Hailey Dunn Case: Inquisitive Grand Jury Part Two, Behavioral Analysis

So, exactly how does a mother of a missing child behave?

Is there really a "book" on how one might react in such a terrible trauma?

This already has a defense attorney feel to it.

Question:  How does the mother of a missing child behave?

Answer:  Exactly how you'd expect.

When a child goes missing, the mother of the missing child does what comes instinctively.  The mother calls out for a child.

Behavioral Analysis:  Every action the parent of a missing child takes is vital.  The actions show that either the parent wants the child found (innocent) or the parent wants to hinder the investigation, so that the child will not be found.

Last night, we were going for a walk when we came upon a very bold mother fox who did not mind challenging us to stay away from her babies.  When Clancy decided that he did not want to stay away, she deliberately led him to a chase that took him far from where the babies were safely nested.  Our neighbor is not happy to have mother fox and babies, as she has endured hearing cats scream while being killed by the mother fox, teaching her young ones how to kill to eat.  Nature, itself, has its own expectations. These expectations are its "book."

While grocery shopping, a child who wanders off is called by its mother.
While walking in the woods, at an amusement park, or in the mall, the same is expected when a child wanders off.

Instinct is involved.  Instinct is its own book.

When the parent of a missing child does not call out nor search for the child, the parent is telling the world that she (or he) does not want the child found.

Deborah Bradley comes to mind.

Casey Anthony needed 31 days to party before 'searching' for her 'missing' child.

Justin DiPietro was "emotionally incapable" of calling out to his daughter, or negotiating with her 'kidnapper' to get her return.  It is like he was saying, "Not now, Ayla.  You stay with the kidnappers for a few days while Daddy starts to feel emotionally better."

How long until we see him walk the streets of Portland with "Kidnapped:  Ayla" t shirt like the transparent display made recently by Jeremy Irwin and Deborah Bradley?

Cindy Anthony, in defending Casey's partying said that there was "no book" on how a mother of a missing child should act.  It was this sentence that convinced many that Cindy knew all along that Caylee was not only dead, but literally dumped like trash, down the block from their home.

Happy Mother's Day, Cindy, you ought to be so proud.

The "book" on a missing child is simple:  the innocent do whatever it takes to facilitate the child's return.

See Desiree Young.  Don't see Terri Horman or DeeDee Spicher.

In the case of Hailey Dunn, we learned of the mother's behavior from the police affidavit.  Both mother, Billie Dunn, and her boyfriend, Shawn Adkins, had strange behavior, to say the least.  Behavior so odd, that it will raise not only the eyebrows, but questions from the Grand Jury, who will be free to ask away anything that will help them make their decision.

I don't think Alex Hunter is working in Texas these days.

We learned that Billie Dunn threw a New Year's Eve party for family on December 31st, just a few days after reporting Hailey "missing."

Where did the police learn of this?

Clint Dunn, Hailey's father told them. In fact, living right across the street from his estranged wife, he was able to count the number of empties in her trash which let police know that this was some celebration. Police learned it from him.  Clint Dunn had seen all the empties outside and was upset.  When he first went over after learning that Hailey was missing he said, "Billie wouldn't get off her couch.  She was watching her favorite TV show."
He said that David was just playing video games as if nothing was wrong and Shawn was just hanging out.  No one was up and ready to go searching, so he, his girlfriend and baby, went out by themselves to search for Hailey.

Clint was angry about the New Year's Eve party.  Police learned details from him.

We learned it from the Nancy Grace Show.

Little by little, Nancy Grace got it out of Billie.

"We wasn't worrying about no party" or something along the butchered English language the mother said.

It's actually an interesting exchange, but it is even more interesting to view the video to see Nancy Grace's scowl each time that Billie Dunn avoided the question.

"Did you watch the ball drop, Ms. Dunn?"

It would have been easy: "I did not host a New Year's Eve party" in a direct, open statement.  Yet, lying in a direct open statement is not easy.  The first thing the deceiver will do is run away from the pronoun "I" and look to share guilt with others.

Note that "we" is a lot more comfortable.  Just ask any 3rd Grader who is caught.  "Everyone was doing it!"
 Here is the actual exchange with analysis.  Follow her pronouns.  Does she say, "I did not have a New Year's Eve party"?

Nancy Grace To Billie Dunn:  "Did you have a New Year's Eve party?"

BILLIE DUNN: Well, we did not. I know it wasn`t on my mind at all that it was even New Year`s Eve. I had an uncle and aunt, and they brought their grandbaby from out of town. They came up. They stayed at my house Friday during the day. They spent the night at my brother`s. They were back over here Saturday. I think they went home on Sunday. We had family over here. I`ve had a lot of fat of family here. But that weekend, an aunt, an uncle and their grandbaby and my two brothers came over.

