Hailey Dunn’s Tragic Murder

Hailey Dunn

Hailey Darlene Dunn was born on August 28, 1997 to Clinton and Billie Jean Dunn.  She had a brother named David and attended Colorado middle school in Colorado City, Texas.  She was described as being crazy, funny, random, and someone who knew what she wanted by her friend Kathryn.  Hailey was a cheerleader, she played basketball and softball, and played the saxophone in the middle school band.  Hailey’s favorite color was purple.  

Hailey lived with her mom, Billie Jean, and her live-in boyfriend, Shawn Adkins along with her brother, David in Colorado City, Texas.  According to bestplaces.net, Colorado City has a higher violent crime rate than the U.S. average.  There are 27.6 reported crimes per 1,000 residents.

December 27, 2010 is the last day that Hailey was seen.  According to Shawn, Hailey left the home to go to a friend’s house.  Hailey never actually made it to that friend’s home and Billie Jean reported her missing the next day, December 28, 2010.

When Billie Jean and Adkins spoke with police that day, Adkins told them that Hailey left their house and was planning on walking over to her father, Clint’s, house and then over to her friend’s house to spend the night.  Hailey did not go to her dad’s house and the friend confirmed that she was not expecting Hailey that night.  Shawn Adkins was the last person to see Hailey.

Searches for the missing 13-year-old began immediately.  Law enforcement and the community banded together to find Hailey.  On January 4, 2011, the Texas Rangers brought in the FBI to aid in the search.  

Billie Jean and Shawn both took polygraph tests in January.  Billboards went up with Hailey’s photo and missing persons information on January 6.  On this same day, Billie Jean admitted that both she and Shawn failed their polygraph exams.  

Shawn walked out on his first two polygraphs, but finally submitted on the third attempt.  An affidavit notes that when he finally submitted, he showed deception.  He indicated that Hailey would be found in Scurry County and the affidavit stated that the results indicated that he was being truthful, however, when he was asked a second time, he refused to answer.  Then police asked him who they should be looking at and he said, “Both of us,” in regard to himself and Billie Jean.

During Billie Jean’s first polygraph exam, according to the affidavit, she was found to be under the influence of narcotics and the test was stopped.  During the second polygraph, the affidavit indicated that she had failed.  She couldn’t explain why and the polygraph test was over when she decided to walk out.

During his statement to police, Shawn said that on December 27, 2010, he went to work to quit his job and when he left work that morning, he immediately made the drive to Big Spring to visit his mother.  For context, according to Google Maps, Colorado City is about a 28 minute drive south of Snyder and Snyder is about a 51 minute drive southwest to Big Spring.  It’s like a triangle between the three cities.   However, cell phone pings show that Shawn actually stopped in Colorado City after leaving Snyder and before heading to Big Spring.  

Police also learned from Clint, Hailey’s father, that her brother, David, had told him that he tried to enter his mom’s home on December 27th, but the door was locked.  He ended up going through a window and once inside, he saw Shawn standing there “like a deer in the headlights.”

During the search for Hailey, the police continued to look into Shawn and Billie Jean and learned that the couple made two separate withdrawals totaling $140 the day that Hailey went missing and bought drugs in Snyder, the city where Shawn worked.  Investigators also learned that Shawn and Billie Jean hosted a New Year’s Eve party at their home while Billie Jean’s 13-year-old daughter was missing.  Billie Jean stated that it was not a party and just a few people were over and no alcohol was served, but there are conflicting reports. 

As the investigation continued, police searched Billie Jean and Shawn’s home where they found a box with hundreds of documents on different types of crimes such as: mass murderers, serial killers, sexual sadists, murders of family members, different types of motives, etc.  Billie Jean told the police that this was just a “hobby.”  I want to note here that in today’s world, a lot of us would likely look suspicious because of the popularity of true crime, perhaps.  Like, if my computer history was searched it would have so much stuff, but if they were to dig into me, they could be like, “Oh, she researches this for a job.”  But for Shawn and Billie Jean, having a box of this kind of stuff seems sketchy – especially when Shawn was the last person to ever see Hailey.

