In this photo made from surveillance video and released by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Adam Mayes, 35, stands in front of the counter at a convenience store on April 30, 2012 in Union County, Miss.
Adam Mayes, the man hunted by the FBI for the alleged killing of a mother and daughter and the abduction of two younger children shot himself to death Thursday, but authorities were able to rescue the girls safely.
Police surrounded Mayes, 35, in a wooded area near Guntown, Miss., and ordered him to surrender repeatedly. Instead he took out a pistol, pointed it at his head and fired, ending a nearly two-week manhunt, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported.
(MORE: Manhunt on for Alleged Tennessee Kidnapper)
Jo Ann Bain, 31, and her oldest daughter Adrienne, 14, were found dead last week at Mayes home, authorities said. Mayes was suspected of kidnapping her other two daughters, Alexandria, 12, and Kyliyah, 8, and had been at large with the two girls, whom he reportedly believed were actually his children. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an Amber Alert on May 4.
Mayes was a family friend of Bain and her husband Gary and was helping them prepare for a cross-country move to Arizona. He stayed over at their home in Whiteville, Tenn., about 80 miles from where he lived. But on April 27, Gary Bain could not locate his wife or children and reported them missing.
Law enforcement officers appealed for any information as to the whereabouts of Mayes and the two girls and continued to search the areas near Guntown, fearing that the children could be in serious danger. Acting on a tip, authorities began to search an area west of Mayes home. Thursday evening, Alexandria Bain was spotted by an FBI agent not far from a church. That’s when FBI agents ordered Mayes to come out and show his hands. Instead he shot himself.
(MORE: Tennessee Kidnap-Murder Suspect Thinks Girls Are His, Says Mother-in-Law)
Officials moved in to rescue the girls, whom FBI special agent Aaron Ford said looked like they had been living in the woods for several days. “They were immediately given water as they were escorted to safety,” he said. They were then taken to a hospital where they were treated for exposure to the cold, dehydration and poison ivy, then released. It is unclear who came to get them.
“We are very relieved at this event tonight,” Ford said at a news conference early Friday morning. “We have two little girls that we can return to Tennessee to their family.”