A Tennessee community experienced a wave of tension as a manhunt spanning multiple counties unfolded following a double homicide in Rickman. Payton Wayne Nations, 27, became the focus of the search after 25-year-old Isaiah Thomas Hawkins and 43-year-old Christina Denise Hawkins were found dead from gunshot wounds on Sunday morning.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Overton County Sheriff’s Office, as well as multiple other agencies, coordinated efforts to locate and apprehend the suspect. According to a WKRN report, the manhunt was initiated following the domestic incident that led to the fatalities. In an effort to apprehend the Nations, authorities issued a BE-ON-THE-LOOKOUT alert and went on to reverse 911 calls to the local residents to be vigilant.
Nations was reported to have fled the scene in a vehicle that was later pushed into Center Hill Lake, only to be stopped from sinking by a witness. After a series of sightings and local tip-offs, he was eventually captured on Daniel Whitehead's front lawn in Putnam County. "My daughter looks out the window and she says, ‘Dad, that guy that the cops are looking for — she called him the shooter — is outside,’" Whitehead had told WSMV. The arrest, following hours-long manhunt activities, came as a relief to local residents.
Nations was taken into custody by the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office without incident. Charged with two counts of first-degree murder, Nations was booked into Overton County Jail on a bond set at $40 million. "This evening, Nations was located and arrested in Putnam County," confirmed the TBI Newsroom. Additional investigative efforts led by the TBI and Overton County Sheriff's Office are ongoing to understand the full context of the tragic events following the charges against Nations.
