Police identified the suspect they allege killed four relatives of a baby abandoned in a “random” yard in western Tennessee earlier this week.
The case began on Tuesday when authorities found a baby girl in a car seat abandoned in “a random individual’s front yard.” “A dark-colored minivan or a white mid-size SUV” reportedly dropped the child off in a yard in Dyer County, according to a statement made by the local sheriff’s office. A witness saw the infant in a car seat and called 911. Investigators identified the child and began searching for her family to question them about the incident.
A few hours later, authorities found the bodies of the infant’s family in a wooded area of Lake County, the county to the north of Dyer. The deceased were identified as the baby’s mother, Adrianna Williams, 20; father, James Wilson, 21; grandmother, Cortney Rose, 38; and uncle, Braydon Williams, 15.
The suspect, Austin Robert Drummond, 28, is wanted on four counts of first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, and various firearm charges, according to a press release from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
The police are still looking for Drummond, and he is considered armed and dangerous. There is a $15,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
About a dozen agencies are working on the case, including the FBI. Authorities have not released a suspected motive.
District Attorney Danny Goodman told Fox News that authorities believe it was a targeted attack.
“We don’t think there’s a need for the community to be concerned, as far as it being some type of random act or anything like that,” Goodman said.
“The TBI has been actively working this case,” Goodman added. “It’s a twenty-four hour, round-the-clock operation right now. They have received several leads and they are following up with those.”
Goodman said Drummond knew the victims. Rose’s half sister is Drummond’s current girlfriend, according to the district attorney.
The exact relationship between Drummond and the half sister is unclear. A woman who identified herself as Rose’s sister-in-law said in a Facebook post that the girlfriend used to date Drummond. An obituary for another relative, however, said the pair was married.
The sister-in-law, Brier-Ashley Childress, said Drummond had been close to the family.
“We NEVER expected him to cause ANY harm to ANYONE, much less anyone in our family,” Childress said. “Cortney, Adrianna, Braydon, and Matthew THOUGHT they knew him. We all trusted him.”
Drummond was convicted of armed robbery in 2014 in Madison County, NBC News reported. His prison sentence ended in September. Two months later, he was charged with attempted murder and drug crimes. Drummond was out on bond at the time of the killings.
Drummond is now on the TBI’s Most Wanted List. He is believed to be driving a 2016 Audi A3 with Tennessee license plate RI01896, according to the Dyer County Sheriff’s Office. The vehicle has damage on the driver’s side.
Anyone with information about Drummond is encouraged to contact the authorities at 1-800-TBI-FIND.