Investigators also learned about a domestic dispute in the Dunn/Adkins home back in February of 2010.  During this dispute, Adkins allegedly threatened to kill both Billie Jean and Hailey.  He originally denied this, but later confirmed that he did make that threat.  

Hailey’s uncle spoke about a conversation he had with Adkins after Hailey went missing where he made a comment that killing a child would be like killing a deer.  The uncle said that Adkins does, in fact, hunt and has dismembered deer with a chainsaw.  

On January 12, 2011, Shawn Adkins officially became a person of interest in Hailey’s disappearance after police learned about the death threat to Hailey and Billie Jean as well as the actual murder box found in the home.  On January 15th, cadaver dogs searched a landfill in Abilene and a landfill in Big Spring.  There were initial hits on blood, but in the end, it wasn’t Hailey’s.  Police stated at the time that these searches were done as a standard part of the investigation and not off of a tip. 

Throughout January and February of 2011, there were vigils held for Hailey while search efforts continued.  The searches were hindered for several weeks due to freezing temperatures, but continued when the weather improved. 

On February 25th, police found thousands of child pornography photos on a memory stick found in the Dunn/Adkins home along with the computer at Adkins’ mother’s home in Big Spring.  

Then on March 17, 2011, Billie Jean admits to lying to police about Adkins’ whereabouts that day.  The police had a warrant to search Shawn Adkins and when they came to her door, she lied and said that he wasn’t there, however, he was.  She was arrested and charged with making a false report to police, lying to police/hindering an investigation, and drug charges.  She was sentenced to a year of probation after pleading no contest in June of that year.  After the sentencing, she moved to Travis County, about 250 miles from Colorado City.  Shortly after Billie Jean’s arrest, police announced that they were investigating as if Hailey was either deceased or under duress.  Search efforts started to dwindle at this point and the one year anniversary of Hailey’s disappearance came.  

In 2012, human remains were found near the home of Shawn Adkins’ mother in Big Spring in an airfield, but after an autopsy was performed, they were determined to be those of a male.  According to the Big Spring police, the remains appeared to have been there for a long time.  I have basically scoured the internet and it may be that these remains were never identified. 

Then on March 16, 2013, human remains were found near Lake J.B. Thomas southwest of Snyder.  Curtis Lloyd was searching for fossils when he found them.  Lloyd said that he had a feeling that they belonged to Hailey based on the types of clothing that he had found at the scene.   Lloyd had found a skull, a tooth, and a femur as well as blue sweatpants that Hailey was last seen wearing.

The remains were sent to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification for DNA analysis and on April 26, 2013, police announced that the remains belonged to 13-year-old Hailey Dunn.  Shawn Adkins was still a person of interest at this time, but was not immediately arrested.  

In May of 2013, another vigil was held for Hailey at Colorado Middle School and more than 350 people were in attendance.  Hailey’s friends, family, and teachers gathered and remembered Hailey through prayers, songs, pictures, and shared memories.  Her principal, Mark Merrell said of her, “Hailey was a doer.  She set an example for others to follow.  She will always be one of us in spirit.”  He said that after Hailey went missing, the students banded together to print banners and held a “Hailey Week.”  Hailey’s name was written in purple flowers and they had country western music playing while a slideshow of pictures was played.  

In 2016, it was said that Curtis Lloyd would likely only be able to collect about $10,000 in reward money unless something were to change, though, he could still receive up to $15,000 from the FBI.  According to Colorado City officials, they dissolved the town’s reward fund and returned approximately $10,000 back to donors because they believed that Hailey would never be found alive.  Colorado City’s city manager at the time, David Hoover, said “I hate to say it but everyone had kind of given up hope that she was alive.”  The FBI wouldn’t comment on reward money to protect the safety, anonymity, and privacy of anyone who provides them with information.  Though, I’m not sure that that’s really the important thing here.

Hailey’s remains were not released to her mother until 2017.  Billie Jean wrote on the Hope for Hailey Facebook page that part of Hailey’s journey had come to an end and was happy to finally have her home.  A private funeral for the family was held for Hailey that year as well.  

