Drake trial set in Gans double murder

By the time the 21st witness for state prosecutors concluded two days of often-damning and sometimes emotional testimony in the Stacy Lee Drake capital murder preliminary hearing at Sequoyah County District Court, Special Judge Matt Orendorff was convinced there was enough evidence to proceed to trial.

The trial for the first-degree murders of Tara Underwood and Taylor Sharp on June 18, 2024, at LaFerry’s Propane on U.S. 64 near Gans, is set for 1:30 p.m. July 7 in District Judge Timothy King’s courtroom. The trial will also adjudicate the June 15, 2024, first-degree murder of Phillip Emerson of El Reno.

Stacy Lee Drake is escorted by Sequoyah County Jail personnel into Judge Matt Orendorff’s courtroom for a preliminary hearing to determine if the convicted felon should stand trial for a double murder in June 2024 at LaFerry’s Propane.
LYNN ADAMS | TIMES

Drake, 51, is the convicted felon from Alabama who terrorized residents in three states during a five-week crime spree that began with the May 14, 2024, homicide of a 62-year-old man in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and reached its zenith with the three Oklahoma murders and ended on June 20, 2024, with his capture in Arkansas following a massive two-day manhunt.

Drake was charged on June 21, 2024, in the deaths of Underwood and Sharp. He was charged on August 7 in Emerson’s death in Sequoyah County rather than Canadian County where El Reno is located in order to demonstrate a pattern of criminal offenses.

In his ruling on Tuesday immediately after the state rested its case and the defense called no witnesses, Orendorff listed the eight counts Drake faces: Three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a stolen vehicle and a pattern of criminal behavior.

If found guilty at trial, Drake faces the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Jack Thorp

While the state’s evidence was meticulous, testimony from witnesses often riveting and the 9½ hours of proceedings both laborious and exhaustive, it was a statement Drake made while being booked into the Sequoyah County Jail that stunned those in the courtroom gallery and all but sealed his fate.

Under direct examination from Sequoyah County District Attorney Jack Thorp as the state’s final witness, Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Steven Jenkins testified that during the booking process on June 21, 2024, he informed Drake that he was being charged with three murders and robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Jenkins said Drake took exception to the three murder charges against him, and surprised Jenkins with the argument, “There was only two people in the place,” a horrific proclamation that elicited sporadic gasps from those in the gallery, which included members of Underwood’s family who sat in the front row during the hearing.

Throughout the hearing, the state laid out a systematic prosecution that seemed to cover all the bases. Attorneys for the state, which included Thorp, left little doubt that Drake should be bound over for trial, and Orendorff agreed that, based on testimony, there is probable cause to believe that Drake committed the crimes.

Meanwhile, defense attorneys attempted on many occasions to discredit testimony, but were often unable to gain traction in the face of the state’s comprehensive prosecution.

Throughout the two days of testimony, Drake sat stoic at the defendant’s table, shackled by handcuffs and legcuffs. He wore an orange jumpsuit over a white T-shirt, along with shoes similar to Crocs with white socks. His black hair was combed straight back, and he wore black-rimmed glasses. He rarely spoke to his defense team throughout the hearing. He was solemn and showed no emotion while two detention center officers sat immediately behind him throughout the day, and escorted him to and from the courtroom.

Law enforcement swarmed LaFerry’s Propane on June 18, 2024, in the wake of a double murder for which Stacy Lee Drake has been accused.

The state makes its case

The state provided a cavalcade of witnesses who provided foundational testimony important for the prosecution’s carefully orchestrated lineup of those who definitively identified Drake as the man responsible for the first-degree murders of Emerson, 56; Underwood (also called Huber), 35; and Sharp, 30. The state’s attorneys struck a delicate balance between witnesses that provided copious facts on which the prosecution built its case, and those who added a human element with testimony about trust and betrayal, along with poignant and sometimes tearful testimony.

Tara Underwood

Taylor Sharp

The state called witnesses during the two days that were vital to the prosecution’s case, with most of them critical because they were able to unequivocally identify Drake as the man who infiltrated the El Reno Alcoholics Anonymous group and befriended members, and who was then captured on video at LaFerry’s exiting the business before driving away in Underwood’s car; at a convenience store in Alma, Ark., where cellphones were found in a trash receptacle; and at a motel in Morrilton, Ark., where he was captured and brought back to Sallisaw.

The state buttressed its witness list with expert testimony by Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) agents who combed the Sequoyah County crime scene and gathered evidence in Arkansas.

