Two men have been charged with allegedly helping the fugitive accused of murdering a family of four in Tennessee and kidnapping their baby, who was found abandoned on the side of a road.
Tanaka Brown and Giovante Thomas, both 29, have been charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) said in a statement.
Both allegedly “assisted” 28-year-old Austin Robert Drummond, who is still being hunted over the murder of the family whose 7-month-old infant was found dumped on a lawn in a car seat near Tigrett last Tuesday.
However, authorities have yet to detail exactly how they are accused of helping the accused killer, who faces four counts of first-degree murder as well as one of aggravated kidnapping and others for weapons offenses.
Brown now also faces one count of tampering with evidence, the TBI said. He was booked into the Lake County Jail on Friday, where he remains without bond.
Thomas was already being held in the Madison County Jail on an unrelated charge for failure to appear when he was charged on Saturday. He was expected to be transferred to the Lake County Jail to be arraigned on the new charges, the Dyer County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The four victims, whose bodies were found 40 miles from Tigrett in Tiptonville, were named as parents James M. Wilson, 21, and Adrianna Williams, 20; grandmother Cortney Rose, 38; and uncle Braydon Williams, 15.
Drummond had a relationship with the family, and the killings are believed to have been a targeted attack, TBI Director David Rausch said.
He has previous convictions for robbing a convenience store and threatening to go after jurors, and was also charged with attempted murder while behind bars, CBS News reports.
“At the time of this release, Drummond remained at large. He should be considered armed and dangerous,” the TBI said.
