TX - Hailey Dunn, 13, Colorado City, 27 Dec 2010 - #52

[ThoughtFox]

Odd things to say from yesterdays press conference:

"That said, I want to start out by saying that there was no blowout on Christmas. There were no arguments or disagreements. Everyone was getting along fine. Everyone pretty much got exactly what they asked for."

I am a person who has always thought there was something that happened, some kind of incident on the 26th and I never thought it was because somebody didn't like what Santa brought them.

That's one of those statements with "too much" information. Trying to see it from her standpoint, if I said that about my kids or family, it would probably mean our Christmas was smooth sailing.

But in this context, it's almost as if there was some tension in the family about not getting what they want. Disatisfaction? Had Christmas been not so great the year before? Or is she just depressed because Christmas went smoothly then all this happened and blew Christmas away?

It's hard to tell.

"When my ride didn’t show up, I called her to see what was keeping her. I peeked in at Hailey because I’m used to seeing her asleep on the couch. She wasn’t there. I remembered ‘oh yeah, she’s in her room’. I peeked in and it was dark, but her TV was on, and it definitely pacified me. I didn’t touch her, but I seen my daughter and felt good. I came in the living room to wait on my ride."

I think there she's just insisting that Hailey was there that morning and she believes she saw her. The room was dark and the TV was on.

Now. . . here's the thing. I have a daughter famous for falling asleep with the TV on, and sometimes we don't notice till morning. I ALWAYS go in and turn it off. Did BD ever say she turned the TV off? No, because that would mean that she entered the room, which she never said she did, that I recall.

So she thought the girl was watching TV first thing in the morning? What was on at that time of day that a teenager would watch? If it was the Farm Report or something most mothers would have turned it off and realized the child was alseep in the dark.

Hmmm, indeed. But at least that part of her story is consistant!

From Nancy Grace:

http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1101/12/ng.01.html


BILLIE DUNN: I saw her Sunday night.

GRACE: What time, 10:00 PM?

BILLIE DUNN: Probably around 10:00.

GRACE: Now, was that when you looked in her room and it is was dark and you thought she was lying in her bed?

BILLIE DUNN: I did see her in her room, but I saw her watching TV. Monday morning, I looked in her room and it was dark and it looked look she was laying in bed. But I didn`t go touch her, make sure that was her. I just peeked in to make sure she was in bed to ease my mind and...

GRACE: And so no one for sure saw Hailey from, like -- that was 6:00 AM in the morning when you left...

BILLIE DUNN: Yes.

GRACE: ... until the boyfriend gets home and he says she`s there at 3:0 o`clock and then she leaves at 3:15. So if you were not correct at 6:00 AM, for all I know, she`s been gone since 5:00 AM in the morning.

BILLIE DUNN: Right.

 

[KMouse]

respectfully snipped

I thought that this presser was supposed to clear up those inconsistencies, not create new ones. :waitasec:

snipped by me...

ITA

For me, yesterday's presser left me with more questions.
When this case first made MSM I never thought BD was guilty of anything and over time I have thought that she knew way more than she was telling. After yesterday I have now jumped down from the fence and I am sorry to say I think she knew Hailey was missing the night of the 26th. MOO

The biggest reason for this is because she has now made the pings fit the story that SA has told her or they have developed together and she is now attempting to provide an alibi for him. I feel bad for going in this direction but now my instinct is steering me in that direction.

 

[Linda7NJ]

rsbbm:

we have a good friend from Kentucky...to hear him tell one story is to hear him tell at least 3 others...so that we can get the viewpoint. He will start out talking about one thing, which to understand that, you have to understand this, but the story behind that is this...and then he always brings it full circle and finishes his first story. But it takes FOREVER, lol. I must say, I am guilty of that as well. Perhaps it's how we learn to tell a story when we're children, or it's thought patterns...

Would you think right away that your kid was a "missing person"?

Yes! My son was always where he was supposed to be and always home on time. Always. Once, he didn't come in when he was supposed to, and wasn't where he was supposed to be. FIFTEEN MINUTES late and I was on the phone with 911.

Thank God he was fine and just lost his mind and did what he felt like doing...he was grounded for a looong time .....I was outta my mind with fear.

 

[passionflower]

The only receipt I get from redbox is via email. The redbox here doesn't spit out a receipt. Here is one, copy and pasted from my email account. I of course redacted where I returned it, but that is on it as well.

Return Details
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Despicable Me
Barcode: 461982478
Transaction ID: 966197922
Invoice #: 68999130GXX6R64C
Rent Date: 1/27/2011 6:01:33 PM
Return Date: 1/29/2011 8:28:10 PM
Total Nights: 2
Return Location: XXXXXXXXXXXXX


Questions? Comments? Contact redbox Customer Service
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Call redbox Toll-Free: 1.866.733.2693
Submit an Email: http://www.redbox.com/Help/Contact.aspx
Read the FAQ: http://www.redbox.com/Help/Faq.aspx

ITA,
actually anyone can look in a bag and find any reciept....
if it is the date a person needs they can use it for 15 minuts of fame.
I could Say I saw her at Walmart in PA on such and such date at such and such time.......
which would not be true but I would have a receipt showing someone was there at that time........KWIM?
a video would be the only proof IMO.

