(Bolivar, TN) Adam Mayes’s mother and wife admitted Friday to having a hand in the murders and kidnapping of the Bain family.
Mayes killed family friend Jo Ann Bain and her daughter, Adrienne, then hid out with her youngest daughters Alex and Kyliyah in the woods until they were found two weeks later.
Mayes killed himself when Mississippi Fish and Wildlife officers found them in the woods, and Friday Teresa and Mary Mayes pleaded guilty to murder and kidnapping charges.
The district attorney’s office says Gary Bain approached them and asked them to work out a plea deal so his two surviving daughters would not have to go to the Hardeman County courthouse and testify on the stand, making them relive that horrible nightmare.
In court Friday, Teresa Mayes pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and two counts of felony kidnapping.
“Your honor, we enter a plea under the theory it is the best interest, although she maintains she didn’t participate in the murders,” Teresa Mayes’s attorney said on her behalf.
The wife of Adam Mayes could have faced life in prison for those crimes, but because of the plea deal, she was sentenced to just 35 years.
Adam Mayes’s mother, Mary, pleaded guilty to two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping and will spend the next 13 years in jail.
Both women admit they helped Adam bury Jo Ann and Adrienne’s bodies in the backyard, then hid them in the truck’s tool box to take Alex and Kyliyah to Adam while he was hiding in the woods.
Prosecutors also released information on how Jo Ann and Adrienne were murdered.
“He struck her in the head with a 2’ by 4’ and strangled her until she died. After that, he went into the house and killed her 14-year-old daughter, Adrienne, through suffocation,” said Assistant DA Joe Van Dyke.
The DA’s office says this punishment fits the crime that started in Tennessee and ended in North Mississippi woods.
“Let’s not forget who the true monster is here. It’s Adam Mayes. He is no longer with us, so we are left to pick up the pieces and hold these women accountable, and we think we’ve done that,” said District Attorney Mike Dunavant.
Dunavent said the two women could still technically face charges in Mississippi, but he doesn’t expect that to happen.
Teresa Mayes says they came up with the idea because the Bain girls were going to move to Arizona the next day, and Adam didn’t want them to. They decided this would be a way to start their own little family.
