By Devin Sanchez
NewsWest 9
COLORADO CITY - The past 28 months have been rough for Terrye Newcomb and all those who worked tirelessly to find Hailey Dunn, the 13-year-old girl who went missing back in 2010.
"The saddest part about this being Hailey and her remains being found, is that beautiful smile you see up there, we're never going to get to see," Newcomb said while holding back tears.
On Friday afternoon, hope was lost when news broke that the remains found in Scurry County last month were Hailey's.
"It's nice to know that she's not laying out there anymore, unattended. She didn't lay out there. That didn't have to happen to that child. It's just not fair," she said.
The ladies hung a huge banner, with a picture of Hailey, in the yard of the place she once called home and the last place she was seen alive. It's the picture that everyone can recognize: A young girl, in her cheerleading outfit, on the brink of adolescence.
"All we're going to get to know and remember is that picture. We don't have that chance to see that smile or hear that voice," she cried.
Even with such a tragic outcome, Newcomb said the group wouldn't do anything differently.
"We weren't going to give up, that's something we weren't going to do," she told NewsWest 9.
The question as to who is responsible still remains.
"We're not giving up now. We're in this until justice is done," Newcomb said.
The only person of interest in the case is Hailey's mom's ex-boyfriend, Shawn Adkins. NewsWest 9 called Adkins lawyer but our calls have yet to be returned. NewsWest 9 also went to Adkins' mom's house in Big Spring but no one answered.
However, Newcomb said this isn't the time to start pointing fingers.
"It's not time to say he did it, she did it. This is Hailey, give her the attention she deserves," Newcomb said.
Still, the shock of everything has yet to fully set in.
"We talked about this moment a lot and we thought we were prepared. We thought we were going to be ok but we're not," she said.
