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Nancy Grace
Remains Found May Be Missing Texas Cheerleader
Aired March 21, 2012 - 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. Live to Texas. A 13-year- old cheerleader, broad daylight, leaves home by foot to a little friend`s house, never seen again.
Bloodhounds scan the neighborhood, a local motel, too, police combing surveillance video, no sign of Hailey. In police interviews, the live-in boyfriend says Hailey`s, quote, a "good girl," but then he does a 180, claiming the little girl is promiscuous?
A horrific scenario emerges, Hailey`s grandmother fearing Mommy`s live-in molests the 13-year-old girl, then murders her when she threatens to tell. Eerie slasher video surfaces, Mommy`s live-in seen wearing a black hood, black S&M mask, a black ninja outfit, acting out "slice and dice" scenarios with chainsaws, machetes, aprons for catching blood. It`s all straight out of a horror movie -- and apparently, smoking pot. We have the video. Shocking pornographic images, thousands of photographs, even videos of child porn and bestiality scenes.
Bombshell tonight. In the last hours, human remains have been discovered. As we watch and wait for word from the coroner, are these remains of the missing 13-year-old cheerleader, Hailey Dunn?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After searching the skies, combing the fields, and retracing footsteps.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The discovery was made, and the area right behind me is where those human remains were found.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here in Big Spring...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Hailey Dunn`s house, the last place she was seen before disappearing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Witnesses seen three girls walking with her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last person to see Hailey Dunn alive was her mother`s boyfriend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Before she disappeared.
SHAWN ADKINS, HAILEY`S MOTHER`S BOYFRIEND: I would never do nothing to that little girl.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His name is Shawn Adkins and he`s telling me that he`s going to kill me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shawn says Hailey told him she was going to her father`s house.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As far as the search for Hailey Dunn is concerned, we do know this isn`t the first time that the search has centered in the city.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re here in front of the landfill in Colorado City. Law enforcement combed through the trash at Allied Waste Services after dogs got two hits.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Employees that found the remains did say that they were those of a child.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was badly decomposed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m still looking for a living, breathing Hailey.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. A 13-year-old cheerleader, broad daylight, heads to a little friend`s, never seen again. In the last hours, human remains have been discovered. We are watching and waiting for word from the coroner. Is this the missing cheerleader, 13-year-old Hailey Dunn?
Straight out to Michael Board, WOAI. Michael, I recall distinctly when Hailey Dunn went missing, the 13-year-old little cheerleader. As I recall, she was last seen by Mommy`s live-in boyfriend, Shawn Adkins. They state she headed down the street to a little girlfriend`s house just a few blocks away. She was never been seen again.
During that time -- since the time Hailey Dunn has gone missing, cops have come looking for Shawn Adkins to question him. Mommy lied, said she didn`t know where he was. And according to police, she was arrested for obstruction, protecting the boyfriend.
All right, Michael Board, I`ll get back to all of that in just a moment, but first I want to hear about these remains.
MICHAEL BOARD, WOAI: Well, of course, police are keeping everything pretty close to the vest today, but everything -- all the evidence in this case is pointing to that, yes, this is Hailey Dunn.
GRACE: Out to Robyn Walensky, anchor/reporter, "The Blaze," also joining us from Texas. Robyn, what can you tell me about the discovery of these remains?
You`re seeing shots right now of a crime scene. Let`s go back to those shots very quickly. Give me any video you`ve got, Liz. I want to see what`s happening.
This is very close to an airport strip. It`s not a commercial airport as you and I would know it, it`s a private landing strip. They have about 12 to 15 flights a day. Also, it`s the location of a flight school, a flight academy. Let`s see a shot of the academy.
Now, this is an industrial area you`re seeing just within the space of this private landing strip. It`s out amongst all these -- take a look -- these giant tires, industrial barrels. You see the yellow tape there. It is kind of a no-man`s-land on the outskirts of this landing strip.
Back to you, Robyn Walensky, anchor with "The Blaze." Fill me in, Robyn. How were the remains discovered?
ROBYN WALENSKY, "THE BLAZE" (via telephone): Well, Nancy, this is a huge story here in Texas. And I can tell you that it was some workers, one worker specifically, who found the remains. He works for a company called Desert Tanks. They make oil tanks right near Big Spring airport. And they were apparently...
