A tip from a concerned citizen helped authorities pinpoint the location and arrest a 21-year-old suspect in the murder of Caitlyn Kaufman, who worked in the intensive care unit at Saint Thomas West Hospital.
Devaunte Lewis Hill was arrested by the SWAT team of the Metro Nashville Police Department who descended on his East Nashville apartment, Friday dawn.
Electronic experts were able to track down Hill's cellphone number, which operatives used to determine he was in the vicinity of the crime scene the night Kaufman was shot. Detectives said data from Hill's cellphone provider monitored his device in the I-440 area at the time of the murder.
Kaufman was in her gray Mazda CX-5 sport utility vehicle on the way to work an overnight shift on Dec. 3 when at least six rounds were fired into her SUV. The fatal shot penetrated her left shoulder, which caused her death within 15 seconds, the medical examiner said.
Chief John Drake confirmed Hill's arrest in a media briefing moments after the operation. Hill is facing charges of criminal homicide. The police said they don't believe Kaufman knew the suspect before she was killed.
Hill, who was taken into police custody without incident, was interrogated by Homicide unit agents Jefferson Hughes and Chris Dickerson and did not provide further information. He is under custody without bail pending a hearing. Police added Hill has a criminal history but they refused to provide more details.
"He gave a statement implicating himself in Caitlyn's murder," NBC News quoted Police Chief John Drake as saying, citing NBC affiliate WSMV. The reason behind the murder had not been publicly released.
The tip that implicated the suspect in Kaufman's killing reached the police within an hour following an announcement Thursday that the reward for information that would lead to Hill's arrest had been increased to over $65,000, $50,000 of which comes from an alliance of business entrepreneurs in Nashville. Over $40,000 has so far been raised to help Kaufman's family.
No other suspects have been identified in Kaufman's murder. Dickerson told members of the media that investigators had not ruled out the possibility of the involvement of multiple suspects or arrests.
According to Drake, he understands many of those who were involved in the reward are fathers who have families in Nashville and love the city deeply. "I thank them for their contributions," he said.
A memorial service for Kaufman is scheduled in her hometown on Saturday, 7 p.m.
