HOWARD COUNTY, Texas — Shawn Adkins, 35, has been arrested and charged with the murder of Hailey Dunn.
According to jail records, Adkins was booked into the Howard County Jail on June 14. The Howard County Sheriff's Office reports the Nolan County District Attorney's Office issued the warrant for his arrest.
According to the Mitchell County Sheriff's Office, Adkins has been transferred to the Mitchell County Jail.
Adkins' bail is set at $2-million.
The Texas Rangers officially confirmed Adkins as the one who murdered Dunn.
Adkins is linked to a more than a decade-old case out of Colorado City. He was the boyfriend of Hailey Dunn's mother, Billie Dunn, back when she was reported missing in December of 2010.
His Arrest
The 32nd Judicial District's district attorney, Richard Thompson, issued an arrest warrant for Shawn Adkins out of Nolan county.
After that warrant was issued, the Texas Rangers arrested Adkins in Big Spring on Monday afternoon on June 14.
Why Big Spring? That is where his mother lives and sources tell us that is where Adkins was living.
He was booked at the Howard County Jail.
Then on Tuesday morning, he was transferred to the Mitchell County Jail.
The county where Hailey went missing.
Thompson sent us this statement on Adkins arrest:
"The 32nd Judicial District Attorney's Office would like to confirm that Shawn Adkins has been arrested in connection to the murder of Hailey Dunn. Our office has not and will not be releasing any details of this case. Information will be released by public record and court proceedings, in due process. This has been a multi-county and multi-agency effort and is still under investigation. Any statements made that have not been provided by the 32nd Judicial District Attorney's office, have not been made by our direction. Our office believes the integrity of this case should be preserved until a time that it can be properly presented in a court of law."
NewsWest 9 has requested the arrest affidavit and any documents related to the case from the Texas Rangers and Mitchell County.
We are waiting for those requests.
A press release was issued on June 16, stating that district attorney Ricky Thompson consulted with the Texas Rangers in 2020, resulting in a new look into the case.
Adkins was identified as the suspect following several interviews with people, and the Rangers obtained a search warrant for Adkin's DNA, resulting in his arrest.
As to where the trial will be? It looks like it will be Mitchell County but that information has not been confirmed.
Who was Hailey Dunn?
Hailey Dunn was a student at Colorado City Middle School. She was a cheerleader and played basketball and softball. She was described as a loving, caring, outgoing teen.
She was just 13-years-old when she disappeared. Her death shook the community of Colorado City.
When Hailey Went Missing
The day after Christmas in 2010, Hailey told her mother that she was going to her father's house and then planned to spend the night with a friend. She never arrived.
Court documents state that investigators believed Adkins was the last person to have seen Hailey.
Nearly three years later, Hailey's remains were found in Scurry County in March of 2013, near Lake J.B. Thomas. That's just 25 miles north from where she first went missing and on land owned by the Adkins family.
Adkins' Link to the Case
Through the years, court documents have offered disturbing details about the disappearance of Hailey Dunn.
2011 court documents from Mitchell County indicate that law enforcement were looking into whether Hailey's mother and Adkins had something to do with Hailey's disappearance.
According to an affidavit, investigators noticed numerous inconsistencies in statements made by Adkins and reported suspicious behavior by Adkins on and around the date of Hailey's disappearance.
Adkins was the only person of interest named in the case. He was never officially considered a suspect by authorities.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.