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Nancy Grace

Missing Cheerleader`s Mom and Boyfriend Failed Polygraph

Aired January 06, 2011 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight. A 13-year-old cheerleader, broad daylight, leaves home around lunchtime, heads by foot down the street to a little friend`s house. She goes for a sleepover. She`s never seen again. Bloodhounds scan the neighborhood and a local motel. Police combing that motel surveillance video, searching for images of Hailey.

We learn officials seize the cell phones belonging to Mommy and her live-in boyfriend. But why? This as police polygraphing friends and neighbors. Mommy volunteers for a polygraph. Local police call in the Texas Rangers. In the hours after we go live with the story, local Colorado police, who originally dismiss the little girl`s experience as, quote, "just a runaway," finally break down and upgrade the case to missing person. But how many critical hours were lost?

Bombshell tonight. Hailey`s mother takes that polygraph, along with the live-in boyfriend. Both fail. And tonight, after flunking the poly, the boyfriend, Shawn Adkins, leaves the home and hasn`t been back. Why? Texas Rangers sweep in and search the family home and the shed. What did they find? Hailey`s mom questioned over 10 straight hours, into the night. Tonight, investigators searching wooded areas by foot, on horseback in the outskirts of Colorado City. What tip led them there? Tonight, where is 13-year-old cheerleader Hailey Dunn?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAWN ADKINS, MOTHER`S BOYFRIEND: I would never do nothing to that little girl.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shawn Adkins was the last person to see 13-year- old Hailey Dunn alive.

ADKINS: (INAUDIBLE) all my heart.

BILLIE DUNN, MOTHER: Boyfriend. He came home from work. He seen Hailey. Hailey was there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where the story takes a tragic turn.

GRACE: A 13-year-old cheerleader leaves in broad daylight from her own home. She`s never seen again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to know more about the boyfriend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s frustrating, you know?

GRACE: Billie Dunn, what about your boyfriend? Has he agreed to take a polygraph? Has he agreed to take a polygraph?

BILLIE DUNN: He can take a polygraph in the morning, hopefully, early.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here`s what needs to happen.

ADKINS: My main focus is Hailey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mom`s boyfriend.

ADKINS: We just want her to come home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has to march right into the police station and demand they give him a polygraph so that they can move beyond him and find out what happened to this girl.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. Hailey`s mother takes that polygraph, along with live-in boyfriend. Both flunk the lie detectors. And tonight, after flunking his poly, the boyfriend, Shawn Adkins, leaves the home and hasn`t been back. Why?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Did anyone see her other than your boyfriend that day?

BILLIE DUNN: A neighbor saw her out in my back yard.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are still many questions that need to be answered.

GRACE: Where is 13-year-old cheerleader Hailey Dunn?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) disappearance.

GRACE: We confirm she was out walking to her friend`s house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As far as we know, this friend had no idea she had plans for a sleepover that night.

GRACE: What about your boyfriend?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shawn Adkins. He was the last person to see Hailey alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he`s, in fact, refused to take a polygraph test.

BILLIE DUNN: But it is set up for tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That raises concerns for the police.

ADKINS: It really doesn`t bother me because, you know, my main focus is just Hailey.

BILLIE DUNN: Wonderful to know that everybody cares and everybody wants her back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. I want to go straight out to Alexis Weed. Alexis, explain to me, how long was the mom questioned? When did we learn she flunked her polygraph? And why did the live-in leave the house, not to return?

ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, we`re hearing that Hailey`s mother -- she was questioned for 10 to 12 hours yesterday evening, last into the night. She says that she took a polygraph exam, and that`s what prompted police to keep her there at the station. She said she failed her polygraph examination,. She said she was very nervous when she took it. She also tells us today that her live-in boyfriend failed his polygraph exam, only after refusing to take two previous other exams.

GRACE: This as we learn cops on horseback and on foot combing the area in a densely wooded area around the Colorado River.

To Priscilla Luong, reporter with KTAB. Priscilla, what do you know about that?

PRISCILLA LUONG, KTAB CORRESPONDENT: Well, Nancy, all I can tell you is that it`s been a busy day out here. There were helicopters soaring all across the area, looking for some type of sign. There was a real ruckus down over in one area where the helicopter actually landed. We`re told that there were rumors that Hailey`s body was found, but sources tell me and also law enforcement people tell me that there`s no body found and the investigation is ongoing.

