Alabama Hostage-Taker Was Decorated Vietnam Veteran

How did he fall through the cracks?

The kidnapper of a 5-year-old in Alabama, who was killed Monday when authorities rescued the boy, is a decorated Vietnam veteran with a troubled past, it emerged today. The boy has been safely returned to his family.

Authorities say Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, killed a school bus driver before taking the child hostage for nearly a week in an underground bunker on his property. Neighbors described him to news outlets as a menacing figure, who was estranged from his family, and once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe. They say he threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property and patrolled his yard at night with a flashlight and a shotgun, the Associated Press reports.

Dykes was in the Navy, serving on active duty from 1964 to 1969, where he won several awards, including the Vietnam Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. He moved to Southeast Alabama from Florida two years ago. Locals described him in recent days as a loner who often railed against the government and listened to a lot to conservative talk radio. according to the Associated Press.

He had some previous run-ins with the law. AP reports that he was arrested in 1995 for improper exhibition of a weapon, but the misdemeanor was dismissed. He also was arrested for marijuana possession in 2000.

Dykes had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to face a charge of menacing some neighbors with a gun as they drove by his house weeks ago, the AP reports.

Via the Associated Press and Associated Press

How did he fall through the cracks?

[martydotcom]

He lived in Alabama, apparently animal cruelty and threats to shoot children was acceptable ans normal behavior. Give that man a gun!!!

[stepped_in_it]

One reply.......bahahaha ha

[mudzangandoro]

....yep give him a gun.

[WattheTyler]

What do you expect from the yokels in dixieland

[Linebacker66]

@WattheTyler Remember Sandyhook or the theater in Col? Hmmm...

[Linebacker66]

You are disgusting.

[SignifiedNBlue]

Hes not the only one. Not sure if he fell through any cracks. He was a crack pot lol

[TDriver04]

There is no damn cracks to fall through. Government isn't the answer for anything so to suggest they ever fixed something and some how there's a damn crack in it is absured

[PoliticalSpice]

This sounds like what this guy heard on right wing talk radio. Maybe he should have stuck with marijuana.

[TDriver04]

@PoliticalSpice if you believe anything the news has to say then maybe you've had to much marijuana. How could the neighbors know so much about him when he was a loner and patrolled his yard with a flash light and gun every night. The two descriptions contradict each other. Use your mind and think. You've been lied too for so long that its became your reality

[PoliticalSpice]

@TDriver04 You suggest one not believe anything they hear on the news. Sounds a bit paraniod to me. If a neighbor patrols their yard with a gun and flashlight people tend to notice that type of thing. It said he was a loner, not that he never spoke to anyone.

You say I've been lied to and that has become my reality? Yet you suggest one not beleive anything reported on the news and use their mind to think. Think about what, paraniod delusions? Where one lacks news sources to base their thoughts on all one has left is their imagination. So you suggest constructing a reality from my imagination and thinking about that? Thank you for that window into how that mans mind worked. Truley facsinating...

[TDriver04]

@PoliticalSpice I love that u decided to assume what I meant to try and make me look or think like I'm the idiot here. It's your world I'm just living in it.

[PoliticalSpice]

@TDriver04 I decided and assumed nothing about what you meant, I just repeated your comments about not beleiving anything on the news...but I am pleased that you love what I wrote. Oh, and based on what youwrote, I assure you, you are not living in my world...

[Chromalord]

Its easy to fall thru the cracks when they are constantly be widened by agendized interests.

[TheJimmy]

"fall through the cracks" is about as cliche as gets.

[marine1]

The real reason--------S#!t happens, end of story.

[Food4thoughts]

Obviously it was because of his marijuana use...

[Libertyiskey]

You beat me to it it's the key part to this story, he smoked pot in 2000 and moved on to killing and kidnapping, it's how it normally goes with pot use.

[KateRN]

@Libertyiskey

Really, I hope your comment was meant as a joke! Pot is nothing compared to the other crap out there today! Maybe it has more to do with the fact that A LOT of vets do not get the post care that they are promised before going into the Service; albeit it was probably not his choice in the first place.

[Libertyiskey]

@KateRN hahah yes it was a joke!

[Penn1699]

@Libertyiskey obviously not enough pot!

[stepped_in_it]

Great question! Local LEO's, justice depts and the Veterans Admin should be asked that question. I, for one, can not/do not understand how someone, with this history of violence, has not been institutionalized after his guns were removed from him!
Oh, that's right.....damn guns!

[KyleMFb]

How did he fall through the cracks??? What crack more like a canyon what I want to know is how they shot Someone who was in a underground bunker how come no one is asking that?

[Real4WheelDrv]

Two words: Dynamic Entry...keep him talking long enough to blow the entrance...flashbangs, double tap and pray he doesn't have the presence of mine to shoot the kid or one of the entry team.

