"ETHAN" - 5 yo/ Suspect: Jimmy Lee Dykes (deceased) - Midland City AL

Alabama police in hostage standoff with suspect in fatal school bus shooting, kidnapping

Published January 31, 2013
FoxNews.com

The Alabama man police say shot and killed a school bus driver Tuesday in an attempt to kidnap a 5-year-old boy has been hunkered down for over 24 hours with the child in an underground bunker on his remote property, The Dothan Eagle, a local newspaper, reported.

An Alabama legislator says the boy has been able to receive medicine and watch TV.

State Rep. Steve Clouse said Wednesday he met with authorities and visited the family of the boy.

Clouse described the standoff as a "static situation" and "a waiting game."

Alabama State Trooper Charles Dysart told news media gathered near the site of the standoff late Wednesday that nothing in the situation has changed. He said no additional information would be released until Thursday morning.

The paper reported that neighbors in Midland City, which is in south Alabama, identified the suspect as Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65. Police have not officially released the suspect's identity.

Neighbors, however, say Dykes, a retired truck driver, is known as a menacing figure 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 shotgun.

Court records showed Dykes had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning to face a charge of menacing some neighbors as they drove by his house last month. The neighbors said he yelled and fired shots over damage he claimed their pickup truck did to a make-shift speed bump in the dirt road.

There is little information available about the boy, but local reports say he may have special needs and may have been allowed to receive medication during the standoff.

Some accounts of the incident have been provided to adults in the community by children on the bus.

Michael Creel, who lives on the road where the shooting occured, said a girl told him that a shooter boarded the bus and told the driver that he needed two kids "between the ages of 6 and 8."

Police with SWAT teams and negotiators were at the rural property. Residents in the surrounding area were evacuated and a bomb squad was at the scene, the WSFA.com reported.

About 50 vehicles from federal, state and local agencies were clustered Wednesday at the mouth of a dirt road off a U.S. highway. The dead-end road leads to homes including the suspect's property, which was over a low rise behind a church on the highway and couldn't be seen from where reporters were being kept back.

Authorities have been in contact with the suspect and the boy is believed to be OK, WSFA said. The situation is considered delicate.

The Dale County coroner Woodrow Hilboldt told The Associated Press the overnight standoff continued with tactical units, negotiators and other officers at the scene near a church. He said the suspect was believed to be in an area described as a place "to get out of the way of a tornado."

The Dale County Sheriff's Office named the victim as 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland, Jr. It said he had been a bus driver since 2009 for the Dale County Board of Education.

Authorities from multiple agencies were on the scene and nearby residents were evacuated from their homes as a precautionary measure, said Rachel David, a spokeswoman for the police department in the nearby town of Dothan.

Creel, who lives on the road where the shooting happened, said he went outside after his sister heard gunshots.

"Me and her started running down the road," Creel told the Dothan Eagle. "That's when I realized the bus had its siren going off. Kids were filing out, running down the hill toward the church."

Claudia Davis, who lives on the road where the standoff was taking place, said early Wednesday that she and her neighbors can't leave because the one road was blocked by police.

Davis, 54, said she has had run-ins with the man suspected as the shooter.

"Before this happened I would see him at several places and he would just stare a hole through me," Davis said. "On Monday I saw him at a laundromat and he seen me when I was getting in my truck and he just started and stared and stared at me."

Mike Smith, who lives across the street, said Wednesday that Dykes once threatened to shoot his children when the family's dogs entered his property.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/31/driver-fatally-shot-aboard-alabama-school-bus/#ixzz2JYf91iJM

Standoff drags into third day as man holds boy in underground bunker

From Lateef Mungin and George Howell, CNN
updated 7:57 AM EST, Thu January 31, 2013

Midland City, Alabama (CNN) -- Somewhere underneath this red Alabama dirt is a little boy.

A kindergartner, snatched from the safety of his school bus by a gunman and stashed in an underground bunker;

A boy who needs daily medication;

A child that this Bible Belt community of 2,300 is praying for.

Many details have been released about the boy's abductor:

How he was supposed to have been in court to face charges that he'd shot at his neighbors over a minor property dispute;

How he boarded a stopped school bus Tuesday and shot dead the bus driver;

How he worked on the bunker in the middle of the night for more than a year.

