Mike Huckabee's Cousin Found Dead After Abduction

A suspect wanted in a homicide and kidnapping case involving a distant relative of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was killed Monday morning during a shootout with authorities.

The Associated Press reports that police issued an arrest warrant for the suspect, Donald Hux, Sunday after investigators found the body of Sandy Carl Huckabee at his home in Arkadelphia, which is about 70 miles southwest of Little Rock.

Former Huckabee spokesman Jim Harris told AP that Sandy Huckabee's father was the first cousin of former presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee's father. Authorities said Hux abducted his ex-wife who had remarried Sandy Huckabee, Amy, and Hux's three children in Arkadelphia before he drove to El Dorado, which is about 80 miles away. He dropped the children off somewhere in southern Arkansas' Union County, which is where El Dorado is located, the local sheriff's office said in a statement. Union County Sheriff's Capt. Clark Burton told The Associated Press the children were not hurt.

KSLA reports that Hux's hostage, Amy, was also found dead Monday, but authorities have not confirmed how she died.

The Daily Mail reports that a local paper said that there are police records of Hux sending harrassing communications to his ex-wife from jail several months ago. Police in Arkadelphia learned about the situation and went to the Huckabee home to do a welfare check. They found Sandy Huckabee's body inside.

Hux was wanted on capital murder, kidnapping, burglary and firearms charges.

Harris, the spokesman when Huckabee was governor, said the former Republican governor was traveling Sunday but had learned of the distant relative's death.

"I've been in Washington all day. Sandy was my first cousin. Our mothers were sisters and we grew up as kids in Hope. It's been a horrible day for everyone, especially those kids," Mike Huckabee told Today's THV.

KSLA 12 video on the shootout: