A man was formally charged with six counts of capital murder Thursday in the killing of a family at an East Texas campsite.
Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell issued the warrants against William Mitchell Hudson, who remains in the county jail in Palestine on a $2.5 million bond.
The warrants were issued after preliminary autopsy results showed all six victims died by homicide.
The autopsy identified the dead as Carl Johnson, 76; Hannah Johnson, 40; Kade Johnson, 6; Thomas Kamp, 46; Nathan Kamp, 23; and Austin Kamp, 21. No other details from the autopsies would be released, Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor said.
According to a previous warrant, the 33-year-old suspect was drinking with the group Saturday when he accompanied four of them into surrounding woods. The warrant says the lone survivor, Cynthia Johnson, heard gunshots before Hudson returned alone to the campsite, chased her husband and daughter into a travel camper and shot them.
"There are no adequate words to truly describe this horrific and senseless act. Six members of two different yet joined families are gone. Our hearts grieve for the Johnson and Kamp families and we will use all our resources to prosecute Hudson to the fullest extent of the law," the district attorney said in a statement issued Thursday afternoon.
Capital murder in Texas is punishable by either death by lethal injection or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. No decision has been made on whether the death penalty will be sought.
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Hudson's attorney, Stephen Evans of Palestine, declined to comment. After-hours messages seeking clarification from the district attorney's office were not returned Thursday.
