Breaking: Boy in center of Alabama hostage standoff released

DEVELOPING: A law enforcement source says initial reports indicate that a five-year-old boy who was being held hostage in an underground bunker in Alabama for nearly a week has been released.

Authorities say 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes shot and killed a bus driver last week in Midland City and then abducted the boy.

Dykes is now dead, the source says, but the boy is in stable condition. An ambulance was seen leaving the area of the bunker.

The FBI said in a statement Sunday that authorities were having open lines of communication with Dykes. The little boy requested Cheez-Its and a red Hot Wheels car, both of which were delivered to the bunker, a separate statement said. Authorities had said they also were delivering medicine and other comfort items, and that Dykes was making the child as comfortable as possible.

On Sunday, more than 500 people paid final tribute to the driver that was killed, 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland Jr., hailing him as a hero for protecting the other children on the bus.

Poland is now "an angel who is watching over" the little boy, said Dale County School Superintendent Donny Bynum, who read letters written by three students who had ridden on Poland's bus. "You didn't deserve to die but you died knowing you kept everyone safe," one child wrote.

Outside the funeral, school buses from several counties lined the funeral procession route. The buses had black ribbons tied to their side mirrors.

more here: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/04/boy-in-center-alabama-hostage-standoff-released-source-says/