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.
Christina Denise Hawkins, 43, and Isaiah Thomas Hawkins, 25, were found dead Sunday morning at a home in Rickman. Authorities determined that Payton Wayne Nations, 27, “was the individual responsible for shooting the victims,” the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said.
TBI obtained warrants charging Nations with two counts of first degree murder, and he was located Sunday evening by the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.
He was brought back to Overton County and booked into jail.
Local news stations provided more information about the hours-long manhunt for the double murderer. WKRN reported that a fisherman on Center Hill Lake in DeKalb County saw a man pushing a vehicle into the water at boat ramp and fleeing shortly after noon. The vehicle matched the description of a Nations’ vehicle, and the fisherman stopped the car from sinking.
Investigators found surveillance footage of Nations and his vehicle in the area and also got a good description of his clothing and direction of travel. Late Sunday afternoon, a witness reported seeing someone matching Nations’ description in the area near Hurricane Bridge, so investigators sent out a reverse 911 call asking residents to keep a lookout.
About 30 minutes later, another witness reported seeing the suspect in Putnam County, and shortly after, a state troopers saw him on Interstate 40 and took him into custody without incident.
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[Featured image: Payton Nations/Overton County Sheriff’s Office]
