POLK COUNTY, Texas — The Polk County Sheriff's Office issued a release Friday explaining why Don Steven McDougal wasn't initially arrested for stabbing a man in the back last year.
McDougal is charged with capital murder in connection with the death of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham, whose body was found in the Trinity River under US-59 on Tuesday, nearly six days after she was reported missing.
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Earlier this week, the attorney for a stabbing victim claimed that McDougal should have been off the streets for stabbing his client in August.
"They could have gotten Steven McDougal off the streets and probably prevented what we're going through now," David Feldman said in an interview with KHOU 11. "He (the stabbing victim) is absolutely emotionally devastated, feels extremely, you know, really, really bad for the family and just doesn't really want to take the attention away from Audrey Cunningham."
According to court documents, the victim was stabbed in the back last August in Polk County. The victim said the person who stabbed him and a woman he knew came to his home to ask for help and claimed their car battery was dead. The victim was jumping the car when he was stabbed from behind, according to court records.
PCSO said Feldman's client initially identified the wrong person and they ended up arresting the wrong person four days after the stabbing.
About two weeks after the wrong person was arrested, Feldman's client called PCSO and told them that McDougal was actually the one who stabbed him in the back.
The district attorney's office reviewed the case and released the man who was wrongfully identified and arrested. They also dismissed the allegations against McDougal since the victim had already proven to not be a credible witness.
The victim came forward again when McDougal was identified as a person of interest in Audrii's disappearance. When McDougal was being interviewed on Feb. 16, a day after Audrii was reported missing, he admitted to stabbing the man in the back on Aug. 19, 2023. The case was reopened and McDougal was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
McDougal is being held without bond in the Polk County Jail.