Alexandria and Kyliyah Bain, kidnapped Tenn. sisters, survived for 3 days without food and water, officials say
(CBS/AP) GUNTOWN, Miss. - Now that two kidnapped girls, Alexandria and Kyliyah Bain, have been reunited with their family, it will be up to them to answer the many lingering questions in the case. It's still unclear how long 12-year-old Alexandria and 8-year-old Kyliyah had to survive in the woods with their abductor, Adam Mayes, but according to officials, the girls told their rescuers they had gone without food and water for three days.
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Authorities have said Mayes killed the girls' mother, Jo Ann Bain, and 14-year-old sister Adrienne. However, investigators have not disclosed a motive. Mayes has been described as being a family friend who was like an uncle to the children.
Alexandria and Kyliyah were found by a team of officers in thick woods in Mississippi. Authorities who tracked the Mayes, 35, to a wooded area Thursday evening said they repeatedly ordered him to surrender, but he pulled out a pistol and shot himself in the head. This ended a nearly two-week search that began when Jo Ann Bain and her three daughters disappeared from their Tennessee home on April 27.
After getting a tip, law enforcement officers were sent to search a densely wooded area west of Mayes' home in Guntown, Miss., said Aaron T. Ford, special agent in charge of the FBI's Memphis, Tenn., office.
At 6:50 p.m. Thursday, an officer saw Alexandria Bain in an area about 100 yards behind a church, Ford said. Officers shouted commands for Mayes to show his hands, Ford said. But Mayes pulled a semiautomatic pistol from his waistband and shot himself in the head, Ford said.
Law enforcement officers moved in to rescue the two girls, who were lying on the ground nearby. Ford said they looked like they had been in the woods for two or three days and were suffering from exposure, dehydration and poison ivy but they were otherwise safe.
Sara Burnett, a spokeswoman for Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, said the two girls were treated and released early Friday.
Mayes had been charged with first-degree murder in the April 27 deaths of Jo Ann Bain, 31, and her daughter, Adrienne Bain, 14. Their bodies were found buried outside Mayes' home a week after they were reported missing by Jo Ann Bain's husband.
Mayes' wife, Teresa, is also charged in the deaths. She is facing six felony counts in the case: two first-degree murder charges and four especially aggravated kidnapping charges. She told investigators that after she saw her husband kill the two in the garage at the Bain home. She then drove him, the younger girls and the bodies to Mississippi, according to affidavits filed in court.
Meanwhile, Adam Mayes' mother, Mary Mayes, also has been charged with conspiracy to commit especially aggravated kidnapping. Mary Mayes' attorney, Somerville attorney Terry Dycus, said his client maintains she is not guilty.
