Stories like that of Audrii Cunningham, a little 11-year-old girl from Texas, happen way too often. A child goes missing on their way to school or on their way back home, never to be seen alive again. A “parent’s worst nightmare,” as some people would wisely call this heartbreaking situation.
While we, the general public, have little information about Audrii’s father, only that Audrii lived with him and his mother and that they were not keen on letting the mother, Cassie, see her daughter. We also know that he, the father, was friends with the current suspect in his daughter’s disappearance, Don Steven McDougal, a 42-year-old man who lived in a trailer behind the family’s home and would sometimes drive Audrii to the bus stop, or to school if she missed the bus. He has a lengthy criminal history, which includes sexual advances on a minor, that, for some reason (a plea deal), did not land him on the sex offender registry.
When Audrii was missing, it was her mother who came out to speak to the media and plead for her daughter’s safe return.
Audrii’s mother, Cassie Matthews
“I want my baby returned.” Holding herself together quite bravely, Cassie Matthews was visibly upset – more than understandably – while pleading her case to the media, being the face of motherly concern that would hopefully appeal to anyone with any knowledge to come forward. By her side, she had, what we believe to be her fiancé, offering his support.
Audrii’s parents are divorced. And online discussion hase been very judgmental of the whole ordeal, some implying the situation was “preventable.” In a way, it was. McDougal should never have had access to Audrii, much less the two of them alone. But, that was seemingly outside Cassie’s control, who had a hard time being allowed to see her own daughter.
However, there is a tendency to jump to conclusions and cast judgments without too much reflection or truly attempting to place oneself in the distressed loved ones’ shoes. Cassie might not have been with Audrii at the time, but that doesn’t make her mother’s love any less visceral.
Chris Booth, a family friend, even had to come forward to request that people stop the harmful online chatter and show the family some respect in this difficult time. To us, strangers to the victim and her family, it might be just another case of a child that tragically disappeared and wound up murdered. Still, to the family, it’s an Earth-shattering event, as Cassie shows in her recorded plea, and that alone should first and foremost invoke our empathy before our desensitized scrutiny.
After the heartbreaking news
On the evening of the day Audrii Cunningham’s body was found, a vigil was held in her memory. Candles were lit, poems were read, words of remembrance and love were spoken, and family and friends gathered to show how much Audrii meant to everyone and how dearly she would be missed.
Cassie began her speech by thanking everyone’s love and support at this most tragic time. She said that she was “beyond blessed” to have given birth to such “perfection,” such “an amazing little girl.” With all the candle flames and everyone’s thoughts and prayers, Cassie expressed she was hopeful Audrii could be able to see how much she was loved, from wherever she is.
Later, much more recently, Cassie Matthews was interviewed by Nancy Grace. Cassie explained she was used to a lot of crazy things from “that family.” She told Grace: “I don’t understand how they put so much effort into keeping [Audrii] from me but they couldn’t put the same effort knowing the people that they had around her.” Referring, of course, to the current suspect in the little girl’s untimely death.
When McDougal told her he “was Audrii’s babysitter” Cassie stated it was “an instant red flag” for her. However, she also alluded to the fact that McDougal was a manipulator, as he “played on the fact that” she was desperate to see her daughter and thus, would even send her pictures and the like. But despite all this, Cassie still had this sinking feeling that “something was wrong.” Her fiancé even “told [her] from the jump not to associate with [McDougal].”
Cassie “wanted to know why a man nobody knows [was] being left with [her] 11-year-old daughter. [Audrii’s father] could’ve chosen anyone else and it would have been okay.” Instead, he chose a man that, after a glance at his record, anyone should know not to trust him with any children.
“Knowing what I know now,” Cassie said, referring to a message McDougal sent, expressing he wanted to take both mother and daughter to a fishing trip to the river, “I feel like he did something to Audrii Wednesday, before he even messaged me. If I would’ve went [sic]… he would’ve – what? – gotten rid of me as well, and then it would’ve been chalked up to: I kidnapped my daughter and I ran with her. And people would have forever been looking for two people that don’t exist.”
The most gut-wrenching part of the interview was when Grace asked Matthews whether she thought McDougal had already done something immoral and nefarious to her daughter before the day of her disappearance. As any mother would, Matthews got visibly choked up before confiding in the interviewer that she hadn’t found out that Audrii’s pants were on the river bank until she watched Nacy Grace’s interview with Tim Miller, the man who discovered the girl’s body.
Cassie also claims she had no idea McDougal was living right behind the house where Audrii lived until she “made the Facebook post and people started commenting.”
As horrible as this story is, at least, as things stand now, it appears that the case and investigation are on the right track to achieve justice for little Audrii. If found guilty, Cassie doesn’t want McDougal to be put to death, as that would be too much of a mercy for him in her view. Instead, she wants him to receive life without parole, and have to deal with the consequences of his despicable actions for the rest of his days.
