3 killed in Ark. including Huckabee cousin

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Three people, including a distant cousin of former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, have died in a homicide and kidnapping case in Arkansas, police said Monday.

Arkadelphia Police told The Associated Press that Donald Hux shot his ex-wife, Amy Huckabee, before he was fatally shot by law enforcement officers in the southern part of the state. Amy Huckabee's current husband, Sandy Huckabee, was found dead Sunday at the couple's home in Arkadelphia, which is about 70 miles southwest of Little Rock.

Sandy Huckabee's father was the first cousin of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's father.

Authorities said Hux, 36, abducted Amy Huckabee and their three children in Arkadelphia and then drove about 80 miles to El Dorado in Union County. He dropped the children off somewhere there, and they weren't hurt, according to the local sheriff's office.

Meanwhile, police in Arkadelphia learned about the situation and went to the Huckabee home to do a welfare check. They found Sandy Huckabee's body inside and issued a warrant for Hux's arrest on capital murder, kidnapping and other charges.

About 9 p.m. on Sunday, Hux's father, Marvin Hux, called authorities and said his Buick Rendezvous had been stolen, Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said. Shortly after that call, the missing SUV turned up on a rural road outside El Dorado.

"There was an exchange of gunfire between local law enforcement with Donald Hux," Sadler said.

He said Amy Huckabee was there, but he wouldn't say how she or Hux died. He said investigators were working to figure out who died first.

Hux was released Thursday from a jail in Louisiana, where he had been serving time for a solicitation of prostitution charge in Caddo Parish.

A man who answered a phone number listed for Hux said, "There's no comment to be made right now."