GRACE: Stop! Stop! Stop, stop! Quick question right there, Robyn Walensky. He works for Desert Tanks. I don`t want to know the Roy Kronk scenario, where the guy that finds the remains suddenly becomes the focus of a murder investigation. Was this guy rightfully in that spot? He was doing his job that day, correct?
WALENSKY: That is correct, yes. This is not a Roy Kronk situation, as in the Caylee Anthony remains. No, this is someone who was working in the area. There`s construction going on there. And he apparently found the remains. Reportedly, the remains are that of a girl, a child, in a trash bag. That is what we are hearing, Nancy.
GRACE: In a trash bag? Did you say that, Robyn Walensky, in a trash bag?
WALENSKY: Yes, I did. In a trash bag.
GRACE: OK. That`s opening up an entire treasure trove of forensic evidence because a trash bag, I assume, is going to be plastic. That also suggests that there will be fingerprints on that trash bag.
To Dr. Bill Manion, medical examiner joining us tonight out of Philly. Dr. Manion, we need you tonight desperately. Also with us is going to be Heather Walsh Haney, forensic anthropologist out of Florida Gulf Coast University.
OK, Bill Manion, Heather Walsh Haney, let`s put it together. What do we know? We know she went missing, when was it, Matt, the exact date? December 23. That`s a little over a year ago.
What would you expect to find, Dr. Manion, if this is my little 13- year-old cheerleader?
DR. BILL MANION, MEDICAL EXAMINER, NEW JERSEY: Well, her body is going to be pretty severely decomposed at this point. But you know, the teeth will be intact. The bones will be intact. Her clothing will probably still be intact, especially if it was wrapped in a plastic bag. So you`re right, there is a lot of forensic evidence to be looked at there. They will obviously check for...
GRACE: Whoa! Wait, wait!
MANION: ... fingerprints...
GRACE: You said teeth intact and what else intact?
MANION: Well, her teeth will be intact. Her bones and skull should be intact. And they will do X-rays on those remains to make sure there are no fractures or any other injuries there.
Obviously, they`re trying to determine the cause and manner of death. This is a homicide until proven otherwise, obviously, if her body was disposed of like this in a trash bag. They will also...
GRACE: Well, you know what, Dr. Manion?
MANION: ... collect all the dirt from the surrounding...
GRACE: Let`s not put the cart -- let`s not put the cart before the horse, Dr. Manion, because that`s what we all said in tot mom, too. This is a homicide because of the way the body is disposed of. Well, we certainly got our comeuppance when that jury handed out a not guilty verdict in the tot mom trial.
Dr. Manion, teeth, bones, skull intact. You also mentioned clothing.
To Robyn Walensky, anchor with "The Blaze." Robyn, that`s a critical question. Was the body clothed? Were clothes in that bag?
WALENSKY: Nancy, we have not heard anything about clothes. The only thing that we are hearing from local reports in Texas is that possibly a hand was found, that a hand was still intact, bones of the hand of a small girl. No word yet about the clothing.
But as you know, in the Caylee Anthony case, the last clothing that little Caylee had on, that little T-shirt and the shorts, were found. They were tattered, but they were there.
GRACE: You know, she`s right, too. Heather Walsh Haney, forensic anthropologist out of Florida Gulf Coast University, joining us out of Naples. Heather, that`s correct. And like Caylee, this body is in a trash bag.
The difference is this body has been partially buried, so there has been no -- euphemistically stating -- animal activity. In Caylee`s case, her body has been gnawed on by animals. In this case, apparently, the body was still buried to an extent.
Hold on, Heather. Hold on. Robyn Walensky, if the body had been buried, how did this guy find it?
WALENSKY: Well, apparently, they are doing construction, Nancy, in this area on a building. They`re apparently putting up another building, something to do with the oil tanks that Desert Tanks is involved in. So perhaps they were doing a survey of the site.
I`m also told that there`s a lot of trash in this area. The company used to -- back in the day, by the way, it was not Desert Tanks when this would have occurred, if it is, indeed, little Hailey. It was owned by another -- the land was owned by a company called American Limestone, Nancy. And they had a gate, but the gate apparently wasn`t locked, so you know, anyone could have walked in there.
That`s what we`re hearing, that they had a gate, so the area wasn`t searched, but people who knew of it could have, you know, come and gone at their leisure.
GRACE: Now, this is the kind of place you`d have to know about in order to find it. With me right now, special guest Alex Eyssen, the attorney for Mommy`s live-in boyfriend, Shawn Adkins, and the Adkins family.
Mr. Eyssen, thank you for being with us.
ALEX EYSSEN, ATTORNEY FOR SHAWN ADKINS (via telephone): Thank you, Ms. Grace.
GRACE: Mr. Eyssen, question. Your client, Shawn Adkins`s, mother has a home about one mile from this airport strip, is that correct?
EYSSEN: The family does own property in the area, yes, ma`am.
GRACE: What kind of property is that? Is it a home?
EYSSEN: I believe it is a home. I have not actually been there personally, so I wouldn`t want to tell you and your viewers wrong.
GRACE: OK. So his -- the live-in`s mom owns property there. It`s my understanding it`s where the mother lives.
Let me clarify that with Alexis Weed. Alexis, does Shawn Adkins`s mother live about a mile from this airstrip?
ALEXIS WEED, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right, Nancy. It`s about a mile. She, as far as we know, still lives in that location. And this is the place where his cell phone, Shawn Adkins`s cell phone, police have said, was pinging in that area on that day when Hailey was last seen.
GRACE: OK, you know what? Bring me up to date on that Alexis. I recall that. Everybody, this 13-year-old cheerleader, Hailey Dunn, goes missing last December 27th, just after Christmas.
Tonight, we are waiting on a positive identification of remains found near a private airstrip about one mile from the live-in, Shawn Adkins`s, mother`s home. Take a look at this map. We`re talking about Colorado City, Texas, the Big Springs area.
Back to you, Alexis Weed. Give me the story from beginning to end.
WEED: OK, Nancy. Hailey was last seen, like I said, on Monday, December 27th. And she was there -- this is a Sunday to Monday. So she`s seen on Sunday evening by her brother, by her mother. Her mother puts her to bed.
Come Monday, her mother goes to work very early in the morning in Snyder (ph), Texas. The mother leaves. Shawn Adkins leaves to go to work. But Nancy, Shawn Adkins tells his boss, we`re hearing from police -- he tells his boss that he is going to leave.
We also have reports that he has lied to police, saying that he was fired. Turns out not to be true. He comes home -- Shawn Adkins comes back from work to the home. His cell phone pings in the Colorado City area. His cell phone later pings near his mother`s house in Big Spring, where they`re now searching for Hailey`s body.
GRACE: OK. With me is the perfect person for this. He`s a very well respected attorney in the Abilene area. The attorney for Shawn Adkins and the Adkins family is with us. Alex Eyssen is here.
Alex, that ping evidence is disturbing to me and it would be to a juror. And I`m pretty sure you`re going to have a good explanation for it because his story, Shawn Adkins`s story, as to where he was that day, to our understanding, does not jive with the pings on his cell phone.
But you may have an innocent explanation. Why was his phone pinging in this area that day?
EYSSEN: Well, Ms. Grace, to be honest with you, I`m neither comfortable nor prepared to get into the details of what went on with my client in that day or two-day period.
Really, Shawn is in the area. He`s willing to cooperate with law enforcement, as he has done in the past. But to get into the details of what law enforcement has or has not told us or what they think they know, I would just be speculating. We have been told truths, we have been told non-truths from law enforcement. So I would be guessing.
GRACE: With me, Alex Eyssen, wisely not commenting on his client`s whereabouts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: We are waiting and watching for a positive confirmation on human remains that have been found in the Big Springs/Colorado, Texas, area. The remains have been found, a skeletonized body, close to a private airport strip. Are they the remains of missing 13-year-old girl Hailey Dunn?
To Heather Walsh Haney, forensic anthropologist, Florida Gulf Coast University. Heather, why can`t I get an answer? Because all the reports are saying, We don`t know if it`s a girl or a boy. BS! They know!