GRACE: Do we know -- to Michael Board, reporter with WOAI Newsradio. Do we know what tip, if any, led cops to that particular area of densely wooded underbrush and also along the Colorado River? What led them there?

MICHAEL BOARD, WOAI NEWSRADIO: Well, they`ve been getting a huge number of tips. In fact, police tell me today that their investigation has been focused now -- you know, from the beginning, this has been a scattershot investigation. They`ve been just throwing things against the wall to see what will stick. And nothing has so far. I`m told it`s getting focus now.

But you know, from the beginning, this investigation, Nancy, has been mismanaged. Now, at the beginning of this, you know, you said lost time in this case. We know that her home was looked at yesterday. I was told by police today that that was the first time they looked at her home. Now, Nancy, if there`s a missing little girl, wouldn`t you think that her home would be the first place you look? Why wait nine days to look in her home? That just seems like an irresponsible investigation.

GRACE: Out to Woody Tripp, former police commander, joining us out of Atlanta. Woody, the first thing you do, you go in the house, whether by consent or by search warrant. You search the whole thing. You bring in dogs. And you separate everybody. They don`t all sit around in the family den like this is a "Murder She Wrote." No. You separate them and you interview each one of them, and you line up polygraphs that day. That`s what you do, am I wrong?

WOODROW TRIPP, FMR. POLICE CMDR., POLYGRAPH EXPERT: You`re absolutely correct. And not only separate them, but transport them to a facility other than the residence, where you can then start conducting interviews away from each other.

GRACE: Joining me right now, special guests Billie Dunn. This is Hailey`s mother. And let me tell you something. Before you judge her too harshly for failing that polygraph, she`s the one that volunteered to take the polygraph, all right? She asked for the polygraph. She is the one that called us and said, Hey, I flunked the poly, and then I was questioned for 10 straight hours.

Also with her, Clint Dunn. They are separated. They`re in the middle of a divorce. They`ve been apart for three years, and they are united tonight in the search for their daughter.

Billie Dunn, thanks for being with us. What happened in the polygraph?

BILLIE DUNN: Thanks for having us again. I don`t know. They had me very faithful (ph) in that test. We brought the polygraph up first. We asked for it, and they were told us -- they told us they were very confident in those tests. They -- I put a lot of confidence into those tests.

The first Friday they had it set up for us to take, we had taken Ativan the night before to go to sleep. They didn`t tell us we couldn`t have anxiety medicine. So when we were able to get it set up again -- Shawn had actually called them and asked them if he could come down and take it yet, and they said yes. They came, picked him up. He took his. I went in. They told me he failed it. I lost it, of course. I told them I had so much faith in that test.

Then they took me over to the courthouse. I took a polygraph test. I failed it, lost all faith in the test. A couple of other people failed it. One guy I do not know. One person took it three times, took it twice and failed it...

GRACE: Well, let me ask you this, Ms. Dunn...

BILLIE DUNN: ... then took it and passed it.

GRACE: Who administered the polygraph to you? Who was it?

BILLIE DUNN: His name was Matt. I believe there were two different...

GRACE: Well, was it the local -- was it the local police, the FBI? Was it the Texas Rangers?

BILLIE DUNN: No, he`s a polygrapher that came from Big Spring, out of town.

GRACE: OK, Billie Dunn -- everyone, with us is Hailey`s mother. What questions did they ask you? What`d they ask you?

BILLIE DUNN: They asked if I knew anything about the disappearance of Hailey, if I caused the disappearance of Hailey, and if there were any questions I was scared that he was going to ask me.

GRACE: Let me ask you this, Billie Dunn. Where is your boyfriend?

BILLIE DUNN: He went back to his grandma`s house.

GRACE: Why?

BILLIE DUNN: As soon as I found out he failed the test, I told him I didn`t want him back at my house. And now I don`t know what to think anymore. I would just rather he stay there until she comes home or they find her and we clear this up.

GRACE: What was his response when you told him to get out?

BILLIE DUNN: He was very tearful, very tearful, and he said he would go.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Out to Pat in New York. Hi, Pat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Welcome back. I`m glad you`re feeling better.

GRACE: I feel great.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank God!

