A fast-thinking Tennessee home painter was simply attempting to “do the correct factor” when he helped lead police to seize quadruple homicide suspect Austin Drummond after recognizing the convicted felon lingering round within the woods.
Ricardo Contreras was portray a home together with his crew in Jackson on Tuesday when he noticed an odd determine within the woods close to the house, believing he had encountered an animal, he informed WMC.
Nevertheless, Contreras and his employees had been conscious of the manhunt underway for Drummond, who was accused of murdering a household per week earlier.
“I noticed somebody transferring in the midst of the woods, and he had like a, you already know, a sweater with, you already know, one thing on his head or one thing like that but it surely was actually arduous to see if it was the person who they had been in search of however, who else might or not it’s,” Contreras informed the outlet.
With out lacking a beat, Contreras referred to as police to report the person within the woods.
“That was superb as a result of once I referred to as 911, I informed her, like, I don’t need to make a giant factor on this, however I do know you’ve gotten been working arduous to get this man,” he mentioned.
“And I’m unsure if it’s him or not, however you should know that it’s anyone again there.”
Police arrested Drummond about quarter-hour after Contreras tipped police off concerning the convicted felon’s location on Tuesday morning.
“I used to be nonetheless on the telephone once they acquired there instantly, and the helicopter and every little thing. They transfer actually fast,” Contreras added.
The daddy-of-two is relieved the accused killer is off the streets for his household’s and the group’s security.
“I imply we will sleep, you already know, higher tonight,” Contreras shared. “Even my children — like I acquired two little ones that they only, I imply, the final three or 4 nights they’ve been asleep with us within the mattress as a result of they’re scared about this.”
Police did provide a $37,000 reward for data resulting in Drummond’s arrest — which Contreras mentioned he hasn’t heard something about — however mentioned he wasn’t in search of cash when he referred to as 911, and was solely attempting to do “the correct factor.”
Drummond’s arrest places an finish to a week-long manhunt after he allegedly killed his 4 victims, Matthew Wilson, 21; Adrianna Williams, 20; Braydon Williams, 15; and Cortney Rose, 38, about 40 miles away from the place he was captured in Tiptonville on July 29.
Wilson and Williams’ seven-month-old daughter was found deserted in a automobile seat in a entrance yard in Tigrett, police mentioned.
His motive for the murders continues to be not identified; nonetheless, authorities consider that the killings weren’t a random act of violence.
His arrest got here after he was noticed on Sunday evening in Jackson holding a rifle and sporting camouflage clothes with a brown backpack, showing to attempt to open a door and enter a constructing, in accordance with surveillance footage shared by the Jackson Police Division.
Three suspected associates of Drummond, Derrah Sanders, 23, Tanaka Brown, 29, and Giovonti Thomas, 29, had been arrested in latest days.
All three had been charged with accent after the very fact to first-degree homicide, and Brown faces an extra cost for tampering with proof.
Drummond had beforehand been convicted of aggravated theft, for which he had been launched from a 13-year jail sentence in September 2024.
On the time of the quadruple murder, Drummond was out on bond after being charged with tried homicide from his stint in jail.
The alleged mass assassin faces ten fees, together with first-degree homicide, aggravated kidnapping, and possessing a firearm as a felon.
