NATIONAL NEWS

Tennessee man sought in 4 deaths spent years in prison for robbing a convenience store at age 16

Aug 1, 2025, 9:08 AM | Updated: 3:56 pm

This photo provided by Tennessee Bureau of Investigation shows Austin Robert Drummond. (Tennessee B...

This photo provided by Tennessee Bureau of Investigation shows Austin Robert Drummond. (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation via AP)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(Tennessee Bureau of Investigation via AP)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The man wanted in the northwest Tennessee deaths of four people — two of whom had an infant who was found alive in a front yard more than 30 miles away — had spent years in prison for robbing a convenience store as a 16-year-old and threatening to go after jurors, court records show.

Authorities are now offering a reward of up to $15,000 for information leading to the arrest of 28-year-old Austin Robert Drummond. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has said it obtained warrants for Drummond charging him with four counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping and weapons offenses.

Drummond, who has been added to the TBI’s Most Wanted List, should be considered armed and dangerous, officials said.

Drummond 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.

During 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.

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 Associated Press obtained audio of the parole board hearing through a public records request.

Drummond was given a combined 13-year sentence. His sentence ended in September 2024, according to the parole board meeting and Tennessee Department of Correction records.

As of the 2020 parole hearing, Drummond 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.

The investigation began after an infant in a car seat was found in a front yard in the Tigrett area on Tuesday afternoon. The Dyer County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement posted on social media that a caller reported the infant had been dropped off by a minivan or mid-size SUV at a “random individual’s front yard” with a photo of the baby in a paramedic’s arms.

After identifying the infant, the sheriff’s office said later that night that they were working with investigators in neighboring Lake County where four people had been found dead.

On Wednesday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation identified the four people found dead in Tiptonville as James M. Wilson, 21; Adrianna Williams, 20; Cortney Rose, 38; and Braydon Williams, 15.

Wilson and Adrianna Williams were the infant’s parents and Rose was Adrianna and Braydon Williams’ mother, according to District Attorney Danny Goodman. All four of the victims lived in Dyer County, he said.

Immediately after discovering the infant, investigators started looking for the baby’s family and soon learned the four relatives had not been seen since the night before, Goodman said. Then a relative called 911 after finding two vehicles in a remote area. The four bodies were found in nearby woods, Goodman said.

All four victims had been killed, Goodman said, but he declined to say how.

Authorities did not name the infant, but an obituary for Wilson says he is survived by his daughter, Weslynne Wilson.

An attorney who represented Drummond in his case as a teenager did not immediately return a message requesting a comment.

A telephone listing for Drummond could not be found.

___

Reporter Sarah Brumfield contributed from Cockeysville, Maryland.

National News

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of ...

Associated Press

After a reference to Trump’s impeachments is removed from a history museum, complex questions echo

NEW YORK (AP) — It would seem the most straightforward of notions: A thing takes place, and it goes into the history books or is added to museum exhibits. But whether something even gets remembered and how — particularly when it comes to the history of a country and its leader — is often the […]

50 minutes ago

FILE - Clouds hover over the entrance of the Florida State Prison in Starke, Fla., Aug. 3, 2023. (A...

Associated Press

DeSantis set a Florida record for executions. It’s driving a national increase

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — In the final moments of a life defined by violence, 60-year-old Edward Zakrzewski thanked the people of Florida for killing him “in the most cold, calculated, clean, humane, efficient way possible,” breathing deeply as a lethal drug cocktail coursed through his veins. With his last breath, strapped to a gurney inside […]

57 minutes ago

Devon Wells, a junior at Perry Central High School, welds a metal calf feeder at Halo Farms, where ...

Associated Press

Rural US high schools are offering more college-level classes, but college can still be a tough sell

PERRY, N.Y. (AP) — As a student in western New York’s rural Wyoming County, Briar Townes honed an artistic streak that he hopes to make a living from one day. In high school, he clicked with a college-level drawing and painting class. But despite the college credits he earned, college isn’t part of his plan. […]

58 minutes ago

Anthony Matesic works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, July 14, 202...

Associated Press

It’s Trump’s economy now. The latest financial numbers offer some warning signs

WASHINGTON (AP) — For all of President Donald Trump’s promises of an economic “golden age,” a spate of weak indicators this week told a potentially worrisome story as the impacts of his policies are coming into focus. Job gains are dwindling. Inflation is ticking upward. Growth has slowed compared to last year. More than six […]

58 minutes ago

Associated Press

Former US soldier is suspected in Montana bar shooting that killed 4, prompting search

A shooting at a Montana bar Friday left four people dead, and law enforcement officers were searching for a suspect described by his niece as a former U.S. soldier who struggled to get help for mental health problems. Officers searched a mountainous area west of the small town of Anaconda for the 45-year-old suspect, Michael […]

59 minutes ago

Dr. Wafaa Alrashid, center, whose husband, Rami Othmane, a Tunisian musician, is detained at the U....

Associated Press

A Tunisian musician was detained in LA after living in US for a decade. His doctor wife speaks out

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dr. Wafaa Alrashid noticed fewer of her patients were showing up for their appointments at the Los Angeles area hospital where she works as immigration raids spread fear among the Latino population she serves. The Utah-born chief medical officer at Huntington Hospital understood their fear on a personal level. Her husband […]

1 hour ago

Tennessee man sought in 4 deaths spent years in prison for robbing a convenience store at age 16