.561 --> 0:03:58.721 disturbing criminal record, he was allowed to babysit for Audrey. 0:03:59.721 --> 0:04:02.601 But apparently this did not raise any red flags with 0:04:02.641 --> 0:04:10.081 anyone until the day when Audrey vanished. Only then did 0:04:10.121 --> 0:04:12.841 people start taking a hard look at what was really 0:04:12.881 --> 0:04:15.241 going on behind the closed doors of this house. In 0:04:15.281 --> 0:04:20.760 rural Texas, we talk a lot about stranger danger and children, 0:04:21.401 --> 0:04:24.081 but with this case, we're going to see that sometimes 0:04:24.121 --> 0:04:27.681 the most terrifying people in a child's life can be 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:34.001 living inside the home. I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past 0:04:34.041 --> 0:04:36.961 five years of making my true crime podcast, Helen Gone, 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:39.601 I've learned that there is no such thing as a 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:43.441 small town where murder never happens. I have received hundreds 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:46.561 of men messages from people all around the country asking 0:04:46.561 --> 0:04:50.001 for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families, 0:04:50.121 --> 0:04:53.320 and their communities. If you have a case you'd like 0:04:53.401 --> 0:04:55.681 me and my team to look into, you can reach 0:04:55.721 --> 0:04:57.921 out to us at our Helen Gone Murder Line at 0:04:57.961 --> 0:05:01.481 six seven eight seven four four six one four five. 0:05:02.161 --> 0:05:05.841 That's six seven eight seven four four six one four 0:05:05.881 --> 0:05:46.401 or five. This is Helen Gone Murder Line now. As 0:05:46.521 --> 0:05:50.161 listeners of this podcast will know, I very rarely do 0:05:50.321 --> 0:05:53.601 cases that are currently being investigated. I tend to focus 0:05:53.641 --> 0:05:56.201 on cold cases that everyone else has kind of forgotten. 0:05:57.121 --> 0:05:59.721 I also don't tend to do cases where there has 0:05:59.801 --> 0:06:02.200 been a person of interest arrested, where the case is 0:06:02.241 --> 0:06:06.401 closed to being closed. But I'm breaking all the rules 0:06:06.441 --> 0:06:08.960 this week because I think that the Audrey Cunningham case 0:06:09.081 --> 0:06:12.281 is a very important case to cover. First of all, 0:06:12.321 --> 0:06:14.681 I wanted to cover it because it unfolded in a 0:06:14.721 --> 0:06:19.001 really public way. Now Obviously, anytime a young girl is 0:06:19.121 --> 0:06:21.881 murdered or goes missing, this is a tragedy. But in 0:06:21.921 --> 0:06:24.521 my opinion, in this case, the police have shared with 0:06:24.561 --> 0:06:27.241 the public in a way that has been very positive. 0:06:27.801 --> 0:06:30.760 As we will see, police were able to arrest a 0:06:30.761 --> 0:06:34.401 person of interest very quickly. They communicated clearly with the 0:06:34.401 --> 0:06:38.241 community and with other agencies, and they did not withhold information. 0:06:39.041 --> 0:06:40.640 I want to know what we can learn from this 0:06:40.761 --> 0:06:43.921 going forward, so that in cases where there are children 0:06:44.081 --> 0:06:47.401 and young women missing for such a long time. I'm 0:06:47.481 --> 0:06:50.121 hoping that we can take something from this and hopefully 0:06:50.121 --> 0:06:52.681 apply these lessons to some of her other cult cases. 0:06:53.761 --> 0:06:56.841 The missing juvenile called in from the county. They want 0:06:56.881 --> 0:06:58.440 us to take that address with phus. 0:06:58.481 --> 0:07:01.361 There still no side of her negative. 