The Case That Made Police Physically Sick | True Crime Documentary

I really need to file a report on somebody.

“What exactly happened?”

“I broke up with this guy a couple of days ago, and he’s telling me that it’s going to kill me and that it’s going to be remembered for a long time.”

I’m just… I’ve been staying out of the way of law enforcement all this time. I thought I was doing the best thing by not coming down on law enforcement, and I’ve just… it’s been too many years of no action. Nothing’s been done. So I’m tired of waiting. Um, I had my… the investigator over the case right now out of Scurry County. He told me one time, he said he doesn’t care if it takes 20 years to do this. And I do care if it takes 20 years. I don’t want the person that hurt my kid… that doesn’t need to walk the street for 20 years.

13-year-old Haley Dunn came from the small town of Colorado City in Texas. With a population of just under 4,000 people, the area Haley was from had a particularly tight community. Haley was described by her dad, Clint, as a tomboy that loved glittery and pretty things. Her mom, Billie Jean Dunn, said she always remembers her laugh, big smile, and how funny she was. She was a bright and energetic teenager. Haley’s friends said she loved to joke around and she was never afraid to speak her mind. She was a cheerleader, a saxophone player, and a competitive and talented athlete, loving school, her friends, and her teachers. By the time she reached the eighth grade, she was playing for the volleyball, basketball, and softball teams.

Her parents would separate when she was 10, and Haley and her older brother, David, went to live with their mother and her boyfriend, Shawn Atkins, on Chestnut Street in Colorado City.

Haley and her dad, Clint, were especially close. Clint lived just across the road from them and Haley would swing by his house every day. Whether it be just popping in to say hi before school or staying over for dinner, she never missed an opportunity to spend time with him.

Christmas Day 2010, Haley’s grandmother, Connie, said that Haley was in great spirits that day. She was excited about the gifts she had received that year, especially her new iPod, and spent most of Christmas and Boxing Day with her father. During the evening on Boxing Day, David, Haley’s 16-year-old brother, went to a friend’s house for a sleepover. Haley stayed at home and played video games into the night. The following morning, December 27th, Shawn left for work at 5:30 a.m. Billie also left about an hour later to start a 12-hour shift. She said she checked in on Haley, who was sound asleep in her bed. Everything appeared to be fine. Billie said that Haley would be home alone all day as she and Shawn would be out at work, and she assumed that when Haley got up, she would simply head over to her dad’s house as she normally would. Billie also left her cell phone at home so the children could use it if they needed to. Shawn arrived at his job in Snyder at around 6:00 a.m. He then said he got into a bad fight with his boss 10 minutes after he arrived and ended up quitting on the spot before heading to his mother’s house in Big Spring and then driving back to Colorado City just before 3:00 p.m. Haley’s father, Clint, was used to seeing his daughter everyday, but on December 27th, Haley didn’t knock his door and he didn’t hear from her all day. At around 2:00 that afternoon, a text was sent from the cell phone left at the house to a friend of Haley’s saying, “WY, what you doing?” This friend never replied. Later that evening, Shawn picked Billie up from work. Billie said that when she got home, she realized Haley wasn’t in the house. She asked Shawn if he had seen her. He said that Haley had left the house on foot to go to her father’s and then had plans to stay the night at her friend Mary Beth’s house. But Clint confirmed this definitely wasn’t the case.

“That was my day, and then I came home… uh… around I guess like 3:00. I got there and Haley was there watching TV in the living room, and I went into me and Billie’s bedroom and she came in there and told me that she was going to her father’s house and that she was staying the night with a friend, and then she left. And then I was there by myself for maybe an hour at the most, and then David and a friend came over, and I went to his room and they were playing video games and so forth. And Billie called me and told me that… uh… that her relief got there and that she’s going to get to leave a little early. So I was up there at the hospital in… uh… Snyder around 6:00 to pick her up, and then we came back, and then we went to bed shortly after that.”

“And this whole time, you were thinking Haley was at a friend’s house?”

“Yes.”

“About what time did she say she was leaving?”

“At… uh… what time Haley was leaving… uh… I guess it was sometime in between 3:00 and 3:30 when she said she was leaving. It was like shortly after I got there. I’m not real sure about a time.”

“Does she normally call and check in every so often, or is it normal to not hear from her for so long?”

“Uh, it’s pretty normal for her just to not call, ’cause she usually does that, though, ’cause she does stay the night at a friend’s house. She’ll be back the next morning.”