But as the sun rose again on Midland City on Thursday, many more questions remain:

How deep is the bunker?

What's in it beside the man and the boy?

How are they keeping warm when temperatures have dipped into the 30s in the area?

Is the boy safe?

And most importantly, why him?

The driver

The gunman stormed into the school bus Tuesday afternoon and demanded that the driver hand him a child.

The driver, 66-year-old Charles Poland Jr., was a gentle Bible-reading man who could not stand to discipline the children on his bus because it hurt his heart, the Dothan Eagle newspaper reported.

When he refused the demand, police said, the gunman shot him several times as 22 horrified children scrambled for cover.

But the man was able to grab the boy and drag him to his underground bunker.

And the standoff began.

The suspect

Authorities have not released the name of the suspected gunman. But neighbors and news outlets around Midland City identified him as 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes, a Vietnam veteran and a retired truck driver.

Neighbor Jimmy Davis told CNN that Dykes began digging a hole on his property soon after he moved in down the road from him.

Davis, who works a night shift, said Dykes worked on his bunker in the middle of the night -- every other night, between 2 and 3 a.m., for a year and a half.

He was friendly and welcoming and told Davis the hole would be a storm shelter.

But Tim Byrd, chief investigator with the Dale County Sheriff's Office, told the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch that Dykes had "anti-America" views.

"His friends and his neighbors stated that he did not trust the government, that he was a Vietnam vet, and that he had PTSD," Byrd told the civil rights group. "He was standoffish, didn't socialize or have any contact with anybody. He was a survivalist type."

The court date

On Wednesday, the day before the standoff began, Dykes was supposed to appear in court to answer to charges that he'd shot at Davis during a December argument over the dirt road that separated their homes.

Davis was moving out when his truck -- hauling a trailer -- dug ruts into the dirt speed bump that Dykes had built up across the road.

Dykes "got mad about what he saw" and stood by the side of the road, yelling and cursing, said Davis' mother, Claudia.

He then ran to his van, got a pistol and fired two shots at the truck, the Davises said.

Fortunately, no one was hurt, including Claudia Davis' 6-month-old daughter, who was inside.

The Wednesday court date in nearby Ozark was for menacing, a misdemeanor that carries penalties of up to six months in jail.

Another neighbor, Ronda Wilbur, said Dykes beat her dog to death with a lead pipe and then bragged to her husband about it.

"He made it very clear that any animals or people that came onto his property would be killed," she said.

Wilbur said she complained to animal control authorities and thought that this would stop the behavior.

"He just got increasingly more bizarre," Wilbur said.

The boy

Very little information has been released about the boy.

Police and school officials have said the child is 6, but a state representative in close contact with the family says he is 5 and will turn 6 in two weeks.

One thing is for certain: the kindergartner didn't know Dykes, State Rep. Steve Clouse said.

Through a PVC pipe that extends into the bunker, authorities have pleaded with the suspect to let the boy go -- to no avail.

The man agreed to let police send down coloring books, crayons and the prescription medicine the little boy desperately needs for Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

But nothing else has changed.

As the standoff dragged into Thursday morning, the boy's parents were doing their best to hold it together.

They were "holding on by a thread," Clouse said.

The scene

Early Thursday morning, dozens of law enforcement vehicles clogged the dead-end dirt road that leads to Dykes' house. They were from local police, the FBI, even Homeland Security.

Authorities evacuated neighbors. Officials closed schools in three nearby districts for the week.

With little movement, police have been loath to share much with the media.

Authorities called off a planned news conference late Wednesday night, saying there was nothing new to report. Early Thursday morning, Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson gave reporters a similar message, but said officers and volunteers trying to resolve the situation were holding up well.

At an earlier news conference Wednesday, Olson said he had "no reason to believe that the child has been harmed."

A reporter asked what the community could do to help.

"Pray," the sheriff said.

"Pray."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/31/us/alabama-child-hostage/?hpt=hp_t1

FBI talking to suspect through pipe as Alabama hostage standoff enters 4th day
From Chelsea J. Carter and George Howell, CNN
updated 5:52 AM EST, Fri February 1, 2013

Midland City, Alabama (CNN) -- Kelly Miller heard the gunshots, then the screams from the school bus.