0:07:03.401 --> 0:07:06.801 Audrey Cunningham was officially reported missing to law enforcement at 0:07:06.841 --> 0:07:11.161 around five thirty pm on Thursday, February fifteenth, twenty twenty four. 0:07:12.001 --> 0:07:15.561 An Amberlert went out that night for Audrey, describing her 0:07:15.641 --> 0:07:19.001 as four foot eleven, seventy five pounds, wearing a black 0:07:19.041 --> 0:07:23.721 hoodie with white lettering, carrying a camouflage backpack, black pants, 0:07:23.881 --> 0:07:29.121 and black high top tennis shoes. Police immediately started searching 0:07:29.161 --> 0:07:31.841 in the woods behind her house. At first, they may 0:07:31.841 --> 0:07:33.841 have been thinking maybe she went back there to look 0:07:33.881 --> 0:07:37.441 for animals, since she did love animals, or maybe she 0:07:37.521 --> 0:07:41.801 wandered away and got lost. Audrey's family started posting on 0:07:41.841 --> 0:07:46.361 social media immediately after she went missing. Her father, Joshua Cunningham, 0:07:46.401 --> 0:07:49.801 made a post that read, my daughter Audrey Cunningham is missing. 0:07:50.201 --> 0:07:52.081 She did not make it to the bus this morning. 0:07:52.521 --> 0:07:55.681 Contact me and the police immediately with any information. 0:07:57.641 --> 0:07:57.961 Now. 0:07:58.361 --> 0:08:01.481 This seemed to feed into early media reports that said 0:08:01.481 --> 0:08:04.361 that Audrey had vanished some time on her way to 0:08:04.361 --> 0:08:07.361 school on Thursday. But as I'm going to get into 0:08:07.441 --> 0:08:10.561 a little bit later, I have questions about this timeline 0:08:10.601 --> 0:08:14.521 and when Audrey really disappeared. Of course, police who were 0:08:14.521 --> 0:08:18.081 looking for Audrey were considering all the possibilities. In addition 0:08:18.121 --> 0:08:20.441 to figuring out if a stranger had grabbed her on 0:08:20.441 --> 0:08:22.561 her way to the bus stop, they were also taking 0:08:22.601 --> 0:08:26.121 a close look at her home life. Who was around Audrey, 0:08:26.161 --> 0:08:29.881 who had access to this little girl. Immediately, both the 0:08:29.881 --> 0:08:34.040 community and friends of hers saw pictures of this family friend, 0:08:34.121 --> 0:08:36.561 forty two year old Don Stephen McDougall, who goes by 0:08:36.560 --> 0:08:39.280 his middle name Stephen, and they were asking a lot 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:43.441 of questions about Stephen. Stephen had a long criminal history. 0:08:43.841 --> 0:08:47.321 He had a swastika tattoo on his shoulder, and a 0:08:47.321 --> 0:08:49.881 lot of people commented on social media and said this 0:08:49.961 --> 0:08:52.200 did not look or sound like the type of guy 0:08:52.241 --> 0:08:54.040 you would want to leave in charge of your children. 0:08:55.521 --> 0:08:58.361 People wanted to know who was this friend of the 0:08:58.401 --> 0:09:01.441 famili's and how was he allowed access to an eleven 0:09:01.521 --> 0:09:07.721 year old child. The Polk County Sheriff's Department did a 0:09:07.761 --> 0:09:12.161 press conference and the Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons described 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:14.761 Stephen McDougall as a friend of the family, a friend 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.321 of Audrey's father's. Stephen McDougall lived in a camper on 0:09:18.361 --> 0:09:22.081 the property, but he reportedly had access to the kitchen 0:09:22.201 --> 0:09:26.801 and the bathroom area pretty much the entire house. Reporters 0:09:26.841 --> 0:09:30.441 and police talked to Audrey's mom, Cassie. She said that 0:09:30.481 --> 0:09:34.001 it was her understanding that Stephen would sometimes babysit Audrey, 0:09:34.761 --> 0:09:38.721 and Audrey's routine apparently was that every day she walked 0:09:38.761 --> 0:09:41.881 to the bus stop, and often Stephen was the person 0:09:41.881 --> 0:09:44.761 who walked with her. On occasion, or if she was 0:09:44.841 --> 0:09:48.041 running late or something like that, Stephen would drive Audrey 0:09:48.081 --> 0:09:49.841 to the bus stop in his two thousand and three 0:09:50.121 --> 0:09:53.401 navy blue Chevy Suburban, or he would drive her to school. 