Tyler McMillion. (Image via the Madison Co. Sheriff’s Office.)
Federal agents in Tennessee arrested a father accused of leaving his two young sons in his sweltering hot car for an extended period of time last summer — a move they say ultimately killed one of the children. Tyler Eugene McMillion was taken into custody this week and charged with several felonies in connection with the boy’s death, including murder, authorities announced in a press release.
According to U.S. Marshal Tyreece Miller, a grand jury in Madison County on Monday returned indictments against McMillion on one count of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated child neglect, one count of reckless homicide, one count of child neglect, and two charges of leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle.
The indictment stems from the boy’s tragic death last August.
Per the press release, McMillion on Aug. 21, 2021 left his two children, ages two and four, unattended in his vehicle. The 4-year-old later died as a result of being left alone with his brother in the car, investigators say. An online obituary for the boy said he died at Madison County General Hospital.
That online obituary identified the child as Bryson Rae McMillion. A brief passage said Bryson was “loved and cherished by many people” including his father, Tyler, his mother, Alicia McMillion, and his younger brother, Braxton McMillion.
On the same day that the grand jury returned an indictment against McMillion, multiple agents with the federal task force went to McMillion’s home located in the 6000 block of Graball Drive in Milan and arrested him without incident, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
The investigation into Bryson’s death was initially handled by detectives with Jackson PD, but the case was adopted by the U.S. Marshals Two Rivers Violent Fugitive Task Force.
The primary objective of the task force is “to arrest violent offenders and sexual predators,” per the USMS. The unit is comprised of multiple law enforcement agencies based in the Western District of Tennessee, primarily Deputy U.S. Marshals, Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputies, Memphis Police Officers, Fayette County Sheriff’s Deputies, Jackson Police Officers, and the Tennessee Department of Correction Special Agents from the Apprehension and Enforcement Unit.
In a similar case, an Oklahoma father in November was sentenced to four years in prison after he left his two young children, ages three and four, in a hot car while he played video games and did drugs. As reported by Law&Crime, Dustin Lee Dennis had previously pleaded guilty in Indian County to two counts of child neglect in his children’s death.
“The temperature was over 90 degrees and the children died from exposure to extremely high temperatures while being trapped in my truck for over four hours,” Dennis wrote in a signed statement filed in federal court.
An online court docket maintained by the Madison County Circuit Court Clerk says McMillion will be arraigned on March 7 at 8:00 a.m.
[image via Madison Co. Sheriff’s Office]
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