She could hear her children screaming: "He's got a gun. He took a kid."

Outside, a gunman had just boarded a school bus, killed the driver and grabbed two children, according to authorities. One of the children escaped. The other, a 5-year-old boy, was not so lucky.

The suspect then disappeared with the boy into a nearby well-stocked, underground bunker.

By now, everybody in the small southeastern Alabama town of Midland City knows what happened.

The story has been recounted at the grocery store and at the gas stations, where people trade the latest details about the hostage standoff that entered its fourth day Friday.
Police: Suspect a 'doomsday prepper'
Neighbors: Bunker suspect is strange
Bus driver shot; students 'in shock'

It has thrust this town of about 2,300 into the national spotlight, with nightly reports recounting the hostage drama that has shaken this community known for its close vicinity to the "Peanut Capital of the World."

On Tuesday afternoon, bus driver Charles Poland Jr. was shuttling children from school to their homes when he dropped Miller's two boys off and a man boarded the bus.

He demanded Poland, 66, hand over a child. Poland refused, blocking access to the bus' narrow aisle as at least 21 children escaped out of the back emergency door, according to police.

It's unclear whether the suspected gunman was after a specific child on the bus. Police have said there is no connection between the suspect and the abducted boy, whose identity is being withheld.

Police are tight-lipped about a possible motive, and have refused to divulge what, if any, demands the suspect has made to hostage negotiators.

The suspect is holed up in an underground bunker four feet underground and built at least partially out of PVC pipe, authorities have said.

An FBI hostage negotiator was communicating with the alleged gunman through a plastic ventilation pipe in an effort to end the standoff.

"They're taking time and trying to wear him out," said Police Chief James Arrington of Pinckard, who is familiar with details of the case.

Authorities have not released the name of the suspected gunman.

But neighbors and news outlets around Midland City have identified him as Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, a Vietnam veteran and retired truck driver, who moved to the area about five years ago.

By all accounts, Poland knew the alleged gunman, at least in passing.

On Monday, the day before the shooting and abduction, Dykes flagged down Poland while he was driving the bus to talk to him, according to Miller, who lives next door to the street from the suspected gunman.

While Miller did not know the nature of the conversation between the two men, she told CNN affiliate WSFA-TV that Tuesday morning, Poland offered the suspect a gift of eggs and marmalade as a thank you for clearing his driveway so the bus could turn around easier.

Hours later, Dykes handed over the eggs and marmalade to Miller's father. "He said, 'Take this, I don't want it,'" she said.

So when Dykes got on the bus Tuesday afternoon, it didn't seem unusual to her sons, Jesse and Jackson, she said.

Neighbors have described Dykes as "anti-government" and abusive, with several describing run-ins, including one where they claimed he pulled a gun.

Tim Byrd, chief investigator with the Dale County Sheriff's Office, told the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch that Dykes was a "survivalist type" with "anti-America" views.

"His friends and his neighbors stated that he did not trust the government, that he was a Vietnam vet, and that he had PTSD," Byrd told the civil rights group. "He was standoffish, didn't socialize or have any contact with anybody."

Still, Miller said she can't reconcile the man she knows as her neighbor with the one accused of killing a bus driver and abducting a boy.

"I really in my heart don't believe that he intends to hurt that little boy," she said. "I think that he may have something to say and he wants people to hear him. I'm not sure what that is. But I don't think he intends to hurt that little boy."

Even as authorities search for answers behind the killing and kidnapping, there is no question to Midland City residents that the bus driver was a hero.

Poland was a gentle Bible-reading man who could not stand to discipline the children on his bus because it hurt his heart, the Dothan Eagle newspaper reported.

He had worked as a full-time bus driver for four years, shuttling children between their homes and schools.

"There was a laughter and a love that he had for the kids," his brother-in-law Melven Skipper told CNN affiliate WDHM, reflecting on the regular conversations he'd have about "my youngins'."

"They were his youngins', when he had them on the bus."

