WILLIAMSVILLE, Mo. (CBS News) — A Missouri man was charged Monday with three counts of first-degree murder and other crimes after a toddler and her parents were killed in rural southeast Missouri.
Authorities identified the victims as Samara Fontaine Kitts, 23, her 24-year-old boyfriend Harley Michael Million, and their 17-month-old daughter Willa Fontaine Million. Autopsy results show Million and Kitts had their throats slashed, and their young daughter had been shot in the head, reports CBS affiliate KFVS.
Drew Atchison, 24, of Williamsville, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, armed criminal action and child kidnapping in Wayne County, about 140 miles southwest of St. Louis. He is jailed and does not yet have a listed attorney.
Court documents obtained by KFVS said Atchison confessed to the killings. The documents listed no motive.
Atchison appeared in court Wednesday, KFVS reports. He did not enter a plea. His next court date was set for Feb. 15.
Deputies said in the court documents that Atchison fatally slashed the adults Thursday at their home in Wayne County. He allegedly put the bodies in the back of Million’s truck and left the child alone overnight, locking her in a room with dogs.
On Friday, according to court documents, Atchison returned to the home and destroyed evidence. Deputies say he put the child inside Million’s truck, where her parents lay dead in the bed, KFVS reports. He then drove the truck to neighboring Butler County, where documents said he threw the knife used in the killings in the woods.
Atchison allegedly took the child out of the truck fatally shot her. He then buried her with her parents beneath blankets and trash, the court document said. The bodies were found Monday, a day after relatives alerted police that the family had not been seen for several days.
A relative of the victims said in a statement that Kitts and Million weren’t married but had been together for eight years and were “amazing parents to Willa.”
