Haslam Offers $15K Award In Missing Sisters Case - NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather & Sports

Haslam Offers $15K Award In Missing Sisters Case

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Governor Bill Haslam has issued a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case of a man suspected of killing a Tennessee woman and her teenage daughter and fleeing with her two younger girls.

"It is my sincerest hope that this reward will lead to new information that brings those responsible for this crime to justice," Haslam said.

Heavily-armed FBI agents and authorities from Mississippi and Tennessee continued to search Wednesday for 35-year-old Adam Mayes.

The bodies of 31-year-old Jo Ann Bain and 14-year-old Adrienne Bain were found last week behind the mobile home in northern Mississippi where Mayes lived.

An affidavit provides the first clue that the victims may have been killed soon after they were abducted. It said his wife and mother saw him digging a hole in the yard on April 27 or soon after.

The FBI said Tuesday that authorities were hopeful the two young girls -- 12-year-old Alexandria Bain and 8-year-old Kyliyah Bain -- were still alive. Investigators believed the two youngest daughters were still with Mayes.

Haslam's reward is in addition to $50,000 offered by the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service and $6,000 from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

On Tuesday, authorities canvassed roads and searched tree lines near the home where 35-year-old Adam Mayes lived in Union County, Mississippi. Authorities have been tight-lipped about the details of the search, hoping to avoid releasing information that puts the girls' lives in jeopardy.

Authorities released a surveillance video that showed Adam Mayes, 35, at a convenience store in Union County, Mississippi, about three days after the alleged kidnapping. In the video, Mayes appeared calm when he approached the counter and had a fresh haircut.

Agents said he cut his hair and likely the girls' hair to hide their identities.

On Tuesday, Mayes' wife and mother were also charged in the abduction. Teresa Mayes and Mary Mayes were arraigned on kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping charges, respectively.

Teresa Mayes told investigators she drove Jo Ann Bain and her daughters from Hardeman County, where they lived, to Union County, Mississippi, where Adam and Teresa Mayes lived with his parents, according to the affidavit.

Wanted posters and billboards of Mayes have been put up all over the Southeast.

Authorities have issued an Amber Alert and are calling Mayes "armed and extremely dangerous."

The family has been missing since April 27.

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.

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.

Authorities talked to Mayes early on in the investigation, but he fled when they tried to contact him again, Siskovic said.

Mayes was last seen more than a week ago in Guntown, about 80 miles south of the Bain family's home in Whiteville, Tennessee.

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.

Mayes is charged in Tennessee with abducting all four of the Bains, but authorities are still trying to determine if Jo Ann went with him willingly.

If you have any information, call 1-800-TBI-FIND.

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(The Associated Press/CBS News Contributed To This Report.)

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