Poland will be memorialized Saturday night at a visitation service, followed by his funeral Sunday afternoon at the Ozark Civic Center.

"You couldn't give nothing greater than your life for a kid or anyone else," Skipper said.

Charles Poland was fatally shot in Alabama on Tuesday.

"That's a hero."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/01/us/alabama-child-hostage/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews

Man Holding 5-Year-Old Hostage in Underground Bunker May Have a Reason After All
Posted by Kiri Blakeley
on February 2, 2013 at 10:55 AM

We might finally have a motive as to why Alabama "survivalist" Jimmy Lee Dykes kidnapped a 5-year-old boy off a school bus after shooting the driver and has since held him hostage in an underground bunker. The standoff is going on its fifth day. Dykes reportedly made an offer to authorities on the kidnapping's first day that if a reporter told his story, he'd let the boy go. So far that hasn't happened. But what's the story Dykes wants to tell?

Reportedly, Dykes wants the world to know how the "government screwed him." Dykes is said by neighbors to be mean, threatening, and paranoid. He's also a Vietnam veteran. The bunker is reportedly wired with explosives and pipe bombs. Authorities are now communicating with him via a special phone.

So it sounds kind of easy -- send down a reporter, get the 5-year-old boy with Asperger's Syndome out of there. I'm sure there are plenty of reporters who would take his place. But negotiators must not be doing it for a reason -- and the reason is probably that then they might end up with another hostage.

Dykes certainly wouldn't be the first criminal to want media attention. The Unibomber, Ted Kaczynski, was finally caught because the New York Times and the Washington Post agreed to publish his "manifesto," and his brother recognized it as Ted's words. His brother turned him in.

From Son of Sam to the Green River Killer to BTK to John Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman, notorious criminals have had media attention as a motivating factor in their horrendous crimes.

If it's true that Dykes was demanding a reporter in exchange for the boy, there must be a reason it hasn't been done yet. Perhaps he changed his mind, or the demands were bizarre, or he insisted the reporter come down before the boy was released. Or maybe the authorities just wanted to continue to have a bargaining chip.

The fact that Dykes hasn't killed the boy yet is a good sign -- if he'd wanted to do it, he would have done it right away. He wants something else. Now if only negotiators can figure out what.

What do you think negotiators should do?

http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/150573/man_holding_5yearold_hostage_in

breaking news on CNN.com

Law enforcement source: A 5-year-old boy held hostage nearly a week is safe, and the man who held him hostage is dead.

nothing more than that yet..... praying the little boy is indeed safe

Boy at center of Alabama hostage standoff freed, in hospital receiving treatment

Published February 05, 2013

FoxNews.com

A 5-year-old boy who was being held hostage in an underground bunker in Alabama for nearly a week has been released while his abductor is now dead, authorities said Monday.

In a press conference Monday night, FBI Special Agent Steve Richardson told reporters the little boy had endured a lot and that he was receiving medical treatment. "The boy is laughing, joking, playing, he's eating; he's very brave, he's very lucky, and the success story is that he is out safe and doing good," he said.

Richardson was unable to clarify any other details as the incident is still being investigated.

Police say 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes shot and killed a bus driver last week in Midland City and then abducted the boy.

Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said late Monday that Dykes was armed when officers entered the bunker to rescue the child. He said the boy was threatened but declined to elaborate.

"That's why we went inside -- to save the child," he said.

Olson and others declined to say how Dykes died. But an official in Midland City, citing information from law enforcement, said police had shot Dykes.

The official requested anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

FBI bomb technicians were clearing the property for explosive devices and planned to look more closely at the scene when it's safe, FBI spokesman Jason Pack said.

"The most important thing is we have a safe recovery of a child," said Col. Hugh McCall, director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley thanked law enforcement officials, first responders and other personnel who assisted in the hostage recovery effort.

"I am so happy this little boy can now be reunited with his family and friends," Bentley said in a statement. "We will all continue to pray for the little boy and his family as they recover from the trauma of the last several days."

Melissa Nighton, city clerk in Midland City, said a woman had been praying in the town center Monday afternoon. Not long after, the mayor called 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.

Michael Senn, pastor of a church near where reporters had been camped out since the standoff began, said the boy was always on his mind.

