11 Years After Girl's Murder, Mother's Ex Is Indicted

She posed for a Christmas Day photo with her mom and her mom's live-in boyfriend in 2010. But 13-year-old Hailey Dunn of Colorado City, Texas, would not live to see the new year, and a new indictment accuses the live-in boyfriend of her murder. Shawn Adkins, 35, was indicted last week on charges of murder and tampering with a corpse, reports the Abilene Reporter News. Court documents say Adkins killed Hailey "on or about Dec. 26, 2010," by striking her in the head with an unknown blunt object." The girl's mother, Billie Jean Dunn, reported her missing on Dec. 27, and Hailey's remains were not found until 2013 at a rural location, per KTAB.

Adkins was a suspect from the get-go: Hailey had even told her grandmother that she was afraid of him, and he was reported to be the last person to see her alive, per Law & Crime. But he maintained his innocence, and investigators struggled to make progress until June of last year, when they arrested him on suspicion of murder. Last week's indictment makes the murder charge official. "It’s been a long six months of waiting after a decade of injustice," says Hailey's father, Clint. The Reporter News notes that Hailey's case has been featured on national crime shows and unsolved-crimes websites over the years. (More cold cases stories.)