Tennessee Kidnap-Murder Suspect Thinks Girls Are His, Says Mother-in-Law

Adam Mayes, hunted by police for alleged murder and kidnapping, may believe he fathered two of the children he abducted.

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AP / Hardeman County (Miss) Sheriff's Department

Adam Mayes

A Mississippi man on the run from the law, suspected of the double-homicide of a mother and daughter, thinks he may be the father of the woman’s two younger children, his mother-in-law said.

Speaking with the Associated Press, Josie Tate said Adam Mayes thought the two girls, Alexandria, 12 and Kyliyah, 8, might have been his children — an issue that had caused strife in his own marriage to Tate’s daughter Teresa. “She was tired of him doting on those two little girls that he claimed were his,” she said, adding that Teresa could not have children. Teresa Mayes has been arrested in connection with the case.

(MORE: Manhunt on for Alleged Tennessee Kidnapper)

Adam Mayes is suspected in the deaths of Jo Ann Bain and her daughter Adrienne, 14, whose bodies were discovered behind Mayes’ home in Guntown, Miss., about 80 miles from their family home in Whiteville, Tenn. Bain and her children were preparing to move to Arizona with her husband Gary and were being helped by Mayes, a family friend. But she and her three daughters were reported missing by the husband on April 27. Authorities executed search warrants on Mayes home and found the bodies on May 4. How they died remains unclear.

The FBI believes the two youngest girls are still with Mayes and are believed to be in extreme danger. The agency placed him on their 10 Most Wanted List and have increased a reward for information leading to his capture to $100,000.

Meanwhile, Teresa Mayes, who is in custody, reportedly told investigators that she watched her husband kill Bain and her daughter in the garage of their home, and that she drove him, the bodies and the younger children to Mississippi. She has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of kidnapping.

The FBI is unsure of Mayes’ whereabouts, but in a statement officials have issued a call for help in apprehending the fugitive and bringing the two girls to safety. “These two children have lost their mother and older sister and deserve to be safely returned to their father,” said Tennessee Bureau of Investigation director Mark Gwyn. “We believe someone out there knows where Adam Mayes and the girls are and will do the right thing and contact authorities with that information.”

MORE: Kidnap-Slay Suspect on Most Wanted List