A Texas woman says that the man accused of killing 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham attacked her, too, when she was 10 years old.
Cassidy Davis, now 20, said that murder suspect Don Steven McDougal attacked her in 2007, during a sleepover at her uncle’s house in Brazoria County. McDougal is currently behind bars, charged with murder after investigators found Cunningham deceased Wednesday.
“He came into the room that me and my cousin were sleeping in,” Davis told ABC 13. “(He) tried to take down my pants, and I immediately jumped up at that moment,” Davis said. “I remember looking at him. I was like, ‘Do you know how old I am?’”
Davis fled but she said McDougal followed her and grabbed. She said she swung her arm and hit him. She managed to get away, but McDougal followed her. Davis said she told her aunt before McDougal caught up to her.
McDougal later pleaded guilty to enticing a child and served a few years behind bars, but wasn’t required to register as a sex offender.
Now, after hearing news of Cunningham’s death, Davis says she can only wonder what may have happened to her if she didn’t get to her aunt in time. She’s also blaming the county for Audrii’s death for not requiring the defendant to register as a sex offender.
“I think Brazoria County definitely failed me and failed Audrii and possibly more.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, 42-year-old McDougal, who lived in a trailer behind a Livingston home where Cunningham lived with her father, admitted that he agreed to take her to her school bus on February 15.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office issued an AMBER Alert after Audrii didn’t show up for school and didn’t board her bus that morning. On February 20, police found her body in the Trinity River. A criminal complaint obtained by The Docket indicated that she had a large rock tied around her with a rope.
Police found her Hello Kitty backpack downstream from where they located her body.
“Video footage and cell phone data places McDougal at three locations of interest,” the criminal complaint stated. “The rope used was consistent with rope that was observed in McDougal’s vehicle on a traffic stop two days prior.”
McDougal was arrested last Friday and booked into the Polk County Jail on unrelated aggravated assault charges. On Wednesday, he was charged with capital murder and ordered to remain behind bars without bail.
The condition police found the body in has not been released, the sheriff said.
Check back for updates.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Feature Photo: Audrii/Polk County SO; McDougal/Montgomery County Jail]