0:09:54.521 --> 0:09:56.601 Cassie made a public plea for help. 0:09:57.081 --> 0:09:58.921 I would just like to get the word out that 0:09:59.441 --> 0:10:03.401 we would like to have her come home. It's not 0:10:03.641 --> 0:10:07.561 like her to, you know, just run off forward disappear. 0:10:07.721 --> 0:10:09.921 She has a lot of loving families. She has so 0:10:10.001 --> 0:10:12.321 many people that love her and adore her. 0:10:13.761 --> 0:10:17.121 And she also publicly shared texts that she said were 0:10:17.161 --> 0:10:20.961 from Stephen in which Stephen said he had dropped Audrey 0:10:20.961 --> 0:10:24.361 off to the bus stop that morning. Yet school officials 0:10:24.401 --> 0:10:27.721 stated they confirmed Audrey was not on that bus. She 0:10:27.761 --> 0:10:30.561 did not ride her bus to school that day. So 0:10:31.721 --> 0:10:35.401 these stories conflicted, and it didn't take police long to 0:10:35.481 --> 0:10:39.601 learn that in addition to Stephen's criminal history, he had 0:10:39.761 --> 0:10:45.121 arrests for violent crime and sexual crimes against children. The 0:10:45.201 --> 0:10:49.800 Polk County Police were already talking to Stephen. They confirmed 0:10:49.841 --> 0:10:53.160 Stephen was the last person to see Audrey before she disappeared. 0:10:53.921 --> 0:10:57.040 And I'm not exactly sure of the timeline here, because 0:10:57.041 --> 0:11:01.201 they started talking to Stephen on Thursday, February fifteenth, but 0:11:01.401 --> 0:11:05.361 at some point during their multiple interviews of Stephen. Stephen 0:11:05.401 --> 0:11:07.921 apparently admitted to police that he did leave the house 0:11:07.921 --> 0:11:11.161 with Audrey that morning, but he wouldn't talk about whether 0:11:11.241 --> 0:11:12.761 or not she ever made it to the bus stop. 0:11:14.841 --> 0:11:20.001 This regional story very quickly made national news. Police were 0:11:20.081 --> 0:11:23.241 focusing on the area around Lake Livingstone Dam, a few 0:11:23.241 --> 0:11:29.841 miles from Audrey's home. Then, on Friday, one day after 0:11:29.921 --> 0:11:34.081 Audrey was reported missing, the local news station KHOU eleven 0:11:34.521 --> 0:11:37.841 reported that searchers had found a wet backpack believed to 0:11:37.881 --> 0:11:41.881 be Audrey's. More items of clothing belonging to a child 0:11:42.001 --> 0:11:45.921 were reportedly found near the waterline. The Polk County Sheriff's 0:11:45.921 --> 0:11:50.121 office held a press conference at Bowders Marina. Sheriff Lines 0:11:50.161 --> 0:11:53.401 announced that the FBI and the Texas Rangers and multiple 0:11:53.401 --> 0:11:56.601 other agencies were involved and said they had boats and 0:11:56.681 --> 0:12:00.881 dogs searching the area. And he said in this press 0:12:00.921 --> 0:12:04.401 conference that police hadn't made any rest, but he stated 0:12:04.401 --> 0:12:06.761 that there were persons and he used the plural there 0:12:07.321 --> 0:12:12.241 persons of interest. Meanwhile, police continued to talk to Stephen. 