SUSPECT IN CUSTODY TN - 4 people found deceased, related to an infant abandoned in car seat in someone's yard (Dyer County, TN) 29 July 2025

[mgeni]

Great question. I thought the part I bolded below was odd. Did whoever drop the baby off really leave a photo too? If so, was the baby’s name written on it? Or did People Magazine mean the sheriff’s dept displayed a photo on their site?

"A dark-colored minivan or a white mid-size SUV was reported to have dropped off an infant in a car seat at a random individual’s front yard," they added, alongside a photo of the infant. "Thankfully a witness saw the car seat with the child and called 911."

4 People Found Dead in Tenn. After an Infant Was Abandoned in a Stranger’s Front Yard. Now Authorities Are Linking the Cases

Four people have been found dead in Tennessee after an infant was abandoned in a stranger's front yard, police have said, with authorities linking the two cases together.

people.com

I think it’s just poor wording and meant the people quoted were standing with a picture of the baby while being interviewed. But who knows!

 

[steeltowngirl]

I think it’s just poor wording and meant the people quoted were standing with a picture of the baby while being interviewed. But who knows!

I think you are right. That makes much more sense.

 

[TennesseeGal]

Four people found dead identified; all family of baby abandoned in car seat, DA says

Bit of the timing and video of the vehicles being towed from area where bodies were found.

 

[Sweethomeky]

They just showed a video of police removing the white suv and black charger from the wooded area where the deceased where found. Both vehicles belonged to the deceased. This means the white suv dropped the baby before where they ended up. It also appears there has to be more than one perpetrator if both vehicles were there. Possibly 3 imo. Another vehicle had to be there as a getaway. All around sickening.

 

[AcerPacer]

They just showed a video of police removing the white suv and black charger from the wooded area where the deceased where found. Both vehicles belonged to the deceased. This means the white suv dropped the baby before where they ended up. It also appears there has to be more than one perpetrator if both vehicles were there. Possibly 3 imo. Another vehicle had to be there as a getaway. All around sickening.

This is sounding more and more sinister isn't it! I don't think 1 person in 1 car could have lured 4 people in 2 cars to a specific location and murdered them !
Also, there HAD to be hindsight that something was going to happen hence the baby was dropped off and "saved"
This sounds like a planned "assassination" to me!

Retaliation?
A "lesson"?

I'm not sure this is a simple drug deal gone wrong anymore!

IMO JMO of course

 

[steeltowngirl]

They just showed a video of police removing the white suv and black charger from the wooded area where the deceased were found. Both vehicles belonged to the deceased. This means the white suv dropped the baby before where they ended up. It also appears there has to be more than one perpetrator if both vehicles were there. Possibly 3 imo. Another vehicle had to be there as a getaway. All around sickening.

Wasn't there a 3rd vehicle - a black truck - mentioned too? Where is it, and who drove it away?

jmo

 

[lonetraveler]

I'll admit it, I'm hurriedly trying to catch up on this case and may have missed it. How did the people die? Shot? Stabbed? What?

 

[appleatcha]

I'll admit it, I'm hurriedly trying to catch up on this case and may have missed it. How did the people die? Shot? Stabbed? What?

I don't think that's been reported yet.

 

[AcerPacer]

I don't think that's been reported yet.

Correct
No further information out yet,
Just: an abandoned baby was found around 3pm, local sheriff put an appeal out on fbk and VERY quickly baby was identified and trying to locate her M&F (now named as AW and MW)
Then it became apparent M&F were missing
Then the grandmother of baby (named as CR) and Uncle of baby (named as BW) were also declared missing, sheriff and MW family put out alerts on them and their missing vehicles.

Around 10pm 4 bodies were found in 2 cars, those bodies have been identified as the mother and father, maternal grandmother and uncle of the baby who was abandoned.

LE have said it's an isolated case
No information about the causes of death, why, by how many or what occurred that afternoon to lead someone to abandon (a very much loved) baby girl in a random garden in her car seat IMO for her own safety.

IMO JMO of course

 

[katikaboom]

Four people found dead identified; all family of baby abandoned in car seat, DA says

Bit of the timing and video of the vehicles being towed from area where bodies were found.

Two cars, both described by the police as possibly dropping off the baby, and not knowing which car left her likely means they were following one another when the drop off happened.

4 bodies and 2 cars means more than one perp. Either they were dead before they were loaded into the vehicles, or there were more than 2 perps and each car had someone driving and someone controlling the victims. Either way, IMO perps dropped the baby off, and probably somewhere semi familiar.

Edit to add-unless the third vehicle is still missing, finding both cars there also means there was either a way to get out of the area after dumping them, or the killers lived close enough to get home without transportation.

 

[MamaHasABigButt]

I've seen a few people mention a possibility of a link to Arkansas, and apparently the father of the child was driving from Arkansas early Tuesday morning. I'm not convinced these are related, but I'm also not convinced they're not.

 

[AddyFinch]

Couldn’t overtake four people in one car. Must have been killed elsewhere and all bodies dumped into one car. Unless all four sitting in car and killed assassination style. If killer dropped baby off, then he’s got a conscience.Thats pretty risky to chance video recognition, licence plate id etc.
More than one killer. Could one be female?

 

[never]

The father worked at Big River Steel in Arkansas, a job which is not uncommon for people living in Northwest Tennessee & Southeast Missouri. The steel industry is a major employer in the region, with many mills located in Northeastern Arkansas.

Someone in this thread mentioned nearby Grave Yard Rd. A piece of local lore: that name is recent, it has historically been known as

Spoiler: Spanish for black, masculine

Negro

Graveyard Rd. I am absolutely serious.

 

[appleatcha]

The father worked at Big River Steel in Arkansas, a job which is not uncommon for people living in Northwest Tennessee & Southeast Missouri. The steel industry is a major employer in the region, with many mills located in Northeastern Arkansas.

Someone in this thread mentioned nearby Grave Yard Rd. A piece of local lore: that name is recent, it has historically been known as

Spoiler: Spanish for black, masculine

Negro

Graveyard Rd. I am absolutely serious.

Thank you for sharing your local knowledge!

 

[Chimera]

So young looking !
Baby looks well cared for.

 

[Chimera]

Hope LE have their phones in case a perp was texting/luring them !
This feels personal and not random.
Imo.

 

[appleatcha]

So young looking !
Baby looks well cared for.

They were babies themselves, all of them... even the grandmother was around my age. (She was 38.)

It's clear that they loved their daughter/granddaughter very much. I fervently hope those young parents knew their baby was going to survive and grow up knowing how much she was (is) loved.

 

[ralyla]

The poor surviving child will have such a hard time understanding and learning of the fate of their parents and family members as they grow older. This is horrific.

 

[MassGuy]

Hope LE have their phones in case a perp was texting/luring them !
This feels personal and not random.
Imo.

This case may take a few more days (I'm predicting much shorter), but I'm sure they'll wind up having a rock solid case in due course. Phones will almost certainly be a big part of that if this was some sort of trap, and if they don't have the phones then phone records will tell that story. There's no way to commit a crime like this and get away with it (there's going to be physical evidence, surveillance footage, phone data, and too many people involved to keep it a secret).

 

[iamshadow21]

Do we have any information that says this is a straight up homicide?

I may not be reading the best today, so I may have missed something, but has the possibility of a murder suicide or suicide pact been ruled out by statements from LE?

Sometimes cultish behaviour or extreme belief is limited to a single family.

MOO