A man accused of abducting a mother and her three daughters has been described as being like an uncle to the girls.
Now Adam Mayes, 35, is the subject of an Amber Alert and faces charges in the disappearance of Jo Ann Bain and her daughters 14-year-old Adrienne, 12-year-old Alexandria and 8-year-old Kyliyah.
Meanwhile, FBI spokesman Joel Siskovic said Sunday that authorities were trying to identify two bodies found at a Mississippi home Mayes has been linked to. He would not say if they were children. Authorities have described Mayes as being armed and extremely dangerous.
Jo Ann Bain's husband Gary and Mayes knew each other, Tennessee authorities said.
Mayes "thought the world of those little girls," observed Melvin Herron, 42, who lives next door to the Bain family in western Tennessee and recalled seeing the girls playing outside, running and going down water slides.
On Sunday, forensic scientists with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation searched the garage and backyard at the Hardeman County, Tenn., home where Bain, her husband and the three girls live.
Gary Bain declined to comment Sunday to an Associated Press reporter.
"Jo Ann and the kids, everyone loves them. We're just hoping to hear that they're safe," said Linda Kirkland, a family friend and cook at the Country Cafe in Whiteville, Tenn.
AP
This undated photo provided by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety shows Adam Mayes. Warrants for kidnapping are being issued for Mayes, who is considered "armed and extremely dangerous," an official said in a news release Saturday, May 5, 2012. Mayes is wanted in connection with the disappearance of Jo Ann Bain and her three daughters, who were abducted in Tennessee and last seen in Mississippi. (AP Photo/Mississippi Department of Public Safety)
Close Kirkland said Sunday that the woman and her daughters were moving to Arizona because two of the girls had asthma. Other than dealing with a recent death in the family, Bain, who had frequented the restaurant, never indicated anything was wrong.
"She seemed so happy," Kirkland said.
Jo Ann Bain and her daughters were last seen in their home early April 27, according to Kristin Helm, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Mayes and Gary Bain had long been acquainted, having once been married to sisters. Helm said he was viewed as an uncle.
"Mayes is a family friend who was staying there that night to help the family pack and drive a U-Haul to Arizona the next day with Gary because the family was planning on moving there within the month," Helm said. "Gary was asleep at the home that night and woke to find them gone in the morning and the car gone. Mayes was gone too."
Gary Bain woke up after the kids typically went to school so he didn't expect to see them, Helm said. But then he tried calling his wife on her cell phone during the day and couldn't reach her.
When the girls didn't get off the school bus, he reported them missing to the sheriff's office that evening.
Helm said Gary Bain's adult daughter and his granddaughter had also spent the night at the family's home, but that the grown daughter didn't see Jo Ann or the girls the next morning. And the car was missing.
On April 30, the vehicle was found abandoned in Hardeman County, which is about 70 miles east of Memphis. Jo Ann Bain and her daughters had left most of their personal belongings at the house, Helm said.
On Friday, the TBI reported that the girls were with Mayes in Mississippi, but there was no evidence that a crime had been committed.
Mayes was last seen Tuesday in Guntown, Miss., about 80 miles southeast of the Bains' Tennessee home.
Siskovic said authorities talked to Mayes early on in the investigation, but that he fled when they tried to contact him again. Authorities said Mayes did not appear to have a criminal record.
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