JEFFERSON CITY — A Williamsville man pleaded guilty Monday in connection to the 2018 slaying of a couple and their toddler.
Drew D. Atchison, 30, of Williamsville pleaded guilty Monday afternoon in Cole County Circuit Court before Judge Jon Beteem to three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action and two counts of child kidnapping. All charges are Class A felonies.
The case was moved to Cole County on a change of venue in June 2018.
The charges stem from the 2018 murders of Harley Michael Million, 24, Samara Fontaine Kitts, 23, and their 17-month old daughter, Willa Fontaine Million.
Atchison is accused of cutting the throats of Million and Kitts on Jan. 25, 2018, at their Mill Spring home and putting their bodies in the bed of Million's truck. After the couple was killed, Atchison allegedly left the child alone at the home.
Authorities say Atchison returned the next day to get the toddler, put her in the truck with her dead parents and drove to a Butler County farm off of Highway JJ. There he allegedly shot the toddler in the back of the head, then removed the other bodies from the truck, stacked the bodies together, covered and left them.
Atchison then allegedly drove the truck to a residence on Cemetery Road in Williamsville and left it partially covered beneath a vacant carport.
The family was reported missing Jan. 28, 2018, by relatives, who had not had heard from them since three days earlier. When a Wayne County Sheriff's deputy went to the couple's residence with family members, Wayne County Sheriff Dean Finch said the deputy saw blood on a door.
During the ensuing investigation, Atchison was developed as a suspect. When Atchison was brought in for questioning during the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2018, Finch said he confessed to killing the family, as well as provided information as to the location of their bodies.
The bodies were found at about 3:30 a.m. that morning.
Subsequent autopsies reportedly confirmed Million and Kitts died as the result of knife-inflicted injuries, and the toddler died from a gunshot.
No motive was ever determined for the murders, Finch said on Tuesday.
Atchison is scheduled to be sentenced on April 8, in Cole County. Atchison could receive the death penalty for the murders.