HEATHER WALSH HANEY, FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST (via telephone): Well, one of the things that they`re going to be doing right away is radiographing or X-raying those remains. And so one of the keys that they`re looking at is the fusion of the joints because we`re all born with joint surfaces that aren`t fused to the shaft. And it just so happens that the bones of your hand fuse between 13 and 15.
So if your reports are right and they have a hand, and they can X-ray that hand and see that the growth plates aren`t fused, and it`s consistent with a 14-year-old, that narrows it right down to Hailey right away.
And as far as determining sex, if they`ve got skeletonized remains, they can look at the bones of that pelvis and any forensic anthropologist worth their salt can tell right away whether they have a male or a female because female pelvis bones are broad so that we can survive childbirth. And a 14-year-old female is going to have pelvic structure very similar to what an adult female would be.
GRACE: Has the search for missing 13-year-old cheerleader Hailey Dunn come to an end? We are standing by for identification of remains.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If somebody took her, she`s mine and Clint`s daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Hailey Darlene Dunn.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God gave her to us and we want her back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 8th-grade cheerleader never seen or heard from again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The discovery was made.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want answers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The remains were found.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The employees that found the remains did say that they were those of a child.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The hand was small.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His name is Shawn Adkins.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shawn Adkins?
ADKINS: I love her with all my heart.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hailey`s friend says Hailey was afraid of Adkins.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She says, like, (INAUDIBLE) my stepdad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Right now, we are waiting for a positive identification on remains found near a public airport strip. No commercial flights, just private flights in and out of there. There`s also a flight school. The location of these remains at an industrial-type area on the outskirts of the landing strip, found by Desert Tanks employee. Formerly American Limestone worked that area.
Liz, I want to see the video found in the Adkins home.
To Alexis Weed. Alexis, I understand that there were slice-and-dice reenactments by Shawn Adkins. What else was found in the home, please, quickly?
WEED: Right, Nancy. There were items of a pornographic nature, including things like videos. Police collected many CDs, DVDs, that sort of thing, from the Adkins home, but also over 100,000 images were collected from a computer that was at Shawn Adkins`s mother`s home.
GRACE: OK. With me is Alex Eyssen. This is Shawn Adkins`s, live-in boyfriend`s, lawyer. Mr. Eyssen, this is Shawn Adkins in the video that we`re showing, part of a slice-and-dice video, where a hooded, masked man dressed in black like a ninja sneaks up on somebody with a knife. Police say there was tons of pornography, including child pornography and bestiality, in the home.
What about it, Alex?
EYSSEN: Well, it doesn`t belong to my client. Whether there is or isn`t any pornography -- we have not, after multiple requests, been provided with copies of anything or at least been told that. So that`s actually news to us.
And you know, he is an enthusiast for movies of various types of genres, but just because you watch a certain film or you read a certain book does not make you the person which you...
GRACE: Alex...
EYSSEN: ... like to read.
GRACE: Alex? We have...
EYSSEN: Yes?
GRACE: I can burn you a DVD of this. Here he is in, apparently, a black rubber hood and their slice-and-dice reenactment. It`s your client.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The searchers involved in the Hailey Dunn case were coming by just to take a look at where the remains were found.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those employees that found the remains did say that they were those of a child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: We are live in taking your calls. We are waiting for a positive identification on remains found at a local landing strip. They are in the Colorado and Big Springs area, Texas.
Are these the remains of missing 13-year-old cheerleader Hailey Dunn. The last person to reportedly have seen the little girl alive is the mommy`s live-in boyfriend, Shawn Adkins. And with me is special guest, Mr. Adkins` lawyer, Alex Eyssen, joining me from Abilene.
Mr. Eyssen, you were just telling me that your -- none of these materials belong to your client, but I`m reading the return from the search warrant where Bailey Dunn, the child`s mother, states these belong to her and him, including tons of material regarding mass murders, serial killers, sexual sadism, documents related to the co-ed butcher, related to Marcus West, mass murderer, Robert Leroy Anderson, serial killer, sexual sadist.
Tons of video, pictures, you name it. They were all in a box in plain view, so your position is they did not belong to your client.
