Divers Find Body In Texas River Of Missing 11-Year-Old Audrii Cunningham

LIVINGSTON, Texas (AP) Divers have recovered the body of an 11-year-old girl from a Texas river days after she went missing last week and authorities are preparing to file a murder charge against a friend of the father who lived on her familys property, a sheriff said Tuesday afternoon.

Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons said that the the body of Audrii Cunningham was found by divers during a search in the Trinity River, in a rural area north of Houston.

My heart aches for this news, Lyons said.

Cunninghams family had reported the child missing on Thursday after she failed to return after school to her home in Livingston.

Polk County District Attorney Shelly Sitton said officials were in the process of preparing an arrest warrant for Don Steven McDougal, 42, on a recommended charge of capital murder. She said they do not yet know if they would seek the death penalty in the case.

She said McDougal remained in jail on Tuesday on an unrelated assault charge. Authorities have said McDougal is a friend of the girls father and lived in a camper on the familys property near Lake Livingston.

The sheriff said that the girls body has been taken to the medical examiners office to determine the cause of death.

 Texas Dept of Public Safety spokesman Craig Cummings said the girl lived with her father, grandparents and other family members. A backpack that authorities believe belonged to the child was found Friday near the dam on Lake Livingston, one of the states largest lakes.