[KyleMFb]

@Real4WheelDrv I don't know how well that bunker was constructed but if they were to blow the doors or a real bunker the people inside would be killed from the pressure

[Real4WheelDrv]

@KyleMFb I understand that, but the report I saw on my locAl news mentioned flashbangs, and I also don't think a bunker door would be breachable with a stealth entry. I.E. pick a lock or break a window to get to the inner door lock.

[KyleMFb]

@Real4WheelDrv I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I think one is going on here how do you blow open a bunker door go down the steps to actual get into the bunker without any cops getting shot by the crazy gunmen

[DARSB]

What "cracks?" Being a cranky old man is not a crime nor a psychiatric diagnosis. You can't arrest or confine people for what they might do.

[Medicinebow]

You mean like arresting people for having ar's and 30 round mags because of what they might do? NY made that assumption and made criminals out of many law abiding people.

[DapperDave]

So you think beating a dog to death with a pipe and threatening to kill children amounts to nothing more than being cranky? Uh, maybe in your alternate universe it does, but from where I sit such behavior is long, long way away from mere "crankiness".

[DARSB]

@DapperDave You may have a point, but the article did not indicate he directly threatened kids with a weapon and for all I can tell from the article the dog incident may be just gossip, or, at the least, if they knew about it the local law enforcement folks chose to do nothing about it.

[Brownie]

@DARSB What if it were your child? Would you still feel the same?

[DARSB]

@Brownie The question is how this guy "fell through the cracks" of our law enforcement and mental health system. It does not address whether one of his neighbors may have had cause to kick his ass.

[harold_lloyd]

Use of the term 'decorated' for the awards cited is a stretch.

I suspect that his military service didn't have a lot to do with how he ended up.

Some of the same people who are complaining about his lack of care and attention would also complain if his life were interfered with prior to this as an infringement on his freedom.

[Dan_Tien]

Why wasn't he imprisoned or committed to an institution? Can you put someone in jail for carrying a weapon on his own property? Is conservative radio illegal? He supposedly threatened to shoot children and beat a dog to death, but there is no mention of those incidents leading to an arrest or even a report. Even if you can prove that someone is a threat to themselves or others, usually they are kept for observation for 72 hours and released. Recreational marijuana is now legal in two states and there is currently a bill in Congress to legalize it nationwide, so a history of possession is not enough to demonize the man anymore. He was scheduled to appear in court for menacing, but could anyone predict that he would shoot a bus driver and kidnap a little boy because of that? Can anyone explain why he did it now?

By the way, I have been waiting for people to demand that bus drivers carry guns because of this, but have yet to hear any calls for that from the NRA.

[Dan_Tien]

By the way, my hat is off to the team that got the boy out and back to his family unharmed.

[ctc]

Sorry....but being a Veteran only gets you so much respect....and taking a child hostage for a week negates all of it.

[JoeJared]

How did the government that once respected the people of America fall through the cracks?

[jessejaymes]

I'm going to try again since the moderator removed my last post. America seems to enjoy painting Vietnam Veterans as some kind of lunatic fringe. The truth is that most Nam vets came home and lived their lives pretty much like anyone else. I don't think the fact that he was in the Navy during Vietnam means a thing to what he was. Some people are just flat out nasty people. Violent people. I knew Nam Vets who volunteered to go back a third and fourth time. They liked killing people. I know a active duty guy right now on his fourth tour. He likes to kill people. Every society has those people who are natural born killers. Sometimes they become serial killers, sometime they become spree killers and sometimes we pin medals on them.

But this guy was not a highly decorated combat vet. He was in the Navy and he was no swift boater. To ask why he "fell through the cracks" is to imply that our government is responsible for the rest of the lives of every veteran. We are not. We are responsible for those who are killed, who are wounded, who lose limbs. The rest we are responsible for their medical and their burial. That's it. We are not responsible for some guy who lived into his sixties and was a plague on his neighborhood. He was a hick thug. He knew what he was doing was wrong or he wouldn't have kept the boy alive.

I just find it highly offensive to claim that we somehow "failed" a vet when he had 40 years or so to become what he died as.

[Quantummist]

While I agree with all you said I might add if back then they made me dress like Popeye I would be a cranky old codger too.... Thank goodness for Tiger Strips...

[ACTSmom]

Remember the beltway murders? John Muhammed served in the National Guard, joined the Army, served in the Gulf War and was an expert rifleman. But his rampage apparently had nothing to do with his military service...and it wasn't anyone who failed him except his own self - and his love for Osama bin Laden.

