Standoff enters 7th day - WLTZ 38 | Columbus Georgia Regional News & Community

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. (AP) — More details are emerging about the suspect in the Alabama standoff and hostage drama.

Neighbors and officials are painting a picture of 65-year-old Jim Lee Dykes as an isolated man estranged from his family.

Authorities say Dykes, -- a decorated Vietnam-era veteran known as Jimmy to neighbors -- gunned down a school bus driver and abducted a 5-year-old boy from the bus, taking him to an underground bunker on his rural property. The driver, 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland Jr., was buried Sunday.

Dykes, described as a loner who railed against the government, lives up a dirt road outside Midland, a tiny hamlet north of Dothan in the southeastern corner of the state.

The FBI says authorities continue to have an open line of communication with Dykes. The agency says the little boy requested Cheez-Its and a red Hot Wheels car, both of which were delivered to the bunker.