Sunday, September 9, 2012

Billie Dunn's Account: Part Two


The second appearance of Hailey Dunn's mother, Billie Dunn, on The Nancy Grace Show. 
This aired live on January 4, 2011.  Statement analysis is in bold type.  Complete transcripts are at cnn.com/transcripts.   January 4, 2011 was a Tuesday.  

GRACE: OK, you want to talk about the boyfriend. First, out to Billie Dunn. This is Hailey`s mother joining us tonight live from Colorado City, Texas. She`s there at the home. Ms. Dunn, thank you for being with us. Let`s just address those issues right now. Let`s talk about your boyfriend.

In her first appearance, under one answer, Billie Dunn revealed, from Statement Analysis, the following:

1.  Hailey was dead
2.  Something in her relationship with Shawn Adkins is troubling
3.  Billie Dunn needed to establish an alibi ("she went missing while I was at work")
4.   The story  that Dunn told is deceptive.  In order for the story to be deceptive, it has to come from her.  She has a need to build an alibi and has a need to be deceptive. 

If a person simply repeats a lie, the language will not show a lie because the language of deception is willful.  This indicates that she, Dunn herself, is telling the story. 

We also saw that the story is similar to a story on True Crime library.  This is something to remember as we progress through the appearances on The Nancy Grace Show.

We will see, as Dunn appears on show after show, an unravelling of her account as the very things flagged as deceptive in analysis, are shown to be such through various releases of information. 

The ISI (improper social introduction) indicated a problem with the relationship of Dunn and Shawn Adkins, though she did use the "my" taking ownership, via possessive pronoun.  This was not lost on Nancy Grace: 


BILLIE DUNN: OK.

GRACE: Last night, you told me he was on his way home from work, but now I`m learning he was on his way home from his mother`s home?


Recall how Dunn used the "either/or" answer the night before, allowing for her to change her mind later.  This leads to the simple, "Why would she feel the need to leave herself an 'out' in her answer if she did not possess information, yesterday, that Adkins was not where he claimed?"  

We are allowing the mother of Hailey Dunn to guide us in revealing what happened to Hailey.  Her "either/or" answer with preparatory hedging is found here in Part One. 
BILLIE DUNN: Yes. He had been at his mother`s house all day Monday. Police have confirmed that he got home about 3:00 o`clock, and Hailey left shortly after.


Here is another example of simply adding a single word to a sentence can give a wealth of information.  

"He had been at his mother's house all day Monday" she said. 
"He had been at his mother's house Monday" would be shorter.   Dunn adds two little words "all day", introducing something that should have caught the attention of investgators:

Learning the whereabouts of Shawn Adkins during this day will lead to Hailey's body.  Note that Billie Dunn has the need to emphasize that he was there on Monday, but adding "all day" to her response.  

She is building an alibi for Shawn Adkins.  


GRACE: OK. Where does he work?


She asked "where" he worked.  
BILLIE DUNN: He`s not working.


Dunn avoided the question, meaning that the location of his work is sensitive to her.  She answered in the present tense.  Hailey's body is between the triangle of the residence, his mother's home and his work address. Somewhere in driving distance of this triangle are her remains. 
GRACE: OK. Last night, didn`t you tell me he was on his way home from work, or did I just get that mistaken?

BILLIE DUNN: No, I said that. He went in Monday morning, but there was an argument. He was fired or there was just a big blow-up there. He walked out. He left his job by 6:30 in the morning and went to Big Spring (ph) to his mom`s house.


1."There was an argument" is passive; not "Shawn argued with..."  Passivity is seen as an attempt to conceal:  here it is concealing something not known until later.  

In building his alibi, either one or both had him drive to his job, allowed himself to be seen, bought a soda, and left, without saying a word to anyone.  

This would allow investigators to pin down his location there, likely with hopes that he was seen, but not seen leaving so police could not tell when he left the office.  It is not very sophisticated but it is an attempt to establish alibi. 

2.  Note another "either/or" which allows for later change in the story.  It was either that he got "fired" or "big blow up":  this is a change of language.  First it was, passivity noted, "an argument" but now it is a "big blow up."  Without justification for the change in language, deception is indicated. 

