Missing US girl

Body found: family friend suspected of murder

The body of the eleven-year-old was found in the Trinity River. A friend of the family (small picture) is urgently suspected of the crime.(Bild: AP, Krone KREATIV)

The search went on for days for an eleven-year-old girl who disappeared without a trace on her way to school in Texas. Now the schoolgirl's body has been discovered in a river. A friend of the family, who was supposed to take the eleven-year-old to the school bus stop, is suspected of murder.

Audrii Cunningham reportedly did not arrive at her school in Polk County last Thursday. The next day, her Hello Kitty backpack was found near a dam. At that time, 42-year-old Don Steven M. was already in police custody for a violent offense.

The eleven-year-old's body was found in the Trinity River. A friend of the family (small picture) is urgently suspected of the crime.(Bild: AP, Krone KREATIV)

Body of the deceased tied to a large stone
As the man was a family friend who lived in a caravan on Cunningham's family's property and, according to police, regularly drove the girl to the bus stop, the 42-year-old quickly became a "person of interest". On Tuesday, emergency crews finally found the missing girl's body a little downstream from where her backpack was found. Her body had been tied to a large stone. The same rope that was attached to the body was also found in M.'s car, US media reported.

Cassie Matthews, the mother of Audrii Cunningham, at a vigil for her deceased daughter(Bild: AP)

In addition, data from his cell phone was also seized, which revealed a temporal and spatial proximity to the girl's disappearance. Until his arrest, M. had even helped in the search for Cunningham and knocked on dozens of doors. But the Polk County sheriff in charge told CNN that he felt these efforts were a game from the beginning.

Suspect has a criminal record
Incidentally, the suspect already has several previous convictions for violent offenses. In 2007, he was also convicted of seducing an underage child.