Tennessee authorities capture ex-convict suspected in slaying of family of four

Tennessee authorities said Tuesday morning they captured an ex-convict who is suspected of killing a family of four and abandoning their baby miles away, ending a weeklong manhunt.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Austin Robert Drummond, 28, was taken into custody in the woods near Jackson, his hometown. The agency shared a photo of the suspect shortly after his arrest in which he appeared sweaty and disheveled.

“Thank you, again, to the local, state, and federal partners who worked diligently to bring Drummond into custody,” the TBI posted on X.

Police linked Drummond to the July 29 quadruple slaying in Tiptonville after finding the baby girl alone and alive in a car seat in front of a random person’s home. Investigators later found the infant’s parents, her maternal grandmother and her teenage uncle dead nearly 40 miles away.

Three people — two men and a woman — have been charged since then with accessory after the fact to murder, although authorities did not share details of how they may have helped Drummond.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on Monday announced charges against Dearrah Sanders, 23, with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. Tanaka Brown and Giovantie Thomas, both 29, were charged over the weekend with being accessories to the murder.

Police haven’t described how the four victims were killed.

Drummond, who was free on bond for a murder charge before being captured, now faces charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and weapons-related offenses in the slayings.

Court records show Drummond spent more than a decade behind bars for a 2013 armed robbery and received additional time for threatening jurors and victims post-trial.

Prosecutors who helped put him in prison spoke out at earlier parole hearings, calling him a “dangerous felony offender” and a member of the powerful Chicago gang the Vice Lords.

WHBQ reported that Kaitlyn Speed, sister of slaying victim Cortney Rose, was a corrections officer at the same facility where Drummond served time. Family members told the station that Ms. Speed and Drummond were in a relationship.