Note that she began with "well", which is a pause, making the question, "Did you have a New Year's Eve party" sensitive to her.  

Note next she begins with "we"

Note next that she says "we did not" but did not complete what they did not.  

A truthful person will tell us what happened, what the person thought and not what did not happen or what was not thought:  

Note next she reports what was not on her mind. 

Dunn only owns that some family came over to her home.  Grace takes her through a series of baby steps to learn if she had a party or not.  Her denial is, "no we didn't" but Nancy Grace now probes to see if it is reliable or not: 

GRACE: And when they were there that night...

BILLIE DUNN: There was definitely no...



GRACE: ... New Year`s Eve night. What were you guys doing in the home that night?

BILLIE DUNN: We were visiting. We were talking about Hailey. We were pretty upset.

 She starts with "we" and not with "I"; 

Note the order:

1.  We were visiting

2.  We were talking about Hailey

3.  We were "pretty" upset

Please note that "visiting" came first in her order.  This was not lost on Nancy Grace.  She also said that "we were pretty upset" which expresses the emotions of others ,instead of "i was upset".  Please note that she did not say she was upset, but only that they were "pretty" upset, qualifying being upset. 

72 hours after her daughter is reported missing they visited, talked and were only "pretty" upset.  Most people would be more than just "pretty" upset. 

GRACE: Did you have out food for them? Was anybody having drinks?

Since she began with "we were visiting" as her priority, Nancy Grace seeks to define what a New Year's Eve party looked like.  She asked a compound question which should be avoided, as it allows the subject to pick and choose which to answer. 

BILLIE DUNN: I know that there was a lot of food out, and I think Shawn had some drinks. Nobody else. Nobody was worried about having a New Year`s Eve party.

Here is how she lies:  She "knows" there was "a lot of food out".  Didn't she serve it?  Did someone bring it in for her?  Wasn't she there?  If she was there, she would know that food was there.  This is a type of avoidance due to the high sensitivity. 

Next, she "thinks" Shawn had "some drinks" but will not commit to it. She saw the food, and "knows" it was a "lot" for her uncle, aunt and their baby, her and Shawn.  

"nobody else" is a broken sentence.  She did not say that "nobody else was drinking."  Clint reported a large volume of empties.  It gets worse for her:

"Nobody was worried about having a New Year's Eve party."  She was not asked if people or even "nobody" was worried about the party.  

Nancy Grace smelled the lie: 

GRACE: Did you have the TV on?

BILLIE DUNN: Yes.

GRACE: Were you watching the ball drop?

A yes or no question

BILLIE DUNN: We were just watching news.

The question is avoided. 

GRACE: Are you sure?

This is actually insulting, rather than just a straight question.  She was giving Billie Dunn an opportunity to look a bit less foolish and just come clean.  

BILLIE DUNN: Yes.

Billie Dunn has gone a long way to avoid the simple, "I did not have a New Year's Eve party" in her deception.  This should not even been discussed while a child was missing, but it had to be, because Behavioral Analysis says that an innocent mother will call out for her child, and search for her.  To host a party is to dance for 31 days instead. 

GRACE: So you`re telling me that you have people over, you had food out, alcohol was being served, but it was not a party.

BILLIE DUNN: There was no party, and we weren`t serving alcohol. I think Shawn had a beer.

Finally the pronoun "I" makes its appearance, but here, she only "thinks" Shawn had a beer.  Nothing about the trash full of empties outside. 

GRACE: So it was just him?

BILLIE DUNN: Nobody was trying to have a party. that was -- right. That was on nobody`s mind.

Can I go to Texas and meet "nobody"?  I've heard her speak of him frequently. 

This is how she lies and the pattern is repeated enough to follow. 

"we weren't serving alcohol" denies the act of "serving" and not that they were drinking. 

Note the change about Shawn having some drinks to "a" beer.  It is difficult to keep track of lies because they do not originate from memory. 

It sickened Nancy Grace, a mother, to think that the mother of a missing child could watch the New Year's Eve ball drop, but it is that they even had this discussion, on national television, while her child was "missing" is telling in Behavioral Analysis.

Can you picture Desiree Young throwing a party days after Kyron Horman, 7, was reporting missing?  I can't, but I can see Terri and Dee Dee laughing it up.


Third in the Series:   Next up:  Behavioral Analysis and the Polygraph

Fourth:  Shawn Adkins, work, cell phone pings, and "look in Scurry County"