The convicted felon accused of murdering a Tennessee family before ditching their infant girl 40 miles away in a stranger’s front yard has been captured, police said Tuesday.
Austin Drummond, 28, was taken into custody in Jackson, Tennessee, on Tuesday morning, a week after he allegedly killed his four victims in Tiptonville.
Tennessee police captured fugitive Austin Drummond, who is suspected in the slaying of four family members. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
Matthew Wilson and Adrianna Williams with their daughter. FacebookA picture of the exhausted-looking former fugitive wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and covered in sweat, moments after his capture, was shared on Facebook by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI).
His capture came hours after he was spotted holding a rifle and wearing camouflage clothing with a brown backpack appearing to try and open a door and enter a building, according to surveillance footage shared by the Jackson Police Department.
Drummond faces ten charges including first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and possessing a firearm as a felon.
Their daughter was orphaned in the brutal murders. FacebookHis victims have been named as Matthew Wilson, 21; Adrianna Williams, 20; Braydon Williams, 15; and Cortney Rose, 38.
The four were found dead hours after Wilson and Williams’ seven-month-old daughter was discovered abandoned in a car seat in a front yard in Tigrett, police said.
Drummond, who has a lengthy rap sheet, had only been released from prison late last year after spending 13 years locked up for aggravated robbery and other crimes, Fox13 reported. WMCRose was the baby’s maternal grandmother, and Braydon was her paternal uncle, according to Danny Goodman, district attorney for Dyer and Lake counties.
The child is safe and being cared for, authorities said on Friday, without providing further details.
A reward of $30,000 was being offered for information leading to Drummond’s arrest at the time of his capture.
He was previously convicted of aggravated robbery and served almost 10 years in prison.
At the time of the quadruple homicide, Drummond was out on bond after being charged with attempted murder following his release, Goodman said.
Grandmother Cortney Rose, 38, was killed. FacebookIt is believed that the killings were not a random act of violence.
“It appears, with all the information that we have, that this was a targeted incident,” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch told reporters on Friday.
Drummond allegedly left the baby in a “random” yard before flagging people down to help as “a sign of compassion,” Rausch said.
Braydon Williams was murdered in Tennessee. FacebookThe suspected killer used to date a sister of Rose’s, one of the victim’s relatives wrote on Facebook.
“He has literally been nothing short of amazing to us and our kids every time he has been around us up until this point,” the post said.
Three suspected associates of Drummond were arrested in recent days.
Tanaka Brown, 29, was arrested on Friday while Giovonte Thomas, also 29, was taken into custody on Saturday, charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder.
Brown also faces one charge of tampering with evidence, the TBI said in a statement on Saturday.
Dearrah Sanders was also charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder on Monday, the TBI’s statement read.
Additional details of how the trio allegedly assisted Drummond have not been released by police.
