Tennessee man Austin Drummond is scheduled to appear before a judge for his preliminary hearing today, facing charges for the alleged quadruple murder of a West Tennessee family. The case gained notoriety after Drummond was the subject of a week-long manhunt, ending with his capture in Jackson. The victims, identified as 21-year-old Matthew Wilson, 20-year-old Adrianna Williams, 38-year-old Cortney Rose, and 15-year-old Braydon Williams, were discovered on July 29, while an infant was found abandoned in a Dyer County yard, according to WREG.
Drummond is charged with multiple offenses, including four counts of first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, and felony possession of a firearm; the state intends to pursue the death penalty, with District Attorney Danny Goodman expressing his approval for the judge's decision to deny bond, as reported by WREG. Beyond the primary suspect, seven people are now implicated in the case, with Eric Wise Jr., Michell Ovelis, Giovantie Thomas, and Dearrah Sanders newly indicted by a Madison County Grand Jury, as per announcements from the TBI referenced by Local Memphis.
Wise and Ovelis were indicted on charges of being accessories after the fact, booked into Madison County Jail on Tuesday, per Action News 5. The group accused of assisting Drummond also includes Tanaka Brown, who faces additional charges for tampering with evidence, and Dearrah Sanders, who was indicted on her charges this Tuesday. The loss for the family of the victims is profound, as expressed by Kim Hamil, the mother of James Matthew Wilson, who stated in a WREG interview, "That's what I think people don't understand, he took them all. It's not just the loss of our son. It's the loss of our daughter-in-law, Braden, and everybody. Courtney. It's a whole family gone. It's unbelievable."