We later learned the deception confirmed:  there was nothing.  No big blow up, no firing, just Adkins quietly leaving.   

Dunn is not speaking for Adkins, but for herself.  She is deceiving Nancy Grace, in her own answer. 

This is a critical time period for investigators.   


GRACE: OK. What was the blow-up about?


Nancy Grace asks about the blow up.  She has already noted the mother of a missing child has changed her story and that something related to a "stressor" took place with the boyfriend and his job.  

The coincidence of these two (job and missing child) is not lost on Grace. 
BILLIE DUNN: I don`t even know. I just know he didn`t get along with one or two of the co-workers.


Note "the" co workers is not "his co-workers" as if they have already been identified.  They have not been identified and this is indicated for deception.  

Pronouns and articles do not lie.  Pronouns and articles are instinctive.  When someone is introduced, "a" is used and then "the" is used after the introduction.  When a pronoun or article is "incorrect", we are looking at deception.  
GRACE: OK. I want to go through his story again


She knows something is wrong. 


GRACE: I want to go back to Billie Dunn. I understand police have seized yours and your boyfriend`s cell phones. Why?

BILLIE DUNN: Yes. They`re taking them to check out all the calls that were made on Monday. Hailey did have my cell phone at home and access to it. That would have been the cell phone she was on. She didn`t use Shawn`s cell phone, but they`re checking them both, getting the records off of both of those. And hopefully, we`re going to have answers from the cell phones tonight.


Note that she reports in the negative:  that her daughter did not use Shawn's phone. 

Here is what she did not say:  That when Shawn handed his phone to a police officer, he deleted things first. 


GRACE: OK. So this has nothing to do with you being under any kind of suspicion at all. This has to do with the fact that your little girl and you shared a cell phone, and they`re trying to figure out who she was calling and who was calling her, correct?

BILLIE DUNN: Correct. I left the cell phone at home while I was at work, for the kids.


Even when there is no cause to say anything but "correct", she speaks and indicates sensitivity.  She said "why" she left the phone.  The phone is sensitive.  

We later learned that pornography was found on the phones.   
GRACE: OK. What about your boyfriend? Why do they have his cell phone?

BILLIE DUNN: They have his cell phone, too. It was around probably just for 15 minutes, and she didn`t use it but they`re looking at his, also.


The phone is sensitive to her, as is her need to portray herself as a good and caring mother.  


GRACE: And what else did police tell you?


By this time, the relationship with police has been confrontational as Adkins refused to take a polygraph.  Police were not "sharing" information with either of them and had told Billie Dun to "just tell them" where they could find Hailey.  
BILLIE DUNN: We hear that another lady says she saw Hailey,


Note present tense and the plural "we" after being asked, specifically, what else police told her.  She was not asked what she and Adkins were "hearing":   this was the first indication that her relationship with police was not good.  At this point, Nancy Grace did not know that police demanded confessions from them. 

her friend and a boy she didn`t recognize Monday evening -- it was already dark -- walking on the main street by a store. So they`re looking at that video surveillance, too, seeing if that story checks out, see if they can put her somewhere that evening.

I`m just told that there are a ton of tips coming in, and they`re checking out everything. And they say when they hear somebody thinks they`ve seen Hailey an hour or two away, they`re running over there, checking video surveillance at a Burger King.


Note that in continuing to avoid the question, Dunn slips into present tense language.  This is another indication that she is being deceptive to Nancy Grace.  Here we know, however, that police were not sharing information with her and Adkins but insisting that Dunn tell them what they need to know. 

Dunn has the need to present a portrait that favors her, and makes her appear, not as a suspect, but as a parent working with police.  Her language tells us that she was not working with police, but it was something confirmed shortly after this aired.  
Next, the topic of a polygraph came up. 


Polygraphs are routine in missing child cases.  John Walsh advises parents to insist on a polygraph immediately, be cleared, and get going with the search.  

