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The Bain murder-kidnappings involved the murder of a woman and her eldest daughter in Whiteville, Tennessee on April 27, 2012, and the concurrent kidnapping of the woman's two younger daughters by suspect Adam Christopher Mayes, an Alpine, Mississippi man who had known the family for many years. Mayes disappeared a few days after the mother and daughters disappeared, prompting his name to be added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives on May 9, 2012, having replaced James "Whitey" Bulger on the list.

On May 10, he and the two girls were spotted in a heavily wooded area outside Alpine; during the capture attempt, Mayes reportedly shot himself in the head and later died from his wounds. The two girls were rescued unharmed.

Mayes' wife Teresa was charged with first degree murder and "especially aggravated kidnapping" (a Tennessee-specific statute) for her part in the murder-kidnapping. Mayes' mother Mary was charged with especially aggravated kidnapping. Both were held in Hardeman County jail.

On August 9, 2013, in a plea bargain agreement, Teresa Mayes pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, and was sentenced to 35 years, minus the 460 days she had already spent in prison. Mary Mayes pleaded guilty to two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping and was sentenced to 13 1/2 years. The plea bargain obviated the need for a trial.

Background of perpetrators

Adam Christopher Mayes (September 2, 1976 – May 10, 2012) was the youngest of six children of Johnny and Mary Frances Mayes. He and his wife Teresa lived with his parents in a mobile home in Alpine, Mississippi. Mayes' mother-in-law, Josie Tate, stated that she had repeatedly called police to complain about domestic violence committed by Mayes against his wife, Teresa. She described him as violent and controlling. Mayes' sister described him as aggressive and untrustworthy, but never thought he would commit such a serious crime.

For many years, Mayes was friendly with the Bain family of Whiteville, Tennessee. Jo Ann Bain was the mother of three daughters, Adrienne (b. 1997), Alexandria (b. 1999) and Kyliyah (b. 2004). Her first husband, Mark Johnson, the biological father of Adrienne and Alexandria, signed over his legal rights to the girls to Jo Ann's second husband, Gary Bain, in 2011.

Gary Bain had previously been married for 20 years to Adam Mayes' eldest sister, Pamela; they divorced in 2002. Mayes was a frequent visitor to the Bain house and had a friendly relationship with the Bain girls. According to his mother-in-law, Mayes likely believed that he was the father of the two younger girls.

Murders and kidnapping

On April 27, 2012, a day before Mayes was supposed to help the Bain family move to Arizona, Mayes allegedly killed Jo Ann Bain and her oldest daughter Adrienne and kidnapped the two younger girls, Alexandria and Kyliyah. Bain's husband came home late that night and assumed his family members were sleeping; he did not see them the next day. Only when he could not reach his wife by cell phone and his daughters did not return from school did he report them missing.

Mayes was interviewed by police officers about the Bains' disappearance on April 29. He told police he was the last to see the mother and daughters, but police found no evidence of a crime. On April 30, Jo Ann Bain's SUV was found abandoned on a country road in Tennessee. Mayes was last seen in Guntown, Mississippi, on May 1; on May 2 he was declared a person of interest in the case, though police still did not suspect a crime.

On or around May 4, Teresa Mayes reportedly told police that that she had seen her husband kill Jo Ann and Adrienne in the Bains' garage and afterwards she drove him, the bodies and the two younger girls back to Alpine, where he allegedly buried the bodies behind his mobile home. On May 5, investigators uncovered two "badly decomposed" bodies from a shallow grave behind the mobile home; they were identified as the bodies of Jo Ann and Adrienne on May 7. By May 8, both Mayes' wife Teresa and mother, Mary Frances Mayes, were charged as accomplices and taken into custody.

Mayes was added to the FBI's Most Wanted List on May 9. He was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, especially aggravated kidnapping and first-degree murder.

Recovery and death

Mayes and the two girls were missing for over a week when on May 10, acting on a tip, Mississippi highway patrolmen and state fish and wildlife officers searched a heavily wooded area behind the Zion Hill Baptist Church, one and a half miles from Mayes' home in Alpine. Officers saw one of the children peeking over a ridge, then spotted the second child, then saw Mayes. The officers told him to put his hands up; he raised only one hand and officers saw a gun in the other. Mayes then shot himself in the head with the 9mm pistol.