He called himself “Chase”

Chandler Stroman, a member of the El Reno Alcoholics Anonymous club who knew Phillip Emerson as well as a man who called  himself “Chase.” Stroman testified that “Chase” “seemed to come out of nowhere” and began attending the AA meetings on a daily basis about a month prior to Emerson’s death. Stroman described “Chase” as “probably somewhere around 5-11, 6-foot … kind of a scrawny individual” with facial hair “a little thicker than a 5 o’clock shadow” and “unkempt.” He said Drake told him he preferred to be homeless and live in the woods, but that Emerson would allow him to shower and clean up at his home from time to time.

Upon his first meeting of “Chase,” Stroman said his new acquaintance wore a black Fedora hat, black T-shirt, black jeans and white tennis shoes, and wore black-rimmed glasses. Stroman said “Chase” claimed six months of sobriety prior to coming to El Reno from Alabama, and that while attending the El Reno AA meetings, “Chase” received a purple-colored seven-month chip or coin commemorating his sobriety. Stroman then identified “Chase” in the courtroom, indicating that Drake was the man Stroman knew as “Chase.”

Stroman also testified that he had identified “Chase” from a photo lineup provided by El Reno Police, that consisted of about “four or five photos” presented one at a time. Stroman said it took him about 10 seconds to identify “Chase” from the photos.

“I believe they’re dead”

Robert Bullock, who was Underwood’s fiancé, discovered the crime scene at LaFerry’s. During his testimony, he became emotional and had trouble speaking on four separate occasions during his 26½ minutes on the witness stand. The first time he became emotional was one minute into his testimony when he was asked how long he and Underwood had been together, which was “a little over three years.” Bullock and Underwood moved in together in November 2021 with his three children and her daughter.

He became emotional again four minutes into his testimony when he related his initial attempts to contact Underwood by telephone, followed by texts. Bullock said the last text he received from Underwood was at 10:53 a.m., which turned out to be less than four hours before surveillance video showed Drake arriving at LaFerry’s. As he continued to describe his efforts to contact Underwood, he became emotional again 5½ minutes into his testimony.

When he was unable to contact Underwood, Bullock said he drove past LaFerry’s after its normal business hours. He saw only Taylor Sharp’s pickup, so he assumed Underwood was elsewhere, since her white 2016 GMC Acadia was not at the business. He continued to call and text her, but received no response, and again drove past LaFerry’s, but did not see Underwood’s car.

Bullock said when he was unable to locate his fiancée, he became increasingly panicked and worried.

After returning home for a short time, he drove back to LaFerry’s. On the way, he said he saw a sheriff’s deputy parked at a nearby church. When he arrived at LaFerry’s, he found it unusual that the window blinds were open, since they are closed after hours and when someone is working beyond normal business hours.

Bullock became emotional and took a long pause to regain his composure when he testified that he looked in the window of the business and saw Underwood lying motionless face down on the floor behind the counter. He then found the door to the business locked, so he kicked it in and went inside. He then also found Sharp on the floor in “a pool of blood around his head.”

After discovering the bodies, Bullock said, “I took off out of there and went to grab the sheriff I seen down the road.” Upon finding the sheriff’s deputy, he told him, “You need to get to LaFerry’s. I believe they’re dead.”

When Bullock and the deputy arrived at LaFerry’s, the deputy saw that the door was kicked in, so he drew his weapon. Bullock then told the deputy, “I’m the one that kicked the door in.” Bullock said the deputy briefly looked at the crime scene and called for backup. He also informed the deputy that Underwood’s car was missing, and that it was equipped with an OnStar tracking system.

Bullock testified that among the personal items Underwood kept in the Acadia was a 9mm SCCY semiautomatic pistol that was in a purple camouflage holster.

A screenshot from surveillance video at LaFerry’s Propane showed a man getting into Tara Underwood’s 2016 GMC Acadia. Witnesses testified that the man is Stacy Lee Drake.

The hat was unique

OSBI Special Agent Tanner Snow, who assisted with the homicide investigation at LaFerry’s Propane, testified that surveillance video showed a man who he identified as Drake walking east on U.S. 64 and arriving at LaFerry’s at 2:49 p.m. on June 18, 2024. Snow then said the video showed Drake exiting the business at 2:56 p.m., carrying what appeared to be four cellphones in his hands, and placing something into Underwood’s 2016 GMC Acadia. The video then showed Drake leaving the premises in the Acadia at 2:59 p.m., before he returned at 3:02 p.m. and went back into the business. At 3:05 p.m., video shows Drake getting into the Acadia and driving eastbound on U.S. 64.

