Man Wanted for Tennessee Quadruple Homicide Is Arrested

New York Times

a day ago

A man wanted on charges of murdering four members of a family and driving off with the infant child of two of the victims last week has been taken into custody, the police in Jackson, Tenn., said on Tuesday.
The authorities said they had captured Austin Robert Drummond, 28, who was wanted on four counts of first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and other charges after the bodies of the four victims were found on July 29 in Tiptonville, a town in northwestern Tennessee.
Mr. Drummond was taken into custody in Jackson, about 75 miles southwest of Tiptonville. He had been spotted in Jackson before his arrest, prompting the police to urge people in the area to shelter in place.
The authorities had been offering $32,500 for information about his whereabouts. He had been added to the list of Tennessee's Most Wanted.
The case began just after 3 p.m. on July 29, when a caller informed the authorities that a minivan or sport-utility vehicle had dropped a baby in a car seat in a front yard near Tigrett, Tenn., about 40 miles south of Tiptonville, the Dyer County Sheriff's Office said.
By 5:10 p.m., the authorities had identified the baby and were searching for three of the child's family members, whom they identified as Matthew Wilson, Adrianna Williams and Cortney Rose.
Two days later, the sheriff's office confirmed the deaths of Mr. Wilson, 21, Ms. Williams, 20, and Ms. Rose, 38, as well as that of Braydon Williams, 15, who they said had been also been found dead in Tiptonville.
Mr. Wilson and Ms. Williams were the parents of the baby, the authorities said. Ms. Rose was the baby's grandmother, and Mr. Williams the uncle, the district attorney's office said.
Investigators did not say how the four victims had been killed or elaborate on a motive, but they confirmed that the four had been targeted and had a family connection to Mr. Drummond.
In the last week, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation arrested three people on charges of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder, accusing them of having helped Mr. Drummond: Dearrah Sanders, 23; Tanaka Brown, 29, of Jackson, Tenn.; and Giovontie Thomas, 29. Mr. Brown also faces one count of tampering with evidence.
All three, the bureau said, are 'associates' of Mr. Drummond's, but the authorities have not said how they helped Mr. Drummond.
Mr. Drummond was previously convicted of armed robbery of a convenience store in Jackson in 2013, according to local news reports. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison and released in September 2024, according to state records.
At a news conference on Friday, Danny Goodman Jr., the district attorney for Dyer and Lake Counties, said that Mr. Drummond had also been indicted on drug charges and attempted murder while in prison.
Those cases are still pending, and he had been free on bond at the time of the quadruple murder, Mr. Goodman said.
Hannah Ziegler and Sopan Deb contributed reporting.