MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Austin Drummond, accused of killing four people and kidnapping a baby in Tennessee, spent most of his adult life at a state prison, where pictures posted to his reported Facebook account paint an unexpected lifestyle.
Drummond, 28, was taken into custody Tuesday after a massive, dayslong manhunt.
He had been out of prison for 11 months.
Drummond finished a 13-year sentence last September after he was tried as an adult for a July 2013 armed robbery. Security footage showed him in a gas station in Jackson, Tennessee, walking behind the counter, pointing a pistol at the clerk and taking money out of the register.
Drummond served his sentence at the state’s Northwest Correctional Complex.
While he was incarcerated, a video was reportedly posted to Drummond’s Facebook page showing him playing video games.
Multiple photos posted to that same page revealed a comfortable life while he was reportedly housed in a state prison.
The pictures showed him with multiple cellphones, a TV streaming device, a handheld video game system and shelves stocked with food.
Another picture showed Drummond flashing a bottle of liquor with the caption, “Cîroc… almost home living it up till I get there.” It was posted in November 2023, 10 months before he was released.
NewsNation affiliate WREG asked the Tennessee Department of Corrections if it had seen the photos, what action was taken, and how often they conduct sweeps at that prison.
“When an inmate is in violation of policy, they are disciplined,” TDOC responded.
A TBI background report states Drummond was charged four times with contraband into a penal facility, as well as unlawful telecommunication devices in a penal facility.
He also received attempted murder, drug and weapon charges.
“He had these new charges pending from where it occurred inside the prison,” said Lake County District Attorney Danny Goodman Jr.
Goodman said Drummond was released in September without community supervision, so the pending charges were “no different than anyone else who’s on the street who receives a charge.”
Drummond was given a bond and was reporting to court.
It’s unclear how Drummond reportedly got the contraband into the state prison.
Authorities said he was in a romantic relationship with a close relative of one of the four victims he’s now accused of killing.
That girlfriend, according to a state HR file, was at one point a corrections officer at the same prison while Drummond was incarcerated. The file makes no mention of any reported relationship.
The only disciplinary issue listed is one that led to her firing last October, for failing to report to work.
The district attorney who oversees Jackson stressed to the parole board in 2020 that Drummond was dangerous and a confirmed member of the Vice Lords gang.
During his time in prison, Drummond had more than two dozen disciplinary issues, including possession of a deadly weapon, assault, refusing a drug test and gang activity.
Drummond is now facing four counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping and weapons offenses.
Giovonte Thomas, Tanaka Brown, and Dearrah Sanders were also charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder in connection with the manhunt for Drummond.
Brown also faces one count of tampering with evidence.
Victims James Wilson, Adrianna Williams, Cortney Rose and Braydon Williams were discovered on July 29. Police said an infant that was found on the front lawn of a random individual’s house is related to all four of the victims.