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The vehicle driven by Tennessee quadruple murder suspect Austin Drummond, who remains at large, was found abandoned as details are emerging about his lengthy criminal background.
A manhunt remains active on Saturday for the 28-year-old wanted in the murders of four people this week in Tiptonville, Tennessee. Police said an infant later found on the front lawn of a random individual’s house is related to all four deceased individuals, who have been identified as family members of Drummond’s current girlfriend.
“The Jackson Police Department has located the vehicle driven by Austin Drummond in the woods near the dead end of MCO road,” the agency said Friday regarding a 2016 Audi A3 with a Tennessee license plate. “It appears that he has been living in the vehicle and may be in the area.”
Though Drummond has not yet been located, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said on Saturday that agents arrested one of his friends – 29-year-old Tanaka Brown – on Friday. He was booked into the Lake County Jail without bond on charges of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
Jackson police have asked “all people within the immediate area of this alert to lock their doors and stay indoors” as the manhunt for Drummond continues, reminding residents that “he is considered armed and extremely dangerous.”
Jackson is located about 70 miles southeast of Tiptonville, where the victims – James M. Wilson, 21, Adrianna Williams, 20, Cortney Rose, 38, and Braydon Williams, 15 – were found Tuesday.
“Investigators searching for Austin Drummond have been wanting to locate this 1988 white Ford pickup truck with a red stripe,” the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said on Saturday. “That truck has been located near Burnt Mill Rd. in Dyer County.”
“We are now asking anyone in the area with cameras to review your footage from Tuesday morning to see if you spot Drummond or this truck,” the TBI added.
It’s unclear who was operating the truck in an image of it released by the TBI. When asked about it Saturday by Fox News Digital, a TBI spokesperson said they could not confirm that Drummond was behind the wheel.
Tennessee District 29 District Attorney Danny Goodman said during a Friday news conference that at the time of the alleged murders, Drummond was out on bond for trying to kill someone while he was in prison on Dec. 12, 2024.
“It was a targeted attack,” Goodman added during an interview with “Fox & Friends” on Friday.
Goodman revealed the four victims were family members of Drummond’s current girlfriend. Rose and Adrianna are half-sisters, and both of Williams’ siblings are her nephew and niece.
A reward of $15,000 is now being offered for Drummond’s arrest. The nature of the alleged killings is unclear, but the TBI has said it obtained warrants for Drummond charging him with four counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping and weapons offenses.
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“Getting Austin Drummond in custody is a priority. Anyone with information about where we can find him should call us immediately. You will remain anonymous,” U.S. Marshal Tyreece Miller said in a statement. The U.S. Marshals are assisting the TBI in the manhunt.
Drummond previously spent years in prison for robbing a convenience store as a 16-year-old and threatening to go after jurors, The Associated Press reported, citing court records.
He was tried as an adult for the July 2013 robbery in Jackson, Tennessee. During the incident, 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 hearing in which he was denied parole, Drummond said he was on Xanax the night of the robbery and doesn’t remember robbing the gas station. He said the gun was a BB gun.
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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 parole hearing. He pleaded guilty in February 2015 to 13 counts of retaliation for past action.
The district attorney that covers Madison County, Jody Pickens, urged against early release for Drummond, writing a letter in 2020 that called him “a dangerous felony offender and a confirmed member of the Vice Lords,” a street gang, according to the AP.
Drummond was ultimately given a combined 13-year sentence. His sentence ended in September 2024, Tennessee Department of Correction records showed.
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As of the 2020 parole hearing, Drummond also had more than two dozen disciplinary issues in prison, including possession of a deadly weapon, assault, refusing a drug test and gang activity. Drummond said the assault and the deadly weapon charges occurred because he was almost beaten to death.
Fox News’ Julia Bonavita, Adam Sabes, Samantha Daigle and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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