ALEX EYSSEN, ATTORNEY FOR SHAWN ADKINS, PERSON OF INTEREST IN CASE: No, Miss Grace, your original question was about child pornography also. And that I was explaining it did not belong to my client. We have not been provided any information about law enforcement, but I do not deny that my client did have an interest in horror genre and film and literature, and so it`s not surprising that those type of documents and materials are out there.
GRACE: Also looking at this affidavit, the cop states that during the investigation into Hailey`s disappearance, Adkins has been interviewed, as you pointed out correctly, Mr. Eyssen, but after he volunteered to take a polygraph, he got there, and on the first two occasions of showing up to take the polygraph, he terminates the polygraph by walking out and refusing to cooperate.
Mr. Eyssen, why would he not complete the polygraph?
EYSSEN: Well, I think what`s interesting, what happened at the time the polygraph were given, and when polygraph become more about a forced confession than actually a polygraph, that`s when it`s time for the polygraph to end. And I think my client did the right thing seeing the direction of the investigators were going and what they were wanting of him and that he did not want to do and could not do because he did not have any involvement, so he terminated the polygraph.
GRACE: Mr. Eyssen, according to your client, Shawn Adkins, the mom`s live-in boyfriend, what happened the last time he saw Hailey alive?
EYSSEN: Miss Grace, he`s made that explanation to law enforcement, both state and federal, so I`m just going to rely upon those statements that he`s made to them.
GRACE: OK, that`s interesting that you won`t even tell me what he says happened that evening.
I`m going to throw it straight to Michael Board, WOAI. Michael, what was Adkins story regarding the last time he saw Hailey alive?
MICHAEL BOARD, REPORTER, WOAI NEWSRADIO: Well, according to the police affidavits that we`ve been -- we have obtained during this investigation, Mr. Adkins told investigators that he saw Hailey leave the home at about 2:00 that afternoon and go to a friend`s house.
If we remember about, you know, a year and a half ago, they even used bloodhounds to track her trail, which led from that house apparently up to Interstate 20 to a motel there, but nothing was ever found at that time. But we`re also told at that time that she often walked that route, she often walked one direction towards her father`s wife, or biological father`s house, and she also --
GRACE: OK, great, I got it. I just wanted to hear the story that he gave. So he says she leaves to go see a little friend.
Unleash the lawyers. Out of Boston, William Fallon, former prosecutor, out of New York, defense attorney Midwin Charles, out of Atlanta, defense attorney Kirby Clements.
All right, Midwin Charles, are you going to join in with Eyssen and not address what Shawn Adkins says happened the last day he sees the girl alive?
MIDWIN CHARLES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I think his attorney is right to do that. Remember, this guy is, as far as I know, hasn`t been arrested and his attorney has not --
GRACE: That`s not what I asked you to do.
CHARLES: Well, I`m answering you question, Nancy, just give me a second.
GRACE: Great. That`s great.
CHARLES: But his attorney has a job to do and that is to protect his client at all times and protect his client`s rights. So his not answering your question is something that he felt he had to do and I support him in that.
GRACE: OK, great. Let me try to re-ask the question to another defense attorney and get an answer this time.
Thanks, Midwin Charles.
Kirby Clements, Shawn Adkins has told police, I mean unless you believe the police were all lying, all of them that heard the story, and the mom has reiterated the story, that he was home with the girl, she left to go see a little friend.
It`s my understanding, Kirby Clements, the little friend had no knowledge she was coming over, but what do you make of it, Kirby, and also according to my investigation, Shawn Adkins once served at Weber Services Company, does oil well casing and logging, very similar to some of the activity done there at that airstrip.
Go ahead, Kirby.
KIRBY CLEMENTS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, a couple of things. One, I think that he`s given a statement to the police, so no need for the lawyer to expound upon what his client has already said. Now that --
GRACE: Put him up, please.
CLEMENTS: That there may be some problems with the statement.
GRACE: Kirby, I asked him a question. I asked him a question. So why not answer the question?
CLEMENTS: Well, you asked him a question -- well, you know the answer, the answer is in the statement. You got a copy of the affidavit, you got a copy of the search warrant so --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Yes, but all of my viewers haven`t, Kirby. Not all of my viewers have had the opportunity to read all the affidavits and police reports as I had, and that is why I ask questions.
