Hayden Manis was around five years old when he went missing from his home in Muncie, Indiana in either 2019 or 2020 (stories differ). He was not reported missing for four to five years.
Just to note, the news agency wthr.com / 13 Investigates has really comprehensive coverage on this case including many interviews. Some of our quotes are taken from their articles and everything is linked on the blog.
Hayden was born on 05/18/2015 to parents Dustin Manis and Terri Williams.
The couple lost custody of Hayden when he was just one year old in 2016. This happened as they were charged with drug-related offenses. Reports indicate that both parents were drug tested and the results showed that they had been using cocaine.
Dustin had also been found in a motel room with Hayden at one point and there was heroin and drug paraphernalia laying around.
DCS in Indiana removed Hayden from the ‘care’ of his parents and placed him in the custody of his paternal grandfather, Gary Manis. Dustin’s mother was Leanna Newby and she was no longer in a relationship with Gary.
Gary and Hayden grew close and Hayden called his grandfather ‘PawPaw.’ Gary said that Hayden was a ‘ good kid’ who never gave him any trouble.
“All he ever wanted to do was just be with me, no matter what I was doing,” Gary said of Hayden. “Working on the car, he wanted to do that. Fixing something around the house, he wanted to be right beside me.”
“He loved trying to skateboard,” he added.
In 2018, Dustin completed his court-ordered probation and drug rehab. He petitioned the court to get custody of Hayden. According to Gary, Terri was reportedly in prison at this time on drug charges.
Gary begged the court to be able to keep Hayden with him. He said he “completely disagreed” with officials’ decision to return the child to Dustin, noting his history of drug use.
“He’s a drug addict. I told them, I begged them, not to give him back. Wasn’t my choice. Wouldn’t even let me speak in court,” Gary told 13News. “He did what they required of him, and they gave (Hayden) back.”
Hayden’s great aunt Barbara Phillips had a different, more optimistic view of the situation.
“He had already done everything that they’ve asked him to do, and he was not with Hayden’s mother when he got custody back,” she said. “So I thought, okay, maybe he’s on the mend and everything’s all right.”
“He was so sweet and good with children,” Dustin’s aunt Shellie said about her nephew. “Never in a million years would you think he’d ever put a hand on any child, let alone his own son.”
The court rejected Gary’s plea and awarded custody back to Dustin. DCS did not object. At this point, Hayden was almost three years old.
Family members have said that they saw Dustin and Hayden regularly between 2018 and 2019.
In May 2019, Dustin’s mother Leanne passed away at the age of 48.
Survivors include her children, Derrick Newby (Jaden Bell), Dustin Manis and Marleigh Marie Whitaker; grandchildren Haisley, Hayden and one due in November; her mother and step-father, Rita and Ward Whited; sisters, Trisha (Anthony) Williams and Milissa Newby; brother, Wes (Kristie) Whited as well as several aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews and her former husband, David Curtis.
Some reports indicate that Gary and Dustin possibly had a fight around this time which meant that Gary did not see Hayden as regularly as he previously had. The last time any family members saw Hayden was on Christmas Eve, 2019.
His great aunt Barbara said that Hayden was a ‘happy little boy’ at the time. Gary said that he enjoyed opening his gifts and was his ‘ typical self.’
“Typical Hayden, running back and forth from a grandparent to me to aunt to great grandparents, back to aunt and to uncle,” Gary told The Independent. “I noticed nothing wrong, nothing at all.”
“He just ran from person to person and played and laughed,” said another great aunt, Shellie Sewell.
“And his father was there with him,” aunt Taylor Ferrell said. “That was the last time.”
After this, Dustin’s family kept inviting him and Hayden to family events, but neither ever showed up.
“We wanted him to know we wanted them there. We wanted to be a part of their lives,” aunt Shellie said. “We’d say, ‘Can you and Hayden come have dinner with us?’ And he would respond with, ‘We’ll try. I’ll try. Everything’s fine. We’re OK. Hayden’s fine. We’ll try to make it.’ But we never did get to see him. He never came to anything.”
During 2020, Dustin lived with a woman named Crystal Hall. They lived in a house in Muncie with Hayden, Crystal’s two daughters and her father Paul. The house was owned by Paul.