In 2018, the investigation was turned over to Scurry County because that was where Hailey’s remains were found.

In 2019, Clint Dunn spoke out about the investigation into his daughter’s death.  He said that he felt like he was left in the darkness by law enforcement because they weren’t communicating with him.  Clint commented that the police had indicated to him that as soon as Hailey’s remains were found, an arrest would be made, but that didn’t happen.  Clint hired a private investigator and when tips were received, they passed them over to law enforcement, however, he said that they rarely got replies and didn’t even know who was handling his daughter’s case at the time.  

Eleven years after Hailey was reported missing and nine after her remains were found, an arrest for her murder was made.  Shawn Adkins was arrested and charged with the first degree murder of Hailey Dunn and for second degree tampering with evidence on June 14, 2021 in Howard County, Texas.  

In September of 2021, Adkins was formally indicted for the first degree felony murder of Hailey Dunn during a Grand Jury session.  It was stated that Hailey’s cause of death was a strike to her head with an unknown blunt object.  He was also indicted for second degree felony tampering/fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair a human corpse.  His bail was set at $2 million.

After the arrest, Billie Jean told a Texas news outlet that she was relieved that an arrest was finally made even though she found out from the news versus law enforcement.  She said that she wasn’t shocked that it was Shawn, but that she of course had hoped it wasn’t him because she did stay with him after Hailey went missing.  She said, “He’s been free to do whatever he wants, and my family has suffered without Hailey.  Hailey has missed out on graduation, on driving, on going to college, a career.  I’ve missed out on so much.”

Upon the arrest, Clint, Hailey’s dad said that at the time there were no words to define how he felt and that they will let the trial speak the truth.  He said, “Thank you to everyone who searched for Hailey, and to those who fought tirelessly for an arrest.  Hopefully, true justice will come in the courtroom.”

In December of 2021, Shawn Adkins was formally read his rights again for the murder charge and his bail was then set at $1 million.  In January of 2022, Matt Powell officially appeared as Adkins’ attorney and requested to examine evidence on his behalf.  In the same month, Powell filed a waiver of arraignment on Adkins’ behalf.  This waived his right to be arraigned in open court and at that time, they entered a “not guilty” plea on the record.  

In June of 2022, a pretrial hearing was set for July of that year and the trial was moved to April of 2023.  Then in July, Adkins filed a motion to move his trial.  The motion was granted and the venue was moved to Nolan County, Texas.  Pretrial hearings were set for September 2022, November 2022, and February 2023 with the trial beginning in April of 2023.  

In November, Adkins elected to have a full jury trial.  Several pretrial motions were filed in November 2022 as well.  Adkins filed a request for timely notice of the State’s intention to use evidence of extraneous misconduct at trial and Powell filed a motion for Discovery to review all 911 calls related to Adkins’ indictment.  Powell also requested for Discovery to review all autopsy reports of Hailey Dunn’s body as well as all medical records that showed the physical condition of Hailey and Adkins at the time of the alleged murder.  He requested their blood types for review as well.  

Powell also requested to review all confessions, admissions, and/or statements that were in writing and signed by Shawn Adkins as well as any recorded statements with law enforcement that were made prior to his Grand Jury indictment.  He requested to review all other suspects that had been interrogated and/or arrested.  Another request was made to review all photographs, drawings, and charts made by the prosecution or investigators as well as any photos of Hailey from the crime scene and autopsy.  He also filed for any photos of the suspects shown to witnesses.  Powell requested to review all the information investigators received about the muruder through Crime Stoppers or any other tip program and to review any typed or handwritten notes from police during the investigation.  Lastly, he requested to review all names and addresses of each person the prosecution planned to use for expert opinion during the trial.

Adkins asked for another change of venue in November of 2022 from Nolan County because he believed “there exists knowledge and conclusion as to Adkins’ guilt or innocence and that these conclusions influence public opinion to the degree that Adkins cannot obtain a fair and impartial trial.”  

Dates for pretrial and regular trial continued to move out and after a pretrial hearing on June 14th, 2023, the new trial date was for August 2023. 

