A judge let a suspect walk free not because investigators were wrong about him, but because the science they'd used to build the case against him turned out to be junk. More than fifteen years later, Hailey Dunn's murder is still, technically, unsolved.
A Popular, Active Teenager
Hailey Darlene Dunn was born August 28, 1997, in Colorado City, Texas. Her parents, Clint and Billie, were divorced; Hailey and her older brother, David, lived with their mother and her boyfriend, Shawn Adkins, while seeing their father, who lived across the street, daily. Hailey was active and well-liked — she played volleyball, softball, and basketball, was a cheerleader, played first-chair saxophone in the school band, and kept good grades.
The Day She Disappeared
On the night of December 26, 2010, David saw Hailey playing video games before he left to spend the night at a friend's house; her mother saw her around 10 p.m. The next morning, December 27, Billie checked on Hailey before leaving for work around 6:30 a.m., leaving her own cell phone for the kids to use.
Shawn Adkins later told Billie that Hailey had left the house around 3 p.m. that day, saying she planned to go live with her father and then attend a sleepover at a friend's house. He also told Billie he'd been fired from his job that day.
Hailey never arrived for any sleepover, and never went to her father's. When she still hadn't come home the next day, December 28, Billie called both Clint and the friend Hailey supposedly planned to stay with — neither had seen her or made any such plans. Billie reported Hailey missing that afternoon.
A Slow Start, Then a Massive Search
Police initially treated Hailey as a likely runaway, and she wasn't formally classified as a missing person until January 3, 2011 — about a week after she vanished. Once the case escalated, it escalated significantly: the Texas Rangers and FBI became involved, bloodhounds tracked a scent from Billie's house to Clint's house to the friend's house to a local motel, and hundreds of community volunteers, along with organizations including the Klaas Kids Foundation, joined the search. A candlelight vigil drew more than 750 people, and the case received national media attention.
Neither Billie, Clint, nor Shawn personally joined the physical search efforts in any substantial way during this period, a detail that drew scrutiny at the time.
Inconsistencies That Raised Suspicion
In early January, both Billie and Shawn submitted to polygraph examinations. Billie's first attempt was inconclusive, reportedly due to being under the influence of drugs at the time; a second exam indicated deception. Shawn failed two polygraphs outright and walked out partway through a third. When investigators asked him directly who they should be looking at, he reportedly answered, "both of us."
David later told investigators that on the day Hailey disappeared, he'd come home and pounded on the locked door for several minutes before climbing in through a window — finding Shawn standing in the hallway with what David described as a "deer in the headlights" look.
Cell phone records also contradicted Shawn's account of his movements that day; rather than going straight to his mother's house as he'd claimed, his phone pinged at multiple locations inconsistent with his story. Investigators searching devices belonging to Shawn at both his home and his mother's house found a large volume of illegal pornographic material. On January 12, 2011, Shawn was formally named a person of interest, with investigators noting he had previously threatened Billie and Hailey and had researched serial killers extensively.
In March 2011, Billie admitted she had lied to police about Shawn's whereabouts while they were attempting to serve him a warrant; she received a year of probation, the only charge filed against anyone in connection with the case at that time.
Remains Found, No Arrest for Years
In March 2013, more than two years after Hailey disappeared, human remains were discovered near Lake J.B. Thomas in Scurry County, Texas, not far from where Shawn's mother lived. The remains were confirmed to be Hailey's. More than 350 people attended her funeral that May.
For years afterward, despite Shawn remaining the clear primary suspect in investigators' eyes, no arrest followed — there simply wasn't enough evidence to bring charges that would hold up in court.
An Arrest, Eleven Years Later — Then a Collapse
In June 2021, DNA evidence collected from Shawn led to his arrest. He was charged with murder and tampering with evidence, indicted by a Mitchell County grand jury that December, and held on $2 million bond. Court documents alleged he had struck Hailey in the head with a blunt object and concealed her body afterward. He remained in custody for two years as the case moved through pretrial proceedings, including a change of venue to Nolan County.
In June 2023, the case fell apart. Prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the charges without prejudice — meaning he could still be charged again later — after a series of serious evidentiary problems came to light. A key piece of forensic evidence, a soil-similarity test conducted on Adkins's work boots, had relied on a method the FBI Crime Laboratory later determined wasn't scientifically valid. Prosecutors also acknowledged there was no eyewitness to the murder and no other current forensic evidence directly tying Adkins to the crime, and that cell phone records suggested only a narrow two-hour window in which he could have been alone with Hailey — a tight timeframe to commit a murder, clean a crime scene, and conceal a body.
Adkins was released from custody. Prosecutors were explicit, even in dismissing the case, that they still considered him the primary suspect — but acknowledged the evidence as it stood wasn't enough to take to a jury.
Where Things Stand Now
As of January 2025, Hailey's case has been formally handed to the Texas Rangers Cold Case Unit for continued investigation. Hailey's father, Clint, and a private investigator who has worked on the case for years have both continued publicly pushing for renewed attention and have expressed frustration that, more than a decade after Hailey's death, no one has ever been convicted.
More than fifteen years after Hailey Dunn disappeared from her own home two days after Christmas, her murder remains formally unsolved, with the man investigators have long considered their primary suspect free and never convicted of any charge directly related to her death.
If you have any information about the murder of Hailey Dunn, you're encouraged to contact the Texas Rangers Cold Case Unit at 1-800-252-8477, referencing case number 153.
Sources
Texas Rangers Cold Case Unit officially investigating Hailey Dunn murder — KCBD
Charges dismissed for Shawn Adkins, man accused of killing Hailey Dunn — EverythingLubbock.com
https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local-news/charges-dismissed-for-shawn-adkins-man-accused-of-killing-hailey-dunn/
Charges dropped against Shawn Adkins in Hailey Dunn murder case — Court TV
https://www.courttv.com/news/charges-dropped-against-shawn-adkins-in-hailey-dunn-murder-case/
A DNA test on June 13 led to arrest of Shawn Adkins for murder of Hailey Dunn — EverythingLubbock.com
https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/a-dna-test-on-june-13-led-to-arrest-of-shawn-adkins-for-murder-of-hailey-dunn/