0:12:13.561 --> 0:12:16.761 And what was crazy was this entire situation with the 0:12:16.801 --> 0:12:19.921 police approaching Stephen and talking to him was playing out 0:12:20.001 --> 0:12:23.721 on social media. People were posting Facebook videos of the 0:12:23.721 --> 0:12:27.281 police talking to Stephen outside a donut shop, then Stephen 0:12:27.321 --> 0:12:29.800 getting into a squad car and going to the police station. 0:12:30.961 --> 0:12:35.641 And then it was reported that on February fifteenth, very 0:12:35.721 --> 0:12:39.721 soon after that donut shop confrontation, Stephen was arrested and 0:12:39.761 --> 0:12:41.681 he was taken to the Polk County Jail on an 0:12:41.721 --> 0:12:45.681 unrelated assault charge. So now the public is wondering why 0:12:45.881 --> 0:12:48.401 if Stephen had warrants out on him, and given the 0:12:48.481 --> 0:12:51.241 violence of his past crimes, how was he allowed to 0:12:51.321 --> 0:12:59.961 roam free. Then on February twentieth, there was another press conference. 0:13:00.841 --> 0:13:04.280 That's when the Sheriff's office announced that Audrey Cunningham's body 0:13:04.321 --> 0:13:15.281 had been found. At the press conference on February twentieth, 0:13:15.681 --> 0:13:18.881 Sheriff Line said that finding Audrey's body had been a 0:13:18.921 --> 0:13:21.841 coordinated effort, and he talked about how many groups were involved, 0:13:21.881 --> 0:13:26.881 including the Texas Rangers, Game Wardens, FBI, Harris County Sheriff's Office, 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.641 and there were a lot more. The Trinity River Authority 0:13:30.681 --> 0:13:35.321 actually played a key role here because that agency agreed 0:13:35.401 --> 0:13:37.961 to lower the water level so that the divers could 0:13:37.961 --> 0:13:41.841 do their searches around there. The Polk County District Attorney 0:13:41.921 --> 0:13:46.601 Shelley Sitton said quota resources that were marshaled by sheriff 0:13:46.681 --> 0:13:49.881 lines should show you that in this county they will 0:13:49.961 --> 0:13:54.321 come out when they need to protect our children. The 0:13:54.401 --> 0:13:57.560 sheriff said that Audrey's body had not been visible from 0:13:57.601 --> 0:14:00.881 the surface, so it required special equipment and teams to 0:14:00.961 --> 0:14:03.841 locate her. There was a sonar boat they used to 0:14:03.841 --> 0:14:07.321 scow the river, and again the river authority had slowed 0:14:07.361 --> 0:14:10.441 down the outflow from the reservoir so that water level 0:14:10.441 --> 0:14:14.841 could be lowered. After they found Audrey's body, it was 0:14:14.921 --> 0:14:18.441 transported to Harris County Coroner's office. They did not release 0:14:18.441 --> 0:14:22.241 any information about the condition of her body, but later 0:14:22.521 --> 0:14:26.161 investigators revealed that Audrey's body had been tied to a 0:14:26.241 --> 0:14:32.001 large rock with a rope. And I just want to 0:14:32.041 --> 0:14:34.641 mention here something that I noticed as an investigator. During 0:14:34.641 --> 0:14:40.081 the press conference, the sheriff talked about how powerful social 0:14:40.121 --> 0:14:42.921 media had been. They said they actually thanked people who 0:14:42.961 --> 0:14:45.801 were communicating on social media. The sheriff said that it 0:14:45.801 --> 0:14:48.921 had helped in their investigation, that it had helped pinpoint 0:14:48.921 --> 0:14:52.001 his location, and that in addition to getting cell phone 0:14:52.081 --> 0:14:56.121 data from Stephen's phone, that the social media chatter had 0:14:56.161 --> 0:15:00.281 really helped the case. This does not often happen in 0:15:00.361 --> 0:15:03.321 criminal investigations. If you listen to this podcast, you know 0:15:03.361 --> 0:15:07.081 we've seen way too many where the police give no 0:15:07.201 --> 0:15:11.801 information out and bodies are not recovered quickly. So I 0:15:11.841 --> 0:15:13.761 have to say I think that Paul County did a 0:15:13.801 --> 0:15:16.121 really good job in communicating with the media and the 0:15:16.121 --> 0:15:21.241 public and maintaining the integrity and investigation while also giving 0:15:21.281 --> 0:15:25.081 people information so that they could help. The sheriff also 0:15:25.201 --> 0:15:27.721 said during the press conference there was no evidence that 0:15:27.761 --> 0:15:29.921 Audrey had been held somewhere else before she was put 0:15:29.961 --> 0:15:32.801 in the water, but he said they were still analyzing data. 0:15:37.801 --> 0:15:41.601 It did not take long for amateur detectives and journalists 0:15:41.601 --> 0:15:45.601 to start delving into Stephen's criminal record. The news channel 0:15:45.681 --> 0:15:47.921 Fox twenty six in Houston reported that he had a 0:15:47.921 --> 0:15:52.481 string of arrests and convictions for violent crimes, including dui theft, 0:15:52.601 --> 0:15:56.041 drug possession, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The 0:15:56.081 --> 0:16:02.521 most shocking, though, was enticement of a child. One news 0:16:02.641 --> 0:16:05.681 channel did an interview with a guy who had worked 0:16:05.721 --> 0:16:08.961 with Stephen and said that Stephen seemed like a nice guy. 0:16:09.321 --> 0:16:11.481 They worked together at a body shop and one night, 0:16:11.521 --> 0:16:14.521 they got into an argument. Things turned physical and they 0:16:14.601 --> 0:16:17.761 ended up kicking Stephen out of their house. Then Stephen 0:16:17.841 --> 0:16:20.961 came back with a knife and tried to stab this guy. 0:16:21.041 --> 0:16:24.521 The victim called the police and Stephen was arrested. The 0:16:24.601 --> 0:16:28.361 victim told the news channel quote terrifying, it really was. 0:16:28.801 --> 0:16:31.121 He seemed like this nice guy, but he's got this 0:16:31.201 --> 0:16:33.321 whole other side to him that no one seemed to 0:16:33.361 --> 0:16:37.161 know about until now end quote. In fact, this guy 0:16:37.241 --> 0:16:39.561 said he was so horrified by everything that he had 0:16:39.601 --> 0:16:43.641 heard about Stephen that his only actual regret was that 0:16:43.841 --> 0:16:46.281 he didn't kill Stephen, that he didn't shoot him dead 0:16:46.401 --> 0:16:50.641 the night that he was attacked. On February twenty second, 0:16:51.001 --> 0:16:54.921 the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office released Audrey Cunningham's cause 0:16:54.961 --> 0:16:58.561 of death. It was blunt head trauma and the manner 0:16:58.601 --> 0:17:03.641 of death was homicide. Again, I think it was a 0:17:03.761 --> 0:17:07.600 very good call to release this information. Making it publicly 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.360 available definitely helped cut down on the wild rumors and 0:17:11.481 --> 0:17:19.840 online speculation. So again, this case is happening in real time. 0:17:20.001 --> 0:17:22.880 Stephen has not been convicted of this crime, and we 0:17:22.961 --> 0:17:24.801 actually don't know if anyone else is going to be 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:30.521 arrested or charged. But I have some questions about this timeline. 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:34.001 Let's take a look back, because at first, police said 0:17:34.001 --> 0:17:36.720 their theory was that Stephen and Audrey drove in the 0:17:36.761 --> 0:17:39.321 car on Thursday morning and that he told Audrey he 0:17:39.360 --> 0:17:41.521 was going to drop her off the bus stop as normal. 