GRACE: But I would like to know, where is this little cheerleader? And what I don`t understand, Pat, is why the local police said she was a runaway. There`s nothing to indicate she was a runaway. Billie Dunn has looked all the way through the room. There`s nothing missing, nothing she took with her. They wouldn`t classify it as a missing person. They lost days. They didn`t really start searching.

You know, let me -- hold on, Pat in New York. Don`t hang up. Back to Billie Dunn. You told me, you told our show, that you were frustrated with the way this investigation has gone. You told me they didn`t really start even looking for her for four days.

BILLIE DUNN: Well, they -- no, they were looking for her from the beginning, but they did -- they didn`t get the dogs out here until four days later, which I was thankful that they did get them out here. I was thankful the Rangers finally came on Monday. But my ex-husband and I called the Rangers` office a couple of times, leaving them our numbers, asking them to contact our police department. I don`t know if the C. City police department contacted them or not. I know they`re finally involved. I know they all...

GRACE: So you called the Rangers. You asked for the bloodhounds. Let me go back to you, Pat in New York. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nancy, my question is, if you can ask the mother -- if that was my child that went for a sleepover -- I thought she had a sleepover -- why she didn`t call that house at night to stay good night to the girl or see how she was doing? Because I would have done something like that.

GRACE: You know what, Pat? I have to agree with you. When I would have sleepovers, they were right across the street, and my parents would watch me walk across the street. What about it, Billie Dunn?

BILLIE DUNN: I just don`t have an answer for that. I wish I would have called to tell her good night. I wish I would have called the little girl`s phone that night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Hailey Dunn`s house, the last place she was seen before disappearing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would want to harm the excellent student?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hailey`s friends and family are desperate to find her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s not just the talk of the town, she`s the talk of the nation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 13-year-old this whole community wants home safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: A 13-year-old cheerleader.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No sign of what happened to her.

GRACE: Broad daylight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No signs that she was going anywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hailey Dunn left home to walk over to a friend`s house for a sleepover.

GRACE: She`s never seen again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) terrible.

BILLIE DUNN: My boyfriend, he seen Hailey.

It`s very sad around here.

She told him, I`m going to Mary Beth`s and I`m staying the night there.

We`re torn up.

Let my mom know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you seen 13-year-old cheerleader Hailey Dunn?

BILLIE DUNN: I want her to know that I have to have her back. Her dad has to have her back. We all need her back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Left home to go from point A to point B.

BILLIE DUNN: Several leads, and they say they`re checking into all of them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That never got to point B.

BILLIE DUNN: And that they keep hitting dead ends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls tonight. A 13-year-old cheerleader gone. With us, taking your calls, the mother and the father. Mom and her boyfriend flunk polygraphs, but she is taking your questions live tonight. Right now, she`s holding a photo of her little girl, Hailey Dunn -- Hailey 5-1, 120 pounds, hazel eyes, brown hair with blond streaks. She was wearing navy blue sweatpants, a light-colored, short-sleeved T-shirt pink and white tennis shoes. She`s got pierced ears. She`s only 13 years old.

Let`s see the map, Liz. This is Colorado, Texas. It is about 200 miles to the nearest big city. It`s an extremely rural area. There is an interstate running by it. There you see it. It`s not far from the Colorado River.

Who would take this girl? Now, the mom tells us -- according to the city manager, we misreported it, but the mother told us police told her that bloodhounds tracked her daughter from around the area of their home toward a local Western motel. That`s what the mom told us, according to the police. However, police have scoured that motel surveillance video. There is no sign of Hailey on it. So what, the little girl just vanished into thin air?

Let`s go out to the father, Clint Dunn. They`re in the middle of a divorce. It`s been going on three years now, but they`ve united in the search for their daughter tonight. Mr. Dunn, have you submitted to a polygraph?

CLINT DUNN, FATHER: I told them that I would take one, too.

GRACE: I`m sorry. I couldn`t hear you. Repeat?

CLINT DUNN: I told the FBI yesterday that I would take one.

GRACE: And are they scheduling that for you?

CLINT DUNN: I have no idea.

GRACE: Now, Mr. Dunn, you said your daughter would visit you at all different times of the day. She would not call ahead of time. But you were right across the street. So whenever she felt like it, she could walk right over to your place.

CLINT DUNN: Yes.

GRACE: Now, let me get something straight. She was last seen by neighbors in the back yard, talking on a cell, which she did a lot, around noon. Now, the boyfriend says that around 3:00 PM, she leaves. She says she`s going to your place and then to her little friend, Mary Beth`s. You`re saying she never came to your place, right?