“Dustin and Hayden actually did live on my property,” Paul told the media in July 2025. “Hayden actually called me ‘Mr. Grandpa’ while he was there. I babysat him several times.”
“He was a pretty smiley guy. He did have some – what I would call – behavioral challenges to where, you know, there were times where he wouldn’t respect authority. But other than that, he seemed like a normal, adjusted little boy.”
Paul told the media that he had given Hayden a guitar for Christmas in 2020.
“That’s something that we were going to start doing is show him how to play the guitar,” Paul recalled. But before he could start giving Hayden lessons, Paul said Hayden was no longer living at his house. When he had not seen Hayden for a noticeable period of time, Paul said he asked Dustin where the boy was.
“I had asked, ‘Hey, where’s Hayden?’” because I hadn’t seen him for a week or two, and I wanted to see about giving them those lessons. And that’s when I was told that the mom had had a DNA test and that Hayden went with his mom,” Paul said. “We’ve heard the story now that, you know, Child Services was the ones that did that. That is not the story I got. I only got that a DNA test was done, and that Dustin wasn’t the father and that Hayden went to live with his mother.”
To clarify, there was no question about Hayden’s paternity. Dustin signed an affidavit of paternity when Hayden was born in 2015, and a Blackford County judge determined in 2018 that Dustin was Hayden’s natural father when he granted Dustin primary custody of his son.
By 2021, Dustin moved from Muncie and he basically stopped responding to any texts/communication attempts from family.
Barbara got one final message from Dustin on May 18, 2023.
According to wthr.com, Dustin told family at one point that Hayden had been taken by DCS and given back to Terri, his biological mother. They did not question that story because as we mentioned, DCS had previously removed Hayden from his father’s custody after police found Dustin and his young son in a motel room filled with drugs. So, this seemed plausible and believable.
In the fall of 2024, Hayden’s two great-grandmothers had a chance meeting. While they were discussing Dustin and Hayden, they realized that they had both been given different stories. One of the women thought Hayden was with Dustin and the other thought that Hayden was with Terri.
“She went straight home and called (Gary) and said, “Something is off, something’s not right,” Shellie explained.
“She sounded worried, like something didn’t sound right, so I went to CPS the next day,” Gary told the media.
One of the women went to Paul’s home and left a note on his door, asking him to contact them.
“That’s the first time that I knew something was wrong with Hayden,” he said. “When I hung up the phone with that grandma, I had a couple of minutes where I was just like, ‘Oh sh**!’ because I had a sinking feeling in my gut.”
Police were contacted and they tracked Dustin down and he gave them the version of the story that indicated Hayden was with Terri. He said that CPS had taken Hayden from him in 2022. This was easily proven to be false by detectives.
“No. That was disproven quite easily, quite quickly,” Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman said “So at that time and as the investigation went on, we knew that was a lie.”
“Where’s Hayden? Nobody can come up with Hayden. The last person who was responsible for him … could not provide any information about where he was. And that’s when we realized, I think …” said Shellie.
The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office released this statement after Hayden was reported missing:
“On or about September 5, 2024, the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office was made aware of a missing juvenile case. Since that time, we have worked diligently to investigate all leads, execute multiple search warrants, and conduct numerous interviews.
We are working closely with the Delaware County Prosecutor’s Office and remain committed to pursuing every avenue of investigation. Our goal is to bring resolution to this case. We appreciate the continued support from the community and encourage anyone with information to come forward.
If you have any information about this case please contact the Delaware County Sheriff Investigations Division 765-747-7881.”
In September 2024, authorities went and searched Paul’s home.
“I signed a waiver allowing them to have access to anything and everything that they needed,” Paul told the media. “They went under the house. They went in the attic … I was just hoping and praying, you know, that we could find out what had actually happened.”
Paul has said that he was questioned extensively by police. He also said investigators took evidence from the house including “section of the floor out of the master closet” from the side of the house where Hayden had lived.
“He says, ‘What do you think this means with us asking for this?’ And, you know, I remember answering him. I says, ‘I think that means that you guys think something might have happened to him in my house,’” Paul said.
Paul said he cooperated fully with investigators.
“[I was] absolutely sick and mortified because I just knew deep down that something really bad has happened here,” he told the media.
