A man accused of killing four family members of a baby girl that he left unharmed in a western Tennessee front yard miles from the crime scene last week was captured on Tuesday.
Austin Robert Drummond, 28, was taken into custody after a search that put a community along the Mississippi River on edge and amid several unanswered questions surrounding the July 29 quadruple homicide in Tiptonville.
Here’s a closer look at what we know and don’t know about the investigation:
How did officials connect the killings with the baby?
The investigation into the family’s killings in Tiptonville began after an infant in a car seat was found in a front yard in the Tigrett area, roughly 40 miles (65 kilometers) away. The Dyer County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that a caller reported that a minivan or midsize SUV had dropped the baby at a “random individual’s front yard.”
The sheriff’s office later said they were working with investigators in neighboring Lake County, where four people had been found dead. Officials determined those people were the child’s parents, grandmother and uncle.
Why was the baby found so far from the crime scene?
That is not clear.
Detectives believe Drummond drove the baby about 40 miles from Tiptonville, where they say he fatally shot the four adults, to the town of Tigrett, where the baby girl was left in a front yard.
They haven’t said publicly why Drummond chose that house.
Dyer and Lake counties District Attorney Danny Goodman declined in an interview with The Associated Press to elaborate on what detectives know about this aspect of the case. He said only that the baby girl is safe now and in the custody of other relatives.
What was the motive?
Investigators have not revealed why they think Drummond carried out the killings.
Goodman said Drummond knew the four people he’s charged with killing and that Drummond’s girlfriend is the sister of the child’s grandmother, but it’s unknown if he has any connection to the baby.
The victims were found fatally shot in a wooded area near Reelfoot Lake, a swamplike body of water near the Mississippi River and not far from the Missouri border.
Did the suspect act alone?
Police say Drummond had help in the killings, but haven’t elaborated further.
Tennessee authorities charged Tanaka Brown, 29, and Giovonte Thomas, 29, with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. Investigators allege both men “assisted” Drummond, 28, in the killings.
Dearrah Sanders of Jackson, Tennessee, was also charged with being an accessory after the killings.
Did Drummond have a criminal background?
Yes, an extensive one. According to court records, Drummond spent years in prison for robbing a convenience store as a 16-year-old and threatening to go after jurors.
He was tried as an adult for the July 2013 robbery in Jackson, Tennessee. During the robbery, he pointed a pistol at the gas station store worker and ordered the cash register to be opened, taking the $44 inside, court records show.
At a 2020 parole hearing, Drummond said he was on Xanax the night of the robbery and doesn’t remember robbing the gas station. He said the firearm was a BB gun.
After the jury convicted him of one count of aggravated robbery in August 2014, he made threats to go after jurors, Drummond said during the hearing. He pleaded guilty in February 2015 to 13 counts of retaliation for past action and was given a combined 13-year sentence. His sentence ended in September 2024, according to Tennessee Department of Correction records.
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 was charged for several activities inside the prison, including attempted murder, after he completed the sentence that originally put him behind bars, Goodman said at a news conference. Drummond was out on bond on the other charges at the time of the killings, Goodman said.
What happens next?
Drummond is expected in court in Tiptonville for an arraignment later this week. He faces four counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping and weapons offenses, officials have said.
Goodman said he’s yet to decide whether to seek the death penalty, but said “it is very likely” he’ll pursue it.
An attorney who represented Drummond in his case as a teenager did not return an earlier message requesting a comment. A telephone listing for Drummond could not be found, and an automated message from the local public defender’s office said to call back later.
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Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise contributed to this report.
