McDougal, a 42-year-old career criminal who has spent time behind bars for enticing a child, is the last person known to be with Audrii, who has not been seen since Thursday morning, authorities said.
McDougal, who is currently in the Polk County Jail on an unrelated charge, has an extensive rap sheet with several violent convictions, including one for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2010, Fox 26 reported.
Elic Bryan III, who was attacked by Don Steven McDougal, the person of interest in the disappearance of 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham, said he wishes he’d have shot the career criminal. KRIV
The victim in that case, Elic Bryan III, worked with McDougal at a local garage — and said he “seemed like an all right guy” until he turned violent one night after a few drinks.
“We threw him out of the house, and he came back with a knife, slashed tires, tried to stab me with the knife,” Bryan told Fox 26.
Law enforcement believes there is foul play involved in Audrii Cunningham’s disappearance.Audrii Cunningham disappeared on Thursday. Family Handout
“I had to run him off with a gun and the cops finally came out with dogs and got him,” he said, calling the incident “terrifying.”
“He seemed like a nice guy, but he’s got this whole other side to him that no one seemed to know about until now,” Bryan said.
“I wish I would have shot him, to be honest with you. That’s my one regret. Didn’t want to do it then because it would make you feel bad. But looking back, maybe I should have,” he told the outlet.
McDougal is a friend of the girl’s family and has been living behind their home in a trailer. KRIV
“With all the allegations against him, he’s not a nice guy, apparently. Something is wrong with him in the head,” Bryan said, adding that he can personally relate to what Audrii’s family is going through.
“I lost my daughter when she was seven to cancer. So, I know how it is and this right here is even worse because there’s no closure,” he said. “I hope she’s alive and well somewhere because losing a child is… like I said nothing compares to it.”
Audrii, father, grandmother and other relatives, vanished in what authorities believe involved foul play as they continue a desperate search for the girl.
McDougal, who is a friend of the girl’s family, has been living behind their home in a trailer, Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons said Monday.
Don Steven McDouga KRIV
He left the house with her but hasn’t answered whether she ever reached the bus stop he was supposed to take her to, Lyons told reporters.
“We do feel at this point that he was the last person who’s seen Audrii,” he said.
McDougal also served a prison sentence for enticing a child, a third-degree felony, more than a decade ago, KPRC reported.
He was initially indicted on a charge of attempted indecency with a child for allegedly attempting sexual contact with a girl in 2007 before he pleaded to the enticement charge in 2008 in another county.
McDougal did not have to register as a sex offender after that case, authorities said Monday.
Crime Stoppers has increased the reward for information leading to the recovery of Audrii to $10,000.
The family of Savanah Nicole Soto’s boyfriend does not believe he killed the pregnant Texas teen who went missing on the day she was supposed to be induced – as it was revealed that no firearms or cellphones were discovered in the car where cops found the couple’s bullet-riddled bodies.
Gabriel Guerra, whose son Matthew Guerra, 22, was found dead alongside his girlfriend Soto, 18, outside of a San Antonio apartment complex, insisted that his child was not responsible for the couple’s deaths.
“They were inseparable. Was it a perfect relationship? No, but she definitely was not a prisoner there,” he told KENS5. .
Guerra’s father and stepmother described how the couple was looking forward to the arrival of baby Fabian.
“We still can’t believe we’re just never going to meet him,” Guerra’s stepmother, Raquel Guerra, told Fox San Antonio.
Meanwhile, his father, Gabriel, pointed out presents under a Christmas tree.
“Those are Savanah’s and Matthew’s and baby Fabian’s,” he told the outlet.
“We had to remind him at the baby shower to let Savanah open some of the gifts. He was opening all the gifts. They were both definitely happy and excited,” Gabriel said.
Savanah Nicole Soto,18, and her boyfriend, Matthew Guerra, 22, died from gunshot wounds, police revealed. TikTok
Soto’s brother, Jordan Corona, told CBS News that police told him that both the pregnant teen and her boyfriend were shot in the back of the head.
Soto had been in the front passenger seat with a child carrier on her lap and her boyfriend in the back, sources familiar with the probe told News 4 San Antonio.
Police did not find a firearm or Guerra’s cellphone inside the Kia sedan where the couple was found Tuesday.
Guerra’s family described their efforts in trying to locate the missing couple on Saturday, the day Soto was expected to be induced.
