Dickson County Deputy Killed: Woman Arrested, Manhunt Continues

CHARLOTTE, TN -- A Dickson County sheriff's deputy was shot and killed Wednesday morning following a brief car chase and the suspected shooter is still on the run, subject of a statewide manhunt. His alleged accomplice was arrested Wednesday night.

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the deputy was dispatched to a report of a suspicious vehicle near San Vineyard Road around 7 a.m. After losing touch with the deputy, the sheriff's department tracked the car using GPS and an officer from another agency found the deputy dead in his patrol car about two miles away. Video evidence was recovered, the TBI said, linking Steven Joshua Wiggins, 31, to the shooting.

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Late Wednesday night, the TBI announced that 38-year-old Erika Castro-Miles had been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Baker’s death. Authorities said she “participated in the incident.”

At a 4 p.m. press conference, a visibly shaken Dickson County Sheriff Jeff Bledsoe confirmed the slain deputy was Sgt. Daniel Baker, a 10-year veteran of the department, who he called "one of the best" who moved up the ranks quickly in his time in the department. He leaves behind a wife and a young daughter, Bledsoe said.

Baker, who did a tour in Iraq during a stint as a Marine, is a well-known officer with the DCSO, having single-handedly stopped a drunken gunman who fired four shots into the air outside of Dickson's Renaissance Center during a performance of "Mary Poppins" where he was working as security in March. In 2013, he helped rescue a woman who was trapped inside a pick-up truck in a Charlotte creek.

Investigators began searching for Wiggins in the vicinity of Bear Creek Valley Road and Tidwell Switch, a densely wooded area near the Hickman County line. He is 6-feet-1-inches tall and weighs 220 pounds. TBI spokesperson Susan Niland said she could not confirm any credible sightings of Wiggins late Wednesday afternoon.

"There's people out there who have information," Bledsoe said. "This is an evil deed he's done, but he can show people there's still something left in him by doing the right thing."

Wiggins was arrested Tuesday following a domestic incident. A woman told investigators Wiggins slapped her and pulled her hair before pointing a gun at her and threatening to kill her. Wiggins allegedly told the investigation officer he’d been smoking marijuana and using meth all day. He was charged with assault and theft of a vehicle.

Wiggins has been arrested for domestic or aggravated assault at least eight times since 2006.

In a 2016 incident, he was alleged to have been holding his girlfriend at knifepoint at a Fairview hotel and charged at officers attempting to arrest him. He was hit with a Taser but pulled the barbs from his chest, according to an affidavit, and once he was restrained, became “combative” while in the patrol car.

According to the Tennessee Department of Correction, he was set to report for community supervision earlier this year but did not do so and he is currently in "absconded" status, essentially marking him as a TDOC fugitive.

After the shooting, Wiggins was added to the TBI’s Most Wanted list. Local, state and federal agencies have been assisting with manpower and other support. Bledsoe said K-9 and aviation teams, along with an on-foot search has pushed out to a roughly three mile radius. He did say that the search will continue after nightfall, when, in particular, heat-signature detection becomes more effective.

At that press conference, Niland said "a female" - later confirmed as Castro-Miles - was being questioned in connection with the investigation.

Anyone seeing anything suspicious is asked to call 1-800-TBI-FIND, 615-446-8041 or 911. The TBI said Wiggins is armed and very dangerous.

This is a developing story; stay with Patch for updates.

Image via Tennessee Bureau of Investigation