An infant was found abandoned earlier this week on a “random” yard shortly before four of the child’s relatives were discovered dead in a nearby county, authorities in Tennessee said.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation identified a suspect Thursday wanted on four counts of first-degree murder and firearm charges in connection with the deaths.
Austin Robert Drummond, 29, should be considered armed and dangerous and is believed to be driving a 2016 Audi A3, the bureau said in a news release.
The release did not identify a possible motive.
Matthew Wilson, 21, the abandoned child’s father; Adrianna Williams, 20, the mother; Courtney Rose, 38, the maternal grandmother; and Braydon Williams, 15, the maternal uncle were identified as the victims by Danny Goodman, district attorney for Dyer and Lake counties.
They were discovered in a wooded area in Tiptonville, roughly 40 miles north of Tigrett, according to NBC affiliate WMC of Memphis.
“This is a deeply saddening day for our community,” Dyer County Sheriff Jeff Box said in a statement. “We are committed to uncovering the truth and ensuring justice is served.”
Nearly a dozen law enforcement agencies are assisting in the investigation, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Two Rivers Violent Fugitive Task Force, the state bureau said.
The FBI did not respond to a request for comment. An official with the fugitive task force declined to comment.
The infant was discovered Tuesday afternoon after a witness dialed 911 and reported seeing the baby in a car seat on "a random individual’s front yard" in the Tigrett area, the Dyer County Sheriff's Office said. Tigrett is nearly 80 miles north of Memphis.
The post, which said the child was being evaluated by medical personnel, included a photo of the infant “in the arms of a loving paramedic.”
The sheriff's office said in an update that it was seeking to talk with three people later identified as the child's deceased relatives — Rose, Wilson and Williams.
That evening, the sheriff's office said, four people had been found dead in neighboring Lake County in connection with the case.