"So when I heard that he was OK, it was just like a thousand pounds lifted off of me," he said.

Throughout the ordeal, authorities had been speaking with Dykes though a plastic pipe that went into the shelter. They also sent food, medicine and other items into the bunker, which apparently had running water, heat and cable television but no toilet. It was about 4 feet underground, with about 50 square feet of floor space. The little boy requested Cheez-Its and a red Hot Wheels car, both of which were delivered to the bunker.

On Sunday, more than 500 people paid final tribute to the driver that was killed, 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland Jr., hailing him as a hero for protecting the other children on the bus.

Poland is now "an angel who is watching over" the little boy, said Dale County School Superintendent Donny Bynum, who read letters written by three students who had ridden on Poland's bus. "You didn't deserve to die but you died knowing you kept everyone safe," one child wrote.

Outside the funeral, school buses from several counties lined the funeral procession route. The buses had black ribbons tied to their side mirrors.

Dykes grew up in the Dothan area. Mel Adams, a Midland City Council member who owns the lot where reporters are gathered, said he has known Dykes since they were ages 3 and 4.

He said Dykes has a sister and a brother, but that he is estranged from his family.

Adams said he didn't know what caused the falling-out, but that he knew Dykes "had told part of his family to go to hell."

Dykes, also described as a loner who railed against the government, lived up a dirt road outside a tiny hamlet north of Dothan in the southeast corner of the state. His home is just off the main road north to the state capital of Montgomery, about 80 miles away.

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.

At some point after his time in the Navy, Dykes lived in Florida, where he worked as a surveyor and a long-haul truck driver. It's unclear how long he stayed there.

He had some scrapes with the law there, including a 1995 arrest for improper exhibition of a weapon. The misdemeanor was dismissed. He also was arrested for marijuana possession in 2000.

Dykes returned to Alabama about two years ago, moving onto the rural tract about 100 yards from his nearest neighbors, Michael Creel and his father, Greg.

"He said he lived in Florida and had hurricanes hit. He wanted someplace he could go down in and be safe," Creel said. Authorities say his bunker is about 6 feet by 8 feet, and the only entrance is a trap door at the top.

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. Michael Creel said Dykes had an adult daughter, but the two lost touch years ago.

The Dykes property has a white trailer which, according to Creel, Dykes said he bought from FEMA after it was used to house evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. The property also has a steel shipping container -- like those on container ships -- in which Dykes stored tools and supplies.

Next to the container is the underground bunker where authorities say Dykes holed up with the 5-year-old. Neighbors say that the bunker has a pipe so Dykes could hear people coming near his driveway. Authorities were using the ventilation pipe to communicate with him.

The mother of the 5-year-old boy was 'hanging on by a thread,' during the standoff, said a local politician who visited the woman.

State Rep. Steve Clouse, who represents the Midland City area, said the mother told him that the boy has Asperger's syndrome as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/05/boy-in-center-alabama-hostage-standoff-released-source-says/#ixzz2K2BBBdI8

Feb. 5, 2013
The 5-year-old boy held hostage in a nearly week-long standoff in Alabama is in good spirits and apparently unharmed after being reunited with his family at a hospital, according to his family and law enforcement officials.

The boy, identified only as Ethan, was rescued by the FBI Monday afternoon after they rushed the underground bunker where suspect Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, was holding him. Dykes was killed in the raid and the boy was taken away from the bunker in an ambulance.

Ethan's thrilled relatives told "Good Morning America" today that he seemed "normal as a child could be" after what he went through and has been happily playing with his toy dinosaur.

"He's happy to be home," Ethan's great uncle Berlin Enfinger told "GMA." "He's very excited and he looks good."

Who Is Jimmy Lee Dykes?

"If I could, I would do cartwheels all the way down the road," Ethan's aunt Debra Cook said. "I was ecstatic. Everything just seemed like it was so much clearer. You know, we had all been walking around in a fog and everyone was just excited. There's no words to put how we felt and how relieved we were."

Cook said that Ethan has not yet told them anything about what happened in the bunker and they know very little about Dykes.

What the family does know is that they are overjoyed to have their "little buddy" back.