“Once it was, like, the 2:30 p.m. mark, we started panicking,” Gabriel told the outlet. “I started calling. I’m calling, racing home, racing over there, calling police.”
Gabriel and Raquel Guerra don’t believe their dead son killed his girlfriend, Savanah Nicole Soto. FOX San Antonio
He said he raced to his son’s apartment, where he kicked in the door and found a lit candle and the diaper bag that Soto planned to take with her to the appointment.
“That’s when I saw Savanah’s overnight bag for the hospital that she didn’t take with her and that even threw me more in a panic,” Gabriel told Fox San Antonio.
He said he asked Leon Valley police whether authorities could request his son’s location data information, but that a detective told him it was unlikely a judge would grant the request because the situation lacked exigent circumstances.
“(The detective) basically said, ‘They’re adults and if they want to disappear, they can disappear,” he told News 4. “And, again, I reminded them, the baby is overdue, has been overdue — they missed the due date.
The couple were both found dead in a car, Soto’s sister-in-law said. WOAI
“And to me that’s a life-threatening … I mean, there should have been more urgency,” he added.
The detective told the outlet that he had been instructed by the police chief to direct questions to the San Antonio Police Department, which did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for a comment.
“I just hope we can get to the bottom of this,” Raquel told News 4. “And justice be served, because I just can’t fathom how anybody could do that to a pregnant woman/ I just can’t get that out of my head.”
Gabriel said he knows Guerra was arrested in 2022 for domestic abuse against Savanah — and even suggested that the boyfriend stay in custody longer.
“They had contacted each other on the phone and that was a violation, so they can please keep him in there and unfortunately it would have to be Savanah to say that, and she wouldn’t do it, so he was let out,” he told the outlet, adding that domestic abuse charges were never filed again.
Guerra was reportedly on probation for assaulting Soto on Christmas Day last year.
Gabriel said his son had a criminal history that included unlawful carry of a weapon, evading police and an assault charge causing bodily injury.
Savanah Soto was set to be induced the day she vanished. TikTok
In June, a judge granted Guerra probation for the family violence case, and permitted him to have contact with Soto as long as it was not “harmful or injurious,” according court documents cited by News 4.
The probation was set to expire in June 2024, but a judge extended it to February 2025 after Guerra picked up additional, unrelated charges including unlawful carrying of a weapon, evading arrest in a vehicle, and reckless driving, according to the paper.
“He didn’t hang around the best crowd,” Gabriel said, but added that he believed the young man was going to change when he became a dad himself.
Soto (left) was excited to become a mom, her family said. Gloria Cordova / Facebook
“He talked about how it was going to make him better, a better person,” Gabriel told KENS5.
Meanwhile, Soto’s mother, Gloria Cordova, also said she is seeking answers about the mysterious deaths.
“Why was she in the front and he was in the back? Obviously, that says someone else was there,” she asked, adding that she suspects Guerra was involved in illegal activity, according to the outlet.
“I think it had something to do with him and things that he was doing, not my daughter,” Cordova told CBS News.
“My daughter just was there with him and they didn’t want … they didn’t want someone to say what happened, somebody that’s going to say it’s so-and-so or this is what he looked like. She just was there at the wrong time,” she added.
“He used to abuse her and I told her to get out of the relationship, but she — she was hard-headed, she wouldn’t listen. But I think this time she was going to leave him already. That’s what I’m hearing,” Cordova told the outlet.
“They took an innocent, an innocent girl that was going to be a mommy, they just took her life for nothing,” Cordova told KENS5.
Less than two years before she went missing, missing Massachusetts mom Ana Walshe told a judge that her husband Brian Walshe suffered from an “ever-present” trauma and had been “taught to lie and hide” in his childhood.
The admission was buried in a glowing September 2021 letter she wrote a judge asking to consider giving her husband a lenient prison sentence for committing art fraud.
Brian, who was arrested this week in connection to his wife’s disappearance, admitted that year to selling two fake Andy Warhol paintings to an eBay buyer for $80,000. He is still awaiting sentencing for that crime.
While praising Brian for supporting their family of five and participating in charity work, Ana claimed that he suffered a traumatic childhood at the hands of his abusive parents that affected him through his adult life.
“He was taught to lie and hide. He was told that he was a loser, that his parents should not have had him, that he had no chances of making anything of himself in life, and that he was a lost cause. A deep sense of shame governed his life,” Ana wrote.
Ana wrote that Brian had a difficult time allowing others to get close to him, including his wife, because he was “afraid of relationships.”
