A Tennessee man charged with killing four family members will appear in court for the first time since a grand jury decided to move forward with his case. Austin Robert Drummond is expected to show up Monday afternoon for his hearing in Lake County, which is in the rural northwest part of the state.
A grand jury brought charges against Drummond that include first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping for the shootings that happened on July 29. Before this, Drummond had said he was not guilty in a lower court, but a judge decided there was enough proof to send his case to the grand jury. Drummond stands accused of wiping out an entire family. The victims included a baby’s mom and dad, the baby’s grandmother, and the baby’s uncle.
The infant was found left alone in someone’s front yard in the countryside of west Tennessee, as per NY Post. The people who died were James M. Wilson, 21, and Adrianna Williams, 20, who were the baby’s parents. Also killed were Adrianna’s younger brother Braydon Williams, who was just 15, and their mom Cortney Rose, 38. All of them were shot and their bodies were found in the woods in Tiptonville, covered with tarps.
The evidence points to him being there
The day everything happened, police got a call about a baby in a car seat that had been left in a stranger’s front yard about 40 miles away from Tiptonville. The Dyer County Sheriff’s Office said someone just dropped the infant off there. Not long after that, police in Lake County found the four family members dead from gunshot wounds in Tiptonville.
Police spent a whole week looking for Drummond before they finally caught him on August 5 in Jackson, which is about 70 miles away from where the murders took place. During a court hearing in September, an FBI agent said that “data from a cellphone used by Drummond showed he was in the vicinity of a wooded area where the bodies were found.”
But Drummond’s lawyer, Bryan Huffman, pointed out that “there was no evidence presented during the hearing that showed Drummond actually shot any of the victims.”
District Attorney Danny Goodman from Lake County explained that Drummond’s girlfriend is the sister of the baby’s grandmother, which connects him to the family. Police have also arrested five other people who are charged with helping Drummond after the crimes happened.
Drummond already has a record that includes time in prison for robbing a convenience store and making threats against jurors. He also got charged with trying to kill a prison guard while he was locked up. Drummond was out on bond when these killings happened.
The murders took place in Tiptonville, a quiet town of only about 3,400 people. The small community sits about 120 miles north of Memphis, close to the Mississippi River and beautiful Reelfoot Lake.
Published: Nov 17, 2025 02:45 pm