Mother's boyfriend Shawn Adkins arrested, jailed in connection with Hailey Dunn killing
BIG SPRING – A jailer at the Howard County Jail on Monday afternoon confirmed that Shawn Adkins, the live-in boyfriend of the mother of murdered teenager Hailey Dunn, has been arrested on a charge of her murder and had been jailed.
Bond is $2 million, the jailer confirmed. Early Monday evening, Adkins had been released to another agency, according to the Howard County Jail website. Tuesday morning he was being housed in the Mitchell County Jail.
Adkins was living in Big Spring at the time of his arrest, the jailer said.
Adkins was arrested by the Texas Rangers on a warrant issued out of Nolan County, according to a post Monday night post on the Howard County Jail Facebook page.
Dunn, then 13, vanished in late December 2010 in Colorado City in Mitchell County. She was last seen Dec. 27, 2010, and reported missing by her mother, Billie Jean Dunn, the next day.
Her disappearance became a missing person case in January 2011, according to Reporter-News archives.
Her remains were found in March 2013 near Lake J.B. Thomas in Scurry County.
Erica Morse, a private investigator who has worked for years with Hailey Dunn's father, Clint Dunn, separately confirmed the arrest Monday afternoon.
“This is not a surprise,” she said. “Mr. Dunn and I had a meeting with the Mitchell County district attorney about 30 days ago. During that meeting, we were assured that during the month of June, Hailey’s killer would be arrested.”
Morse said that when she contacted Dunn on Monday to tell him about the arrest, his first words were, “I had a feeling it was going to be today.”
“Everyone will learn this moving forward: Clint’s intuition … was the driving force in this case,” she said. “And he is a template for every parent who wants to find justice for their child.”
Morse said she planned to release a statement on Clint Dunn’s behalf.