The Union County sheriff said emergency medical technicians transported Mayes via ambulance to Baptist Memorial Hospital, New Albany, Mississippi, in critical condition. The county coroner pronounced Mayes dead at 8:20 pm.

When police found the trio on May 10, the girls had been in the forest for three days without food or water. They were dehydrated and had rashes from poison ivy and insect bites. After Mayes' death, the girls were sent to a Memphis hospital, treated, and released. Mayes' mother-in-law, Josie Tate, stated that Mayes had taken the "coward's way out." Mayes' wife Teresa has been charged with murder and kidnapping and may face the death penalty. Tate claims that Adam had coerced and brainwashed the intellectually challenged Teresa into abetting his crimes.

Mayes' body, after being left unclaimed and refused by family members, was donated to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville's Body Farm in June 2012.

On July 30, 2012, the FBI announced that it had paid out reward money to several individuals for information leading to the capture of Mayes.

Legal proceedings

On May 21 the charges against Mayes' mother, Mary, were changed from four counts of conspiracy to commit especially aggravated kidnapping to two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping. Investigators believe that she "confined" the two girls after her son and his wife drove them from their Tennessee home to the Mayes' Mississippi home.[18] The court ordered a psychological evaluation of both Mary and Teresa Mayes and rescheduled their first hearing for June 19.

On October 1, 2012, Teresa Mayes appeared in a Hardeman County General Sessions Court hearing while a statement that she had given to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation during her husband's disappearance in May was read to the court. In the statement, Teresa claimed that Adam had planned the kidnappings and murders a year in advance due to his romantic interest in Alexandria Bain, age 12. Adam sold his motorcycle to pay for the kidnapping, and forced Teresa to remain hidden in their car during two aborted attempts to kidnap Alexandria and her younger sister, Kylilah, on April 25 and 26, 2012.

On the night of April 26, Adam attempted to kill the girls' father, Gary Bain, by giving him two Tequila Sunrise cocktails laced with Visine and other prescription drugs. After Gary and his wife Jo Ann had gone to sleep, Adam, who had a key to the Bain house, entered the couple's bedroom, woke up Jo Ann, and told her to come out to the shop by the house because Kylilah was sleepwalking. Once in the shop, Adam hit Jo Ann with a board and strangled her with a rope. Afterwards he smothered Adrienne, age 14. He told Teresa to drive around with the two younger girls, Alexandra and Kylilah; afterwards they drove the two girls and the two corpses to Guntown, where Adam buried the bodies in his mother's backyard.

Following Teresa Mayes' and Mary Mayes' court appearances on October 1, the judge sent their cases to a grand jury scheduled to convene on January 10, 2013.

On August 9, the two women were sentenced in conjunction with a plea bargain that will obviate the need for a trial. Teresa Mayes was sentenced to 35 years and her mother-in-law, Mary Mayes, to 13 1/2 years for their parts in the kidnappings and murders.

Wikipedia.org

Agent testifies Adam Mayes' abduction of sisters planned for a year

Associated Press

October 2, 2012

BOLIVAR, Tennessee -- A Mississippi man's infatuation with a 12-year-old Tennessee girl led him to plot her abduction for a year and kill her mother and sister, according to testimony in court Monday.

The abduction of the girl and another sister, along with the killings, spurred a manhunt through rugged, hilly Mississippi terrain for several days in the spring. The search ended when 35-year-old Adam Mayes fatally shot himself May 10 as authorities closed in on him in the northern Mississippi woods. Twelve-year-old Alexandria Bain and another sister who'd been kidnapped, 8-year-old sister Kyliyah, were rescued.

Little has been known about the motive behind the kidnappings and slayings before Monday, when Mayes' wife and mother appeared in court on charges that they helped him with the crimes.

Mayes' wife, Teresa Mayes, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and especially aggravated kidnapping and her mother-in-law, Mary Frances Mayes, has pleaded not guilty to especially aggravated kidnapping.

A statement by Teresa Mayes was read in court by Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Valerie Troutt.

Adam Mayes was friends with the Bain family and was at their Whiteville, Tenn., home on April 27.

Teresa Mayes told investigators that she took the two younger girls on a drive and when she returned with them, her husband had two bodies wrapped in tarps.

The bodies of Jo Ann Bain and her daughter Adrienne, 14, were found several days later, buried at the Mayes home in Guntown, Miss.

