Feb. 17 (UPI) — Officials in Texas have identified a person of interest and may have found the backpack of a missing 11-year-old girl but say they are no closer to finding the subject of this week’s Amber Alert.
The search for Audrii Cunningham resumed Saturday morning, focusing on an area around Lake Livingston, a reservoir in East Texas north of Houston.
The search was ongoing as the Texas Department of Public Safety identified a dark blue 2003 Chevrolet Suburban belonging to Don Steven McDougal, who has been identified as a person of interest in this case.
Texas DPS issued a photo of the SUV on X. The vehicle’s license plate is also clearly visible in the photo.
Audrii’s mother Cassie Mathews told reporters she believed searchers had found the girl’s backpack the day before.
“I’m being told that they have possibly found her backpack in this area, but no signs of her,” Matthews said Friday evening.
Audrii was dropped off at her bus stop in Livingston, Texas, Thursday morning but never made it on board, according to police. Her family reported her missing at 5:30 p.m. that day, leading to the Amber Alert.
Investigators including the non-profit Texas EquuSearch are also focusing on other areas of interest besides the lake area but have not publicly identified them.
“Hard is an understatement, this is the stuff you see on TV and you can only imagine what the family and the parents are going through and there’s not words for it,” a tearful Matthews told reporters on Friday.
There is not one feeling you feel, it’s a roller coaster, you are broken, you are mad, you are empty and right now I am empty,” Audrii’s tearful mother told reporters on Friday. “She has so many opportunities ahead of her, and she deserves every right to be able to reach those opportunities.”