Human remains found near where missing Texas cheerleader Hailey Dunn was last seen
(CBS/AP) BIG SPRING, Texas - Authorities say human remains have been found in a West Texas pasture 40 miles from Colorado City, where 13-year-old Texas cheerleader Hailey Dunn disappeared more than a year ago.
Police say the scene has been secured and an FBI evidence recovery team is expected Wednesday. A statement from authorities says investigators determined the remains are human but the gender is unknown. Law enforcement officials say the remains "appear to have been there for a long period of time."
Police confirm the human remains were discovered Tuesday afternoon by workers in the area. ABC News reports they were found near the McMahon Wrinkle Airpark, about one mile from the home of the mother of Shawn Adkins, Hailey Dunn's mother's boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, and the only named person of interest in the case.
No official connection has been made between the remains found Tuesday and Hailey Dunn.
Adkins was the last person to see Hailey Dunn on Dec. 27, 2010. She was walking to a friend's house and was reported missing when her mother, Billie Dunn, 33, discovered she had never arrived.
According to Fox News, Dunn told police she had gotten into a fight with her daughter the night she disappeared. She was arrested a few months later for lying to police about where her then boyfriend Adkins was.
Adkins, who had been named a person of interest in the case, had made troubling statements before Hailey disappeared, police said.
According to a police affidavit filed in the investigation, Adkins had remarked to a relative that hurting a teenager would be "like killing a deer." He was never charged.
The affidavit also noted that Dunn and Adkins had an apparent fixation on slasher movies and serial killers -- something Dunn called a "hobby."
The police affidavit mentioned that in February 2010, police responded to a domestic violence call at the house. Adkins allegedly threatened to kill Billie and Hailey Dunn during a heated argument.
Both Adkins and Dunn denied having any involvement in the girl's disappearance. Adkins told The Associated Press that he would "never ever do anything to harm Hailey."
Massive searches were conducted by volunteers from across the nation after Hailey went missing, and her image still adorns billboards in Texas.
