Audrii Cunningham’s mom posted heartbreaking message about having ‘failed’ murdered daughter
The mother of Audrii Cunningham — the 11-year-old girl Texas girl whose body was found in a river six days after last being seen with a family friend now expected to be charged with her murder — wrote a heartbreaking message about how she had “failed” the girl.
Cassie Matthews took to Facebook while also ripping people for “spreading bulls–t” and suggesting she had lost custody of her daughter over her drug use.
“I’ll make this clear one time and one time only, I failed my daughter by being bullied into submission by her father’s family and being made to believe she was in a safe, loving, and normal home with her father,” Matthews said on Facebook.
The message was written during the huge search for Audrii, before the girl’s body was recovered Tuesday in the Trinity River. The mom appeared to have deleted her comments after Audrii’s body was found, but followers posted screenshots on her page.
The man who was last seen with her, Don McDougal, is expected to face a charge of capital murder in the case, Polk County officials said.
Matthews slammed online rumors that she had lost custody of Audrii due to a failed drug test, claiming that the girl’s father had spread the falsehoods.
“That is my daughter and I never lost any rights to her so as her parent I’m going to involve myself in anything I please concerning my child!” she railed.
“I’m tired of all the bulls–t and I’m tired of being silent, scared, and once again being bullied into submission by people I don’t f–king know,” Matthews continued.
She also lashed out at people for “spreading bulls–t” online and pushed back at suggestions that she took drugs in front of her daughter — insisting that she never “chose drugs” over the girl.
“If you can provide me a record that states I failed a drug test for court in the custody of Audrii THEN AND ONLY THEN can you ACCURATELY state I was on drugs, chose drugs over my child, did drugs around my child,” she wrote Feb. 19.
“The most important and only important thing to me is finding my daughter! I could give a f–k less what everyone thinks. What you think and your judgment isn’t giving my daughter back,” she wrote.
Matthews also referred to McDouglas, without elaborating on the exact nature of the rumors she was dispelling.
“If your speculation was true I’d be sitting in the same boat as the man who has taken my baby from the family that loves her,” she wrote.
On Tuesday, Polk County District Attorney Shelly Bush-Sitton said an arrest warrant for capital murder will be leveled against McDougal, the person of interest who was taken into custody on an unrelated charge Friday.
“I understand that this is a very difficult time for Audrii’s family and for our community,” the prosecutor said.
McDougal, 42, recently became a friend of the family and lived behind the house where the girl resided with her father and grandmother, Lyons said earlier.
He would occasionally walk Audrii to the bus stop and, at times, even took her to school when she missed the bus, the DA said.
McDougal also had a criminal history that involved another young girl more than a decade ago. However, he was not registered as a sex offender.
