The baby lived. Her parents didn't.
On a Tuesday afternoon in rural Dyer County, Tennessee, a 911 caller spotted something that didn't belong: a baby girl, roughly seven months old, sitting alone in a car seat in a stranger's front yard near the small community of Tigrett. The heat index that day had climbed to 116 degrees. Within hours, the reason the child had been left there — and by whom — would become the center of one of the most disturbing criminal investigations the region had seen in years.
By that same evening, four people were found dead roughly 40 miles to the northwest, along Carrington Road in Tiptonville, a town in Lake County. They were James M. Wilson, 21; Adrianna Williams, 20; Cortney Rose, 38; and Braydon Williams, 15. All four, it would emerge, were the baby's family. Wilson and Adrianna Williams were her parents. Rose was her maternal grandmother. Braydon Williams was her maternal uncle. The child had been left in a yard in one county while her entire immediate family was killed in another.
Authorities named Austin Robert Drummond, 28, as the suspect in all four killings. Warrants have been issued charging him with four counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping, four counts of felon in possession of a firearm, and one count of possessing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony. As of Saturday evening, Drummond remained at large. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation believes he is still somewhere in the area and has urged the public not to approach him under any circumstances — call 911 instead.
Drummond is not unknown to law enforcement. In 2013, he robbed a gas station in Jackson, Tennessee, at gunpoint and was convicted of aggravated robbery, receiving a ten-year sentence. He was released from prison in September 2024 — less than a year before the killings. The TBI has not disclosed what led investigators to identify him as the suspect, nor have they described a motive or explained the circumstances of how the four victims died.
Two men have now been arrested in connection with the case, though neither is accused of the killings themselves. Tanaka Brown, 29, was taken into custody Friday and charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. He has been booked into the Lake County Jail. Giovontie Thomas, 29, faces a charge of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder; he was already being held in Madison County on an unrelated matter and will be transferred to Lake County for arraignment. The TBI has not detailed what evidence underpins the charges against either man, and it is not known whether they have legal representation.
The search for Drummond has involved nearly a dozen agencies, including the FBI and a US Marshals Service fugitive task force. Two vehicles connected to the manhunt have been located: a white 2016 Audi, believed to have been driven by Drummond, was found unoccupied in Jackson, Tennessee — about 45 miles southeast of Tigrett — and a 1988 white Ford pickup truck with a red stripe was recovered in Dyer County. Neither vehicle led to Drummond. The TBI and US Marshals Service have jointly offered a $17,500 reward for information leading to his arrest.
The district attorney for Dyer and Lake counties, Danny Goodman, confirmed the family connections and told reporters that investigators believe the killer knew all four victims. "The victims were all from Dyer County," he said, "and we suspect the person that killed them knew all of them."
Matt Wilson, father of James M. Wilson, released a statement that carried the particular grief of a parent trying to put language to something that resists it. He described his son as an exceptional father, someone who would stop to help anyone, always polite. He called Adrianna Williams the perfect mother to his granddaughter. "This has left a huge hole in our family," he wrote. "No amount of justice will ever be able to replace our son."
The baby girl is in the care of authorities. Drummond, described as five feet ten inches tall, 190 pounds, with brown hair, blue eyes, and a goatee, remains the subject of an active and widening manhunt. The next significant development in this case will likely be either his capture or the emergence of a clearer picture of what happened on that Tuesday in northwest Tennessee — and why.
Notable Quotes
No amount of justice will ever be able to replace our son. He was an exceptional father. Adrianna was the perfect momma to my grandbaby.— Matt Wilson, father of victim James M. Wilson
The victims were all from Dyer County, and we suspect the person that killed them knew all of them.— Danny Goodman, district attorney for Dyer and Lake counties
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What's the detail in this story that keeps pulling at you?
The geography. The baby is left in one county, the family is killed in another, forty miles apart. That distance feels deliberate — like someone was trying to separate the child from what was happening.
Do we know who left the baby in that yard?
No. The TBI hasn't said. They haven't confirmed whether Drummond left her there or whether someone else did. That's one of the central unanswered questions.
The two men arrested — Brown and Thomas — they're charged as accessories after the fact. What does that actually mean in this context?
It means they're accused of helping Drummond after the killings — not of committing them. Could be hiding him, disposing of evidence, providing a vehicle. The TBI hasn't specified, which leaves a lot of room for speculation.
Drummond had only been out of prison for about ten months when this happened.
Right. He served time for armed robbery, was released in September 2024, and by the following summer four people connected to a seven-month-old baby were dead. That timeline is going to be scrutinized.
The DA said the killer probably knew all four victims. What does that suggest to you?
It suggests this wasn't random. These weren't strangers. Whatever the motive was — and we don't know it yet — it was personal enough to bring four people together, or to find them together, and kill them all.
The father's statement was striking. He called his son an exceptional father.
That detail lands hard. James Wilson was 21 years old with a seven-month-old daughter. His father is now a grandfather raising that child's memory alongside her survival. The baby lived. Her parents didn't.
Nearly a dozen agencies are involved and Drummond is still out there. What does that tell us?
Either he has help — which the arrests of Brown and Thomas suggest is possible — or he knows the terrain well enough to stay hidden. Probably both. The reward and the manhunt scale suggest authorities are not treating this as a matter of days.