The next morning came and went, and Haley was still not home. Billie decided to phone Mary Beth’s parents, who confirmed they hadn’t seen Haley at all, and she definitely didn’t spend the night with them. Nothing was missing from Haley’s room, and certain things everyone would have expected her to take if she was staying at someone’s house were all still there. Billie started going door to door asking everyone if they had seen her daughter, but no one had. Billie said she was scared that maybe someone had driven past and snatched her while she was walking to a store. And she even wondered if maybe Haley had been in a bad mood, which resulted in her storming out of the house that day. A missing person’s report was filed on the afternoon of the 28th of December. Investigators initially classed Haley’s disappearance as a runaway, but a short while later her case was reclassified as a missing child case. This was a decision that the police would later receive immense backlash for making. The community rallied around the family and sprung into action to try and find Haley. The media quickly ran with the story, too. Clint was devastated and distraught at his daughter’s disappearance, and he spent every waking moment looking for her. He rifled through dumpsters, searched the streets and alleyways, and anywhere else he could think of. People reported that this level of concern was not shared by Billie and Shawn. As the searches expanded into more vast and open areas, reporters recalled that Billie didn’t want to partake in these searches. Billie herself said that while she was happy to hand out flyers and talk to the media, she couldn’t deal with looking in wooded areas or fields because that made her think they were looking for her daughter’s body. Searching these more rural areas was also something that Clint struggled to do. Billie’s boyfriend, Shawn, however, didn’t even hand out flyers, let alone participate in the searches, and he was very far removed from the investigation. Numerous people were questioned, including registered sex offenders in the area, but everyone was quickly ruled out.

Women that was being harassed by him to the police department to make a report, but they were turned away by an officer who accused the victim of fabricating the story. This pushed Erica to pen an open letter urging that if Shawn wasn’t arrested soon, more victims would undoubtedly follow. That two more years would pass, and it wouldn’t be until 2021 where the case would take a big turn. In May 2021, Erica did hear back from the Mitchell County District Attorney, and they requested a meeting with her and Clint. Erica said, “During that meeting, we were assured that during the month of June, Haley’s killer would be arrested.” And with this, more than a decade after Haley Dunn was reported missing and 7 years after her remains were found, an arrest was finally made.

Reaction from Colorado City tonight is emotional and also getting straight to the point. Shawn Atkins is sitting in the Mitchell County Jail tonight charged for the murder of 13-year-old Haley Dunn. She first went missing over 10 years ago.

You know, this community, they have spent more than a decade searching. Searching for a young girl, searching for answers, searching really for justice. We are a step closer to that tonight. The arrest of Shawn Atkins is what the community of Colorado City has been waiting on for a long time. District Attorney Ricky Thompson consulted with the Texas Rangers Unsolved Crimes Investigation Program regarding the case. The Texas Rangers then obtained a search warrant to get a sample of Shawn’s DNA. On June 13th, 2021, a warrant was issued and Shawn Casey Atkins was arrested and charged with the murder of Haley Dunn. Eddie Dunn said, “I’m not really shocked at the news that it was Shawn. Of course, you would have hoped it wasn’t him because I stayed with him after she left, after Haley went missing. But I’m not surprised, and I thank God that that person has been apprehended and is going to pay for what he did here on Earth.” Shawn Atkins is currently being held on a $2 million bond, and as of July 2021, he has not yet entered a plea. The KCBD Investigates team, the Mitchell County District Attorney’s Office has released a single page from Shawn Atkins’ arrest warrant. He is the man police hold responsible for killing Haley Dunn in Colorado City. Big Spring police arrested him last month, but we don’t know why. When KCBD requested the arrest warrant, we were sent to Mitchell County and the DA there refused, citing Texas law, claiming it blocked us from access to this public record since it involves the alleged abuse and death of a child. So now, while we’re waiting on the attorney general to rule on this decision, in the meantime, it has been 10 days since our request for the entire arrest warrant and affidavit. We have only this part of the warrant so far, ordering any law enforcement agent to arrest Shawn Atkins for the charge of murder out of Colorado City, but that does not shed any light on what led Mitchell County to that conclusion. So our investigates team will keep pursuing your right to know about what police say led to the death of Haley Dunn. Following Shawn’s arrest, Erica Morse referred to Haley’s dad, Clint, as the driving force in the case and said that he was a template for every parent who wants to find justice for their child. Clint said, “Right now, there are no words to define how I feel. We will let the trial speak the truth. Thank you to everyone who searched for Haley and to those who fought tirelessly for an arrest. Hopefully, true justice will come in the courtroom.” This case is still ongoing, but the family hopes that this will see that justice for Haley Dunn is finally served.