Missing Texas Girl Hailey Dunn 'Scared' of Shawn Adkins
Jan. 13, 2011 — -- Hailey Dunn, the Texas girl missing for nearly three weeks, was scared of her mother's boyfriend Shawn Adkins, and said he would stand in the doorway of her bedroom at night watching her.
"Hailey did not like him. She was afraid of him and she didn't want him there," Hailey's paternal grandmother, Connie Jones, told ABCNews.com today.
Adkins, 25, was called one of several persons of interest on Wednesday by investigators in Colorado City, Texas. He was the live-in boyfriend of her mother, Billie Dunn. The couple is reportedly no longer together in the aftermath of Hailey's disappearance.
Adkins was the last person to see the 13-year-old cheerleader on Dec. 27, 2010. Dunn, 33, reported her daughter's disappearance the next day.
"She's very beautiful and outgoing," Jones said. "She plays softball and basketball. She's into all kinds of activities."
Hailey told her grandmother that Adkins would pace around the house at night, talking on his cell phone in the bathroom and peering into her bedroom.
"She had told me on a couple of occasions that...he walked around at night and she said that she could see his shadow standing at her door. She said, 'Nana, he scared me. I'm afraid he's going to come in there,'" Jones said.
Hailey's grandmother said she prays that Dunn was not involved in Hailey's disappearance.
"I don't want her to be involved because she's the mother of my grandkids and they love her," Jones said.
Jones last saw the middle schooler on Christmas Day when Hailey tried to take a picture of her grandmother with her brand new ipod.
"It was a good day," Jones said. "She ate two pieces of chocolate pie and we sat and talked. She told me everything that she had gotten for Christmas."
Jones saw Adkins that day too. She said he was quiet and said nothing to her.
"Ever since this has happened, he's been my top priority as a suspect. I've just always had an eerie feeling about him...just a gut feeling that he's not a trustworthy person," Jones said.
City Manager Peter Kampfer said that investigators have received over 250 leads.
"The law enforcement task group is pursuing all leads. They are aggressively focusing on the criminal aspect of this investigation at this time," Kampfer said.
Kampfer would not comment on whether Hailey's mother is a person of interest or still under investigation.
"As an ongoing part of investigation, I cannot answer that," Kampfer said.
Adkins' car, a white Chevrolet Lumina, and cell phone have been seized. The mother's cell phone has also been seized and her home has been searched.
Records show that police were called to Dunn's home in February of last year after Adkins threatened to hurt Billie and Hailey Dunn.
