New Developments in Hailey Dunn Case Tie To Odessa
By: Jenne Anderson
Updated: October 23, 2012
ODESSA-- Colorado City police say they hit the ground running on the missing Hailey Dunn case after they discovered a letter sent from inmate Sonja Renee Callahan to a family member in Abilene.
"Law enforcement knew about this letter well before and had been conducting follow-up into this well before it was given by a citizen to media outlets," said Kelsey Rivera who is with the Colorado City Police Department.
Big2's sister station reached out to Hailey Dunn's mother, Billie Dunn to get her reaction to the letter.
This was the first she had heard of the document and when asked if she knew the creator of the letter, Sonja Renee Callahan, she initially said no.
But once the name registered this was her response: "Are you guys going to air this?" questioned Billie Dunn. "Can we not have the camera on?"
We reached out to Dona Byerley who is related to Hailey through marriage.
Byerley says she doesn't know Sonja Callahan but isn't surprised by Billie's reaction to the name.
"That doesn't surprise me from Billie," said Byerley. "Since the beginning of Hailey's disappearance she's acted very shady."
While police say there was some truth to things found in the letter, other things are still unproven, like the part about the body of the girl being left in Odessa.
They also tell us the letter does not mention the Ector county Coliseum region as the location of the Odessa home. That information was gathered from the family who obtained the letter in Abilene.
Agencies also tell us this case isn't over.
They say they will continue to pursue all of the leads in the letter until they can properly rule everything out.
"Anytime a statement is made it's treated as real until it is proven otherwise, because that's the proper way to do an investigation," said Rivera.
Big2 also spoke with the Mitchell County Sheriff who is also working on the case.
He tells us there has been some truth to the letter, but they haven't found any big breaks in the case.
We're also told that Sonja Callahan is being cooperative with police agencies.
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"Law enforcement knew about this letter well before and had been conducting follow-up into this well before it was given by a citizen to media outlets," said Kelsey Rivera who is with the Colorado City Police Department.
Big2's sister station reached out to Hailey Dunn's mother, Billie Dunn to get her reaction to the letter.
This was the first she had heard of the document and when asked if she knew the creator of the letter, Sonja Renee Callahan, she initially said no.
But once the name registered this was her response: "Are you guys going to air this?" questioned Billie Dunn. "Can we not have the camera on?"
We reached out to Dona Byerley who is related to Hailey through marriage.
Byerley says she doesn't know Sonja Callahan but isn't surprised by Billie's reaction to the name.
"That doesn't surprise me from Billie," said Byerley. "Since the beginning of Hailey's disappearance she's acted very shady."
While police say there was some truth to things found in the letter, other things are still unproven, like the part about the body of the girl being left in Odessa.
They also tell us the letter does not mention the Ector county Coliseum region as the location of the Odessa home. That information was gathered from the family who obtained the letter in Abilene.
Agencies also tell us this case isn't over.
They say they will continue to pursue all of the leads in the letter until they can properly rule everything out.
"Anytime a statement is made it's treated as real until it is proven otherwise, because that's the proper way to do an investigation," said Rivera.
Big2 also spoke with the Mitchell County Sheriff who is also working on the case.
He tells us there has been some truth to the letter, but they haven't found any big breaks in the case.
We're also told that Sonja Callahan is being cooperative with police agencies.
Like Jenne Anderson's page on Facebook!