Ray Giudice weighs in next, strictly as a defense attorney.  He heard the inconsistent story:  
RAYMOND GIUDICE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY:  From a defense lawyer`s perspective, and with some of these inconsistencies that I`ve already heard in these facts, I would not advise him to take a poly unless he could pass one in the privacy of my office first.

GRACE: Hold on. Alex Sanchez, it sounded like an inconsistency because last night, the mom says he just got home from work at 3:00 o`clock. Now we find out he was at his mom`s. I asked her that. She had a perfect explanation for that.

ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, but I don`t know if he`s refused to take a polygraph test. But if he`s, in fact, refused to take a polygraph test, you know, that raises concerns for me and it raises concerns for the police.

GRACE: OK, let`s go to the source...

SANCHEZ: And they need to concentrate on that boyfriend.

GRACE: You`re right, Alex Sanchez. Billie Dunn, what about your boyfriend? Has he agreed to take a polygraph?


The question:  Has he agreed to take a polygraph?  It is a "yes or no" question. 
BILLIE DUNN: He will take a polygraph in the morning. Yes, ma`am. It`s set up for in the -- hopefully, early.


Note that her answer is to avoid the question, making the topic of Shawn Adkins taking a polygraph "sensitive" in analysis. 

Note also that her answer is  truthful:  he will (future) take a polygraph in the morning.  But then she repeats it (making it sensitive) and adds in extra emphasis, weakening the answer:  "yes, ma'am. It's set up for in the  hopefully, early."  Broken sentence indicates missing information. 

1.  Yes or No question avoided.
2.  Repetition = sensitivity
3.  Broken sentence = missing information 
GRACE: Well, there you go.


Not so fast...
BILLIE DUNN: But it is set up for tomorrow.  This was Tuesday so it is set up for Wednesday morning.  Please note this.  


In her short answer, she indicated sensitivity (which may be deception) and missing information.  

We later learned that Adkins had refused, agreed, refused by walking out.  Although, sentence by sentence Billie Dunn is truthful, she withholds the combative relationship with police over the polygraph.  

Nancy Grace spoke to Clint Dunn.   For new readers:  Clint Dunn's statement analysis showed truthfulness in his denial.  He was never a suspect.  

GRACE: OK. Let`s back it up a little bit. Did you see her at all that day?

CLINT DUNN: I didn`t see her at all that day.

GRACE: When did you first learn she was missing?

CLINT DUNN: I seen her the day before. Later on that night, David came over -- my son came over and asked me...


Note the linguistic indication of a good relationship with David via the proper social introduction. 

GRACE: Who first told you that she was missing?

CLINT DUNN: My son, David.


social introduction= very good relationship


GRACE: All right. Because when I grew up it was very common if I was going to spend the night at my little friend`s house, I would just go over there. I didn`t need to take anything. I was coming right back the next morning, right across the street. So why would you pack a big bag? 

So if she was planning a sleepover, you know I don`t really see that she would have dragged a bag along with her, but let`s ask the mom. 

Billie Dunn is with us, joining us from Colorado City, Texas. 

Miss Dunn, when she would typically go for a sleepover, would she take a bag and take a lot of stuff with her? 

B. DUNN: Nothing at all. 


emphasis noted.  It is unusual that a 13 year old girl would go anywhere without her "stuff" 
GRACE: OK. 

B. DUNN: She would -- 

GRACE: Go ahead, dear. 

B. DUNN: She would just go over there with whatever was on her back, and wait until the next day to come home, brush her teeth, take a bath, freshen up. 

GRACE: Right. Right. That makes perfect sense to me. So the fact that she did not take anything with her, that doesn`t strike you as unusual. 

B. DUNN: Right. 

GRACE: All right. 

B. DUNN: That`s why I`m getting worried that maybe my baby didn`t leave on her own for this long amount of time. 


Note that she has the need to say "why" she is "getting" worried:  because she did not return to brush her teeth the next morning and freshen up. 

Why would a mother only now, 7 days later, begin to get worried over a missing child? This is another reason why defense attorneys keep their clients from speaking:  they spill out ridiculous little things like this that cause people who have no training to scratch their heads and ask, "You're just now getting worried?"


