A Tennessee man accused of killing four family members, then abandoning a baby in a random yard, is proclaiming his innocence from behind bars, claiming he was secretly working as a confidential informant for law enforcement at the time of the killings.

Austin Robert Drummond, 28, is facing four counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping, and multiple weapons charges after the bodies of Adrianna Williams, James Matthew Wilson, Cortney Rose, and Braydon Williams were found in a rural part of Lake County, Tennessee in late July.

The bodies were discovered shortly after Adrianna and Wilson’s baby was found abandoned but unharmed in the front yard of a Dyer County home, still strapped into a carseat. The other victims were the baby’s grandmother and uncle. 

Drummond — who was dating Rose’s sister — was taken into custody on August 5 after a statewide manhunt. 

He recently spoke out about the charges against him in a jailhouse interview with Nashville station WTVF.

“I had no reason to hurt these people,” Drummond said. “They were my girlfriend’s family who had became my family. I took Adrianna to the hospital to have her baby. I helped teach Braydon to drive. Matthew was like a little brother to me, man.”

Austin Robert Drummond claims to be confidential informant

Drummond told told WTFV that he had been working as an undercover confidential informant with law enforcement agencies at the time of the killings that he’s charged with.

He claimed that following an arrest earlier this year, he made a deal with the Lake County District Attorney, FBI, and ATF to work as a confidential informant.

“During my time working for them I helped them uncover drug dealers selling multiple kilos of cocaine, also drug traffickers delivering pounds of meth,” he told the news outlet from jail. “We identified dirty law enforcement and correctional personnel and tapped Vice Lord leadership phones.”

Drummond, who has a previous criminal record, admitted to once being a member of the prison gang Vice Lords.

He insisted, however, that he did not kill the four victims and told the TV station that he learned that his cover as a confidential informant had been blown the day of the killings.

“I’m not an innocent man, but I’m not guilty of what they’ve charged me with,” Drummond told the station, adding that he went on the run because he was scared.

“I was afraid, because I know bad things happened, um, and I was afraid that because I was an informant, things would go wrong. Things would happen to me,” he continued.

WTFV reported that Drummond said that he was involved in some way with the killings, but he didn’t explain how.

Austin Drummond was dating Cortney Rose’s sister

Before his most recent arrest, Drummond served time behind bars for aggravated robbery and received additional time for threatening the robbery victim and jury in his 2014 case, CNN reports. 

He had been out on bond on an attempted murder charge in connection with an alleged incident that occurred in prison at the time of the killings. 

Lake County District Attorney Danny Goodman Jr. told on Friday that he couldn’t comment on Drummond’s claims that he had worked as a confidential informant.

However, he did confirm that Drummond was dating Rose’s sister, who he said was pregnant.

“He did have a relationship with all four victims,” Goodman added.

Although Goodman did not identify Rose’s sister by name, Tennessee station WHBQ has identified her as Kaitlyn Speed and reported that she had been working as a corrections officer in the Northwest Correctional Complex while Drummond has previously been incarcerated there.