BIG SPRING, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) — A private investigator working the 2010 disappearance and death of Texas 13-year-old Hailey Dunn says Shawn Adkins, known to investigators for years, has been arrested and charged with murder.
Shawn Adkins has long been considered a person of interest in Hailey’s disappearance and murder. She went missing in 2010 and was found dead in 2013.
Howard County Jail records indicate that Adkins is currently behind bars on a $2 million bond.
A private investigator assigned to the Hailey Dunn case said that the arrest is connected to her disappearance and death.
Adkins was Hailey’s mother’s boyfriend at the time of her disappearance.
Hailey, a 13-year-old cheerleader in Colorado City, went missing in December 2010. In 2013, her remains were found near Lake JB Thomas in Scurry County.
In January 2017, nearly four years later, Hailey would finally be laid to rest. In the intervening years, Adkins would be the only person named by investigators as a person of interest.
Adkins maintained his innocence, and in an interview early in the process in 2011, he begged for Hailey to come home.
“Hailey, I hope you come home safe really soon. You’ve been gone way too long. We all miss you, and we all love you.”
The only previous arrest in the case was not Adkins, but of Hailey’s mother, Billie, when police accused her of lying about Shawn’s whereabouts. That arrest came in 2011.