GRACE: OK. Miss Dunn, I want to go back over why the local police said this was a runaway. Why did they classify her as a runaway? 

B. DUNN: All I know is because nobody saw her being abducted. 


Grace:   I want to go back to Billie Dunn, this is Hailey`s mother. 

How far did they tell you the dogs tracked your little girl to that Western Motel? Did they track her into the lobby? Did they track to a certain room, to the parking lot? How far did the trail go? 


Nancy Grace has not caught on to the fact that police are not sharing information with Dunn.  It gives us opportunity to view communicative language:   
B. DUNN: They didn`t tell me that. They just let me know that to the friends, to the motel, and they`re reviewing the video at the motel, and calling everybody who had been checked in to the motel that day. 


Note the change from "tell" which is spoken, to "just let me know", which is passive.  Deception indicated. 
GRACE: Now a woman in the community says she spotted Hailey that evening. This would have been Monday evening, with the little neighbor girl and the neighbor girl`s little boyfriend. What would he have been, 12, 13? Is that the little neighbor she was going to visit?

B. DUNN: No. That was the girl she was going to visit. 

GRACE: What did this woman see? 

B. DUNN: She saw Hailey, Mary Beth and a boy that she didn`t recognize. 

GRACE: Now have you -- have you spoken with Mary Beth? Did that in fact happen? 


This would have been a great spotting!  A live Hailey!  Certainly any mother would have known that the police have asked Mary Beth, or she, mother, herself asked!
B. DUNN: I hadn`t asked her about that. I`m letting the police handle Mary Beth. I do call her to ask her hey, what did Hailey say to you on Monday, did she call you Monday, did you guys text, did she say she was going somewhere else Monday, or with another friend Monday, and she tells me no. 


Deception indicated.

Here we have her reporting what she did not ask, in the negative.  
Next we have the passivity of "letting police handle Mary Beth."  Mary Beth needs handling?  Is she uncooperative?  
Note "I do call" slips into the present tense. 

Deception indicated.  
GRACE: Did she say she even saw Hailey on Monday? 

B. DUNN: She hasn`t told me that she did. No. 



GRACE: OK. So to your knowledge, Hailey never went to Mary Beth`s? 

B. DUNN: Right. That`s what she says. 

GRACE: To Dr. Leslie Austin, psychotherapist out of New York. 

Dr. Austin, it says a lot to me that this mother has been saying from the get-go, please polygraph me. The boyfriend, her live-in, whether we agree with that or not, he has agreed to take a polygraph first thing in the morning. 

DR. LESLIE AUSTIN, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: These people seem very credible to me and also this seems like a really good little girl who may have just had a heartbeat of bad judgment or met somebody somewhere. 


To this psychotherapist, "these people" seem very credible.  It would be interesting to inquire about her training, and her ability to spot deception.  

11 comments:

Tania Cadogan said...

I agree Peter.
How can anyone NOT see the deception?

Anonymous said...

I just hate the fact that there are so many cases like this one, where children were probably murdered and there are no arrests. I can't stand seeing a case going cold with so much pointing to the people who are responsible.

Anonymous said...

I have girls this age. They do NOT go to sleepovers without their stuff. They just don't.

BostonLady said...

Interesting to note that when Hailey first went missing and only the local news was doing the interviews, both Shawn and Billie stated that it was "not" like Hailey to go to a sleep over without her things. I'll see if I can find the interview.

Nic said...

He left his job by 6:30 in the morning and went to Big Spring (ph) to his mom`s house


By? I didn't notice the word "by" the first time. The word "by" implies a plan and/or a schedule.

Nic said...

B. DUNN: She would just go over there with whatever was on her back, and wait until the next day to come home, brush her teeth, take a bath, freshen up.

Wouldn't "freshen up" incorporate dental hygiene and "bathing"? So extra wording. Would the mentioning of "take a bath" be associated with sexual abuse in this instance?

BostonLady said...

I knew there was an early report and Hailey's mother contradicts what she said on NG about Hailey taking her belongings for a sleep over. Quote below and then the complete article.