CLINT DUNN: Yes, she never made it over there.

GRACE: OK. Billie Dunn, back to you. Here`s my question. You`ve got a 16-year-old boy. Was he at home the day that Hailey went missing?

BILLIE DUNN: No, he wasn`t here that day until 5:00 PM. He had been with friends.

GRACE: And at 5:00 PM, when he got home, was your boyfriend in the home?

BILLIE DUNN: Yes.

GRACE: OK. Between 12:00 PM, lunchtime, and 5:00, when your son got home, nobody but your boyfriend say Hailey, right?

BILLIE DUNN: Right.

GRACE: When the police came to your home to search your home, where did they look?

BILLIE DUNN: The entire house. And they did -- the police searched it Wednesday, the day after she was reported missing. The Texas Rangers searched it again yesterday, a more thorough search, and they took some pictures and -- so they had already searched it. They didn`t wait.

GRACE: Out to Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation, San Francisco. Marc, what do you think?

MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Well, I want to commend Billie and Clint for calling the Texas Rangers. Otherwise, they may have never gotten in. It`s a prime example of why you should contact every law enforcement within the jurisdiction and beyond when your child goes missing. You cannot expect the locals to handle your case, particularly if they`re untrained and incompetent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Hailey Darlene (ph) Dunn.

GRACE: Thirteen-year-old cheerleader.

BILLIE DUNN: She`s a wonderful girl.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was headed to a friend`s house for a sleepover.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last time anybody saw her alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But never made it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hailey Dunn walked out the doors of this house and was never seen again.

BILLIE DUNN: Hailey didn`t know (ph) that. I just want her to walk through the door.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Still no sign of the missing girl.

BILLIE DUNN: It`s frustrating.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last person to see Hailey Dunn alive was her mother`s boyfriend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shawn says Hailey told him she was going to her father`s house.

CLINT DUNN: She might come over for five minutes. She might come over and spend all day. She comes over every day. I didn`t see her at all that day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then to a friend`s house down the road.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was revealed that bloodhounds traced Hailey`s scent to this hotel.

ADKINS: I would never do nothing to that little girl.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. I want to go back out to our polygraph, expert who is our regular, routine polygrapher on "Swift Justice." Woodrow Tripp, Woody, what do you think about this polygraph?

TRIPP: Well, Nancy, based upon what the mother has said, I am really concerned. You`re always dealing with emotion when you`re administering a test, and you certainly want to minimize it as much as possible. So I`m very concerned with her statement is, she said that she was informed of the results of the boyfriend before she was ever administered a test. That absolutely would cause major problems emotionally as she`s administered one. So that`s -- that`s a real problem.

And certainly, with those emotions, you`re going to have -- I`m surprised that they even told her deception indicated. It more or less would have been they couldn`t say either way, one way or the other. So I`m really concerned about that.

GRACE: OK, Woody, don`t talk to me in code, all right? When you say "I`m concerned," "I have a problem," what does that mean? What do you mean you`re concerned, you have a problem?

TRIPP: I would certainly never -- and I have done tests where you test one person related to another, and I`m certainly not going to share with either one of them the results...

GRACE: Why?

TRIPP: ... prior to administering a test to the other.

GRACE: Why, why, why?

TRIPP: Emotions, either good or bad. You told the person that they passed. In fact -- or you told them that they failed. That`s going to create an emotional response both outside and within the person.

GRACE: But Woody -- Woody, when you go in for a lie detector and you`re strapped in there, and it`s on a matter of this importance, you`re already going to be emotional.

TRIPP: Absolutely.

GRACE: So people are always taking -- are always emotional when they have to take a polygraph.

TRIPP: But you`re going to increase it and add to it by doing that. You want to try to minimize that as much as possible, Nancy, you`re right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLIE DUNN: We love her, and we all need her back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The search for Hailey Dunn begins.

BILLIE DUNN: I left from work and went to a police station in Colorado City and reported her missing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLIE DUNN, MOM OF MISSING TEEN CHEERLEADER, HAILEY B. DUNN: He can take a polygraph in the morning. It`s set up for in the -- hopefully early.

SHAWN ADKINS, MISSING TEEN CHEERLEADER MOM`S BOYFRIEND: I love her with all my heart.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A lot of buzz surrounding Hailey`s mother`s boyfriend Shawn Adkins. He was the last person to see Hailey alive.