"He's a special child, 90 miles per hour all the time," Cook said. "[He's] a very, very loving child. When he walks in the room, he just lights it up."

Officials have remained tight-lipped about the raid, citing the ongoing investigation.

"I've been to the hospital," FBI Special Agent Steve Richardson told reporters Monday night. "I visited with Ethan. He is doing fine. He's laughing, joking, playing, eating, the things that you would expect a normal 5- to 6-year-old young man to do. He's very brave, he's very lucky, and the success story is that he's out safe and doing great."

Ethan is expected to be released from the hospital later today and head home where he will be greeted by birthday cards from his friends at school. Ethan will celebrate his 6th birthday Wednesday.

Officials were able to insert a high-tech camera into the 6-by-8-foot bunker to monitor Dykes' movements, and they became increasingly concerned that he might act out, a law enforcement source with direct knowledge told ABC News Monday. FBI special agents were positioned near the entrance of the bunker and used two explosions to gain entry at the door and neutralize Dykes.

"Within the past 24 hours, negotiations deteriorated and Mr. Dykes was observed holding a gun," the FBI's Richardson said. "At this point, the FBI agents, fearing the child was in imminent danger, entered the bunker and rescued the child."

Richardson said it "got tough to negotiate and communicate" with Dykes, but declined to give any specifics.

After the raid was complete, FBI bomb technicians checked the property for improvised explosive devices, the FBI said in a written statement Monday afternoon.

The FBI had created a mock bunker near the site and had been using it to train agents for different scenarios to get Ethan out, sources told ABC News.

Former FBI special agent and ABC News consultant Brad Garrett said rescue operators in this case had a delicate balance.

"You have to take into consideration if you're going to go in that room and go after Mr. Dykes, you have to be extremely careful because any sort of device you might use against him, could obviously harm Ethan because he's right there," he said.

Still, Monday's raid was not the ending police had sought as they spent days negotiating with the decorated Vietnam veteran through a ventilation shaft. The plastic PVC pipe was also used to send the child comfort items, including a red Hot Wheels car, coloring books, cheese crackers, potato chips and medicine.

State Sen. Harri Anne Smith said Ethan's mother asked police a few days ago not to kill Dykes.

"She put her hand on the officer's heart and said, 'Sir, don't hurt him. He's sick,'" Smith said Monday.

Taylor Hodges, pastor of the Midland City Baptist Church, said, "Many people here don't keep their doors locked. Things are going to change, especially for our school system."

The outcome of the situation drew praise from the White House.
Alabama Hostage Crisis Over: Boy, 5, Safe Watch Video
Ala. Hostage Standoff Over: Kidnapper Dead, Child Safe Watch Video
Alabama Hostage Standoff: Jimmy Lee Dykes Dead Watch Video

"This evening, the president called FBI Director Robert Mueller to compliment him for the role federal law enforcement officers played in resolving the hostage situation in Alabama today," according to a statement from a White House official late Monday. "The president praised the exceptional coordination between state, local, and federal partners, and thanked all the law enforcement officials involved during the nearly week-long ordeal for their roles in the successful rescue of the child."

Dykes allegedly shot and killed a school bus driver, Albert Poland Jr., 66, last Tuesday and threatened to kill all the children on the bus before taking the boy, one of the students on the bus said Monday.

"He said he was going to kill us, going to kill us all," Tarrica Singletary, 14, told ABC News.

Dykes had been holed up in his underground bunker near Midland City, Ala., with the abducted boy for a week as police tried to negotiate with him through the PVC pipe. Police were careful not to anger Dykes, who was believed to be watching news reports from inside the bunker, and even thanked him at one point.

Dykes lived in Florida until two years ago, The Associated Press reported, and has an adult daughter, but the two lost touch years ago, neighbor Michael Creel said. When he returned to Alabama, neighbors say he once beat a dog with a lead pipe and had threatened to shoot children who set foot on his property.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/rescued-boys-family-feels-cartwheels/story?id=18406723

It says a lot about Ethan's family that his mother especially requested that they not kill the man who was holding her son hostage.