[jessejaymes]

@ACTSmom Most the guys my age are Nam Vets. Unless of course their daddy was rich or they hid out in England or whatever. I don't personally know a single Nam vet who is a lunatic. A couple are suspect but just a couple. this continual branding of Nam Vets as powder kegs about to go off is simply irresponsible. Probably 70-80% of American's 19 year olds during the middle to late sixties and on into the early 70's was drafted and in some way became a Nam era vet. So some goes off now and then? Name me one other war since WWII when 70-80% of boys got drafted? It hasn't happened. The percentage of Nam Vets who go off is no larger than the general population of today and I'm positive it's less than the criminals in the rap culture.

[ACTSmom]

@jessejaymes ...my husband is a Viet Nam vet, although he wasn't in combat, but working on the planes. My dad was in WWII and the only problem he had later was when the pins from a broken leg went bad and he had to have more surgery. Guess they didn't have the best surgical steel back then.

I agree about the cultural influence in many criminal acts today. I've never seen so much anger in so many young men. And I'm not about to start blaming it on the recession or economics in general. Lots of us have been poor in our time but we didn't pistol whip old men and ladies to rob them. Moral values have gone up in smoke.

[frigginhell]

@jessejaymes Or hid in france or who shit their pants to get out of having to go. We have a word for those people, Conservative heroes.

[bsking]

This story is a setup to further the suspicion of every returning vet from the gulf. this is how it begins.

[PoliticalSpice]

Seriously? What do you mean? Why do you think they want to create suspicion of gulf vets? And who is behind this effort?

[bsking]

@PoliticalSpice its 2013.
What significance is the fact that this weirdo served during the Vietnam conflict? Almost 50 years ago.
Homeland Security issued white papers about the dangers of vets a couple of years ago.
This guy was not a highly decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam conflict.
Any gulf vet who has expressed any interest in talking to a doctor or counselor about any "problems" will no longer be "allowed" to own a firearm. mark my words.

These same type of stories and allegations smeared another generation of returning vets. history is about to repeat itself, again.

[PoliticalSpice]

@bsking OK I see your point about the fact his war veteran status was insignifigant, and understand the connection you make to homeland security white papers, but if history is about to repeat itself, when in history did asking to talk about ones problems lead to not being allowed to own a firearm? I'm not certiN, but I think the designation is that you have a psychiatric problem, not that you talked about it, and I think it applies to anyone with seeking a firearm permit, nog just vets. Admittedly I'm not sure, but I don't remember a past effort to deny any vet who ever talke about problems the right to own firearms...

[RUMORS--]

I don't consider a Good Conduct ribbon and Viet Nam Campaign ribbon being a decorated military person.
Medal of Honor, Silver Star, Bronze Star with V device and several other personal awards would be considered decorated. Only the news media would play this up.has a decorated Viet Nam veteran.

[bsking]

Yep

[CPT_Ethanolic]

Exactly. Hell, throw in ONE merit based award. You get service and good conduct medals for doing jack for a year.

[NTBFW]

This entire article is bogus. He was a murderer. There are lots of people that have the same problems that don't do this.

[RoFroh]

Ok let's not get too into the "Decorated veteran" aspect of this story....he was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal essentially for being on a ship in the South China Sea/Gulf of Tonkin......Next the Good Conduct Medal for not being diciplined while in the service of his country i.e doing his job......I guess I'm a decorated veteran also I have a National Defense Service Medal,and I spent Desert Shield in the desert in VICTORVILLE CALIFORNIA and Desert Storm in the UK gettin rained on!!!.....while I applaud this man for his service the media somtimes makes more out of being "Decorated" than is really necessary.

[crusader]

I think the fact that he patrolled his yard with a shotgun, once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe and threatened little kids who dared step foot on his property is disturbing and probably signs of psychological problems. His military service and listening to talk radio is not relevant.

[crusader]

Also the term decorated from the medal listed is far from accurate as indicated by previous posters. A service medal is awarded to all who deploy overseas during any war or military action. The good conduct medal is awarded to anyone who is deployed and does not have any serious disciplinary actions against them. My whole guard unit got those and several more awards after our deployment to Iraq. I would not consider any of us decorated either.

[PoliticalSpice]

M that it shows the type of audience right wing talk

[PoliticalSpice]

@PoliticalSpice well we know he was influenced by conservative talk radio. I wonder how typical he is of conservative radio listeners who rant about the government. Some of the post I've read by some do seem like they have anger management problems...

[crusader]

@PoliticalSpice If talk radio influenced him that much wouldn't incidents like this be common as millions listen to talk radio.

[PoliticalSpice]

@crusader Of course, but this is like the case of that arizona wacko that shot giffords, when you add paraniod angry rhetoric, like some of the posting I see here, to an unstable individual with guns this is the result. Not suggesting talk radio be banned, just pointing out that it reaches and influences a wide audience, and this angry paranoid rhetoric contributes to pushing people like this nut over the edge.