A Tennessee man has been booked into jail on a $40 million bond after he was charged with the shooting deaths of an Overton County woman and her son.
On Sunday morning, Christina Denise Hawkins, 43, and Isaiah Thomas Hawkins, 25, were found deceased in a Rickman residence. The investigation led authorities to conclude that 27-year-old Payton Wayne Nations was responsible for their deaths, as announced by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
The TBI issued warrants for Nations, charging him with two counts of first-degree murder. He was located the same evening by the Tennessee Highway Patrol along with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.
He was brought back to Overton County and booked into jail.
Details emerged from local news about the extensive search for the suspect accused of the double homicide. According to WKRN, a fisherman on Center Hill Lake in DeKalb County witnessed a man trying to push a vehicle into the lake at a boat ramp, fleeing afterward. The vehicle description matched that of Nations’ vehicle, and the fisherman prevented it from sinking.
Investigators acquired surveillance footage showing Nations and his vehicle in the vicinity, along with a clear description of his attire and direction of movement. Later that afternoon, a witness spotted someone fitting Nations’ description near Hurricane Bridge, prompting investigators to issue a reverse 911 alert urging residents to stay vigilant.
Within half an hour, another sighting of the suspect was reported in Putnam County, leading state troopers to spot and apprehend him on Interstate 40 without any trouble.