ADKINS: I would never do nothing to hurt her.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Shawn told me that he actually got home at about 3:00, and Hailey left the house at about 3:15.

DUNN: He had been at his mother`s house all day Monday.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But (INAUDIBLE) being raised on Shawn.

ADKINS: My main focus is just Hailey.

DUNN: Somebody took her. She`s mine and Clint`s daughter. God gave her to us, and we want her back. I`m getting worried that maybe my baby didn`t leave on her own for this long amount of time.

ADKINS: I just want her to come home safe.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GRACE, HOST: We are taking your calls. I want to unleash the lawyers. Joining us tonight, felony prosecutor, death penalty qualified, Eleanor Odom. Defense attorney Renee Rockwell. Defense attorney Peter Odom, Atlanta.

Weigh-in, Eleanor.

ELEANOR ODOM, FELONY PROSECUTOR, DEATH PENALTY QUALIFIED: Well, you know, Nancy, I`m very concerned about these polygraphs since everyone failed. And Woody makes a good point, perhaps the mom was nervous after learning that her boyfriend failed.

But these can`t come into evidence of court if they`re stipulated to, and that`s important to know.

GRACE: Of course in this care, Renee Rockwell, the stipulation she`s talking about is between the defense and the prosecution. We don`t even have a party at trial yet, so they`re not -- these aren`t coming into evidence.

RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, we`re the lawyers. My client`s not taking a polygraph, period, until I test it first to see how they`re going to do. And shame on them for telling the mother of the child that her live-in boyfriend failed. Imagine what was going through her head.

GRACE: Odom?

P. ODOM: Nancy, you made the point yourself that everyone that`s hooked up to a polygraph is going to be in a highly emotional state. They`re involved in some kind of a criminal investigation. That`s why we should not put stock in polygraphs. They are just not reliable. They measure emotion, they measure skin response, and heart rate. They do not measure whether someone is actually --

GRACE: OK. Woody Tripp. Woody, you know that is all BS, OK? Now I get the part about emotion, but polygraphs are highly reliable if they are administered properly. But does telling somebody, hey, basically your husband flunked, and then strapping you up? And you`re talking about your child who`s gone missing? You know, I`m just a layperson when it comes to polygraphs, but it seems to me that that is not correct procedure.

WOODROW TRIPP, RETIRED POLICE COMMANDER, POLYGRAPH EXPERT: As an examiner, I`m outraged that in fact she would be told that.

And Nancy, polygraphs at this point are 92 up to 97 percent accurate. The computerization of polygraphs have made them very accurate. But let`s all keep in mind it`s a tool. It`s an investigative tool, no more, no less. But it`s a tool and it has solved tremendous amounts of crime. But it`s a tool.

GRACE: I hear you, 97 percent accurate if administered properly.

I want to go back to Billie Dunn. This is the 13-year-old cheerleader`s mom. And keep your eyes on these photos we`re showing you. You`ve got the FBI in on this case, the Texas Rangers, local police, were all in an effort to find Hailey. She`s a 13-year-old little girl.

Billie Dunn, have you spoken to your boyfriend since he moved out?

DUNN: No.

GRACE: When you told him you wanted him out, what, if anything, did he say about Hailey?

DUNN: He looked at me, told me, you know -- you know me better than anybody. You know I love you, you know I love Hailey and David, you know I couldn`t do this. At the same time I told him, yes, I know that, Shawn, but I also know you failed that test. Why did you fail that test?

GRACE: We are taking your calls, along with Billie Dunn is her -- the little girl`s father, Clint Dunn.

Jennifer in Texas, hi, Jennifer.

JENNIFER, CALLER FROM TEXAS: Hi, Nancy.

GRACE: Hi, dear, what`s your question?

JENNIFER: Yes, it`s about the Amber alert.

GRACE: Yes.

JENNIFER: What actually constitutes being able to file an Amber alert, other than a child is missing and has been missing for days?

GRACE: You know, Jennifer in Texas, I am just sick, sick, sick. They still haven`t issued an Amber alert in this case.

Marc Klaas, you`re the expert. Why, why did they not issue an Amber alert in this case? There`s the interstate right there.

MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: First of all, this is not about the Amber alert. This is about the incompetence of a police chief who categorized the girl as a runaway for the first four days.