 

[passionflower]

Yes! My son was always where he was supposed to be and always home on time. Always. Once, he didn't come in when he was supposed to, and wasn't where he was supposed to be. FIFTEEN MINUTES late and I was on the phone with 911.

Thank God he was fine and just lost his mind and did what he felt like doing...he was grounded for a looong time .....I was outta my mind with fear.

BUT BD was used to her children being here and there and everywhere.
That is the BIG difference, IMO

 

[ThoughtFox]

It seems to me that BD almost went out of her way not to call MB's mother...is there some history there, I wonder? I mean, who would be the first logical person to call? I can see wanting to talk to MB as well, but I think the mother of the othre child would be a given. Did Billie know that MB was forbidden by her mom to stay at Billie's?

I think it's on the record somewhere that the mothers were never friends. Didn't MB's mother say they barely knew each other?

I can kind of understand that. I have only a passing aquaintance with some of my kids' friends as well, and I'm sure they would say the same about me.

But if she was scared about Hailey, she should have called right away. In her shoes, I would have gone straight to that house to make sure I understood the situation before calling the police. Just odd.

 

[DeepThinker]

DeepThinker, I think you hit it on the head with "tell a story".

MOO

True.

Question is....what kind of story is it? Most people associate that phrase with telling an untruth. To me (because I am somewhat a literalist), to tell a story means to tell a sequence of events...now those events can be from a skewed viewpoint, have embellishments, or things removed. Very rarely is one story of any kind absolute. There are always inconsistencies. The only way to verify a story is to have other persons tell the same version. And right now, it sounds as if there are a lot of different versions out there. And lots of different realities. So, that leaves us here discussing stories. :banghead:

IMO

 

[tehcloser]

Anyone have the link to BD's time line handy, I'm scattered this morning and need halp. lol.

 

[passionflower]

That's one of those statements with "too much" information. Trying to see it from her standpoint, if I said that about my kids or family, it would probably mean our Christmas was smooth sailing.

But in this context, it's almost as if there was some tension in the family about not getting what they want. Disatisfaction? Had Christmas been not so great the year before? Or is she just depressed because Christmas went smoothly then all this happened and blew Christmas away?

It's hard to tell.



I think there she's just insisting that Hailey was there that morning and she believes she saw her. The room was dark and the TV was on.

Now. . . here's the thing. I have a daughter famous for falling asleep with the TV on, and sometimes we don't notice till morning. I ALWAYS go in and turn it off. Did BD ever say she turned the TV off? No, because that would mean that she entered the room, which she never said she did, that I recall.

So she thought the girl was watching TV first thing in the morning? What was on at that time of day that a teenager would watch? If it was the Farm Report or something most mothers would have turned it off and realized the child was alseep in the dark.

Hmmm, indeed. But at least that part of her story is consistant!

From Nancy Grace:

http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1101/12/ng.01.html


BILLIE DUNN: I saw her Sunday night.

GRACE: What time, 10:00 PM?

BILLIE DUNN: Probably around 10:00.

GRACE: Now, was that when you looked in her room and it is was dark and you thought she was lying in her bed?

BILLIE DUNN: I did see her in her room, but I saw her watching TV. Monday morning, I looked in her room and it was dark and it looked look she was laying in bed. But I didn`t go touch her, make sure that was her. I just peeked in to make sure she was in bed to ease my mind and...

GRACE: And so no one for sure saw Hailey from, like -- that was 6:00 AM in the morning when you left...

BILLIE DUNN: Yes.

GRACE: ... until the boyfriend gets home and he says she`s there at 3:0 o`clock and then she leaves at 3:15. So if you were not correct at 6:00 AM, for all I know, she`s been gone since 5:00 AM in the morning.

BILLIE DUNN: Right.

make sure that was her.who else would be i her bed???
ease my mind .........what???

 

[KMouse]

BUT BD was used to her children being here and there and everywhere.
That is the BIG difference, IMO

Exactly.
HD drifted between the homes of her parents, and her friends.

MB's mother had never met BD, never laid eyes on her until she saw her on NG. It's not like the two mothers ever spoke about sleepovers.

 

[ThoughtFox]

I really have to laugh at the train of thought that the reason she is misunderstood is because she is from Texas. We're not a third world country peeps. She's not even making sense to other Texans............

I think people are trying to give her a little benefit of the doubt about the way she expresses herself.

But that can only go so far . . .

 

[ThoughtFox]

make sure that was her.who else would be i her bed???
ease my mind .........what???

No idea. :waitasec:

 

[KMouse]

make sure that was her.who else would be i her bed???
ease my mind .........what???

then the room was dark, now the t.v was on.

 

[Evan's Mom]

Would you think right away that your kid was a "missing person"?