In the years before writing the admiring letter about her husband, Ana told Washington, DC police that he had threatened to kill her and her friends. Brian was never charged with the threats.
Ana Walshe said her husband had a traumatic childhood.anawalshe/Instagram
Brian Walshe was arrested earlier in the week for misleading cops.ana.ljubicic/Facebook
Brian, who Ana claimed had a “big heart” and was the “love of her life,” was arrested Sunday and charged with misleading police during their investigation into his missing wife.
Ana had vanished on New Year’s Day. She never boarded a flight to Washington, DC that Sunday, but Brian didn’t report the mother of his three children missing for three days.
Ana Walshe was last seen at her house in the early mornings of Jan. 1, 2023.Daniel McKnight for NY Post
Police found blood in the family’s basement and a blood-stained, damaged knife. They also discovered a hacksaw, a hatchet, blood, used cleaning supplies and a rug at a trash transfer station in Peabody, a little more than an hour away from the couple’s home.
Brian had also reportedly searched for “how to dispose of a 115-pound woman’s body” online.
Four men from a tiny Oklahoma city are still missing days after they all went on a bike ride together Sunday evening, according to authorities.
Mark Chastain, 32; his brother Billy Chastain, 30; Mike Sparks, 32; and Alex Stevens, 29 haven’t been seen or heard from in about four days with little indication where they could be, police said in a Facebook post this week.
The four men were reported missing Monday into Tuesday after they left one of their homes with bicycles in the city of Okmulgee around 8 p.m. Sunday, police said.
Someone claimed seeing the missing men walking on a street around 2 a.m. Tuesday, but police could not confirm that report. Other reported sightings during the week have also not been confirmed, cops said.
Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice told Fox 23 authorities were scouring a salvage yard where the cell phone of Mark Chastain’s was last pinged.
Billy Chastain, 30, and his brother Mark Chastain went reported missing after the bike ride.Okmulgee Police Department/Faceb
Mike Sparks, 32, went reported missing along with his friends — but police have no indication as to where they could be.Okmulgee Police Department/Faceb
Only two of the men had cell phones on them when they went out, authorities believe, though their cell phones go straight to voicemail.
“The longer they’re missing, the more concerned I am but I have yet to find any evidence that there’s any foul play involved,” Prentice said.
The police department said Thursday in another Facebook post, “We will continue to investigate and are following any evidence we uncover.
Hilaree Nelson, 49 — who fell into a crevasse while skiing down Mount Manaslu in the Himalayas with her partner Jim Morrison — was discovered Wednesday on the south side of the mountain, officials who organized the expedition confirmed to NBC News.
Expedition company Shangri-La Nepal Trek said her body was taken by helicopter to Kathmandu, where officials will perform an autopsy.
Mountaineer Nims Purja, co-founder of the Elite Exped tour company, later shared on social media that his team led the recovery efforts.
“Our condolences to brother Jim,” he wrote.
Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison were both climbing and romantic partners.AP
“[Hilaree] will be on her way home soon.”
Nelson’s death comes less than a week after she posted on Instagram about feeling less confident on the mountain. “These past weeks have tested my resilience in new ways,” she said alongside images of her and Morrison in climbing gear.
“I am challenged to find the peace and inspiration from the mountain when it’s been constantly shrouded in mist.”
Often hailed as the most prolific ski mountaineer of her generation, Nelson was the first woman to be named North Face Global Athletic team captain. In 2017, she and Morrison were the first Americans to summit India’s Papsura, or “Peak of Evil.” The feat earned Nelson the National Geographic Adventurer of the Year title in 2018.
Originally from Seattle, Nelson was based in Telluride, Colorado at the time of her death. In addition to Morrison, her romantic and climbing partner, she leaves behind two young sons and an ex-husband.
Jim Morrison, second right, mourns as Nelson’s body arrives by helicopter in Kathmandu.AP
Shangri-La Nepal Trek and North Face did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The boyfriend of missing California teen Kiely Rodni on Monday said “it f—ing hurts” to get the grim news after officials said the girl’s body was likely found in a local reservoir.
“This was an insanely f—ed up situation and still is insanely f—ed up,” Jagger Westfall, 18, said in a video posted on social media.
“I still don’t know how to process it and I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to process it.”
“I know it f—ing hurts and I know it hurts all of you,” he added in his speech filmed while driving.
