MIDLAND CITY, Ala. — Officers stormed an underground bunker in Alabama where a 5-year-old boy had been held hostage for nearly a week, rescuing the child and leaving the boy’s abductor dead, officials said Monday.
Steve Richardson with the FBI’s office in Mobile said at a news conference Monday afternoon that negotiations had deteriorated with 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes, a man neighbors described as an isolated loner. Dykes had been seen with a gun, and officers believed the boy was in imminent danger, Richardson said.
Officers stormed the bunker just after 3 p.m. to rescue the child, who was taken to a hospital in nearby Dothan. Officials have said the child has Asperger’s syndrome.
It was not immediately clear how Dykes died.
Daryle Hendry, who lives about a quarter-mile from where Dykes’ bunker is located, said he heard a boom Monday afternoon, followed by what sounded like a gunshot, around the time officials said they stormed the bunker.
Melissa Nighton, the city clerk in Midland City, said a woman had been praying in the town center Monday afternoon. Not long after, the mayor called Nighton with news that Dykes was dead and that the boy was safe.
“She must have had a direct line to God, because shortly after she left, they heard the news,” Nighton said.
The boy, identified only as Ethan, was in good condition and was being treated at a hospital in Dothan, state Rep. Steve Clouse said.
Last Tuesday, Dykes, a Navy veteran, stormed a school bus and shot the driver to death, then kidnapped the boy, police have said. Dykes held the child prisoner in a 6-by-8-foot underground bunker on his property in Midland City, about 90 miles from Montgomery.
Killed in the school-bus attack was the driver, Charles Poland Jr., who was buried Sunday after townspeople hailed him as a hero for his efforts to protect the more than 20 children on the bus.
Authorities maintained contact with Dykes through a 4-inch-wide pipe through which medicine was sent into the underground shelter,which Dykes had built.
Neighbors described Dykes as a man who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property and patrolled his yard at night with a flashlight and a firearm.
Government records and interviews with neighbors indicate that Dykes joined the Navy in Midland City, serving on active duty from 1964 to 1969. His record shows several awards, including the Vietnam Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. During his service, Dykes was trained in aviation maintenance.
He had some scrapes with the law in Florida, including a 1995 arrest for improper exhibition of a weapon. The misdemeanor was dismissed. He also was arrested for marijuana possession in 2000.
He returned to Alabama about two years ago, moving onto the rural tract about 100 yards from his nearest neighbors.
Information for this article was contributed by Tamara Lush and Kate Brumback of The Associated Press and by Michael Muskal of the Los Angeles Times.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 02/05/2013