Teresa Mayes told authorities her husband said he hit Jo Ann Bain in the head with a board, strangled her with a rope and smothered Adrienne. He also claimed to have drugged Gary Bain, the husband and father of the family, to ensure he couldn't stop the attack.

Teresa Mayes occasionally wiped tears from her eyes during while Troutt read the statement. Hardeman County General Sessions Judge Chip Cary ordered the cases sent to a grand jury that will consider indictments in January.

The statement read in court provided the first explanation of how the Bains were killed and offered details into Adam Mayes' motive. Teresa Mayes said in the statement that her husband was in love with Alexandria and feared losing her because the family was moving to Arizona.

"Adam said he couldn't live without her," Teresa Mayes was quoted as saying. "I think that is why he initiated his plan."

TBI special agent Kathy Ferguson addressed claims that Adam Mayes thought one of the girls was his, testifying, "We found no evidence to suggest that Adam was the father of any of the children."

Teresa Mayes told investigators in her statement that the couple first tried to kidnap the girls April 25 while they waited for the school bus, but arrived too late and missed them. The couple remained in Whiteville, with Adam Mayes visiting the family while his wife hid in their Dodge Durango under blankets for two days, eating only pickles, according to the statement.

Adam Mayes threatened to kill his wife if she didn't help him, the statement said.

On April 27, Adam Mayes entered the Bain home with his key and gave Gary Bain a tequila sunrise cocktail mixed with Visine and prescription drugs, the statement said. Teresa Mayes said her husband told her he then killed Jo Ann Bain -- who struggled and scratched his neck -- and her oldest daughter, the statement said.

Adam Mayes told his wife that Alexandria didn't want to live in Arizona and they had talked more than a year ago about him taking her away from her family, according to Teresa Mayes' statement.

Kyliyah began crying as Teresa Mayes drove her away from the home, the statement said.

"Alex was telling Kyliyah to calm down, that she was going to be Kyliyah's new mom and Adam was going to be her new dad," the statement said.

The couple then drove to Guntown with the bodies and the surviving girls, and Adam Mayes buried the bodies in their backyard with a borrowed shovel, the statement said.

"Adam acted proud of himself, like he had accomplished his plan," the statement said.

Adam Mayes disappeared into the woods with Alexandria and Kyliyah sometime after May 1. A statement his mother gave to FBI agents, which was read in court, said he packed bags before leaving.

FBI: Fugitive dead; two sisters alive

By the CNN Wire Staff

May 10, 2012

(CNN) -- Adam Mayes -- accused of murder and kidnapping in a case involving a Tennessee mother and her three daughters -- has died, FBI spokesman Joel Siskovic said late Thursday. The two sisters he allegedly kidnapped were found alive, law enforcement sources said.

There had been conflicting reports about whether Mayes was dead or alive after he reportedly shot himself in Union County, Mississippi.

Daniel McMullen, FBI special agent in charge in Jackson, Mississippi, said that officers with the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol and state Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Parks rescued Alexandria and Kyliyah Bain, "alive and unharmed."

"Preliminary reports indicate that Mr. Mayes shot himself in the head and was later pronounced dead," McMullen told reporters.

The two surviving sisters "are suffering from the experience of being out in the woods and from being kidnapped. They are suffering from dehydration and exhaustion, but appear OK," a federal law enforcement source on the scene told CNN.

Mayes, 35, was suspected of abducting Alexandria, 12, and Kyliyah, 8, from their Whiteville, Tennessee, home, in late April, and killing Jo Ann Bain and her eldest daughter, Adrienne, 14.

The FBI on Wednesday put Adam Mayes on its list of 10 most wanted fugitives. The reward for information leading to Mayes' arrest stood at $175,000 on Thursday.

Authorities responded Thursday evening after someone called to report what they believed may have been Mayes' vehicle, a law enforcement source close to the investigation said.

A task force was nearby and as they approached, Mayes stood up and shot himself in the head, the source said. The two girls were not near him at the time.

Mayes and his wife, Teresa Mayes, had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping. He faced an additional count of making a false report, according to arrest affidavits filed in Tennessee.

Adam Mayes' mother-in-law told HLN's Nancy Grace on Thursday that he may have believed he was the father of the two young girls he was accused of abducting.

