JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The state filed the necessary paperwork Monday to declare its intentions to seek the death penalty against a Williamsville man accused of killing a couple and their toddler.
Assistant Attorney General Kevin Zoellner filed a notice of the state's intent to seek the death penalty, including statutory aggravating circumstances it intends to use, in the case of Drew D. Atchison. The notices were filed in Cole County, where Atchison's case was moved on a change of venue.
The 24-year-old is charged with three Class A felonies of first-degree murder, three unclassified felonies of armed criminal action, two Class A felonies of child kidnapping and the Class D felony of first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle.
Atchison is charged with the deaths of Harley Michael Million, 24, Samara Fontaine Kitts, 23, and their 17-month old daughter, Willa Fontaine Million.
Zoellner's filings reportedly put the defense on notice of what aggravating circumstances the state intends to rely on at trial.
The aggravating circumstances Zoellner cited are:
* The murder in the first degree of each victim was committed while Atchison was engaged in the commission of another unlawful homicide.
* Atchison committed each offense of murder in the first degree for himself or another for the purpose of receiving money or any other thing of monetary value from the victims.
* Each murder in the first degree was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved depravity of mind.
The state also cited the non-statutory aggravating circumstances it intends to prove at trial.
They include, after committing the murder of Willa Million's parents, Atchison confined the child overnight in a room with a dog, as well as committed three felonies of ACA, two felonies of kidnapping and the felony of tampering with physical evidence.
According to earlier reports, Atchison is accused of cutting the throats of Million and Kitts on Jan. 25 at their Mill Spring, Mo., 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 in a room with a dog.
Authorities say he 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 J.
There he allegedly shot the toddler in the back of the head. He then allegedly 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.
On Jan. 26 before the murders were discovered, deputies went to that location and found the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado that was registered to Million. Blood and what Wayne County Sheriff Dean Finch earlier said appeared to be deer hair was found in the truck's bed.
"We just assumed someone had killed a deer and was hiding the truck," said Finch, who indicated nothing appeared to be suspicious at that time.
That changed on Jan. 28 when the family was reported missing by relatives, who had not heard from them since three days earlier.
When a deputy went to the couple's residence with family members, he saw blood on a door, Finch earlier said.
Then, looking out the door, the deputy observed "where it appeared blood had been washed off" the porch, Finch said.
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, 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. Jan. 29.
Once it was determined the location was in Butler County, Finch said, he contacted Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs.
The property owner, Dobbs earlier said, gave officers permission to conduct a search of the property.
"They were all three stacked behind an abandoned RV camper and covered with blankets," said Dobbs.
Subsequent autopsies reportedly confirmed Million and Kitts died as the result of knife-inflicted injuries, and the toddler died from a gunshot.
Atchison continues to be held without bond.
No date is set at this time for Atchison to appear before Cole County Judge Jon Beetem.