CLEMENTS: Well, I`m sorry for your viewers.
GRACE: To list the evidence and clues for my viewers to hear. So why not answer --
CLEMENTS: But the bottom line is --
GRACE: You come on a TV show, you know you`re going to get asked questions, and you don`t answer.
CLEMENTS: Well, you know what, at the end of the day, if he misquotes what his client says he`s going to get hammered. Bottom line is, your client --
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Actually, he won`t, because nobody is going to put the lawyer on the stand. What the lawyer says is the story does not come into evidence.
CLEMENTS: That`s true.
GRACE: Unless he says it in the opening statement. So it doesn`t matter.
CLEMENTS: Well, that`s true.
GRACE: So why not tell me what happened?
CLEMENTS: Well, you know, I guess the lawyer opted not to tell you, Nancy, and maybe, you know, he got batted around a little bit for doing that, but the bottom line is this. The guy made a statement, he went to the polygraph examination, which a lot of defendant or potential defendants don`t do, so he obviously made himself available and he --
GRACE: He wet to the poly and walked out. You know what?
(CROSSTALK)
CLEMENTS: Because they were doing it wrong. They were doing the polygraph wrong.
GRACE: Kirby Clements.
CLEMENTS: Yes, Nancy.
GRACE: Kirby.
CLEMENTS: How you doing?
GRACE: When you were a prosecutor way back when, try to think back, Kirby.
CLEMENTS: I`ll think.
GRACE: Try to think back when you and I worked in the courthouse in the inner city Atlanta, which had a crushing volume of felony cases --
CLEMENTS: I remember.
GRACE: If somebody walked out on a polygraph, your response, at that time, would have been what, Kirby?
CLEMENTS: It would have been, what was going on during the polygraph? What were you asking him? And if they told me that we were trying -- that we were asking him questions that were pertinent, then I would have said, well, there`s obviously a problem, this guy must`ve done it. But if they tell that they were asking questions that were improper, or that I deem improper, I`d be like, well, of course he walked out. So I would have asked --
GRACE: OK, Fallon, William Fallon, let`s have a reality check here. Weigh in, Fallon.
WILLIAM FALLON, FORMER PROSECUTOR: What you`re going to say is, not only does he got something to hide, he had something to do with it. People don`t just leave if they`re innocent and want to help the police. Didn`t want to help the police, he left, but the case is the ping and the pong, that`s why he`s dead in the water soon.
GRACE: And Midwin Charles, the mommy has got a problem, too, because the police come to the house looking for Adkins, according to them she lied about it and obstructed police.
CHARLES: She did. And I`m surprised she would be facing some obstruction of justice charges. It`s the last thing you want to do when police show up to your door is mislead them in an ongoing investigation, especially when your child is missing.
GRACE: We are on the standby waiting for a positive I.D. of remains found in the Big Springs, Texas, area. Are these the remains of missing 13-year-old cheerleader Hailey Dunn?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you think Sean could have hurt your daughter?
BILLIE DUNN, MOM OF MISSING TEEN GIRL, HAILEY DUNN: In the beginning I didn`t. At this point, I think it`s a possibility. Of course, if he did hurt my daughter, I would be disgusted by that and would never speak to him again, and hope he gets what he deserves. Anybody that hurt my daughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Hailey Dunn walked out the doors of this house and was never seen again.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Where those human remains were found --
DUNN: I want Hailey to know that I just want her to walk through the door.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Searchers involved in the Hailey Dunn case were coming by just to take a look at where the remains were found.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Still no sign of the missing girl.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Who are working in the area and found those remains.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Hailey Dunn missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We started getting off the place and I started realizing that she was missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The timeline is so important on this.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Where is Hailey Dunn?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In any missing person`s case.
GRACE: Where is this little cheerleader?
DUNN: It`s frustrating.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Those employees that found the remains did say they were those of a child.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He heard that the remains were that of a young child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. We are on standby at this hour waiting to discover remains found at a local airstrip, those of this little girl. And every time I look at her, I think about my little girl who is 4 years old right now. And I wonder what her family is going through as they wait for a positive identification on these remains.
On the other hand, in an interview just last month, this child`s mother told police that she still shacked up with Shawn Adkins. He is not a suspect. He has been named a person of interest.
