LIVINGSTON, Texas — 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 charge a man who lived on her family’s property with murder, a sheriff announced Tuesday afternoon.
Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons said that the the body of Audrii Cunningham was found during a search of the Trinity River and that he was canceling an Amber alert in connection with her disappearance late last week.
The girl’s family had reported the girl missing on Thursday after she failed to return after school to her home in Livingston, north of Houston.
Authorities on Friday arrested a man described a person of interest in the case on an unrelated assault charge. The man is a friend of the girl’s father and lived in a camper on the family’s property near Lake Livingston. Lyons said they were now preparing an arrest warrant for the man in connection with the girl’s death.
Texas Dept of Public Safety spokesman Craig Cummings said Audrii 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 state’s largest lakes.
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