Then in a huge turn of events, charges against Shawn Adkins were dropped and he was released.  The prosecution dismissed without prejudice, meaning he can still be charged in the future.  The prosecution stated that further investigation is needed to prove the events beyond a reasonable doubt.  The prosecution made it clear in their filing that Shawn Adkins remains the primary suspect in Hailey’s murder.  The state provided Adkins with a 16-page Brady notice that details the evidence against him in the case.  

The document provided from the prosecution states that some of the tips provided to the different law enforcement entities involved in this case were not properly vetted, investigated, or cleared, and that in a criminal case based on circumstantial evidence, this is critical.  The document also detailed that one of the critical pieces of evidence for the prosecution was a soil analysis that was conducted by a soil expert.  In the initial investigation, investigators collected a pair of work boots that belonged to Shawn Adkins.  The expert used a testing method called the Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) and concluded that the soil samples pulled from Adkins’ boots had a high similarity with the soil collected where Hailey’s body was found.  However, prior to this, the same soil samples were sent to the FBI Crime Lab in Quantico, Virginia and used a peer-reviewed methodology and determined that the samples did not match.  

The State of Texas met with the FBI Crime Lab and had them review the NIRS report and it was determined this method has not been peer–reviewed and they stand by the finding that the soil samples did not match.  Because of this, the FBI does not believe the NIRS testing done by the state’s expert should be relied on in a criminal trial. 

Another issue with the investigation was that the autopsy report showed that Hailey had blunt force injuries to her skull that were inflicted at or near the time of death.  These injuries were “catastrophic” and there would have been significant bleeding, however, throughout the multiple searches of the home, there was no forensic testing that the State knows at the home.  Adkins’ car was also searched multiple times as well as the location where Hailey’s remains were found.  Evidence was collected from both the car and the location, however, none was forensically tested.  

The document also cites the cell phone records of both Hailey and Shawn Adkins for December 27, 2010.  The cell tower records show that Hailey’s phone sent an outgoing text at 2:16 pm then another at 2:27 pm.  At the same time, Adkins’ phone was pinging to a tower in Big Spring at 1:40 pm and then 2:40 pm.  The records also show that Adkins made a call at 2:56 pm that connected to a cell tower east of Big Spring but west of Colorado City.  Records also show that Hailey’s phone connected to a cell tower in Colorado City.  This information, though not conclusive, lends support to the idea that Hailey may have been alive prior to 2:57 pm that day. 

We also learn in this document that David, Hailey’s brother, had been gone the night of December 26th, but returned at about 5:00 pm on the 27th.  He saw Adkins, but he did not see Hailey.  Then Adkins left to pick Billie Jean up for work in Snyder at 6:00 pm and was not alone again until the next morning.   This leaves Adkins alone with Hailey for two hours – approximately 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.   This would have given him two hours to kill Hailey, clean up any blood and other evidence, and hide the body.  The document states, “While this is not impossible, it presents additional challenges given the preceding issues.”

The prosecution concluded that this is a “complex circumstantial evidence case,” and there were no known direct eye witnesses to the murder or any known forensic science evidence that links Shawn Adkins to the murder.  Also, Hailey’s remains were not found until March of 2013 and there were many tips provided during that time period.  Because of this, with Shawn Adkins remaining as the primary suspect, the current state of the evidence is not sufficient for them to proceed to trial.  This case was dismissed and is subject to re-file pending further investigation.  

Clint Dunn, Hailey’s father, has struggled since the loss of his daughter.  According to his private investigator, Erica Morse, Clint has had two heart attacks since Hailey’s murder and since Adkins’ release, his health problems have escalated.  Morse told news outlets that Clint was not made aware of Adkins’ release prior to and they believe that was intentional.  

Clint is now working on passing a bill, “Hailey’s Act,” that will focus on police accountability.  Clint says that police departments haven’t been accountable when they’ve messed up and don’t always have transparency with the parents and families of missing and murdered people.  The goal with “Hailey’s Act” is to improve police forces and add new rules and regulatory bodies.  Thus far, Clint has only drafted the bill himself and is looking for lawmakers to help make this a reality.