To Alex Eyssen, this is a very well-respected lawyer in the Abilene area, he was representing Shawn Adkins and his family.
Is it true that Hailey`s mom is still in a romantic relationship with your client, Shawn Adkins?
EYSSEN: Yes, that`s correct.
GRACE: So the porn and the slice and dice movies and the black rubber mask, that didn`t scare her away, huh?
EYSSEN: Well, you know, I think she sees the big picture. And everything that --
GRACE: Because I`m telling you, Adkins, if I come home and see my husband dressed in a black rubber mask, he`s going to see nothing but behind and elbows, because I`m going to be running, all right?
EYSSEN: There`s nothing like --
GRACE: So she`s --
EYSSEN: There`s nothing like it was intuition. And she obviously doesn`t think getting involvement and that she feels comfortable enough to be with him. And so they`re staying together.
GRACE: OK. Out to Marc Klaas, president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation.
Marc, help me.
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Well, here`s what I know. I remember the events of that day as they have been recounted by both Alexis and you. I also know that Hailey did not walk to Big Springs, put herself in a bag in a field and commit suicide in close proximity to the home that`s owned by Shawn Adkins` mother. I also know that Shawn Adkins is the scum of the earth.
GRACE: Straight out to Marc Klaas, as we stand by for a positive I.D. on remains found in the Big Springs, Texas, area. As the search for 13- year-old cheerleader Hailey Dunn come to an end.
Marc Klaas, you have been in close contact with the mom in this case, Billie Dunn. What is she saying at this hour?
KLAAS: Well, she believes -- first of all, she`s in agony at this hour. She`s quite likely facing the worst news a parent can ever hear after dreading hearing that news for over a year now. She admitted freely that she went back with Shawn and I told her that that was the wrong decision and that that`s why she`s not getting a lot of cooperation from law enforcement right now.
I suggested that she contact the FBI just so that they have her cell phone number, so that if there is a positive identification made, that they are able to -- that they are able to contact her so she won`t have to hear this news on the media. And I very much feel that Billie probably feels like she`s alone in a corner right now.
GRACE: Well, you know, to you, William Fallon, former prosecutor, joining me out of Boston, it`s very obvious why cops aren`t telling her anything. She`s shacked up, slung up, with the live-in boyfriend that is a person of interest in this child`s murder. So I`m sure cops believe anything they say to her she will tell him. That doesn`t help anything.
FALLON: Absolutely. I would tell her nothing. Right now she`s at a minimum almost a co-conspirator if not a co-felon in this case. She`s already tried to hide him, if we recall, that`s why she got in trouble before. He has not cooperated with the police. She`s moving in with somebody who twice walked out of the investigation that was supposedly helpful to find her daughter.
The police, in reference to your guest there, but they cannot treat this woman as if she`s a sympathetic mother. This girl was basically an orphan by this mother. Now the only good thing is if I`m the cops here and I`m the D.A. or the prosecutor, I say, you know what, you get right out to that woman the second that you find out it`s this little girl. Not because you feel bad for the mother, but to say to her now, put up or shut up because you might be going to the slammer, too.
And I`ll tell you, that`s the hope, because this guy is the closest I have ever seen, if it is her, given his statement, and what we didn`t find out today, Nancy, I believe he said once I think she`s in this certain area. Then shut up. And quite frankly I think that it`s his time is coming real soon and this mother better get on board or she`s going, I think, with her boyfriend there.
GRACE: You know what, you`re right. She better get on the train or she`s going to be thrown off the train.
All right, Kirby, let`s hear it.
CLEMENTS: No, I actually agree with what he just said. Number one, as to the mother, I don`t think that you can treat her too kindly because of what she`s done. As for the boyfriend, he`s going to -- he`s lawyered up already, he`s want to have to shut up because the things that we do see out there, the fact that he work in an industry that dealt with the type of tanks where this girl`s body was found is problematic.
The fact that it was his mother`s house is devastating, and the fact that he went to work that morning and then left suddenly almost seems like he killed her, went to work then freaked out and ran back home to dispose of the body.
