Carol Robinson
al.com
(TNS)
A drifter charged in the killing of a man at an AA meeting in Tuscaloosa in May has now been indicted on three Oklahoma murders.
Stacy Lee Drake, 50-year-old former Jimmie Hale Mission resident in Birmingham, was indicted on eight crimes including murder and robbery in the shooting deaths Phillip Emerson, 56, Tara Underwood, also known as Tara Huber, 35, and Taylor Ross Sharp, 35.
The indictments were announced this week by Oklahoma’s District 27 District Attorney Jack Thorp.
Drake, charged in Alabama with murder in the May 14 slaying of 62-year-old Russell Thomas “Rusty” Andrews, was charged on June 20, with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of robbery for the murders of Underwood and Sharp and the theft of Underwood’s vehicle.
Thorp on Wednesday filed additional charges in Sequoyah County for other crimes Drake is suspected of committing in the days leading up to that tragic double homicide near the town of Gans, including Emerson’s killing.
He is also facing two additional counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon for stealing a vehicle belonging to Emerson and a wallet belonging to Sharp, one count of possession of a stolen vehicle, and one count of pattern of criminal offenses.
“This man’s senseless and violent actions have affected people across this state,” Thorp said. “Those victims and their families deserve justice, and we will fight to see that justice done.”
Drake was taken into custody June 20 in Arkansas after a two-day manhunt.
His alleged murder spree began in Tuscaloosa.
Andrews, a longtime Alcoholics Anonymous volunteer, was found fatally shot May 14 inside the AA building on Jack Warner Parkway. His vehicle was missing when he was discovered.
“Rusty was a caring and generous individual, always striving to help others until the very end,’’ his obituary read. “He possessed a wonderful, cheerful sense of humor and was talented in many areas, including carpentry and gardening. He also had a keen interest in picking stocks.”
Investigators learned that Andrews was last seen talking to a man – now identified as Drake.
“He stayed behind talking with this gentleman after everyone left,’’ said Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit Capt. Jack Kennedy.
“Nobody knows what the motive is, but (those who police spoke with at AA) all said he would have given him his car and his money if he had just asked for it.”
Andrews’ stolen vehicle was later located around the border of Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Kennedy said investigators started with little to no information.
“We did not know who he had been with or the exact time this occurred,’’ he said. “We rapidly learned the suspect was a newly arrived transient or traveler that had only been in Tuscaloosa a week or possibly two.”
Detectives put out a request for information – releasing a description and possible nickname for the suspect – which turned out to be a false name.
Through the use of multiple investigative tools and techniques, they identified Drake as the potential suspect. “Multiple people who had been associated with him that week picked him out of lineups,’’ Kennedy said.
The murder warrant was then secured, and a lookout bulletin issued.
One month after Andrews’ slaying, Sam Emerson called El Reno police in Oklahoma to conduct a welfare check on his brother, Phillip, at his North Malcomb Avenue home, according to court documents provided to AL.com by Thorp.
Phillip Emerson’s wife told Sam Emerson that she had not spoken to her husband in a week and that he was driving her Chevrolet pickup truck.
Police went to Emerson’s home, but the light were out and there was no truck in the driveway. They left.
Several hours later, Emerson’s brother went back to the house to investigate on his own, and that’s when he found Emerson dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
The following day, on June 15, Sequoyah County sheriff’s deputies found the abandoned pickup truck on East 1070 Road.
Emerson in his obituary was remembered as a hard worker, skilled in nearly every facet of construction. He loved studying his Bible, fishing, playing pool, and vintage cars.
Then, on June 18, authorities were called to investigate a double homicide at LaFerry’s Propane on Highway 65 in Gans, Oklahoma.
According to the indictment, a sheriff’s deputy was parked in a church parking lot when a man named Robert Bullock approached him and said his fiancé was shot and a man was dead at the nearby propane business.
Authorities responded and found Underwood and Sharp dead. Both had been shot in the head.
Underwood was the office manager at LaFerry’s, and Sharp was a delivery driver for the business.
Surveillance video showed Drake walking up and entering the business between 2:49 p.m. and 3:05 p.m. and later exiting. No one else was seen going in or out of the business during the time frame that the pair was killed.
The video also showed Drake leaving in Underwood’s white GMC Acadia.
The Acadia was later located via OnStar at Motel 6 in Morrilton, Arkansas. Drake was seen on surveillance video there wearing the same clothes that he was in at LaFerry’s Propane, the indictment states.
The hotel was searched but Drake was not found. Inside his room, records state, was a Leopard print Coach wallet belonging to Underwood, as well as Sharp’s wallet.
Bullets removed during autopsy matched guns found in Drake’s Motel 6 room, authorities said.
Underwood’s obituary described her as “a loving fiancé, dedicated mother, cherished daughter, adored sister, a wonderful friend to many, and a true ray of sunshine.”
“Her smile was one of her most profound features, and when you close your eyes, you can see it perfectly, no matter how well you knew her,” according to her obituary. “Her laughter is one of the most beautiful sounds you could ever imagine, and it will echo through eternity for all of us.”
Sharp was described as a devoted, loving father and single parent.
“He enjoyed fishing and the outdoors, but he especially loved spending time with his boys,’’ according to his obituary. “Taylor believed in working for a living, as a truck driver and delivery driver for LaFerry’s Propane and doing lawn care as a side job.”
The search for Drake continued.
He was taken into custody about 10 a.m. Thursday, June 20, in a wooded area south of the intersection of University Boulevard and Poor Farm Road in Morrilton. Authorities found a campsite where he had been staying.
Drake has an extensive criminal history in multiple states, including robberies, carjackings, and kidnappings.
Drake has committed crimes in Alabama before. In 2010 he was arrested and later indicted for numerous crimes in Pickens County.
Drake was convicted in the Feb. 21, 2010, carjacking of a 1993 GMC Sonoma. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison but placed on supervised release.
That supervised release was revoked in 2019, and Drake was revoked in 2019 and he was ordered in 2021 to serve 10 months with credit for time served.
He pleaded guilty in 2022 to first-degree robbery in Dale County, and received a 120-month suspended sentence.
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