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A member of the FBI’s SWAT Team talks with a Mississippi Highway Patrol officer as the FBI conducts a search of
the area around a trailer in the Alpine Coummunity. The bodies of a missing mother and one of her daughters were
discovered at the home late Friday. MHP took charge of blocking the roadway while the FBI conducted the search. (Thomas Wells | Daily Journal)
Thomas Wells | Daily Journal.Members of the FBI conduct a search on Monday of the yard surrounding the trailer where two bodies were discovered early Saturday morning in the Alpine Community in Union County.
Agents from federal, state and local agencies are continuing a hunt for Alpine resident Adam Mayes. Bain’s daughters, Alexandra, 12, and Kyliyah, 8, are believed to be with Mayes, who has been described as a family friend. The Bain family was last seen on April 27.
An FBI report said Mayes may be using the alias Christopher Zachery Wylde or Paco Rodrigass. Anyone with information that may lead to the location of Adam Mayes and/or the missing victims should immediately contact the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 800-TBI-FIND (800-824-3463).
The FBI and U.S. Marshal Service are offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information that leads to Mayes’ arrest and the location of the missing victims.
Law enforcement authorities continued their hunt all day Monday, for the fourth consecutive day. Dozens of officers scoured the grounds around at least two homes in the Alpine community, and other locations may have been similarly investigated. FBI agents spent several hours digging in the backyard of the manufactured home Mayes, 35, shared with his parents.
Alpine residents on Monday afternoon watched the proceedings from porches and yards. Neighbor Diane Gresham said while she had a waving acquaintance with Mayes’ mother and a younger woman at the home, Mayes didn’t get out in the neighborhood.
“Until it was on TV, we didn’t even know what he looked like,” she said.
The sheer number of officers involved in the search Monday compelled the establishment of multiple command centers in Guntown at the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics compound and at the Community Center, both of which were off-limits to civilians.
Union County Sheriff Jimmy Edwards aimed to reassure area residents.
“We want the public to know that there is certainly need to be aware and cautious, but we don’t want anybody to be overly afraid,” he said. “They’re very well protected (by) the FBI, U.S. Marshal Service, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, Mississippi Highway Patrol, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, and all surrounding county sheriffs.
“We’re all working side by side, and we’re trying to bring this thing to a close,” he said.
errol.castens@journalinc.com