Snow said the video showed Drake was wearing a black shirt, black pants, white and black shoes, wearing glasses and a “unique to me style hat,” which he called a flat cap. Snow said Drake also carried a hunting-style backpack, which is made to accommodate “a lot of camping supplies to be able to live a nomadic lifestyle,” which he said “stood out as well.”

Snow then identified Drake in the courtroom as the same man he saw on LaFerry’s surveillance video, and called him by name.

Snow testified that possession of the cellphones recovered at Alma Travel Mart was transferred to him, and that the cellphones were taken to the U.S. Secret Service office in Tulsa, where it was determined that they belonged to Underwood and Sharp, personal and work cellphones for each.

A flat cap, similar to this type of cap, was what set Stacy Lee Drake apart from others, witnesses said.

His “French” hat was unusual

Fey Santos, a college student who worked at the front desk of the Motel 6 in Morrilton, Ark., testified that on June 18, 2024, she assisted Drake at registration. He presented his driver’s license which showed his full name and an Alabama address, and paid for the room with cash. She said that Drake stood out from other people because of “the hat he was wearing that day when he walked in,” which she said was unusual and described it as “kind of looked like a hat that people wear in, like, France,” which elicited chuckles from those in the courtroom gallery.

When asked if she would be able to recognize Drake if she saw him again, “with or without the hat,” Santos said she would. She then identified Drake as the man in the orange jumpsuit sitting at the defense table.

Under cross examination, Santos agreed that Drake wasn’t rude or impolite in her interaction with him.

The hat is the tie that binds

Detective Joshua Baker, Morrilton Police Department, identified the Acadia reported as unattended at the Motel 6, and was later part of a multi-man team that searched a “large wooded area” less than a quarter of a mile from the motel. Baker testified that he discovered Drake lying in a hammock in the wooded area, who “sat up and made eye contact,” at which time the team moved in to apprehend Drake without incident.

Baker then identified Drake in the courtroom as the same person who was arrested. Baker said a search of the area where Drake was in the hammock resulted in the discovery of a flat cap, “kind of like a golfer’s cap, almost like, if you’re familiar with the show ‘Peaky Blinders,’ the hats they wear.” “Peaky Blinders” is a period BBC drama series that features flat caps or newsboy caps or Baker Boy caps. Baker said he also found a computer tablet at the site.

The Arkansas campsite

Arkansas State Police Special Agent Kristen Dumont, who assisted the OSBI at the campsite in Morrilton, Ark., was also at the Motel 6 where she saw the stolen Acadia. She testified that she looked at the interior of the vehicle through the windshield and saw a letter bearing the name Tara Huber (aka Tara Underwood).

Dumont also witnessed the SWAT team execute a search warrant, breaching the motel room where Drake had spent the night of June 18, 2024. Dumont testified that Drake was not in the room, but what the team found in the room was “some suspected blood on the floor in front of the bathroom sink area … some leaves and dirt and some hair … some hair fibers on the bed.” Samples of the blood and hair fibers were taken to be tested.

Stacy Drake was captured June 20 in Morrilton, Ark.

On June 20, 2024, Dumont was on the scene when Drake was captured in the wooded area, which she identified to Sequoyah County District Attorney Jack Thorp as “city woods.” She then identified Drake in the courtroom as the same man taken into custody by Morrilton Police.

Dumont testified that during a search of the woods “in close proximity to the area where Stacy Drake was apprehended,” the following evidence was discovered at the campsite:

• Purple camouflage gun holster

• Blue tarp and hammock; camping supplies and bags

• Handheld Samsung Galaxy tablet, “equivalent to an iPad”

• Black baseball cap

• Silver ring

• “Several hundred dollars” ($1,530.37) retrieved from a black belt bag “that was on Drake’s person when he was apprehended”

• Laser-guided gunsight

• Glock handgun “the way we found it,” which consisted of bent and missing parts because the gun “was disassembled, and somebody tried to manipulate it to break it”

• Glock handgun slide which houses the barrel of gun bearing a serial number that matched that of a stolen gun

• Spring or coil for the inside of the slide for a Glock handgun

• Glock magazine that houses bullets

• Unidentified magazine for a gun similar to a Glock

• Cherokee Nation summer nutrition card

• Oklahoma debit card imprinted with the name Tara Huber

• Cherokee Nation Citizen identification card for Huber (Underwood)

• U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Tribal Affairs card bearing the last name Johnson

• Arkansas commercial driver’s license bearing the name Taylor Sharp

• Arkansas driver’s license for Tara Huber

• Gray and black backpack

• Walmart receipt

• Motel 6 room keycard

• Black tennis shoe with white sole with “suspected blood on it”

• Cheetah or leopard-print Coach purse or wallet, which Bullock confirmed belonged to Underwood

Videos and other evidence

OSBI Special Agent Christian Goode, who was assigned to the bureau’s major crimes unit for Oklahoma’s southeast regional office and was the case agent for the LaFerry’s double murder, said he has worked more than 45 crime scenes during his years as an investigator for the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office and the OSBI. He then laid out a systematic process that resulted in the discovery of important evidence.