An Amber alert also is a tool. And it`s a tool that should be activated as soon as the disappearance of a child has been verified and certain other information has been added. I do not believe it should be locked in stone as it seems to be in most jurisdictions.

But I do know that in Texas they have one of the best systems around, we work with the Texas Amber Alert system with our company Beyond Missing. But this is really about this chief and him trying to defer responsibility to the Department of Public Safety. And I firmly believe that at this point an Amber alert really probably won`t help this case, because the world knows about it anyway.

GRACE: Well, you know what, you`re right at this point.

KLAAS: At this point.

GRACE: But in those first critical hours -- you know, I want to go to Alexis Weed, you and I have studied very carefully about the requirements for the Amber alert in this jurisdiction. What are they, Alexis?

ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Nancy, in Texas, the Amber alert criteria is first that the child must be 17 years of age or younger. The law enforcement agency must believe that the child is in immediate danger of serious bodily harm or of death. And also the law enforcement agency must believe that the child has been abducted.

GRACE: And isn`t it true, Alexis, that you were told there was no Amber alert in this case because nobody saw her get kidnapped?

WEED: That`s the understanding, Nancy, yes.

GRACE: Marc Klaas, you don`t normally kidnap out in the public square? Most kidnaps, I would imagine, you don`t have a witness to it.

KLAAS: And you know, Nancy, that`s why the vast majority of -- the vast majority of -- the vast majority of high-risk kidnappings, those that are taken by strangers or those that are taken by other types of predators, do not qualify for the Amber alert.

Adam Walsh would not have qualified for the Amber alert, Polly would not have qualified for the Amber alert, Jessica Lunsford would not have qualified, nor would Elizabeth Smart have qualified for an Amber alert.

It`s a system that has been put in place upside down.

GRACE: And Marc, I just don`t see --

KLAAS: And I think it`s terrible.

GRACE: -- how a lawman could say well, I`m not going to put this up for Amber alert because nobody saw her get kidnapped.

KLAAS: You know --

GRACE: I don`t know how you can say that and keep your badge. I don`t know.

KLAAS: There`s another case going on right now in Baltimore, Maryland, where they use those same criteria, the whole fact that they had absolutely use nothing, they use that to raise it to a very high alarm state. They`ve got like 35 or 40 detectives searching for that particular child right now.

GRACE: Out to Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, author of "Dealbreakers," joining us out of L.A. Weigh-in, Bethany.

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Well, in terms of the Amber alert, if this little girl didn`t have a substance abuse problems or problems with her patients or behavioral problems at school, why would anyone ever believe she left voluntarily? And there`s no evidence of all of that.

I think the best to be gained is by talking to the live-in boyfriend. I would be very curious, how did he meet Billie Dunn? Did he meet her when she was with her daughter? Did he take an excessive interest in the little girl? Did he have a lot of time alone with this little girl?

When this little cheerleader went missing, did he show empathy towards the child? Did he try to find her? Did he present theories as to where she had gone? And a big question in my mind, this family where she was supposed to spend the night, did they know she was going to spend the night?

GRACE: No.

MARSHALL: OK.

GRACE: Bethany, the little girl, Sarah Beth, or the mother of Sarah Beth did not know she was coming to spend the night.

I`m going to pose a few those questions straight to Billie Dunn? I agree with you. Billie, how did you meet the boyfriend?

DUNN: We met on MySpace. He contacted me, requesting to be my friend.

GRACE: You never met him before that?

DUNN: We talked -- right. We talked for about a month through there, and then met in person.

GRACE: When you met him, did you have your daughter with you?

DUNN: No, ma`am.

GRACE: And what was his relationship with her?

DUNN: In the beginning she didn`t like him. In the beginning Clint and I had just separated. She said she felt like he was the reason I wouldn`t take her daddy back. It took some time, but she got over it, and her and Shawn were able to joke around with each other.

