By The Associated Press

Published: Thursday, January 31, 2013, 8:48 p.m.
Updated: Thursday, January 31, 2013

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. — Speaking into a 4-inch-wide ventilation pipe, hostage negotiators tried on Thursday to talk a man into releasing a kindergartener and ending a standoff in an underground bunker that stretched into its third day.

The man identified by multiple neighbors and witnesses as 65-year-old retired truck driver Jimmy Lee Dykes was accused of pulling the boy from a school bus on Tuesday and killing the driver. The pair was holed up in a small room on his property that authorities compared to tornado shelters common in the area.

James Arrington, police chief of the neighboring town of Pinckard, said the shelter was about 4 feet underground, with about 6-by-8 feet of floor space and a PVC pipe that negotiators were speaking through.

There were signs that the standoff could continue for some time: A state legislator said the shelter has electricity, food and TV. The police chief said the captor has been sleeping and told negotiators that he has spent long periods in the shelter before.

“He will have to give up sooner or later, because (authorities) are not leaving,” Arrington said. “It's pretty small, but he's been known to stay in there eight days.”

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