Five Life Sentences for Wayne County Triple Homicide

(Wayne Co., Mo) Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced Tuesday, that his office secured five life sentences for Drew Atchison in connection with three murders committed in 2018 in Wayne County. 

In January 2018, Atchison killed two parents and their 17-month old baby girl named Willa. Atchison was looking for a warm place to stay for himself and some acquaintances when he stopped at a friend’s house to see if they could stay there. When he was told he couldn’t stay, he killed his friend and his friend’s common-law wife by slitting their throats. Following the murders, Atchison placed baby Willa in a bedroom overnight and returned the next day to load the parents’ bodies into his truck to dispose of them. He took Willa with him, shot her in the head, and then dumped all three bodies on top of each other on property owned by his family. Bailey said that he is personally committed to obtaining justice for victims, especially when it involves children. 

The venue was changed from Wayne County to Cole County, where Atchison pled guilty in December 2023 to three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, three counts of armed criminal action and a charge of tampering with a motor vehicle. 

Atchison has been sentenced to three life sentences without parole on the murder charges, two life sentences on the kidnapping charges, 75 years total for the armed criminal action charges, and seven years for tampering with a motor vehicle. Atchison will serve out his sentences in the Missouri Department of Correction.