Billie Jean Dunn: Consciousness of Guilt

Sometimes it helps to step away from an issue and take a look at the larger scene.  It can be useful even in sorting out conflicting emotions, especially in light of new reports and breaking news.

In January of 2011, Billie Jean Dunn, mother of missing Hailey Dunn, 13, Texas, went on national television to talk about her daughter.  From this earliest public appearance, Statement Analysis concluded that the mother was deceptive, the child was deceased, and the mother's boyfriend was deceptive.  The analysis was met with no shortage of emotional response.

About a month later, the police affidavit supported the analytical conclusions.

The boyfriend, Shawn Adkins, was indicated for veracity when he said that Hailey would be found in Scurry County.

Last week, the bones found in Scurry County were positively identified as Hailey Dunn's remains.

The mother, Billie Dunn, has consistently spoken out publicly giving us much sample from which to work.  She has a small but vocal following in social media to which she has continued to post, in spite of any attorney's advice.

What has she said about this case?  There are three simple steps to observe:

I.  First she claimed no knowledge of what happened and defended the Boyfriend as innocent. She even was arrested for lying to protect him.
II.  She then announced that they were broken up, but still said he had nothing to do with it.

III.  .  April 2013  She now says he is a pedophile and child murderer.

Why, all of the sudden when the body is found, does she suddenly know that Shawn Adkins is a pedophile and a child murder?

Police did not give her any information about the remains other than that they were Hailey's.

Question:  Why would the finding of Hailey's body suddenly give Dunn all this information
unless she knew from the beginning?

Her posting will be likely used in trial, like so many other of her public statements, to show consciousness of guilt.

These are statements made in which the subject leaks out information while attempting to deceive, which indicate, as Kaaryn has repeatedly said, that "the brain knows what it knows."

It is similar to the example where, at the 6 month vigil of searchers, she said, "see you" in 6 months at the anniversary, which will be likely used in court to show that she had knowledge that Hailey was not going to be found (going against natural hope) and that the people  who were out searching for a living Hailey were held in contempt by her.

Consciousness of guilt.

Ugly field

She said she would not be searching the "ugly fields" which, again, may be heard in court, perhaps even in the penalty phase.  Should Adkins' attorney continue to press for a plea bargain, it will be many of these public statements of the mother that will then be viewed in light of her awareness of Hailey's death much like the statements of Casey Anthony were later viewed in light of her consciousness of guilt.  "In my heart, I know she's close, mom!"

Indeed.

Caylee was found down the block from their home, highlighting the principle Kaaryn referenced.  Even though someone wishes to deceive, it is difficult to hide the truth because when they go to choose words, the brain knows the truth and sometimes the words from memory slip out, or "leak out" inadvertently.  This is why lying, or deception, is stressful because it is difficult to keep track of that which is not stored in experiential memory and it is difficult, or stressful to avoid the words that are dangerously stored in experiential memory.

Her posts about someone "hurting Hailey" and "putting Hailey in danger", while being tried for being the one who murdered Hailey may then be seen as aggravating and insulting taunts by jurors who may be asked to decide if Dunn's life should be forfeited upon conviction of murder charges.  The audacity of a killer to claim that, before the remains were found, Hailey was being "hurt" by others, including the media outlet that released the fake letter about Hailey, will be of particular note of to what lengths the guilty party went to inflame the situation.  This will likely include her public accusation of conspiracy against federal, state and local law enforcement, as well as her insults and derogatory words about the polygrapher she called "devil."

All of these things make it an ever increasingly insurmountable job to portray her as a sympathetic character to a jury.

A jury will view not only the heinous nature of the act, but the behavior in the 2+ years since, when they are considering the forfeiture of the guilty party's life.

This is yet another reason why defense attorneys insist upon silence by their clients.

This was spoken weeks before the remains were identified as Hailey's.  Notice the article, "the" in the sentence as something chosen instinctively, without thought.  This was spoken while she was telling people to have "hope" and that "my daughter is coming home alive" and chiding anyone who doubted, yet she gives it away, again:

"I’m always worried about how I’m going to break the news to my son and my family and how to comfort everybody, but you can't, you just stay in a state of anxiety and scared until you learn the results." Said Dunn.

There is no possible "hope" in "the" news. 

Some attorneys will go as far as dropping a client who refuses to be silent.  They recognize the bigger picture and how even social media postings can be seen by a jury.  The following may be part of the prosecution visual display.  It may be seen as calloused, cruel, and as leakage in subtly blaming the victim in order to justify a guilty conscience.

Not so subtle blaming of victim