"He believes they are his children," Josie Tate told Grace.

Tate, who lives in Chatsworth, Georgia, tearfully pleaded for Mayes to return Alexandria and Kyliyah Bain and turn himself in.

"You've had a chance to live life. They haven't," Tate said. "Give them that chance."

Police said Teresa Mayes told them she was in the Bains' garage when Adam Mayes killed Jo Ann and Adrienne Bain.

Teresa Mayes' lawyer, Shana Johnson, said Thursday that her client last saw Mayes and the Bain girls in Mississippi on April 27.

The Mayes family and the Bain family are connected through Adam Mayes' sister Pamela, who used to be married to Jo Ann's husband, Gary Bain, the lawyer said.

Johnson told HLN she was "happy" and "relieved" the girls had been found alive.

In affidavits, investigators said the Mayeses drove the bodies of Jo Ann and Adrienne Bain to Union County in northern Mississippi, where they were discovered Saturday in a shallow grave behind the house of Adam Mayes' mother in Guntown, Mississippi.

Adam Mayes' mother, Mary Frances Mayes, has been charged with four counts of conspiracy to commit especially aggravated kidnapping.

Adam Mayes was last seen May 1 in Guntown. While the search was centered around his hometown, he also had connections to Arizona, Texas, Florida and the Carolinas, the FBI said.

Bobbi Booth, Mayes' sister-in-law, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday night that she's "overwhelmed right now."

"All I'm (thinking) about now is that the children are safe," said Booth. "Thank you, God, for letting those children come home."

Booth described Adam Mayes as "aggressive, abusive, crazy obviously."

But Booth said she never had an inkling Mayes would be accused of kidnapping and murder.

"I never dreamed that he would do this," she said.

Bodies Of Jo Ann Bain And Daughter Adrienne, 14, Found Behind Alleged Kidnapper's House

By Adrian Sainz - HuffingtonPost.com

May 7, 2012

GUNTOWN, Miss. — The bodies of a Tennessee mother and her oldest daughter were found behind an alleged kidnapper's house in north Mississippi, the FBI said Monday, and authorities believe the woman's two other daughters are still with the man accused in their abduction.

Jo Ann Bain and her three daughters disappeared April 27 as the family was packing to move to Arizona. The bodies of Bain and her 14-year-old daughter, Adrienne Bain, were found behind Adam Mayes' house near Guntown, a rural area police have been searching.

The bodies were discovered late last week and positively identified. The FBI did not say how the two died.

The FBI said it believed the other daughters – 12-year-old Alexandria and 8-year-old Kyliyah – were still with Mayes. The agency did not say in a news release why it thought that, and FBI spokesman Joel Siskovic said no further details were available on the bodies or the search for Mayes and the girls.

Mayes, a longtime friend of Bain's husband, had stayed over at the family's house to help them pack and load a U-Haul to drive across the country to Arizona, authorities said. Gary Bain, who was at the house that night, awoke to find his wife, daughters and Mayes gone.

He couldn't reach his wife on her cell phone that day, and reported them missing when the girls didn't get off the school bus.

Mayes was last seen a week ago in Guntown, about 80 miles south of the Bain family's home in Whiteville, Tenn. Authorities talked to Mayes early on in the investigation, but he fled when they tried to contact him again, Siskovic said.

Both Gary Bain and Mayes were once married to sisters, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristin Helm said.

Jo Ann Bain's Facebook page showed in the days before the four disappeared she was packing and working on homework. Her last post, dated April 26, said "a good venting always makes you feel better." It didn't say why she was venting.

Jo Ann Bain's aunt hoped her niece and the girls were safe.

"I pray for Jo Ann and the girls to be OK and for them to come home," said Beverly Goodman, who works at Whiteville City Hall.

She said her niece was not the type of woman to run off with someone.

Goodman expressed frustration that the authorities didn't issue an amber alert sooner. "What would it have hurt to put an Amber Alert out?" Goodman said. "They might have saved a couple of lives."

Linda Kirkland, a family friend and cook at the Country Cafe in Whiteville, said Jo Ann Bain and her daughters were moving because two of the girls had asthma.

"Jo Ann and the kids, everyone loves them. We're just hoping to hear that they're safe," she said.

Mayes also has ties to Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. He may be using the aliases of Christopher Zachery Wylde or Paco Rodrigass, the FBI said.