0:17:42.161 --> 0:17:44.561 Then they speculated he took a d tour and took 0:17:44.561 --> 0:17:48.080 Audrey somewhere else. But again a lot of their information 0:17:48.401 --> 0:17:51.201 was based on what Stephen was telling them. So I'm 0:17:51.201 --> 0:17:56.401 wondering could something have happened to Audrey before Thursday. The 0:17:56.441 --> 0:17:59.161 first meetia reports that came out said that Audrey had 0:17:59.241 --> 0:18:03.641 last been seen at around seven am on Thursday, February fifteenth, 0:18:03.681 --> 0:18:07.801 the day she reportedly disappeared, But at least according to 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.321 my research, no one but Stephen and possibly others in 0:18:11.361 --> 0:18:13.281 the home say that she was ever seen that morning. 0:18:14.521 --> 0:18:17.080 There was a neighbor who was interviewed by a news channel, 0:18:17.201 --> 0:18:20.360 and this neighbor said she always saw Audrey walk by 0:18:20.361 --> 0:18:22.521 her house every single day on her way to the 0:18:22.521 --> 0:18:25.080 bus stop, and that Audrey would stop to pet her 0:18:25.121 --> 0:18:29.001 dog well. The neighbor told a local news station that 0:18:29.121 --> 0:18:33.561 she remembered seeing Audrey on Valentine's Day, Wednesday, February fourteenth. 0:18:33.561 --> 0:18:36.521 She had actually said Happy Valentine's Day to Audrey, but 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:39.681 crucially she said she did not see Audrey on Thursday 0:18:39.721 --> 0:18:44.561 the fifteenth. And then there are the disturbing messages that 0:18:44.601 --> 0:18:49.640 Stephen was sending. People were posting Facebook messages saying that 0:18:49.721 --> 0:18:52.561 around the time Audrey disappeared that Stephen was trying to 0:18:52.601 --> 0:18:57.080 solicit them for sex. Stephen allegedly sent some messages about 0:18:57.121 --> 0:19:00.121 wanting to hook up with someone on the night of Wednesday, 0:19:00.161 --> 0:19:04.321 February fourteenth. He was offering, in exchange for sex, the 0:19:04.361 --> 0:19:07.681 title to his truck, meaning the Suburban, or one thousand dollars. 0:19:08.721 --> 0:19:12.161 The messages are disturbing, not necessarily because he was wanting 0:19:12.161 --> 0:19:14.281 to hook up, but because these women are saying no. 0:19:15.041 --> 0:19:18.401 One woman responds and says she's engaged. Then she says, look, 0:19:18.441 --> 0:19:20.761 this is disgusting. I'm not a prostitute. I don't know 0:19:20.801 --> 0:19:23.321 why you're offering me money for this. Basically, she blew 0:19:23.361 --> 0:19:27.241 them off. And it's also interesting to me that Stephen 0:19:27.321 --> 0:19:30.961 was making comments about trading in the suburban, because if 0:19:30.961 --> 0:19:33.080 that's true, if he really wanted to get rid of 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:37.361 the car that in itself is interesting, there was potential 0:19:37.401 --> 0:19:44.840 evidence inside that car. Later investigators said they found rope 0:19:44.881 --> 0:19:48.160 inside Stephen's suburban and that that rope was consistent with 0:19:48.201 --> 0:19:50.600 the rope that had been found tied to Audrey's body. 0:19:51.921 --> 0:19:55.521 And then there are the messages that Stephen supposedly sent 0:19:55.601 --> 0:20:00.401 to Audrey's mother, Cassie. Cassie posted text messages she said 0:20:00.401 --> 0:20:04.201 she exchanged with Stephen, and in these text messages, she 0:20:04.321 --> 0:20:07.121 claims that Stephen was trying to entice her to meet 0:20:07.201 --> 0:20:11.521 with him and with Audrey on Thursday, February fifteenth. So, 0:20:11.641 --> 0:20:14.600 as we mentioned, Cassie was having custody issues with her 0:20:14.641 --> 0:20:16.880 ex husband and she wanted to have more visits with 0:20:16.921 --> 0:20:20.801 her daughter. So the messages that were exchanged