Westfall’s video was posted after the discovery of Kiely’s 2013 Honda CRV at the bottom of Prosser Creek Reservoir on Sunday by an elite volunteer dive team.
Authorities said at a Monday press conference that the body found inside the car was “more than likely” Kiely’s. A medical examiner will make the official confirmation.
“I just wanted to say thank you for everyone who put the effort in and tried so fucking hard to bring her home,” an emotional Westfall said.
Kiely’s boyfriend Jagger Westfall said the situation surrounding her disappearance is “insanely f—ed up.”Kiely’s 2013 Honda CRV was found at the bottom of Prosser Creek Reservoir Sunday.Daniel McKnightA medical examiner will make the official confirmation on whether the body found was Kiely’s.findkiely.comWestfall said he hopes everyone lives “the way Kiely would want you to live.”Jagger Westfall
“It really means a lot to me, and I’m sure it means a lot to her too.”
The 18-year-old told his peers that Kiely “wouldn’t want us to sit around sad as f— all the time.”
“She wants us to be happy, she wants us to be safe and she wants us to have a good life. That’s all she ever wanted for anyone,” he said.
“I want each and every one of you to live the way Kiely would want you to live.”
The heartbroken teen also posted a message on Instagram late Sunday with a video of him and Kiely.
“You were my entire world and you always will be. I will never love someone the way I loved you. I missed you even when I was holding you in my arms,” he wrote.
“I could never get enough of you. I Promised I would always be here for you and I still am,” Westfall said.
The boyfriend had previously told Fox40 that the couple had been texting before she went to the party and he told her: “OK. Be safe. Don’t like, do anything stupid.”
Kiely’s immediate family has yet to put out a statement on the discovery of the vehicle and the body.
The parents of missing California woman Jolissa Fuentes say they are “heartbroken” by the lack of updates in the search for their daughter and what feels like little attention on the case in contrast to other missing persons cases.
Selma police initially said the 22-year-old was last seen on Aug. 7 at an AM/PM gas station in Selma, California, around 4 a.m., but Police Chief Rudy Alcaraz told Fox News Digital on Friday that they have footage of Fuentes driving by herself after that time.
“We picked her up on camera after that. However, we’re not going to relinquish that information, as we…have to kind of consider all avenues,” he said. “Right now, there’s nothing that is insinuating foul play, but, again, we don’t have much information.”
The Selma Police Department has partnered with the Fresno Sheriff’s Office to use some of their resources, such as helicopters, to assist with their search. Federal law enforcement officers are also involved, according to Alcaraz and Fuentes’ family. Still, they have received no definitive leads regarding the 22-year-old’s whereabouts in the two weeks since she vanished.
Her family believes she may have driven out to a rural area east of Selma, where there are orchards and vineyards, because Jolissa used to spend time there to clear her head after one of her best friends died last year. On the night she disappeared, she had come home from a party and stopped at her grandmother’s house to grab some cash and a bag before heading to the AM/PM. They say Jolissa has not contacted anyone and has not picked up her phone since she was last seen, which is extremely unusual for her.
Now, police are searching in the areas of Pine Flat Lake and Avocado Lake, Alcaraz said.
Fuentes’ parents said they are “heartbroken” over the lack of updates on her case. FOX26
Meanwhile, Jolissa’s parents, Norma Nunez and Joey Fuentes get up each morning to conduct their own searches for their daughter, put up flyers and ask people in the areas where they search if they have surveillance cameras they can look at. They previously told Fox News Digital that they believe Jolissa was taken against her will.
They “don’t come back until dark,” Nunez said over the phone as she and her husband were actively searching for their daughter.
“What I don’t understand is, if you’ve got all these resources and other agencies involved — police say the FBI is getting involved — we should have something. These are some of our top, trained agencies in the United States, supposedly,” Joey Fuentes said.
“We’re doing all we can do. We don’t know what to do,” he continued, adding that he and his wife are trying to do everything they can to find their daughter without compromising law enforcement’s investigation into the case.
Fuentes’ parents, Norma and Joey, get up each morning to conduct their own searches for their daughter.FOX26
Alcaraz praised the family’s efforts to get information out about their missing daughter.
“The family’s done a wonderful job of putting information out about Jolissa. We are working with all of our state, local and federal agencies to try to get the best information and have done pretty much everything we can think of or has been suggested to us…to try and find Jolissa. We’re just hoping for more information that will lead us to her,” he said.
