A manhunt is on in Tennessee for a suspect who the authorities said killed four members of a family whose bodies were found on Tuesday after a baby related to them was abandoned in a front yard some 40 miles away.
The man, Austin Robert Drummond, 28, faces four counts of first-degree murder and other charges, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a news release on Thursday.
As of Thursday night, Mr. Drummond, an ex-convict who had served time in prison for armed robbery, was still at large and “should be considered armed and dangerous,” the authorities said. It was not immediately clear if Mr. Drummond had a lawyer.
The case began to unfold just after 3 p.m. on Tuesday, when a caller informed the authorities that a minivan or sport-utility vehicle had dropped a baby in a car seat in a front yard near the community of Tigrett, Tenn., the Dyer County Sheriff’s Office said on social media.
By 5:10 p.m., the authorities had identified the baby and were searching for three family members, whom they named as Matthew Wilson, Adrianna Williams and Cortney Rose.
Shortly after, the three were confirmed dead.
In a separate post two days later, on Thursday, the sheriff’s office confirmed the deaths of Mr. Wilson, 21, Ms. Williams, 20, Ms. Rose, 38, as well as that of Braydon Williams, 15, whom they said had been found murdered on Tuesday in the small lakeside town of Tiptonville.
Mr. Wilson and Ms. Williams were the young parents of the baby, the Dyer County District Attorney’s Office told the NBC affiliate Action News 5. Ms. Rose was the baby’s grandmother, and Mr. Williams the uncle, the district attorney’s office said.
The office could not be immediately reached on Thursday night for further information about the killings. The relationship between Mr. Drummond and the victims was unclear, and the authorities have not said how the victims were killed or offered any information about a possible motive.
The authorities said the killings had taken place along Carrington Road in Tiptonville, a town of less than 3,500 people in far northwestern Tennessee.
They described Mr. Drummond as 5 feet 10 inches, with brown hair, blue eyes and a goatee, and said he might be driving a damaged 2016 Audi A3 with Tennessee license plates. He was added to Tennessee’s Most Wanted list, and the authorities are offering a cash reward of up to $15,000 for information leading to his arrest.
Mr. Drummond is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping and various firearms charges.
Mr. Drummond previously served 13 years in prison in Tennessee and was released in September 2024, according to state records. He was convicted in 2014 of armed robbery of a convenience store in Jackson, Tenn., according to local media reports.
Alain Delaquérière contributed research.
Rylee Kirk reports on breaking news, trending topics and major developing stories.
Livia Albeck-Ripka is a Times reporter based in Los Angeles, covering breaking news, California and other subjects.
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