Colorado City, Texas — December 27, 2010
Thirteen-year-old Hailey Darlene Dunn came home from school on a Monday afternoon.
She was a student at Colorado City Middle School.
She was also a cheerleader.
That afternoon, Hailey told her mother’s boyfriend, Shawn Adkins, that she planned to visit her father, Clint Dunn, who lived nearby. She also reportedly intended to spend the night at the home of her friend, Mary Beth.
It sounded like an ordinary plan for a thirteen-year-old.
But Hailey never went to see her father.
She never arrived at her friend’s house.
And by the following day, she was officially missing.
For more than two years, her family would be left without knowing what had happened to her.
Then, in March 2013, human remains were discovered.
They were eventually identified as Hailey.
The girl who had disappeared after school was dead.
And the case remained unsolved.
WHO WAS HAILEY DUNN?
Hailey Darlene Dunn was born on August 28, 1997.
At thirteen, she was living in Colorado City, Texas, with her mother, Billie Jean Dunn, her sixteen-year-old brother, David, and her mother’s boyfriend, Shawn Adkins.
Hailey attended Colorado City Middle School.
She was also a cheerleader.
On December 27, 2010, she went to school like any other day.
No one knew that it would be the last day she would ever be seen alive.
THE LAST AFTERNOON
Hailey was last seen at school on December 27.
After returning home, she was reportedly seen by Shawn Adkins at around 3 p.m.
According to Adkins, Hailey told him that she was going to visit her father, Clint Dunn.
She also said she planned to spend the night with her friend Mary Beth.
But there was a problem.
Hailey never showed up at her father’s home.
And Mary Beth’s mother later said that the two girls had no plans that night. She reportedly had not been expecting Hailey to come over.
Somewhere between leaving home and the places she was believed to be going, Hailey disappeared.
Her mother reported her missing the following day, December 28.
The search for the thirteen-year-old began.
THE SEARCH
At first, there was still hope that Hailey might simply have gone somewhere without telling her family.
But as time passed, that hope began to fade.
By March 30, 2011, authorities had publicly stated that they believed Hailey was dead.
The focus of the investigation changed.
Police were no longer primarily searching for a missing teenager who might come home.
They were searching for her remains.
But finding Hailey would take much longer than anyone had hoped.
TWO YEARS WITHOUT ANSWERS
For Hailey’s family, the years after her disappearance were filled with uncertainty.
There was no confirmed explanation for where she had gone.
There was no body.
And there was no clear resolution.
Then, in March 2013, a skeleton was discovered.
The remains were later confirmed to belong to Hailey Dunn.
After more than two years of searching, her family finally knew what had happened to her in the broadest sense.
Hailey was dead.
But the discovery created another question that still needed to be answered:
Who killed her?
A SUSPECT IS CHARGED
Investigators reportedly determined that Hailey had been killed by a blow to the head with an object.
Attention eventually focused on Shawn Adkins, the man who had reportedly been the last person to see Hailey after she returned home from school.
Adkins was charged with killing her.
But the case did not end with a conviction.
He was released after court documents cited a “need for further investigation.”
The murder remained unsolved.
And without a conviction, the circumstances surrounding Hailey’s death remained unresolved.
THE QUESTIONS THAT REMAIN
Hailey disappeared on December 27, 2010.
She was last known to have been at home after school.
She said she was going to visit her father and then stay with a friend.
Neither happened.
The following day, her mother reported her missing.
More than two years later, Hailey’s remains were found.
Investigators came to believe she had been killed by a blow to the head.
Shawn Adkins was charged, but later released as further investigation was deemed necessary.
And that left Hailey’s family with a painful reality:
They had finally found Hailey, but they still did not have justice.
HAILEY SHOULD HAVE COME HOME
Hailey was thirteen years old.
She was a student.
She was a cheerleader.
On December 27, she left school and returned home, expecting to spend time with people she knew.
Instead, she disappeared.
Her family spent years searching for answers before her remains were finally discovered.
Today, the central mystery remains the same:
What happened to Hailey Dunn after she left home that afternoon?
And who was responsible for her death?
The answers have never been fully established in court.
Hailey was only thirteen.
She should have had decades ahead of her.
Instead, her disappearance became a tragedy that left behind a family still waiting for the truth.
This story is based on publicly available information and reported facts. It has been independently written and presented for informational purposes. Images, if any, belong to their respective owners.