Hailey Dunn Update: Texas Town Holds on to Hope for Missing Teen's Safe Return
COLORADO CITY, Texas (CBS/KTAB/AP) Since late December, law enforcement officers and dozens of volunteers have been searching for missing central Texas girl Hailey Darlene Dunn.
Police in Colorado City have said they're not sure whether the 13-year-old cheerleader ran away or was abducted, and details about the case have been scarce until last week, when a town official named her mother's former live-in boyfriend as one of several people of interest in the case.
But despite hundreds of leads, searches by horseback, cadaver dogs and helicopter, and even a $15,000 reward for her return, there is still no answer in Hailey's disappearance.
"It's real hard," said Denise Coates, a mother of three from nearby Howard County who has helped search for Hailey. "It's in your backyard, and she's the same age as your kids. I'm very concerned about her well-being."
Hailey was reported missing Dec. 28 by her mother, Billie Dunn, whose boyfriend, Shawn Adkins, said he last saw Hailey a day earlier when she told him she was going to her father's nearby home and would stay overnight with a friend. She did neither.
Since then, candlelight vigils have been held and fliers with Hailey's photo have been taped across Colorado City, a town of 4,500 people about 240 miles west of Dallas. A Facebook site set up to help in the search has more than 13,000 fans from across the country, and more than 100 billboards with her picture and information appear along interstates in West Texas and other places.
Police affidavits released this week offer a few details, but suggest the teen's mother and her live-in boyfriend lied and gave contradictory statements to investigators. Both have strongly denied involvement in Hailey's disappearance and claimed they were misquoted by police.
Officials have said Adkins is among several people of interest, but they declined to offer details about any others. Adkins told AP on Friday that he had nothing to do with the girl's disappearance and said he prays daily for her safe return.