The police chief added that the Selma PD will likely not release any new press releases on social media until there is a significant update in the case because they do not want to saturate the page to the point where people lose interest in Jolissa’s disappearance.
“We want to make sure that if we put something out, it’s because we have something new and a different direction to go in and more information,” Alcaraz said.
Fuentes’ parents believe that she was taken against her will. Selma Police Department/Facebook
Fuentes drives a silver 2011 Hyundai Accent with the California license plate number 8MPU766.
There is a $10,000 reward for information leading to the 22-year-old’s whereabouts. Nunez and her husband have also started a GoFundMe titled “Bring Jolissa Home Safe” to raise money for their search and possibly a private investigator.
The Selma Police Department is asking anyone with information about Fuentes’ whereabouts to contact Detective Richard Figueroa at 559-891-2243.
The wife of a prominent Florida radiation oncologist who went missing from his boat on Aug. 10 filed for divorce the day he disappeared, according to county records.
Dr. Chaundre Cross, 49, was last seen Aug. 10 leaving the Naples Bay Resort & Marina alone on his 33-foot Sea Ray boat, the “Vitamin Sea,” according to a tweet Friday from the U.S. Coast Guard Southeast.
That same day, his wife, SarahJo Cross, filed for divorce in Collier County.
The USCG located and recovered Cross’ boat off Sanibel Island on Aug. 11 without any sign of the missing doctor.
In the days after the USCG Southeast located the boat 16 miles south of Sanibel Island, crews covered an area of approximately 13,100 square miles over the course of 100 hours before suspending their search.
“It is always a difficult decision to suspend a search and rescue case,” Capt. Michael Kahle, commander of Sector St. Petersburg, said Sunday in a statement. “Our deepest sympathies and condolences go out to the family and friends of Dr. Cross during this difficult time.”
In a statement posted Monday to Facebook, Kathy Cady, Cross’ stepmother and a Naples-based nurse, thanked the U.S. Coast Guard and Collier County law enforcement, as well as Cross’ “friends and the citizens of Naples who unselfishly gave their time and boats in the search for him.”
“During this time of grief, please offer prayers of support and respectful privacy for our family,” she wrote. “Although we now have a void, it will be filled with love, positivity, hope, patience, prayer, and through the Grace of God comfort. Chaundre’s three children and their mother, his father, stepmother, brothers and their wives, sister, grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and long-time close friends thank you for all that was done in the rescue efforts for Chaundre K. Cross, M.D.”
Cross is described as 5-foot-11, weighing 150 pounds, with a bald head and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a purple shirt and black pants.
Cross serves as president of the Board of the Cancer Alliance of Naples, and previously served as a member of the Board for Collier County P.L.A.N. and the American Cancer Society of Naples. He has degrees from Northwestern University and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and completed his residency at Harvard Medical School, according to his biography on GenisisCare.com.
Authorities are asking anyone with information about his disappearance to contact CCSO at 239-252-9300.
A young Georgia boy discovered a disoriented elderly woman who had been missing for days.
The keen-eyed toddler, Ethan Moore, was chasing bubbles when he located 82-year-old Nina Lipscomb while he and his mother played with bubbles in their backyard last Friday.
Georgia toddler Ethan Moore is held by his mother. The boy is being hailed a hero for helping find a missing woman. brittany.k.jacobson/Facebook
The child spotted the feet of the woman, who had been missing since Aug. 8, in the woods when he ran near the fence of his home, according to CBS 46.
“I went over there and was like, ‘What do you see buddy?’ and he pointed and said, ‘Feet,’” mother Brittany Moore told the television station.
“‘Okay, buddy can you say that again. What did you say?’ And he said, ‘Feet.’”
After she crouched down to her son’s level, she also saw a pair of feet.
Lipscomb was missing for days before she was spotted. Facebook
“If you get on his level and look through, you can see some of the broken sticks and that’s where she was laying,” Moore reportedly said. “I didn’t know if I needed to go into fight or flight because I had my little boy out here and the other inside.”
After calling for help, first responders realized it was Lipscomb, who has early-stage Alzheimer’s, CBS 46 reported. She was alive but disoriented.
“We pulled out every resource we thought we needed but it was a little boy and she’s very fond of children,” said daughter Karen Lipscomb told the outlet.
The elderly woman and young boy met after she was released from the hospital. Turning 83 on Friday, it was Lipscomb who gave the little boy a bag of toy bubbles, according to the news report.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
