Hailey Dunn is one step closer to justice in the Lone Star State.
Colorado City is picturesque, Jeff Bridges-in-Last Picture Show-West Texas.
Azure skies go on for miles between sublime and painterly natural colors, John Mellencamp-song values, and small-town-Rotary and-Lions Clubs’ signs. Squares sit with shuttered shops that once bustled with the activity of families running them and locals patronizing them.
Some old buildings in these types of towns age gracefully, cementing then retaining a certain gravitas in their nostalgic patina. However, many now sit like tombstones of markets once thriving, forming an economic necropolis in pastoral parts of the prairie pushed to the brink by massive economic rumblings while also being forgotten by the relentless technocratic push of modern progress.
This is a flawed version of “God’s Country” in almost every sense. Historic; beautiful; beloved; decaying with the flight of opportunity from rural areas, perhaps to be alive again in the future like a polished, stone angel above an ancient’s lover grave.
Colorado City has a population a hair under four thousand people serves as the county seat of rural Mitchell County – locally known and prided as “the heart of West Texas.”
It was this quintessential Americana vision that became a nightmare two days after Christmas in 2010 with the disappearance of 13-year-old Hailey Dunn – an eighth-grade cheerleader in Colorado City. She was found slaughtered at Lake Thomas in Scurry County (about 28 miles north of Colorado City) an astonishing three years after her disappearance.
Law enforcement did receive a good deal of leads. Many, however, just didn’t have enough to them to be helpful. Until now.
On Monday, June 14, 35-year-old Shawn Adkins of Big Spring, TX (about 37 miles away) was arrested and charged with Hailey Dunn’s murder. Adkins is the former boyfriend of Hailey’s mother. A judge has set bond at $2 million.
"Right now, there are no words to define how I feel. We will let the trial speak the truth," Dunn’s biological father said. "... Hopefully, true justice will come in the courtroom."
Watch this space for more as the trial progresses.