She was able to go and ask Shawn for 10 bucks instead of telling me to ask him. Things have gotten much better.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Have you seen 13-year-old cheerleader Hailey Dunn?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Hailey`s mother`s boyfriend Shawn Adkins was the last person to see 13-year-old Hailey Dunn alive before she disappeared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hailey come home. And no one will rest until she finally does.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: An eerie silence overshadowed the Dunn family home as Texas Rangers and local police searched the property, gathered items and went with flashlights and gloves into a shed. In the back of that read danger, no unauthorized personnel. An area of the home that neighbors say they saw Hailey in all the time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot. She was always back there talking on the telephone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day. Almost every day.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The rangers searched the area for about 20 minutes and left with boxes and envelopes in hand. Returning a few minutes later to take Hailey`s mom from the home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`ve never had anybody missing this long.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Posters everywhere all over town of Hailey Dunn`s face. She`s been missing for over a week since her mother`s boyfriend Shawn Adkins said she was on her way to her father`s house and then to a friend`s, but she never made it. And police say neither was expecting her arrival.

So what leads do they have now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The dogs have located a scent that they think is Hailey.

ADKINS: I would never do nothing to that little girl. I love her with all my heart. It`s frustrating, you know, what she said about me, and -- but it really doesn`t bother me, because, you know, my main focus is just Hailey. And we just want her to come home safe.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. I want to go out to Dr. Titus Duncan, general surgeon, Atlanta Medical Center.

Dr. Duncan, thank you for being with us. Doctor, in this case, if there had been any cleanup in the home or at a motel room, what would you have expected to find?

DR. TITUS DUNCAN, M.D., GENERAL SURGERY, ATLANTA MEDICAL CENTER: Well, if they cleaned up, you`ve got to obviously find some residue of the cleanup material. Whatever they used to clean it up with.

But it`s very difficult. If you`re looking for DNA products, it`s very difficult to get it all clean. DNA is obviously microscopic, and all the materials that you would use during the cleanup would be something we call macroscopic.

So you could even find more DNA material after you really thought you`ve done a thorough cleaning despite the fact that you cleaned everything that you thought should be cleaned. So it`s not very difficult to find DNA.

GRACE: Out to Billie Dunn, this is Hailey`s mother. Is it true the boyfriend Shawn Adkins first refused to take a polygraph, saying that he was on, for instance, anti-anxiety medication?

DUNN: Well --

GRACE: Did you get that question?

DUNN: He went in there voluntarily. Yes, ma`am.

GRACE: OK.

DUNN: They said we couldn`t take the polygraph because we had taken medicine.

GRACE: And then when did they allow you to take it?

DUNN: And -- yesterday.

GRACE: And then you ended up being questioned for 10 straight hours?

DUNN: Yes.

GRACE: What about Chad Adkins, the boyfriend?

DUNN: Shawn? I don`t know how long he was talked to afterward, I don`t think long before he went over to his grandma`s. His aunt came and picked him up.

GRACE: Did the police --

DUNN: I do know he went back down there today.

GRACE: For what?

DUNN: I don`t know. To talk to investigators some more. I don`t know how long he was there or anything.

GRACE: So you guys knew each other and dated for about two and a half years before he moved in?

DUNN: Right.

GRACE: And he has been moved in for about four months, at the time your daughter goes miss something.

DUNN: Yes.

GRACE: Billie, when your little girl would go for a sleepover, didn`t the family typically know she was coming?

DUNN: She usually asked me first. And then would ask the other family. Sometimes she would ask them first. I thought, yes, they knew she had intentions of spending the night. They should have known.

GRACE: So was there ever a time she took off for a sleepover without Mary Beth`s family or you knowing?

DUNN: No. I always knew where she was. If she had been at a friend`s too long, and not asked to spend the night, I need to get ahold of somebody.

GRACE: So Billie, is this the first time she`s ever gone away for a sleepover without asking you specifically?

DUNN: She`s left notes or -- no, she`s let us know.

GRACE: I`m talking about you. Did she always tell you, her mother, that she was going to go spend the night?

DUNN: Well, no, usually if she stayed somewhere it was with Clint, and she would tell David or Shawn, if mom was at work, let mom know I`m going to -- I plan on spending the night with so and so.

GRACE: What was Shawn Adkins` response when he found out she was missing?

DUNN: He came straight home. He had been pretty upset, he appeared shaken to me also and started being supportive to me.

GRACE: Eleanor, weigh-in.

E. ODOM: Well, Nancy, the time line is so important on this case, in any missing person`s case. What I would want to know is, who was -- when was the last time that the boyfriend was seen? And when the boyfriend was seen with the child? How long were they allegedly alone together, just the child and the boyfriend?

GRACE: What about that, Billie? I know that she was seen by neighbors around lunchtime, noon in the backyard by herself, talking on a cell phone, right?

