(Guntown, MS) Guntown resident Ronald Roberts told us the woods don’t look the same — not after what happened there.
“There is blood right down there.”
He lives right next to the woods where authorities caught Adam Mayes.
The FBI said the two kidnapped Bain girls lay on the ground just feet away when Mayes chose to shoot himself in the head, instead of surrender to authorities.
At that spot, we found blood and evidence that rescue workers tried to save his life.
Deputies said Mayes stopped breathing on the way to the hospital while officers rushed to the aide of the girls.
Union County Sheriff Jimmy Edwards said he gave them cookies and water and with troopers with the Highway Patrol wrapped them in coats, “They were just hungry and worn out and I just embraced them and let them know it was going to be OK.”
Authorities said after being held captive more than a week in the woods, the girls were dehydrated, exhausted and suffered from rashes on their arms, perhaps from poison ivy, but they were alive.
“It’s a relief, you know,” said Roberts. “Human life is precious.”
Some authorities believe Mayes may have kept the girls in deer stands or other wooden structures in the woods, but we won’t know the whole story until Bain sisters are ready to talk.
The FBI says several tips led them to Mayes so the reward money will likely be split.
It was more than $170,000.