A weeklong manhunt for a heavily armed and extremely dangerous suspect in a mass murder ended in Jackson, Tennessee when authorities finally captured Austin Drummond. He is the man accused of murdering four family members in the West Tennessee City of Tiptonville, in Lake County on July 29. But that manhunt could have ended within hours rather than days if the U.S. Marshals involved in the search for him had notified the public, the Jackson police department and Madison County sheriffs immediately after they came in direct contact with Drummond on July 30. Questions remain unanswered about why the Marshals Service stayed silent for two days after they forced the crash of Drummond‘s vehicle and allowed him to escape and then remain at large for several more days until he was apprehended on August 5.
The U.S. Marshals have acknowledged to Fox 13 Television in Memphis that Drummond narrowly escaped capture the day after the murders, even before authorities had publicly identified him as a suspect. The U.S. Marshals Service say they had a sighting of Drummond in Jackson a few hours after the authorities found the bodies of the four victims he was alleged to have murdered. The fact that the Marshals Service now admits that he escaped from them several days before his eventual capture helps provide context to certain comments made by the Jackson police officer who eventually helped apprehend him.
“That kind of solidified that we have to get him right now. We can’t let him get away again,“ said Jackson police officer Katelyn Drown at a news conference following Drummond‘s arrest on August 5. At the time, it was unclear what she meant by “get away again.“
It is now clear that she was referring to the fact that the U.S. Marshals had been in direct contact with him and that he escaped from them prior to his eventual arrest days later. However, neither other law enforcement agencies nor the public were advised of that confrontation or the fact that he was apparently in Jackson as of July 31.
Fox 13 Investigative Reporter Kayla Solomon asked U.S. Marshal Tyreese Miller about the facts and previously undisclosed information surrounding the initial confrontation between Drummond and the Marshals at a press conference in Jackson on Wednesday.
“So, it is true that before this manhunt happened there was a prior attempt to get him into custody that was unsuccessful?” Solomon asked West Tennessee U.S. Marshal Tyreese Miller. “Yes,“ replied Miller, without elaboration.
Miller also confirmed that the confrontation with Drummond by the U.S. Marshals occurred on July 30 “within the city limits of Jackson.” After escaping from the Marshals, Drummond remained on the run until he was finally captured in a neighborhood in Jackson near Union University on August 5.
The manhunt intensified when it became clear that Drummond was in fact still in Jackson. The Marshals had speculated he had likely fled the state in the days after they first had the confrontation with him and lost him after they crashed into his car. The vehicle was found in a wooded area a few days later, and several miles from where the Marshals had collided with his vehicle.
Starting on about August 3 he was repeatedly reported being seen on video surveillance and ring doorbell cameras in neighborhoods in Jackson. That led to a full and much more aggressive and targeted manhunt that employed helicopters and other resources that eventually led to his successful capture.
During the manhunt, four cars were found by law enforcement and three other suspects were taken into custody, Tanaka Brown, Giovonti Thomas, and Dearrah Sanders. Authorities have not specified the motivations for the murders but Drummond’s girlfriend was related to each of the victims according to the TBI.
Drummond is next slated to appear in Court on August 14. He is facing four charges of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping, four counts of unlawful possession of a weapon, and one count of possession of a firearm during a dangerous felony.