DUNN: Right. And I`m guessing the police would have asked that same neighbor, was my car here yet? Was Shawn home yet? They`ve talked to his mom and an uncle who stopped by his mom`s house saying that he was there. The police have never told me -- well, they said Shawn came home earlier than that or --

GRACE: OK, to Clint Dunn, this is Hailey`s father.

Clint, from where you live, can you see your daughter`s home?

CLINT DUNN, DAD OF MISSING TEEN CHEERLEADER HAILEY B. DUNN: Yes, I can stand on the back porch and see her front door.

GRACE: Did you look over there during that day?

C. DUNN: Yes, I look over there constantly, all the time.

GRACE: Could you see -- could you see Shawn Adkins` car there the whole afternoon?

C. DUNN: I`m not even sure. They park the car around the back, so I really can`t see the car very well from my house.

GRACE: OK. Out to the lines, Pam in South Carolina, hi, Pam.

PAM, CALLER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA: Hi. My question seems kind of moot at this point because we`ve been talking about it all night but I would think taking a polygraph would be -- you would be anxious anyhow but would anxiety skew the results?

GRACE: You know, Woody Tripp, I imagine everybody that takes a poly is anxious so I don`t know how that could destroy a polygraph.

TRIPP: It may destroy it, Nancy, if this person is so emotional. They become so emotional.

GRACE: Yes.

TRIPP: We`re dealing with emotions here. And it can. Anxiety medicine affects truthful answers more so than deceptive answers. So that`s where you get your inconclusives.

But if we`ve informed someone that someone else has failed a test, that`s very significant to the results of that person`s test.

GRACE: We are taking a quick break and taking your calls live. But as we go to break, congratulations to Whitewater High School softball star Kaitlyn, the 2010 player of the year. She just signed a scholarship to play for Georgia Southern College.

Congratulations, superstar.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DUNN: My boyfriend, he came home from work. He seen Hailey. Hailey was there.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She leaves her home to walk over to a friend`s house where she was supposed to have a sleepover.

DUNN: Four to five blocks.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She didn`t take anything with her when she left her house.

DUNN: Hailey never made it over there.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls but out to Priscilla Luong with KTAB. What can you tell me about the search of the Colorado River?

PRISCILLA LUONG, REPORTER, CNN AFFILIATE KTAB: Well, Nancy, when I talked to officials this morning I found out that there were horses and also some dogs sent out to search along the Colorado River and then after they completed their inspection of that area that was when they sent in the helicopters and the helicopters were seen all across town today.

GRACE: What more can you tell me, Michael Board?

MICHAEL BOARD, REPORTER, WOAI NEWSRADIO: Well, some really good news in this case. Colorado City for the most part is known as a trucking stop, a place for long haul truckers to stop between midland and the Dallas area. It`s on Interstate 20 which is a very high traveled trucking area.

We know that there`s a hotel there. The last place Hailey was seen is a popular spot for some of these long haul truckers to stop and take a break. All along I-20 from midland to Abilene a billboard company, Lamar Billboards, has donated billboards so thank god, Nancy, that this beautiful little girl`s face is being seen all along Interstate 20.

Please let`s hope that somebody who might have seen something that day might -- maybe a billboard will jog their memory. The number is up there. The reward is up there, her picture, the most important part, her picture is up on those billboards.

GRACE: Everyone, the tip line. 325-728-5294. There is a $25,000 reward.

Let`s stop and remember Marine Lance Corporal Carl Raines II, 20, Coffee, Alabama, on a second tour, killed Iraq. Awarded Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal.

Served as commander of his ROTC drill team and won a national championship. Wanted to be a registered dietician and personal trainer. Known as Pooh (ph) by family and friends, Crazy Carl by fellow Marines.

Leaves behind parents Jillian and Carl, an army veteran, sisters Tracy and Alexandra, brother, Lee, two nieces, two nephews.

Carl Raines II, American hero.

Thanks to our guests but especially to you for being with us, and congratulations to one of our regulars, interventionist Brad Lamm. He just put out a brand new book called "Just 10 Pounds: Steps to Weighing What You Want Finally."

His book tour, "Intervening on America`s Fattest and Fittest Cities, Live Lighter," starts next week Corpus Christi, Texas.

Congratulations, friend.

Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night. 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.

END