A few months after his house was searched, Paul sold the home and moved to Nevada with Crystal and family. He said this move coincided with the family getting some inheritance money and that they had planned to relocate long before they learned Hayden was missing.
Many people online have questioned the move and think that it seems suspicious.
“There’s Facebook posts saying that I had something to do with it. There is absolutely not even a millionth of 1% chance that that’s happened. It’s complete bullsh** and fabrication,” Paul said. “It’s ugly and it’s horrible… I’ve done nothing wrong.”
In November 2024, Dustin was pulled over for a traffic violation and he was found to have meth and heroin on him.
Bodycam footage of the incident has been released. This summary is from wthr.com:
“Nothing illegal on you?” the officer asked. “Dustin, is there anything illegal inside your car?”
“Nuh-uh… no, not at all,” he replied in an awkward, high-pitched tone that sounds much different than his speaking voice earlier in the police recording.
The officer then inquired about specific drugs, including methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin. Dustin denied possessing any of them. But when the officer asked if he could look inside the vehicle and Dustin said he preferred not to have the car searched, suspicion grew.
“I’m pretty sure there’s something in that car you don’t want me to find,” the officer said, pausing while Dustin again insisted he had no drugs in the vehicle. “I stopped you for a traffic infraction, and your stress level is way up here.”
That’s when Dustin told the officer why he was so nervous.
“I just literally got questioned about my son being missing and whatnot, so I’m just upset about that,” he said, while also admitting there might be “a little bit of [methamphetamine] residue” in the vehicle.
Upon further questioning, Dustin acknowledged that he had a previous arrest for drug possession and had last smoked methamphetamine the previous day. He again told the police officer there was only residue or some drug “crumbles” inside the car.
When another officer with a drug-sniffing K-9 arrived to search the vehicle, Dustin appeared even more nervous, visibly shaking and fighting back tears.
“I’ve never had anybody break down and cry [over crumbles],” the officer said, responding to Dustin’s agitation.
“It’s my grandmother’s car. I don’t want to get in trouble for having anything in there,” Dustin replied.
The K-9 assisted search revealed methamphetamine inside the vehicle. As officers arrested Dustin and began to search his clothing, he admitted to also having heroin and a syringe in his pocket.
He was jailed for a few weeks before one of his grandmothers bailed him out.
Four days after he was released, on December 15, 2024, Dustin died from a drug overdose.
Dustin Manis,33, of Muncie, Indiana passed away on December 15, 2024. Arrangements have been entrusted to The Cremation Society of Indiana, 4115 Shelby Street.
When police began investigating Hayden’s whereabouts, they found that there was a possible sighting of him in August 2020 at the New Castle Sports Park. Witnesses saw Hayden, Dustin, Crystal and her father Paul watching a go-kart race. When Paul was questioned, he confirmed that they had all been at the event.
Paul told 13News he was at the New Castle Motorsports Park in late August 2020, watching his oldest granddaughter participate in a go-kart race. He said Crystal, Dustin and Hayden were also at the track to watch the race, and he did not remember anything unusual about Hayden’s appearance or behavior.
Investigators checked records and discovered that Paul’s granddaughter did race at the park on August 30, 2020.
This still means that four years passed before Hayden was reported missing.
“We think he actually went missing sometime in 2020 but, so far, we have not been able to pinpoint an actual date,” Delaware County Sheriff Chief Deputy Jeff Stanley told the media.
“To say that that has complicated the case is an understatement,” Prosecutor Eric Hoffman said. “To get the call in 2024 that you’ve not seen a child since 2020 is a huge hurdle.”
“Just because Dustin Manis is dead does not mean the investigation is dead. We’re still going forward,” the prosecutor said. He believes other people have crucial information and know what happened to Hayden.
“How can a little boy just disappear and no one knows where he is or what happened to him? How is something like this possible?” a reporter asked the prosecutor.
“There’s very few ways that it’s possible,” Prosecutor Hoffman responded. “An adult can disappear. They can go to a foreign country, they can go to Las Vegas on a bender for a week. Kids aren’t like that. Kids Hayden’s age don’t just go somewhere. A child can only go missing in very few ways — none of which are voluntary.”
After Terri learned that her son was missing, she made this post on social media:
“I never thought i would have to make a post like this but if anyone has any information on the where abouts of my son Hayden Manis please contact me or the Delaware county police department,” she wrote.