"There's a chance somebody abducted her," Hailey's mother Billie Jean Dunn told us, "that's in the back of my mind because of the fact that she didn't take anything and because this is so out of her character. I'm pretty terrified of that."



Texas Rangers Get Involved In Hunt For Missing Colorado City Teen
By Jacqueline Hince, KTXS News

POSTED: 8:00 pm CST January 3, 2011

UPDATED: 8:33 pm CST January 3, 2011



COLORADO CITY, Texas -- Texas Rangers and national media are now involved in the hunt for a Colorado City teen, who's been missing since December 27th.

Monday, Rangers met with Colorado City Police and the Mitchell County Sheriff for hours.

Though they're pretty tight lipped about the investigation they did issue a generic statement that they are investigating Hailey Darlene Dunn's disappearance as a missing person.

She was last seen December 27th, after telling her mother's boyfriend she planned to spend the night at a friends.

KTXS talked to that friend who said she had no idea Hailey was coming over.

Her parents say they're now beginning to fear the worst.

"There's a chance somebody abducted her," Hailey's mother Billie Jean Dunn told us, "that's in the back of my mind because of the fact that she didn't take anything and because this is so out of her character. I'm pretty terrified of that."

Colorado Police Chief read aloud this statement, "Officers are working this as a missing persons investigation, and pursuing leads to find Hailey...we will not rest until Hailey is found. If anyone has any information on her whereabouts, they are to contact the Colorado City Police Department at 325-728-5294.

There is a $10,000 reward being offered for Hailey's safe return.

Hailey's story has been picked up by CNN's Nancy Grace. Her mother also told KTXS she has talked with Headline News.

http://www.ktxs.com/big_country_news/26358328/detail.html

Anonymous said...

I actually just started learning about statement analysis after thinking something was off and googled the case. That brought me to Peters wonderful site.

And for me still learning, I can excuse slight changes in the small events that happened that day. But as a parent, you know your child. And to change from "that's so outta character" to "that's totally normal" to me is significant and the fact that "she never asked Mary Beth if she saw her missing child is the biggest red flag to me. If my son was missing, I don't care who it was, if you may know anything at all, I will be talking to you. I think I also red that she "never got around " to asking her son questions about what he may know either. I think the Celis parents said something similar bout their other kids. I would not just shrug anything off that may help.

And do t think a 13 yr old would take nothing to a sleep over. Even as a small child, I always at least took pajamas. But that's just me.

Any normal loving parent would be frantic and talking to anyone. I had a friend who's daughter ran away. Was after a fight over a boy, she left a note and had packed up a bunch of her things... And she was still hysterical and calling every one of her daughters friends, their parents, friends of friendCs. That is just normal.

John Mc Gowan said...

NicSeptember 9, 2012 4:18 PM
B. DUNN: She would just go over there with whatever was on her back, and wait until the next day to come home, brush her teeth, take a bath, freshen up.

Wouldn't "freshen up" incorporate dental hygiene and "bathing"? So extra wording. Would the mentioning of "take a bath" be associated with sexual abuse in this instance

Nic,

You may be on to something there,i would probably say my son john would come home and freshen up,but i wouldnt say,to brush his teeth and take a bath even if that was what he will do..

Anonymous said...

I wonder if there is a trend of non-arrests only in high profile missing children's cases? Or is this happening to a lot of missing children regardless of television & media exposure?

Je said...

Anon 11:03
I was also struck by the mothers claim that she hadn't bothered or 'had a chance' to ask her son questions about what he knew. Exactly what else would you be talking to your son about while a manhunt is taking place for his missing sister? Any parent knows that they would be pestering anyone & everyone who knew their child, and analyzing every word they said for clues that may lead to your missing child. I was suspicious of BJD from the first moment I saw her preening & primping while talking to NG about the last time she saw her missing daughter..(as in-I looked in and saw her laying there, but I didn't touch her or anything)paraphrased...I was thinking, if my baby was missing and I was asked to relive the last time I saw them I think someone would probably have to scrape me off the floor-but not BJD, her only concern is making sure her hair is nice & smooth.