Alabama boy is safe, hostage taker is dead - WDRB 41 Louisville - News, Weather, Sports Community

Alabama boy is safe, hostage taker is dead

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LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) -- The FBI says it has safely recovered the five-year-old boy who has been held hostage for almost a week, and that the man who held him hostage is dead.  The child is being treated at a local hospital.

65-year-old Jim Dykes had been holding the boy in an underground bunker in Midland City, Alabama.

Authorities sent food, medication and other items into a bunker as the hostage crisis continued.

Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said Monday that officers had been speaking with Dykes around the clock.

Dykes is accused of killing a school bus driver, 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland Jr., before escaping with the kindergartener.

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    Thanks to a grant from Norton Healthcare, this story and others are available in real-time closed captioning on WDRB.