Authorities say they still have an open line of communication with an Alabama man accused of abducting a 5-year-old boy and holding him hostage in a bunker.

Sheriff Wally Olson said Saturday that Jimmy Lee Dykes has told them that he has blankets and an electric heater in the bunker. Olson says Dykes has allowed authorities to deliver coloring books, medication and toys for the boy.

Olson says he wants to thank Dykes for taking care of the child and called that very important.

Authorities say Dykes shot a school bus driver Tuesday and took the boy to the bunker on his property in rural Midland City.

Olson would not say whether Dykes has made any demands. The sheriff says he is limited in the details he can release.
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Alabama law enforcement authorities say negotiations are ongoing with a gunman who has been holed up with a 5-year-old boy for more than a day after snatching the child off a school bus and fatally shooting the bus driver.

SWAT teams have been gathered outside a bunker. Neighbors say the gunman holding the boy hostage is 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes.

Dykes allegedly took the child Tuesday afternoon in Midland City, after shooting and killing the school bus driver.

Authorities say Dykes was due in court Wednesday morning to answer to charges that he shot at neighbors in a dispute last month.

Authorities have sent down coloring books and crayons for the child through the PVC pipe, which is how they're communicating with the gunman. They've also sent prescription medicine for the boy, who suffers from Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Authorities initially said the boy was 6, but a state lawmaker who has spent time with the kindergartener's family says he does not turn 6 until next week.

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