A Texas official has named a woman's former live-in boyfriend one of several people of interest in the disappearance of her 13-year-old daughter, although investigators continue to chase hundreds of leads in the case.
Colorado City's city manager, Pete Kampfer, told The Associated Press that 25-year-old Shawn Casey Adkins is among the people of interest in the investigation of missing middle school cheerleader Hailey Darlene Dunn. No arrests have been made.
Adkins declined to speak to the AP when reached at a relative's house Wednesday night. Another relative, Adkins' uncle, said his nephew had nothing to do with Hailey's disappearance.
"He is the most passive, gentle person you would meet in your whole life," Matt Taggart said of his nephew. "He's not capable of that. He wouldn't even know where to start to make human disappear."
Hailey's mother, Billie Dunn, said she asked Adkins to move out Jan. 5, nine days after she reported her daughter missing. The Dec. 28 report set off a multicounty search involving the FBI and Texas Rangers.
Dunn denied having anything to do with her daughter's disappearance, but investigators say she lied.
Court documents obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press include police affidavits that say Dunn gave contradictory statements and lied during a polygraph test that included questions about her daughter's disappearance. She has not been named a person of interest.
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The affidavits also indicate police believe Adkins lied when asked about what he knew about Hailey's whereabouts.
The police affidavits said Adkins had previously threatened his girlfriend and her daughter.
Dunn said in a phone interview Wednesday that the couple had broken up before and Adkins said some "ugly things," but never threatened Hailey's life.
"If investigators can't rule him out, I can't either," she said. "I'm unsure at this point."
In one affidavit, police said Adkins' telephone records "dispute" his claim that he visited his mother on the morning of Dec. 27, the day he told authorities he last saw Hailey.
Witnesses said Adkins left work at 6:10 a.m., and Adkins told investigators he went straight to his mother's house in Big Spring, about 40 miles west of Colorado City. But records show calls from Adkins' cell phone were placed from Colorado City between 6:35 a.m. and 6:56 a.m., the affidavit said.
"According to all reports, Hailey Dunn would have been alone in the residence during this time period," the affidavit said, noting that witnesses and records show Billie Dunn left for work at 6:20 a.m.
Dunn denied lying to police. She said she left one interview because she was tired and had been questioned for hours when investigators told her they believed she had been untruthful.
"You're letting me know you're not one step closer to finding my girl," Dunn said she told investigators. "People still need to be worried about my daughter not being at home."
In the affidavits, police said they had obtained information that Dunn and Adkins hosted a New Year's party just days after Hailey was reported missing. Adkins told investigators the couple just had a few friends over for drinks.
Dunn on Wednesday denied "completely" there was a party.
Dunn also has downplayed investigators' claims that she and Adkins seemed to be fascinated with sadistic sex and brutal crimes. The affidavits said investigators who searched the couple's home found printouts of at least 16 different articles related to sex crimes and serial killings, some of them involving adolescents.
Dunn, in statements included in the affidavits, described her interest in true crime cases as "a hobby."