“The last known location I have for him is in the Muncie, Indiana area,” she added. “I am begging anyone that knows anything about Hayden to please come forward.”
Investigators went to the home in Muncie where Dustin had lived with Crystal. One neighbour said she had lived in the area since 2021 and had never seen Hayden.
This info is from wthr.com:
“I’ve lived here since 2021, and I’m around here all day. I’ve never seen a little boy running around over there,” said Tracy Heigle, who lives across the street from the house. “If a little boy was there, I would have seen him.”
Another neighbor told 13News he had seen two young girls – daughters of Dustin’s former girlfriend – playing outside the house, but that he had never seen a young boy.
Family members have said that they have since heard stories about Hayden being badly abused and neglected.
“I just hope it’s not true what he went through,” said Taylor, crying. Hayden’s aunts described the stories they’ve heard as “disgusting” and “horrifying.”
While detectives and the prosecutor are not releasing specific details of their ongoing investigation, the prosecutor said information gathered by investigators is very disturbing.
“It’s haunting. It’s definitely haunting, some of the facts of this case,” responded Prosecutor Hoffman, who also told the media that he thinks Hayden is deceased.
“Based on the evidence I’ve seen and the interviews that have been conducted, I do not have a reason to believe that.”
Despite these statements, Paul has denied ever seeing any signs of abuse or neglect.
“Never once did I ever hear, you know, any abuse, cries, did I see any marks on that little boy,” he said. “The whole time he was at my house, if I would have saw a bruise or a mark or any sign on Hayden, I would have been the one in jail because I’d have handed it to Dustin … If I’d have seen anything, I would have acted on it.”
Paul also said he tried to watch out for Hayden, even confronting Dustin when a relative contacted Paul personally to express concern that Hayden was possibly being kept inside the house in a dog cage.
“We could not back up that story whatsoever,” Paul told 13News. “We looked. We never saw any cage. Never saw anything even resembling that.”
Paul did say though that he hardly ever went to the side of the house where Hayden was living with Crystal and Dustin. He said he was trying to give them space and that their part of the house was filthy.
“I was pretty disgusted by the condition of that side of the property, but I did just do a quick walk-through to see if I saw anything that looked, you know, funky to me. And other than the nastiness in there, I did not,” Paul said.
“They completely trashed that whole side of the house. I really didn’t want anything to do with [Crystal] at that time over it because I could not understand the level of disrespect that she was showing my house. So I really tried to avoid her, to be honest,” he explained. “It really took a big act for me to go over there for any reason… and, unfortunately, all it led to was arguments with my wife.”
Despite this, Paul has said that Crystal is a ‘caring, kind, and a pretty good and effective parent.’
“Do you think Crystal had anything to do with the disappearance of Hayden?” 13 Investigates asked Paul.
“No, and I’m not just saying that because I’m her dad,” he responded, adding that he has never seen his daughter act violently toward anyone.
A tip was received that suggested that Hayden had been forced to sleep in a closet as a form of discipline and punishment.
Paul spoke about that.
“I think that was kind of confused with the cage thing because I, I think that’s what happened: I think that they, that Dustin, had put him in the closet – which was a walk-in closet, by the way. Still unacceptable. And I believe that was the same incident that somehow it went from closet to cage, and that was the one incident that I had the conversation with Dustin about,” he said, describing the closet as small and roughly 6-feet long and either 6-feet or 8-feet deep.
“I said something to him that, ‘Hey, you know, no matter how mad you get, you can’t go overboard with your kids. If you ever get that mad, you come see me, but there cannot be any of that kind of sh** going on,’” Paul recalled. He said Dustin offered little response, simply shaking his head, as if to say, “OK, no problem.”
While Paul said he saw no bruises or other signs of abuse on Hayden, he told 13News he did have concerns about Dustin’s parenting skills and the way he disciplined his son when Hayden challenged his father’s authority.
“I was concerned enough about it that I had actually made the offer to Dustin that, you know, ‘Hey, maybe you should go talk to somebody and try to get some help to understand how to better deal with him and, you know, if you need some money for that, then I would be even be willing to help you out with that,’” Paul recalled. “But I just thought it was a case of a parent not knowing how to parent … Looking back now, it’s pretty obvious that there was something going on.”
