Alabama Hostage Case: Jimmy Lee Dykes Kept Bombs In Hostage Bunker

Jimmy Lee Dykes, the kidnapper of the 5-year-old boy from the school bus, was revealed to have stored homemade bombs in the bunker in which he kept the child hostage.

Dykes was killed by FBI agents in Midland City, Ala., on Monday when they tried to apprehend him as he came out of the bunker and he began to fire at them. The kidnapper had been holding the boy, named Ethan, hostage since last Tuesday when he abducted him from a school bus after shooting and killing the bus driver.

Since the FBI located Dykes bunker, they’d been operating in a controlled standoff – delivering supplies for him to take down to the bunker where the child remained alive. When they took Dykes out, they were able to rescue the boy, who by all appearances had suffered no great physical injuries.

After the rescue, the FBI located bombs that Dykes had crafted himself within the bunker, according to CBS News's John Miller. Although the FBI had managed to sneak devices providing both eyes and ears inside the bunker and had already spotted the bombs, the sheer number of them was alarming. Their prior knowledge of the bombs combined with what had seemed like increased mania in Dykes was the catalyst that encouraged the FBI to take decisive action in the rescue.

Dykes was a known survivalist and an activist who believed something needed to be done to stop the federal government, according to Miller. It’s theorized that Dykes’ intention in kidnapping the child was to gin up media attention with which he could spout his ideas on government and the world at large. Reportedly, he continually requested to speak to a TV reporter during the days in which the stalemate went on.

— Chelsea Regan

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