Adam Mayes, the Mississippi fugitive accused of kidnapping and double-homicide, died Thursday night from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The two young girls he abducted are alive and safe, according to the Union County Sheriff’s Department.
Mayes, 35, shot himself in the head when SWAT team members approached him near his Alpine home, around 9 p.m. Conflicting reports were initially released about the suspect's condition, but after losing his pulse twice and reviving him, authorities confirmed he is dead.
"The girls were found alive and appear to be unharmed," Daniel McMullen, the FBI special agent in charge for the state of Mississippi, told reporters. "Officers also apprehended top-10 fugitive Adam Mayes. Preliminary reports indicate Mayes shot himself in the head and was later pronounced dead in an area hospital."
A witness on the scene told The Huffington Post that authorities loaded him into a patrol car and then transferred him into an ambulance.
"After he was shot they took him to Mount Zion Church," Amanda Roberson said. "They pulled his body from a police cruiser and put him in an ambulance. I overheard paramedics say he lost his pulse twice."
Two of the girls that Mayes allegedly abducted, Alexandria Bain, 12, and Kyliyah Bain, 8, were both found alive and safe.
Mayes and his wife, Teresa, were charged with first-degree murder earlier this week in the deaths of Jo Ann Bain, 31, and her daughter, Adrienne, 14. Authorities found the bodies buried in the backyard of Mayes’ home after Jo Ann Bain’s husband reported her missing.
Adam Mayes' mother, Mary Frances Mayes, has been charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping. Her attorney, Terry Dycus, told The Associated Press that said his client maintains she is not guilty.
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