Charges Dropped Against Texas Man Accused of Murdering His Girlfriend’s 13-Year-Old
Jun. 28 2023, Published 2:27 p.m. ET
Charges against a Texas man previously accused of murdering his girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter have been dropped and he has been released from jail, according to authorities.
As Front Page Detectives previously reported, Shawn Adkins was arrested in June 2021 for the murder of Hailey Dunn.
Officials said the teenager “was last seen leaving her mother’s house on December 27, 2010,” and her remains were found near a lake more than 20 miles away on March 16, 2013.
Adkins was dating Dunn’s mother at the time of her disappearance, authorities said.
On June 25, prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss prosecution without prejudice, which means they can charge Adkins again.
Court documents state, “The prosecution views Shawn Casey Adkins as the primary suspect in the Hailey Dunn murder on or about December 27, 2010, in Mitchell County, Texas. However, additional work must be done before the case can proceed to a jury trial.”
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Prosecutors went on to note that further forensic testing is needed, as “there is no known eyewitness to Hailey Dunn’s murder” and they don’t have any “current forensic science evidence directly linking Shawn Adkins to her murder.”
Authorities initially used soil analysis from a pair of work boots belonging to Adkins. However, that test was done using Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), which the FBI Crime Laboratory stated is not an acceptable testing methodology.
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The motion also addresses cell phone data and eyewitness accounts from the last day Dunn was seen, which would have given Adkins only two hours alone with Dunn, authorities said.
“This means that (Adkins) would have had to kill her, clean up any blood and other incriminating evidence in the home, and hidden her body in a relatively short amount of time," court documents read, noting, "While this is not impossible, it presents additional challenges given the preceding issues.”
Adkins was released from jail on June 26.
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