Stacy Lee Drake, the Alabama man who terrorized residents in three states during a five-week crime spree and is charged with the June 18 murders of Taylor Sharp and Tara Underwood at La-Ferry’s Propane near Gans, is facing an additional murder charge that he allegedly committed in the days leading up to the double homicide.
Drake also is scheduled to face a judge in Sequoyah County District Court on August 26 for a felony disposition docket, according to Sequoyah County District Court.
Drake, 50, who was captured in Morrilton, Ark. on June 20, is charged with two counts of murder in the first degree, one count of robbery with a weapon and one count of murder in the first degree with deliberant intent. On Wednesday, he was charged with a third count of murder in the first degree to include the June 14 murder of Phillip Emerson of Canadian County, according to a press release issued by District 27 District Attorney Jack Thorp.
Thorp said Drake is also now charged with two additional counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon for reporting stealing Emerson’s vehicle and wallet, 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 justice done.”
Drake was initially held in the Conway County, Ark., Detention Center, but was extradited to the Sequoyah County Jail where he made a court appearance, entering a notguilty plea. If he is found guilty at trial, Drake could face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI), Sequoyah County Sheriff ’s Office, Arkansas State Police and Morrilton, Ark., police confirmed that Drake was arrested without incident after some 40 hours on the run following the Gans murders.
Drake is a convicted felon with a long list of crimes, including burglary, kidnapping, armed robbery and aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer. In addition to three homicides in Oklahoma, police said Drake also has an Alabama warrant for a May 14 homicide of a 62-year-old man in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Drake allegedly abandoned a truck that was found June 15 on East Redwood Avenue in Sallisaw, according to Sequoyah County Sheriff Larry Lane.
Drake was sentenced in Alabama to serve 22 years in prison in 2010 after being convicted of carjacking, being a felon in possession of a firearm and brandishing a firearm during the carjacking. Drake was accused of threatening a man with a .45 caliber pistol as the man left a small grocery store. Drake stole the man’s wallet, food and truck. He was chased by police for eight miles before he wrecked the truck and was apprehended. He served 10 years of the 22-year sentence.
He is also accused of committing a home invasion robbery and assaulting two people in Fort Smith.
In the June 18 double homicide, Drake is alleged to have stolen Underwood’s 2016 GMC Acadia from the crime scene following the murders, and then abandoned the vehicle in Morrilton, Ark., later that night. According to court documents, Underwood’s OnStar service in her vehicle reportedly helped authorities locate the vehicle as well. Morrilton is located north of Little Rock on I-40 in Conway County, 125 miles from Gans.
Arkansas media reports said Drake was seen on surveillance footage at a Motel 6 in Morrilton wearing the same clothing and gloves as when he left the Gans business. As the massive manhunt got underway, Arkansas State Police warned that he “is believed to be armed and dangerous.” He was captured in a wooded area less than a mile from the motel near I-40.
He was separately wanted on multiple felony warrants from multiple jurisdictions, with charges including aggravated robbery, carjacking and murder, according to the Arkansas Department of Public Safety.
Morrilton Police, along with Arkansas Highway Patrol and Arkansas State Police began the search for Drake after finding the abandoned car, while the OSBI worked with the Sequoyah County Sheriff ’s Office and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol at the scene along U.S. 64. FBI agents and U.S. Marshals, as well as the Arkansas National Guard, the Arkansas Division of Community Correction and Alabama Department of Environmental Management also assisted in the Arkansas search.
According to the OSBI, sheriff ’s deputies responded to LaFerry’s Propane near U.S. 64 and South 4670 Road at about 6:30 p.m. on June 18 regarding two deceased individuals. Underwood’s fiancee reportedly went to the location where he found the two shot and notified Deputy Mark Choate, who was parked in a nearby church parking lot.
After Choate entered the business and found the two deceased from apparent gunshot wounds, Lane notified the OSBI, who determined that both victims had “sustained injuries consistent with homicide.”
The homicide victims were identified as Sharp, of Muldrow, and Underwood, of Sallisaw. Both were employees at LaFerry’s, with Underwood serving as an office manager and Sharp, a driver.
OSBI special agents were able to identify Drake as a suspect in the double homicide thanks to video surveillance captured of him entering and exiting the business between 2:49 and 3:05 p.m., touching off the massive manhunt.
“My thoughts are with all of the families who lost their loved ones to such a dangerous individual,” said District 4 District Attorney Tommy Humphries. “I appreciate D.A. Thorp and his staff’s willingness to join forces to ensure justice is sought.”
“Oklahoma law allows every crime from a defendant’s pattern of criminal offenses to be prosecuted in any county where those crimes were committed,” Thorp explained. “We will be working closely with D.A. Humphries and his office in order to hold this violent criminal accountable for each of his heinous acts.”
