‘The FBI Declassified’: Ethan Gilman’s dramatic rescue after killer held 5-year-old hostage for week in bunker
The series premiere of the all-new CBS show 'The FBI Declassified' has revealed stunning details about the 2013 ordeal of a five-year-old Alabama boy who was abducted from a school bus and held hostage for nearly a week in an underground bunker.
The docu-series premiered Tuesday, October 6, and revisited the saga of Ethan Gilman -- who was rescued by the FBI after being kidnapped off his school bus by gunman Jimmy Lee Dykes on January 29, 2013. The youngster's predicament thereafter clutched at the nation's heartstrings as tens of thousands were glued to their TV screens praying for his well being.
Dykes boarded a school bus in Midland City at around 3.30 pm on the fateful day and told the driver Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, that he wanted to take two boys from the bus. When Poland refused, Dykes shot him dead in front of children aboard the vehicle.
Deputies would soon learn that Dykes and Poland knew each other. It emerged that Poland, on a daily basis, drove the bus up a private road where Dykes lived and made a U-turn to go back down the hill after dropping kids off.
"He befriended Mr. Poland. … He'd actually dug out an area for the bus to be able to turn around," Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson told producers. According to investigators, however, Dykes wasn't being a good samaritan. He had a sinister motive, one that involved getting on Poland's bus, taking minor hostages, and abducting them in a bid to gain publicity and share his anti-government views with the world.
After killing Poland, Dykes left the bus with only Ethan and took him to a 6-foot by 8-foot underground bunker he had spent months building (and was very proud of, per investigators). Police revealed how the bunker had a PVC ventilation pipe jutting out of the ground which negotiators used to communicate with the kidnapper in order to try and secure Ethan’s release.
At some point, agents even delivered a throw phone to Dykes through the entrance hatch -- albeit he could use it only to talk to the authorities. "He accepted a phone that the negotiators used and were able to talk to him very clearly. And that benefited both him and our negotiators," Steve Richardson, the FBI special agent in charge of the case, told CBS.
Dykes laid out his demands now that he had a direct line to hostage negotiators. "The message has got to be out there before I die," the killer is heard saying in recordings.
According to Richardson, his original demands were to have "a reporter come down into the hole. He wanted to go live on TV." FBI profiler Molly Amman explained how once the reporter -- who had to be a female -- was down in the bunker, Dykes wanted her "to hold his hand while he shared this story with her for her to broadcast to the world and then he would suicide -- and she would be able to let herself out of the bunker."
Agents somehow managed to sneak a camera into the bunker, gaining access to strategic information. The footage revealed how the makeshift bunker was equipped with "beds, a TV, snacks, and water."
At one point, Dykes became emotional as he was offered a video chat with one of his estranged daughters. He agreed for the same, and the FBI was able to see in the live feed how Ethan was far enough away from the killer so they could initiate a rescue plan. "We were staged, ready to go, and the criteria that had to be met were met, and the execute order was given," Richardson recalled.
Finally, on February 4, 2013, the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team broke into the roof of the bunker after negotiations broke down with Dykes and authorities feared for little Ethan's well being. The rescue operation saw a couple of stun grenades being thrown into the bunker and ended with the death of Jimmy Lee Dykes in a shootout.
All the attention then turned to Ethan as rescuers prayed for his safety. "I recall the team leader saying, 'He's crying,'" Former FBI Hostage Rescue Team commander Kevin Cornelius told producers, remembering how he felt relief upon hearing those words. "If the little guy is crying, he's breathing," Richardson recalled. "And if he's breathing, we got a chance. … And shortly thereafter, out of the smoke-filled hole -- pops a red object with blonde hair -- and it's the little guy."
Photos of the bunker were released following Ethan's dramatic rescue, showing the cramped space that included two bunk-style beds with thin mattresses and a ladder across from the beds leading up to a hatch to the outside. Furthermore, the bunker had unfinished walls and nails in the rafters meant to hand things.
“Kidnappings are incredibly difficult for a number of different reasons,” an emotional Richardson explained. “There’s a child’s life at stake. … Emotions are high. … Time is of the essence.”
“When the entire FBI machine spins up on one case acting in concert, it takes your breath away,” Amman insisted. “There was no mountain that the FBI would not have moved to save Ethan."
'The FBI Declassified' airs Tuesdays at 10 PM ET/PT on CBS.