DICKSON COUNTY, Tenn. — The man accused of killing a Dickson County deputy has been taken into custody, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has announced.
According to authorities, a state trooper was out on patrol searching for Steven Wiggins, the man accused of killing Sgt. Daniel Baker of the Dickson County Sheriff’s Department, when he spotted a man on the wood line near the Dickson/Hickman county line.
When he approached, the trooper noted the person had various tattoos on his body and was able to confirm it was Wiggins. The suspect reportedly did not resist upon his arrest.
Wiggins was taken to the hospital for non-serious injuries and will be booked on charges once he is released, law enforcement said.
Prior to the news conference, the TBI tweeted a photo of the bespectacled and handcuffed Wiggins, his shirt and jeans soiled and torn, in the back of a patrol car.
The news of his capture comes 48 hours after Wiggins allegedly shot Baker in his patrol car. The deputy was investigating a suspicious vehicle at the time and was discovered after he failed to report back.
One day before the deputy’s death, Wiggins was charged with aggravated assault, accused of slapping and pulling the hair of a woman he also threatened with a gun, according to a police report.
Erika Castro-Miles, described as an acquaintance of the suspect, told police Wiggins had been “doing meth all night and smoking marijuana” before assaulting her and stealing her car from a motel Tuesday morning in Kingston Springs, Tennessee, the police report said. He got away, it said.
Castro-Miles, 38, was charged this week with one count of first-degree murder in connection with the deputy’s death, according to the bureau.
She told investigators she was seated in the deputy’s vehicle with Wiggins and saw the suspect shoot Baker, 32, according to a criminal court affidavit. The woman fled and hid under a house before she was arrested.