A young couple and their 17-month-old daughter have been murdered in southeast Missouri.
KFVS reports 24-year-old Drew Atchison has been charged with three felony murders of 23-year-old Samara Fontaine Kitts, 24-year-old Harley Michael Million and their 17-month-old infant, Willa Fontaine Million.
On Sunday, an endangered persons advisory was issued for the family from Wayne County. According to the reporting party, the three had not been heard from in several days.
According to court documents, Atchison admitted to deputies he was at the Million home last Thursday, and confessed to killing Million and Kitts while there with a knife.
He then allegedly put their bodies in the back of Million’s truck, and went back inside and placed the child in a room with dogs and shut her inside so she could not get out.
KFVS reports he returned the next day, destroyed evidence of the homicide and put the child in the truck with the dead parents.
Atchison then drove to a remote location where he took the baby out of the truck and shot her. He allegedly left all three victims together buried under blankets and trash.
KFVS further reports Wayne County Sheriff Dean Finch said the case is being referred to the state Attorney General’s Office due to the nature of the charges and additional resources provided by that office.
The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office and Butler County Sheriff’s Office along with the Missouri State Highway Patrol have been investigating the case.
KFVS supplied a statement from a family member about victim Harley Michael Million and Samara Fontaine Kitts Monday. “They were a loving family and amazing parents to Willa. They weren’t married, but they had been together for the last eight years, since high school. They both have large families who love them very much and a large circle of life-long friends.”