Not automatically, but let me tell you, I have been a screaming banshee on the phone with my older son when I can't find the younger one.
We had problems last year with Evan thinking he could just go where he wanted once he got off the bus and I was still at work. He would take off to Williams house or my sister's house on the same street as us and not tell anyone.
Each day, if I don't hear from either one of the boys by the time I get ready to leave work, I start calling around to find out what's going on. There have been several times that I was within minutes of calling 911 to report him missing before I actually made contact with him and could put my mind at ease. So yeah, in my mind, he was missing...even if it was only for a little bit of time. I am sure that my spending a lot of time on this board makes me overly cautious, but in my mind, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Oh and one time, when Evan was only 4, my grandmother was babysitting him while I worked. When I got home, nobody knew where my baby actually was and said they thought he was in my room taking a nap or watching cartoons. I spent about 5 or ten minutes looking for him in and around the house before I called the police to report him missing.
Fortunately, we found him across the street at a neighbors house before the police showed up.

 

[BeanE]

Anyone have the link to BD's time line handy, I'm scattered this morning and need halp. lol.

http://media.reporternews.com/media/static/Billie_Dunn_Timeline.pdf

 

[DeepThinker]

make sure that was her.who else would be i her bed???
ease my mind .........what???

okay...I am not defending anyone here...just trying to maybe get in her head...

at this point, BD has been interrogated by police...perhaps some of this weird wording is a result from those interrogations...and she's feeling pretty defensive at this point

LE: "What do you mean you looked in on her? Didn't you go in and touch her?"

BD: "No, but I assumed it was her."

IDK about the "ease my mind" part....just maybe that she could go to work knowing Hailey was asleep in her bed, where she should be instead of on the couch.

 

[TxLady2]

No offense taken.

She said to find out if she was there and to tell her to come home. Why would he need to find out if she was there? Where else would she be.

When SA said she went to her friends, she didn't call or text to 'find out if she was there'?

Despite being 'upset that she hadn't been told directly, or left a note' (which was the norm) she didn't call or text before going to bed.

I am familiar with dialects and 'turns of phrase'. And it's okay that we disagree on this point. BD is not a great communicator so I have allowed lots of things to slip by as patterns of speech.

In the words of a famous Sesame Street song, and with regards to the passage I quoted "one of these things is not like the others --- one of these things just doesn't belong"

Again - why would you need to see or find out if she was there? Where else would you expect her to be?

I may not be explaining this too well, so forgive me. Billie is saying that she called DD Tues. and asked him to call MB to find out if Hailey was still there and to come home. For all she knew, Hailey might have left her friend's house and stopped off at her dad's or any number of other places. Girls that age who have a lot of freedom, sometimes go other places instead of straight home, even when they're told to come straight home. It happens.
As to the "where else would she be?" it's obvious that Hailey was not at her friend's house after all, so I think the call was legitimate and I don't see anything at all strange about it.
Not to you personally, but I just don't get why her words are so hard to understand, or why it is necessary to pick everything apart and put our own spin on what she says or how she says it. Even when my fellow Texans and I try to explain our speech patterns... it's still scoffed at. I don't get that. Sorry.

 

[mck16]

make sure that was her.who else would be i her bed???
ease my mind .........what???

I believe that was in answer to speculation it could have been sheets made to look like a person in the bed.

 

[raeann]

I really have to laugh at the train of thought that the reason she is misunderstood is because she is from Texas. We're not a third world country peeps. She's not even making sense to other Texans............

LOl....I live north of Texas now, and have lived "next door" east of Texas for a few years, also. I have never had trouble understanding ANYONE from Texas. A local idiom or phrase usage does NOT cause stories to change over and over and over again.

For example, in that next door state, the phrase "fixin' to" is used all the time. In Kansas, no one ever says they are "fixin' to go to the store" but I still know exactly what is meant by the phrase. I did get confused once when a co-worker told me she would be late because she had to "carry" her teenage son to the doctor. I was like "oh my goodness, was he THAT sick that you had to CARRY him??????" Here we would never say that, it is "take" them to the doctor. I find the idioms interesting, but not excuses for mis-statements or inconsistent "truth".

jmo

 

[Crosby87]

Personally, I have had enough of Billie. I'm just going to have to wait until LE has something to say.

I know I'm a bad person, but I have a hard time drumming up sympathy for her, especially if it turns out that SA harmed/killed Hailey. I hate when a parent brings (or continues to allow) the person into their home who ends up harming their child, especially when there are some warning signs and there almost always are. I think there should be legal ramifications for that.

I do feel terrible for Hailey's dad, as it is my belief he moved close by purposely to give Hailey and her brother another option for a place to stay, even if he was less than able to help in other ways.

BD said in the PC she plans to return to work and I imagine many people including BD's coworkers feel the same way as you & I do.

Her daughter's disappearance gives people who judge BD a choice to put their differences aside and reach out to her.

Imo BD is clinically depressed and suffering from psychosis. Seeking the help of a qualified psychiatrist should be at the top of her 'to do' list rather than SA. People who are insane go crazy and BD said her arguments with SA were "ugly" but now all is forgiven and they are "friends" again.