(JACKSON, Tenn.) — A manhunt for the suspect in the Tennessee killings of four people and the kidnapping of a baby ended Tuesday when he was taken into custody, police said.
Austin Robert Drummond, 28, was taken into custody in Jackson by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation after a weeklong manhunt, according to the Jackson, Tennessee, Police Department.
During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, law enforcement officials said Drummond was captured after multiple community residents spotted him and called 911.
“This is a perfect example of police and community cooperation,” David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Drummond, who had been considered armed and dangerous, is the prime suspect in the July 29 killings of 38-year-old Cortney Rose; Rose’s children, 20-year-old Adrianna Williams and 15-year-old Braydon Williams; and Adrianna Williams’ boyfriend, 21-year-old James “Michael” Wilson, according to authorities and family.
The victims were found along a road in Lake County, in northwest Tennessee, authorities said. The same day, Wilson and Williams’ baby was left in a car seat in a “random individual’s front yard” in nearby Dyer County, according to the Dyer County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities said Drummond knew the victims through his girlfriend, who was the daughter of Rose and sister of Adrianna and Braydon Williams.
A motive for the killings remain under investigation.
During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, law enforcement officials said Drummond was captured after multiple community residents spotted him in Jackson around 8 a.m. and called 911.
“This is a perfect example of police and community cooperation,” said David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Jackson Police Chief Thom Corley said residents spotted Drummond around 8 a.m. Tuesday near a vacant building investigators believe the suspect had been hiding in. He said officers rushed to the area as more 911 calls came in, including one at 8:57 a.m. that helped officers pinpoint Drummond’s location in the woods near the vacant building.
Corley said officers surrounded the area and took Drummond into custody at 9:05 a.m.
“Today we find some peace in knowing that the suspect is no longer a threat,” Corley said.
Corley introduced the three officers at the news conference who captured Drummond, saying, “They were at the right spot and acted immediately and apprehended Drummond.”
“It was really the community that really broke this for us,” Rausch said.
Rausch said Drummond was unarmed at the time of his arrest, but police have since recovered several firearms. Rausch said police will analyze the guns to determine if they were used in the homicides.
Drummond was captured in a wooded area of Jackson just a day after police released an image of him taken Sunday by a home security camera, police said.
At the time he was taken into custody, a reward of up to $30,000 was being offered for information leading to Drummond’s arrest.
Rausch said the reward money will likely be shared by those whose 911 calls led to Drummond’s capture.
Drummond is facing four counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping, four counts of felon in possession of a firearm and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
During the search for Drummond, police arrested four people accused of being accessories after the fact to the homicides.
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