WTHR.com released an article in July 2025 in which they allege that Crystal told authorities that Hayden is deceased and that she disposed of his body in a trash compactor at a truck stop.
The article quotes:
Those sources, who agreed to speak with 13 Investigates on the condition of anonymity, say Crystal Hall told detectives last fall that Hayden is dead and that she disposed of his body in a trash compactor at a truck stop. 13News has not yet learned how Hayden died.
The news agency traveled to Nevada to speak with Crystal. She denied ever giving that information.
“That is not what I told police,” she told 13 Investigates. Asked to share what information she did tell investigators, Crystal replied: “I cannot… I would like for you to stop this.”
This is a transcript of what 13News asked Crystal after they traveled to Nevada to question her.
13News: “Hi Crystal. I’m Bob Segall with 13News. Can you help me understand what happened to Hayden?”
Crystal: “I am not talking to you.”
13News: “Is there anything you can share at all?”
Crystal: “No.”
13News: “Anything?”
Crystal: “I cannot.”
13News: “Our sources told us that you told police that you disposed of his body in a dumpster.”
Crystal: “That is not what I told police.”
13News: “Can you share with us what you did tell police?”
Crystal: “I cannot… I would like for you to stop this.”
13News: “We’re just trying to get answers to what happened.”
Crystal: “I understand and I did that with the police.”
13News: “Is there a reason that you won’t answer any additional questions?”
Crystal: “Because I’m not obligated to. And I did work with them.”
13News: “Do you know what happened to Hayden?”
Crystal: “I cannot talk to you about that.”
13News: “Is Hayden alive or dead?”
Crystal: “I cannot talk to you about that.”
13News: “Is there anything you can say at all?”
Crystal: “I already told you I cannot.”
13News: “Can you help provide his family with any answers?”
Crystal: “I already helped the police. I did what I could. I have information with the case that I am not going to risk divulging… I was part of the investigation asking questions that I was instructed to. I’m not going to divulge stuff that I’m not supposed to.”
The meeting lasted only three minutes. Crystal acknowledged she does know more about what happened to Hayden. She just isn’t going to discuss it.
13News: “When you say information that you’re not supposed to, did police tell you not to divulge more information?”
Crystal: “During the investigation and during everything when I was with them, it was to keep it between me and the officers I was working with, yes.”
13News: “Just to be clear, you’re saying you did not dispose of his dead body?”
Crystal: “I did not say that.”
13News: “You did not tell that to police?”
Crystal: “No, I did not.”
13News: “Isn’t that important information to share with folks?”
Crystal: “I don’t believe talking to a reporter and blowing this up more on social media for people to make their own stories, ideas, etc., from is the right call.”
13News: “Can you share anything about what happened so that people are not making up stories?”
Crystal: “I cannot. I did that, like I said, with the police already.”
13News: “Can you tell us if you know whether Hayden is alive or dead?”
Crystal: “I cannot.”
13News: “I get the impression there is a lot of information you are not going to share. Would you like to be able to share that information?”
Crystal: “I am not going to talk to you any further… I worked with the police. I’m not trying to mix any of that up.”
The prosecutor was asked about information that Crystal had given.
“I don’t want to get into the contents of her various statements to police. I don’t want to confirm or deny that,” he said
“Certainly we’ve hit a wall,” Prosecutor Hoffman said at one point in the investigation. “The question is, can you go around the wall or climb over the wall? That’s what we’re trying to do now.”
A woman named Amber Roberts was interviewed by the media and she said that she smelled a foul odour coming from a trash compactor in late 2020 in Marion, Indiana.
Crystal had been working with Amber at multiple Indiana truck stops between 2020 and 2023 and had access to compactors.
“We were working the exact same schedule,” Amber said. “Hayden, every time Dustin brought him in … he was sweet to all of us.”
Crystal and Roberts were co-managers who ran the truck stop together. Roberts recalls they quickly became friends.
Roberts: “She was very professional. She was very put together. I was actually excited when her and I got put on the same schedule. We got along well. We were both young women, mothers, trying to take care of our kids and our families and run a truck stop.”
13News: “She was a good co-worker?”
Roberts: “She was. Until she wasn’t.”
13News: “What happened?”
Roberts: “I don’t know what in her changed, but she just quit showing up for work.”