between Cassie 0:20:20.801 --> 0:20:24.241 and Stephen were basically Stephen offering to intervene and to 0:20:24.361 --> 0:20:28.401 help Cassie out. Cassie wrote, quote, it makes me sick 0:20:28.401 --> 0:20:30.880 to my stomach that they think that's okay. She has 0:20:30.921 --> 0:20:33.840 an innocent, fragile child's mind and them warping it with 0:20:33.921 --> 0:20:38.441 chaos is not right man end quote. So basically, Cassie's 0:20:38.481 --> 0:20:42.081 saying that she believes that her ex husband is kind 0:20:42.121 --> 0:20:45.120 of turning her daughter. Against her. Stephen seems to be 0:20:45.161 --> 0:20:47.080 acting like this good guy who's a friend of the 0:20:47.121 --> 0:20:49.600 family who's going to plan a meetup with her mother. 0:20:50.361 --> 0:20:53.600 Stephen replied, quote, I might take you out to the 0:20:53.641 --> 0:20:57.080 doc to fish and accidentally pull up with her to fish. 0:20:57.321 --> 0:21:02.120 End quote. So here he's offering to set up a 0:21:02.161 --> 0:21:06.361 meeting with Audrey. Cassie replied, quote, I want to meet 0:21:06.361 --> 0:21:08.600 her too, but if this comes back on me in 0:21:08.641 --> 0:21:11.041 any bad way, I can lose her forever and I 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:13.441 would kill you then myself. Man, no threat but a 0:21:13.441 --> 0:21:17.481 promise end quote. So then he says, quote it wouldn't 0:21:17.521 --> 0:21:19.561 as long as no one says anything about it being 0:21:19.601 --> 0:21:22.281 set up. No one would even know, and she won't 0:21:22.321 --> 0:21:25.801 say anything to them. I'm your daughter's favorite person, and 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:28.681 she will not tell she wants to meet you. I 0:21:28.801 --> 0:21:34.921 told you I'm on your team. End quote. Now, Cassie 0:21:35.001 --> 0:21:37.801 apparently got cold feet and did not agree to this 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:42.321 proposed meeting. I've seen reports that once she suggested to 0:21:42.321 --> 0:21:44.921 Stephen that her boyfriend with her, that he kind of 0:21:44.961 --> 0:21:47.681 cut it off, But either way, the meeting didn't happen. 0:21:48.961 --> 0:21:53.361 But rereading these texts is kind of horrifying because I'm 0:21:53.361 --> 0:21:57.121 wondering what was Stephen planning to do on Thursday. Could 0:21:57.121 --> 0:21:59.481 Audrey have already been dead and he was trying to 0:21:59.561 --> 0:22:02.080 lure her mom out so that he could potentially say 0:22:02.121 --> 0:22:05.281 there had been a parental abduction? Was he planning on 0:22:05.401 --> 0:22:11.321 doing something to Audrey's mother? As it happened so often 0:22:11.361 --> 0:22:14.080 in these cases, there was not only panic and drama 0:22:14.121 --> 0:22:17.321 in the community, but there was also the family drama 0:22:17.361 --> 0:22:20.481 that was playing out on social media. Early in the 0:22:20.521 --> 0:22:24.481 search for Audrey, online groups were created that, of course 0:22:24.601 --> 0:22:27.200 friends or people connected to the family were contributing to. 0:22:27.961 --> 0:22:30.281 And then of course a lot of people were saying 0:22:30.321 --> 0:22:32.281 the mother and the father should have known what was 0:22:32.321 --> 0:22:37.001 going on. Audrey's mom, Cassie confronted these rumors, and the 0:22:37.121 --> 0:22:41.041 rumors included a lot of commenters saying that Cassie had 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:43.481 lost custody of Audrey because she failed or because there 0:22:43.481 --> 0:22:47.241 were rug's involved in some way. She has said that 0:22:47.281 --> 0:22:50.281 that is an absolute lie. She wrote that she had 0:22:50.321 --> 0:22:55.001 nothing to hide, and she accused people of spreading bullshit online. 