A predator set free
Accused child killer Shawn Adkins was released yesterday in Mitchell County, Texas, after two years behind bars
By Erica Morse
Publisher, Victims News Online
Published 10:00 a.m., June 28, 2023
(COLORADO CITY, TEXAS) — Accused child killer Shawn Casey Adkins skirted the law – again – after officials chose to dismiss the first-degree felony murder and tampering with a corpse charges in the 2010 kidnapping and murder of Hailey Dunn.
Dunn, who was 13 at the time of her disappearance, disappeared just after Christmas in 2010 from her home in Colorado City, Texas. Her scattered remains were found 16 miles away from her home at a rural lake in west Texas in March 2013.
In June 2021, the man suspected for her murder, Shawn Casey Adkins, was arrested and charged with first-degree felony murder and tampering with a corpse. Adkins was the boyfriend of Hailey’s mother at the time of her disappearance.
His trial was set for either August 7th or September 11th of this year, until an 11th-hour phone call placed to Hailey’s parents indicated her killer will, once again, get a free pass.
Yesterday morning, Adkins was set free after prosecutors from the Special Victims Unit of the Texas Attorney General’s Office told Hailey’s father, Clinton Dunn, that “more time is needed” to take this case to trial. Prosecutors cite disorganization between multiple jurisdictions, misfiled documents, potentially missing evidence, and two soil samples with conflicting results. A 2013 soil test at the FBI in Quantico, Virginia, and a separate test performed at Baylor University in 2018, do not match. FBI experts believe the test used in the Baylor sample does not meet the requirements of the forensic science community.
The order to dismiss may be viewed here; the motion to dismiss may be viewed here.
VNO’s Publisher was the Texas PI working alongside Hailey’s father, Clinton Dunn, who is also the Managing Editor of our publication. Both are available for interviews regarding Adkins’ arrest, and what next steps are needed to put him back behind bars.
Clint Dunn has been the driving force behind his daughter’s case since her disappearance in 2010, and was scheduled to testify as a lead witness in her killer’s trial later this year. When prosecutors called him Monday afternoon, he was enraged, asking why this information was withheld for him for months.
“People are lying to me right now, and I’m going to the get to the bottom of it”, Dunn told VNO. “We put him behind bars once, we will do it again”.
Dunn recently authored the first draft of a proposal he wants passed on the Federal level, called ‘The Police Accountability and Transparency Act’. He created the bill hoping to prevent other families from being mistreated by law enforcement officials who make mistakes in murder cases, like Hailey’s.
For media interviews regarding Adkins’ release, please call Private Investigator Erica Morse at (432) 741-1329. Hailey’s father, Clinton Dunn, is also available to speak to the press.
Stay with VNO for updates on this case and links to all media coverage. Full details may be found on the “Who Killed Hailey Dunn” official Facebook page. Previous coverage of this case may be found here.