Roberts said that change took place in late summer 2020 when both Crystal and Dustin suddenly stopped coming in. And just a few weeks later, Roberts says she noticed something else – behind the truck stop.
“I worked at this particular store with this particular dumpster and trash area for four years. That dumpster area smelled awful the end of summer that year, like to the point we couldn’t even sit out there and smoke because your eyes were watering because it smelled so bad,” she told 13 Investigates.
“It’s the worst I’ve ever [smelled], and I’ve smelled truck stop trash. It’s the worst of the worst trash, and it was beyond what it normally was … It smelled like death. That’s the only way you can describe it. And then it was like that for a few weeks,” Roberts explained.
Asked what she believes that smell could have been, Roberts did not hesitate in her response.
“I think it was Hayden,” she said. “I’ve never knowingly smelled a dead body, but they say you don’t forget what a dead body smells like, and I will never forget that smell. It was awful.”
Crystal did eventually return to do a few shifts at the truck stop and Amber said she seemed different.
“Just weird and different because she always had makeup on before and always looked nice and put together, and after that she wasn’t,” Amber said. “And then she came in and demanded a transfer after that, out of nowhere.”
“Where is Hayden? That’s all we want to know,” his grandfather, Gary Manis, told 13News. “We just need to get him back.”
“It’s the hardest thing to say that, ‘No, I don’t think he’s with us anymore,’” his aunt Taylor said.
“I don’t believe he’s alive,” his great-aunt Shellie said. “I mean, the police have been working on this nonstop since September, and there’s been no sign of him.”
Gary agrees.
“I do not think he’s alive — not after talking with police, I don’t. Not after some of the rumors I’ve heard,” Gary said.
Paul has also spoken about his regrets. “It torments me every day now,” he said. “It was my job to protect that little boy. You know, that’s who I am … I just never thought, you know, that I would have to protect him from his own father.”
“The bottom line is I did fail that little boy. He was there. I should have seen what was happening. I didn’t. I wish I would have, and I wish the whole thing…” Paul said, pausing to collect his thoughts. “I wish I would have seen it. I would have done – I would have died stopping it if that’s what it would have took.”
Paul said that he and Crystal believe Hayden’s disappearance and death are connected to Dustin.
“She thinks, like I think, that he murdered his son,” Paul said.
Paul was asked directly by the media if Crystal knows anything about what happened to Hayden.
“I actually haven’t asked her that question. It’s probably a question that I need to ask her,” Paul replied.
Paul worked with the agency 13 Investigates and tried to get Crystal to answer some questions, including,
Do you know if Hayden is alive or dead?
Did Dustin Manis kill his son?
Do you know what happened to Hayden’s body?
Did Dustin or anyone else ever abuse or neglect Hayden?
When the media followed up, Paul said
“She has absolutely no desire to talk about any of this. She just said, ‘I’m not answering anybody’s questions. If anyone wants to know anything, they’ll have to get the information from the police.’”
“I’d like to tell you I understand it, but honestly, I don’t… I don’t understand why she won’t talk to anybody. That is a concern for me,” he said.
“There are very few days I come to this office and I don’t think about Hayden Manis. This case is on my mind, and it’s on the investigators’ minds on a daily basis,” Prosecutor Hoffman said. “We’re not going to stop until we get to an answer. We need to know the truth.”
Prosecutor Hoffman spoke to 13News and confirmed that Crystal is a person of interest in the case:
13News: “Is Crystal Hall a person of interest in this case?”
Hoffman: “Yes.”
13News: “Why?”
Hoffman: “I’m not necessarily calling her a suspect, that she harmed or did anything to Hayden. I’m not going to confirm or deny that. But she’s most definitely a person of interest because she lived with him. She was Dustin’s girlfriend. She’s given us statements. I don’t want to go into those statements [because] it’s an open investigation, but for her not to be a person of interest wouldn’t make much sense given the facts.”
Hayden was last known to be alive on August 30, 2020. At the time of his disappearance, he was 3’4 and weighed 50lbs. He had brown hair and blue eyes.
SOURCE LIST
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14387447/missing-nine-year-old-christmas-hayden-manis.html
https://www.pitmanrichman.com/obituary/Leanna-Newby
https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/2031087/1