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Authorities mum about talks with alleged abductor

Law enforcement officials continue to work the scene of an ongoing hostage crisis in Midland City, Ala., Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Local, state and federal officers wait out a man accused of shooting and killing a school bus driver, then snatching a 5-year-old child. Suspect Jimmy Lee Dykes has been holed up in a bunker on his property with the child since the late afternoon shooting on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. (AP Photo/al.com, Julie Bennett)
Law enforcement officials continue to work the scene of an ongoing hostage crisis in Midland City, Ala., Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Local, state and federal officers wait out a man accused of shooting and killing a school bus driver, then snatching a 5-year-old child. Suspect Jimmy Lee Dykes has been holed up in a bunker on his property with the child since the late afternoon shooting on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. (AP Photo/al.com, Julie Bennett)
Law enforcement officials continue to work the scene of an ongoing hostage crisis in Midland City, Ala., Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Local, state and federal officers wait out a man accused of shooting and killing a school bus driver, then snatching a 5-year-old child. Suspect Jimmy Lee Dykes has been holed up in a bunker on his property with the child since the late afternoon shooting on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. (AP Photo/al.com, Julie Bennett) Gallery: Authorities mum about talks with alleged abductor
MELISSA NELSON-GABRIEL and JAY REEVES , The Associated Press
Posted: Saturday, February 2, 2013, 8:49 AM

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. - As a police standoff with an Alabama man accused of holding a 5-year-old boy hostage in an underground bunker entered its fifth day on Saturday, authorities were saying little except that talks with the 65-year-old loner were continuing through a ventilation pipe.

Negotiators were working late Friday to persuade Jimmy Lee Dykes to surrender. Police have said they believe the Vietnam-era veteran fatally shot a school bus driver on Tuesday, and then abducted the boy from the bus.

Police have used a ventilation pipe to the bunker to talk to the man and deliver the boy medication for his emotional disorders, but they have not revealed how often they are in touch or what the conversations have been about.

Neighbors describe Dykes as a menacing figure who holds anti-government views.

MELISSA NELSON-GABRIEL and JAY REEVES The Associated Press