A quick-thinking Tennessee house painter was just trying to “do the right thing” when he helped lead police to capture quadruple murder suspect Austin Drummond after spotting the convicted felon lingering around in the woods.
Ricardo Contreras was painting a house with his crew in Jackson on Tuesday when he spotted an odd figure in the woods near the home, believing he had encountered an animal, he told WMC.
However, Contreras and his workers were aware of the manhunt underway for Drummond, who was accused of murdering a family a week earlier.
“I saw someone moving in the middle of the woods, and he had like a, you know, a sweater with, you know, something on his head or something like that but it was really hard to see if it was the person that they were looking for but, who else could it be,” Contreras told the outlet.
Without missing a beat, Contreras called police to report the man in the woods.
“That was amazing because when I called 911, I told her, like, I don’t want to make a big thing on this, but I know you have been working hard to get this guy,” he said.
“And I’m not sure if it’s him or not, but you need to know that it’s somebody back there.”
Police arrested Drummond about 15 minutes after Contreras tipped police off about the convicted felon’s location on Tuesday morning.
“I was still on the phone when they got there immediately, and the helicopter and everything. They move really quick,” Contreras added.
The father-of-two is relieved the accused killer is off the streets for his family’s and the community’s safety.
“I mean we can sleep, you know, better tonight,” Contreras shared. “Even my kids — like I got two little ones that they just, I mean, the last three or four nights they’ve been asleep with us in the bed because they are scared about this.”
Police did offer a $37,000 reward for information leading to Drummond’s arrest — which Contreras said he hasn’t heard anything about — but said he wasn’t looking for money when he called 911, and was only trying to do “the right thing.”
Drummond’s arrest puts an end to a week-long manhunt after he allegedly killed his four victims, Matthew Wilson, 21; Adrianna Williams, 20; Braydon Williams, 15; and Cortney Rose, 38, about 40 miles away from where he was captured in Tiptonville on July 29.
Wilson and Williams’ seven-month-old daughter was discovered abandoned in a car seat in a front yard in Tigrett, police said.
His motive for the murders is still not known; however, authorities believe that the killings were not a random act of violence.
His arrest came after he was spotted on Sunday night in Jackson holding a rifle and wearing camouflage clothing with a brown backpack, appearing to try to open a door and enter a building, according to surveillance footage shared by the Jackson Police Department.
Three suspected associates of Drummond, Derrah Sanders, 23, Tanaka Brown, 29, and Giovonti Thomas, 29, were arrested in recent days.
All three were charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder, and Brown faces an additional charge for tampering with evidence.
Drummond had previously been convicted of aggravated robbery, for which he had been released from a 13-year prison sentence in September 2024.
At the time of the quadruple homicide, Drummond was out on bond after being charged with attempted murder from his stint in prison.
The alleged mass murderer faces ten charges, including first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, and possessing a firearm as a felon.
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