0:22:55.041 --> 0:22:58.441 Audrey's mother also spoke out and asked anyone with information 0:22:58.521 --> 0:23:02.721 about Audrey's whereabouts to come forward. She told the news 0:23:02.761 --> 0:23:06.641 channel KPRC. We have no leads, so we are grasping 0:23:06.681 --> 0:23:10.401 at any string, any signs anything. In general. You were broken, 0:23:10.681 --> 0:23:13.441 you're mad, you're empty, and right now I am empty. 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:17.961 Later there was an online post that Cassie made visible. 0:23:18.401 --> 0:23:20.721 The Daily Mail reported on it, and the Daily Beasts 0:23:20.721 --> 0:23:24.801 followed up. She wrote, quote, I'll make this clear one time, 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:27.841 and one time only, I failed my daughter by being 0:23:27.881 --> 0:23:30.761 bullied into submission by her father's family and being made 0:23:30.801 --> 0:23:33.241 to believe she was in a safe, loving and normal 0:23:33.281 --> 0:23:37.521 home with her father. End quote. Joshua Cunningham side of 0:23:37.521 --> 0:23:41.001 the family has been quieter, but a man named Chris 0:23:41.041 --> 0:23:43.281 Booth addressed a crowd of reporters and people from the 0:23:43.321 --> 0:23:45.840 community and said that he was speaking on behalf of 0:23:45.881 --> 0:23:46.321 the family. 0:23:47.241 --> 0:23:51.241 He said, I'm gonna ask that if you don't know anything, 0:23:52.041 --> 0:23:55.201 don't say anything. All you're doing is hurting the family. 0:23:56.801 --> 0:24:00.281 That makes no sense. You don't know what they're going through. 0:24:00.321 --> 0:24:03.400 You don't know the circumstances. I do know Audrey is loved, 0:24:04.481 --> 0:24:07.680 I know Audrey has cared for and I know Audrey 0:24:07.761 --> 0:24:10.841 loved her grandmother, her father, her brother and family. I'm 0:24:10.881 --> 0:24:13.840 asking everybody to stop the bs and I'm sorry for 0:24:13.881 --> 0:24:17.161 the language, the bs on Facebook and all the garbage 0:24:17.241 --> 0:24:22.761 talk on Facebook. You don't know the circumstances. Leave it alone. 0:24:23.721 --> 0:24:28.041 But the truth is, with Stephen living there, clearly this 0:24:28.241 --> 0:24:31.360 was far from a normal and healthy environment for a child. 0:24:39.881 --> 0:24:42.921 One person he knew exactly what Stephen McDougall was capable 0:24:42.961 --> 0:24:46.321 of was another one of his past victims. Her name 0:24:46.401 --> 0:24:50.001 is Carissa Davis. ABC thirteen did an interview with her 0:24:50.721 --> 0:24:54.241 about what happened back in two thousand and seven. Back then, 0:24:54.401 --> 0:24:57.041 Carissa was ten years old. She was at a family 0:24:57.121 --> 0:24:59.441 gathering and Stephen, who was a friend of the families, 0:24:59.761 --> 0:25:02.081 came into the bedroom that night where she was sleeping 0:25:02.321 --> 0:25:05.681 with one of her cousins. She said, Stephen pulled her 0:25:05.681 --> 0:25:07.881 cousin out of the bed and then crawled in there. 0:25:08.601 --> 0:25:11.281 She said, quote he tried to take down my pants 0:25:11.281 --> 0:25:14.120 and I immediately jumped up at that moment. I remember 0:25:14.201 --> 0:25:16.001 looking at him. I was like, do you know how 0:25:16.041 --> 0:25:20.121 old I am? End quote. The grand jury indictment backed 0:25:20.161 --> 0:25:24.640 up Caris's version of events. The indictment explained that Stephen 0:25:24.721 --> 0:25:27.360 had removed another female from the bed where his victim 0:25:27.401 --> 0:25:31.241 was sleeping, then pulled down her pajama bottoms and underwear. 0:25:32.001 --> 0:25:36.400