So he`s got some major problems. So as I -- I believe that the police have to put more pressure on the mother because perhaps he said some things to her that might help break this case wide or open than it already is. But it`s going to be a tough -- pretty tough role for the defense.
GRACE: And you know, he`s right, Woody Tripp. You`re a former police commander, Woody, come on, husband and wife, yes, there`s the privilege. Priest, parishioner, yes, there`s a privilege. Attorney-client, yes, that keeps -- that stays a secret, but not if you`re just slung up, all right? That doesn`t count.
So anything that he said to her will come into court unless she`s still in love with him, if there ever is a trial. And he is not a suspect yet, he`s a person of interest. What about it, Tripp?
WOODY TRIPP, FORMER POLICE COMMANDER, POLYGRAPH EXPERT: Well, Nancy, it pains me to have to agree with the defense side in this, but you know, the mother is the link between those two. And it`s her that they`re going to have to appeal to. For whatever conscience she has, whatever is left there, they`ve got to appeal to her. So in addition to the forensics of what`s going on with the body and the bones and the bag, it`s the mother. And the mother is the link. And that`s where they`ve got to go to to place the pressure.
They`ve already caught her lying. She`s already been arrested for that. So there`s a history there, there was a pattern. And they`ve got to go to the mother. That`s the link and I agree with both of them.
GRACE: You know what, what always helps people with their memory problems, a little co-conspirator charge. At this point, nobody is a suspect. The only person of interest in this case right now, the live-in boyfriend, Shawn Adkins, the mother reportedly still slung up with him. Right now, we are waiting a positive I.D. of these remains.
Tonight, as the search for 13-year-old Shirley or Hailey Dunn come to an end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DUNN: God gave her to me. She`s mine. She`s mine. She wasn`t born to be somebody`s play thing or whatever. She was born to be my daughter. I want my daughter back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: We are taking your calls, on standby at this moment for a positive I.D. on the remains found near Colorado, Big Springs, Texas.
Out to Ramani Durvasula, clinical psychologist joining us out of L.A. I thought about this most extensively during the Scott Peterson murder trial. Why do people always go back to the scene of the crime or get rid of evidence very close to the home. Can`t they think to go somewhere else or do they just go back, circle back to what`s most familiar, Ramani?
RAMANI DURVASULA, PH.D., CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Nancy, criminals tend to be really short-sighted. That`s one of the hallmark signs of sociopathy. They don`t plan ahead, they just -- they often do the crime and they don`t think about how to dispose the thing. And often in a panic, whatever they get rid of it. But they`re not thinkers.
Now in some more grotesque cases, they do go back. It`s a trophy of something that they`ve done. But at the end of the day, they`re not planners. They just -- they do it and then they dispose of it and they don`t think about it and then they create a web of lies to get out of the mess.
GRACE: Ramani, what do you think of the mom still shacked up with the person of interest? He`s not a suspect, he`s not been named as official suspect or defendant yet.
DURVASULA: Nancy, I`m -- I`m incensed, I`m incensed when I see mothers make these kinds of choices, when they have daughters -- when they children and they put them in this kind of line of fire. The fact is, this man once threatened her and her child. That one time was enough. Forget the slasher films and all that. That man threatened her and daughter. That was the day he was out, never to come back again. It`s not OK, it`s not safe, and then it can culminate in this kind of a disaster, not OK.
GRACE: To Marcia in Pennsylvania. Hi, Marcia. What`s your question?
MARCIA, CALLER FROM PENNSYLANIA: Hi, Nancy. I read an article that the hair color and the height of the remains match Hailey`s description and I was wondering if you knew about that yet?
GRACE: To Michael Board of WOAI. Michael, what do we know about the hair color and the length of the skeleton?
BOARD: There are lots of reports out right now. What were found, police are not addressing any of those. All they`re saying is that there were remains found and they did say that there was a hand of a child.
GRACE: Everyone, let`s stop and remember, Army Private First Class Chad Tremble, 29, West Covina, California, killed Afghanistan. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, loved beach, camping, family barbecues, gardening, leaves behind parents, Nancy and Tim, sister Holly, brother Steve, widow Rosanna, daughter Stephanie and Mikaela.
Chad Tremble, American hero.
Thanks to our guests, but especially to you for being with us.
Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow might, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
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