Woman watched slaying of deputy
DICKSON — A woman arrested in connection with the killing of a Dickson County Sheriff’s Office deputy told police she watched suspect Steven Wiggins fatally shoot the officer, according to court documents released Thursday.
Erika Castro-Miles, 38, of Dickson, is charged with first-degree murder in the Wednesday morning slaying of Sgt. Daniel Baker.
As hundreds of tips poured in, a manhunt continued Thursday for Wiggins, a 31-year-old felon being sought in the homicide. As of late afternoon, authorities said there had been no confirmed sightings.
“The defendant was seated in the vehicle with Steven Wiggins when he did shoot and kill Sgt. Daniel Baker with premeditation,” an affidavit filed in Dickson County General Sessions Court reads.
According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Baker was found dead in his car Wednesday morning after responding to a call about a suspicious vehicle near Sam Vineyard Road.
“I’m even more heartbroken
today as to what he endured,” Dickson County Sheriff Jeff Bledsoe said Thursday afternoon, noting that he had watched video related to the crime that was “very disturbing,” but declined to elaborate on the footage.
The arrest affidavit against Castro-Miles, signed by TBI Special Agent Nathan L. Neese, states that after the shooting, she fled the scene in an effort to elude law enforcement and was later found hiding under a house in the area.
Authorities detained the woman shortly after questioning her, and she was arrested and charged Wednesday night.
As of Thursday, Castro-Miles remained in the Dickson County jail without bond. A Dickson County jail deputy said she had not yet obtained an attorney and no court date had been set in her case.
TBI has not specified the extent of the relationship between Wiggins and Castro-Miles, saying only that the two knew each other.
Wiggins, a felon with a violent criminal history spanning more than a decade, was wanted on multiple warrants at the time of the shooting.
Authorities haven’t announced a possible motive in the killing but said Wiggins was quickly identified using surveillance footage.
Just one day before the fatal shooting, police charged Wiggins with aggravated assault and theft stemming from a domestic incident involving Castro-Miles at a motel in the 100 block of Luyben Hills Road in Kingston Springs, Tennessee.
According to a Kingston Springs Police Department report, Castro-Miles told officers Wiggins slapped her in the face, pulled her hair out, put a gun to her head and told her he was “going to kill her if she called the police.”
The report says Wiggins then took Castro-Miles’ keys and stole her brown, four-door 1998 Saturn.
The Saturn was found the following morning in Dickson County riddled with bullet holes.
As law enforcement officers searched outside her home along her neighbor’s property Thursday morning, Kathy McCormick peered out the window.
She hadn’t slept much the night before, but, for the first time since her husband died a year ago, had taken one of his guns off the shelf. She slept with it next to her in bed, “loaded, cocked, safety off.”
Baker’s vehicle wasn’t found far from her house on Turkey Creek Road, a place where McCormick often sleeps with her house door “wide open” so her dogs can let themselves in and out throughout the night.
But not Wednesday night.
“We don’t lock things up around here,” McCormick said. “We will from now on. I don’t know how you get past that fear after thinking somebody’s going to come in on you.”
Many residents are heeding warnings from law enforcement, still empty-handed in their search for Wiggins, to remain vigilant.
“He could be anywhere, but based upon the facts that we have, we feel like he may be on foot in the area,” Bledsoe said about Wiggins during a Thursday news conference.
Lt. Travis Plotzer, speaking on behalf of both Tennessee Highway Patrol and other residents in the Dickson area, described those feeling the loss of Baker as “heartbroken.”
“Not only did Dickson County lose somebody, the state of Tennessee lost somebody. The nation lost one of the good guys.”
Later Thursday, TBI announced that total award money available for information leading to Wiggins’ arrest had reached $35,000 following a $20,000 pledge from police associations in San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.
TBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, ATF and Gov. Bill Halsam have contributed $15,000 toward the reward. Authorities have cautioned civilians not to approach Wiggins if he’s spotted, warning that he is to be considered armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information about Wiggins’ whereabouts is asked to call 800-TBI-FIND, or police at 615-446-8041 ext. 4 or 911.
“Not only did Dickson County lose somebody, the state of Tennessee lost somebody. The nation lost one of the good guys.”
– TRAVIS PLOTZER, LIEUTENANT WITH THE TENNESSEE HIGHWAY PATROL