Police find car they say was driven by man wanted in killing of 4 in Tennessee

NASHVILLE — Authorities searching for a man wanted in the killing of the parents, grandmother and uncle of an infant found alive in Tennessee uncovered a car Friday they believe the suspect was living in and offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

The abandoned car that police said 28-year-old Austin Robert Drummond had been driving was found in Jackson, Tenn., about 70 miles from where the bodies were found and some 40 miles from where the baby was left in a car seat in a front yard.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch said at a news conference that he believes it was a targeted attack by Drummond, who had a relationship with the family. He is most likely still in the area and should be considered armed and dangerous, Rausch said.

Drummond dropped off the infant and brought attention to people nearby to come get the child, Rausch said. The baby is safe and being cared for, said Stephen Sutton, a spokesperson for the Lake and Dyer county sheriffs.

“While this was an extremely tragic and violent event, ... there was a sign of compassion, if you will, that we know happened,” Rausch said. “That tells us that there’s a possibility that Austin may have a sense that there is hope for him to be able to come in and have a conversation about what happened.”

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has said it obtained warrants for Drummond charging him with four counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping and weapons offenses.

Authorities have not yet answered questions about the manner in which the four were killed.

According to court records, Drummond had spent years in prison for robbing a convenience store as a 16-year-old and threatening jurors.

He was tried as an adult for the July 2013 robbery in Jackson, Tenn. During the incident, he pointed a pistol at the gas station store worker and ordered them to open the cash register, taking the $44 inside, court records show.

At a 2020 hearing in which he was denied parole, Drummond said he was on Xanax the night of the robbery and doesn’t remember robbing the gas station. He said his pistol was a BB gun.

After the jury convicted him of one count of aggravated robbery in August 2014, he threatened to go after jurors, Drummond said during the parole hearing. He pleaded guilty in February 2015 to 13 counts of retaliation for past action.

The district attorney that covers Madison County, Jody Pickens, urged against early release for Drummond, writing a letter in 2020 that called him “a dangerous felony offender and a confirmed member of the Vice Lords,” a street gang.

Pickens wrote that Drummond made the threats against jurors and the victim in the robbery during a phone call with his father.

The Associated Press obtained audio and documents from the parole board hearing through public records requests.

Drummond was given a combined 13-year sentence.

As of the 2020 parole hearing, Drummond had more than two dozen disciplinary issues in prison, including possession of a deadly weapon, assault, refusing a drug test and gang activity. Drummond said the assault and the deadly weapon charges occurred because he was almost beaten to death.

Drummond was charged criminally for activities inside the prison, included attempted murder, after he completed the sentence that put him behind bars, Dist. Atty. Danny Goodman said at the news conference. Drummond was out on bond on the other charges at the time of the killings, Goodman said.

The investigation began after an infant in a car seat was found in a front yard in the Tigrett area on Tuesday afternoon. The Dyer County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement posted on social media that a caller reported the infant had been dropped off by a minivan or midsize SUV at a “random individual’s front yard.” The statement was accompanied by a photo of the baby in a paramedic’s arms.

After identifying the infant, the Sheriff’s Office said that night it was working with investigators in neighboring Lake County, where four people had been found dead.

On Wednesday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation identified the four as James M. Wilson, 21; Adrianna Williams, 20; Cortney Rose, 38; and Braydon Williams, 15.

Wilson and Adrianna Williams were the infant’s parents, and Rose was Adrianna and Braydon Williams’ mother, according to Goodman. All four of the victims lived in Dyer County, he said.

Immediately after discovering the infant, investigators started looking for the baby’s family and soon learned the four relatives had not been seen since the night before, Goodman said. Then a relative called 911 after finding two vehicles in a remote area. The four bodies were found in nearby woods in Tiptonville, Goodman said.

All four victims had been killed, he said, but he declined to say how.

Authorities did not name the infant, but an obituary for Wilson says he is survived by his daughter, Weslynne Wilson.

An attorney who represented Drummond in his case as a teenager did not immediately return a message requesting a comment.

A telephone listing for Drummond could not be found.

Mattise writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Md., contributed to this report.