Rescued Alabama Hostage Ethan Celebrated Birthday With SWAT Team, FBI Agents



By DAVID MUIR (@DavidMuir) and CHRISTINA NG (@ChristinaNg27)
Feb. 8, 2013

As a beaming 6-year-old Ethan said "cheese" for photos and played with toy cars at his birthday party, there were no immediate signs of the turmoil the young boy had endured just days earlier.

The boy, identified only as Ethan, was held hostage in a nearly week-long standoff in Alabama. He was physically unharmed after Jimmy Lee Dykes kidnapped him from a school bus and held him hostage in a booby-trapped underground bunker.

Watch the full story on "20/20" TONIGHT at 10 p.m. ET

Ethan was rescued by the FBI Monday after they rushed the bunker where Dykes, 65, was holding him. Dykes was killed in the raid.

On Wednesday, Ethan celebrated his sixth birthday at a local church with abundant hugs from his family and friends as well as from the SWAT team, FBI agents and hostage negotiators who had rescued him.

"Welcome home Ethan" signs hung on the walls of the church for the homecoming celebration.

In his first interview, Ethan's adult brother Camren Kirkland described to ABC News the text messages the family would get from the hostage negotiators.

"We did know when, at times, he was asleep and that was normally around nine o'clock at night," Kirkland said.

He said the messages kept the family going throughout the ordeal.

"That was actually a lot of comfort," he said. "I could actually go lay my head down."

Kirkland said he never left his mother's side and the whole family was present when they got the call that Ethan had been rescued.

"The said, 'We have Ethan,'" Kirkland said, recalling the moment they found out Ethan had been saved.

The FBI special agent whose call it was to send the team into the bunker revealed to ABC News that Dykes left behind writings and that while in the bunker with Ethan, he'd become agitated and brag about his plan.

"At the end of the day, the responsibility is mine," he said. "I thought the child was going to die."

Supporting Ethan's family through the ordeal has been Shelly Linderman of Angel House, a victim advocate organization.

Dykes shot and killed a school bus driver, Albert Poland Jr., 66, last Tuesday and threatened to kill all the children on the bus before taking the boy, one of the students on the bus said Monday.

Dykes had been holed up in his underground bunker near Midland City, Ala., with the abducted boy for a week as police tried to negotiate with him through the PVC pipe. Police were careful not to anger Dykes, who was believed to be watching news reports from inside the bunker, and even thanked him at one point.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/rescued-alabama-hostage-ethan-celebrated-birthday-swat-team/story?id=18439447

Bunker boy Ethan Kirkland saw kidnapper Jimmy Lee Dykes shot dead

AP
February 13, 2013 4:05AM

THE mother of an Alabama boy held hostage in an underground bunker for days says her son witnessed officers fatally shoot his kidnapper.

Jennifer Kirkland's comments about her son, Ethan, came in an interview with Dr Phil McGraw for the Dr Phil Show. It's set to be aired tomorrow.

In a promotional clip posted online, Ms Kirkland said her 6-year-old son saw officers shoot the gunman identified as Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, of Midland City, Alabama.

"He says, 'The Army came in and shot the bad man,'" Ms Kirkland said.

The FBI said agents wearing combat gear entered Dykes' bunker on the sixth day of the standoff in southeast Alabama. Dykes was shot multiple times, a coroner said.

Authorities said Dykes shot and killed Ethan's school bus driver before grabbing the child off the bus and taking him into an underground shelter constructed on his rural property.

Ethan wasn't physically injured, but his mother said he has had a difficult time sleeping, and she is worried about him.

"I'm scared of how he's going to take getting on a bus," she said.

Ms Kirkland said she wanted to swap places with her son during the standoff but wasn't allowed to. It wasn't clear in the promotional excerpt whether she made a formal offer to Dykes.

"I wanted to be there," said Ms Kirkland.

Authorities have said they might never know why Dykes shot driver Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, and took the boy off the bus on Jan. 29.

Dykes was due in court the day after the standoff began for a hearing on a menacing case filed in December. Neighbours say he fired a gun at them. Neighbours and acquaintances described Dykes as having strong feelings against the government.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/world/bunker-boy-ethan-kirkland-saw-kidnapper-jimmy-lee-dykes-shot-dead/story-fnd14032-1226576643830