Christian Goode, OSBI

Goode confirmed that OnStar tracked Underwood’s Acadia to the Alma Travel Mart where four cellphones were found in a trash receptacle. Goode, who had viewed surveillance video at LaFerry’s, testified that video at the convenience store showed Drake wearing “the exact same clothing as he was wearing at LaFerry’s, driving Tara’s vehicle, get gas, check out at the counter, say an exchange between himself and the clerk before exiting out of the Travel Mart.”

Goode, who also viewed surveillance video from Motel 6, said, “Each one of those videos, in this case, stuck out really well because the surveillance videos were actually great — we didn’t have to submit them to a forensic lab and have those enhanced — they were clear.”

He said in the videos, Drake was wearing a black T-shirt, black pants, black shoes with white soles, “has what’s referenced as a flat cap — very unique — you don’t see very many people in southeast Oklahoma wearing that cap,” glasses and “a light scruff on his facial hair.” He testified the cap was subsequently recovered from the Morrilton, Ark., campsite where Drake was captured. He added that when the cap was recovered, “it appears to be intended to be destroyed, because it was in a much better condition when the individual was wearing it.”

Goode then identified Drake in the courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit. He also noted that Drake has “an identifying characteristic that really didn’t seem to be as much, in the beginning, but as the investigation continued … the identifying marks on Stacy Drake was that he was missing his toes,” which corroborated earlier testimony given by Chandler Stroman.

A seven-month sobriety coin or chip similar to this type of commemorative piece was found at a makeshift campsite in the median of I-40 at South 4670 Road, according to OSBI Special Agent Christian Goode.

Goode testified that part of the Sequoyah County investigation included discovery of the Chevrolet pickup stolen from El Reno, which “was found 3 to 3½ miles, the way the crow flies, from LaFerry’s.” He also said a campsite was discovered in the I-40 median at South 4670 Road, referred to as “Central High Road,” which was “approximately 500 to 600 yards from LaFerry’s.”

Found at the campsite were “items such as cans of peanut butter, spoons and forks, which is kind of surprising at this part of the interstate, because there’s not much trash out there,” Goode testified.

Goode then linked Sequoyah County to El Reno. “What stuck out extremely bright in this wooded area was a purple, what I call a challenge coin, that mentioned sobriety, some words of encouragement on the back. Courage and things of that nature were on this coin,” he said, as well as torn-up pieces of, when reassembled, was an El Reno AA card, which also corroborated earlier testimony given by Stroman.

Further investigation of the I-40 campsite revealed “30 fired .45 cartridge cases.” Goode also found “where trees had been shot into.” The trees were then cut down, and Goode retrieved 11 projectiles or bullets which were submitted to the forensics lab. Projectiles, or bullets, found at the crime scene at LaFerry’s and “from Phillip Emerson’s skull” were also sent to the lab along with the 11 projectiles fired into the trees. Those findings enabled Goode to establish the connection between how the three individuals died. In addition, it appeared Emerson, Underwood and Sharp all died from projectiles from the same firearm.

Extraction from a computer tablet found at the Morrilton campsite identified an email associated with the tablet, and showed two videos on YouTube “that would have been watched by the individual in control of that email,” Goode testified. Titles for the videos are “100 Greatest One-liners Before the Kill” and “100 Greatest One-liners After the Kill.”

Extradition to Sallisaw

Deputy Steven Jenkins of the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office was the first investigator to the LaFerry’s crime scene. He secured a search warrant, which was executed by the OSBI. He testified that following Drake’s capture in Morrilton, when OSBI agents attempted to speak with Drake, he invoked his right to counsel.

On June 21, 2024, Jenkins, along with Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Charles House and Investigator Dwayne Frizzell, transported Drake from Morrilton to Sallisaw to be booked into jail. Jenkins testified that no one attempted to ask Drake any questions during the return to Sallisaw.

Stacy Lee Drake

During the booking process, the only questions Jenkins asked Drake “pertained to his identifiers — such as address, simple questions that are asked on a booking sheet.” Jenkins then advised Drake that he was being charged with three counts of murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon, and asked him if he understood. Jenkins confirmed that the information he provided Drake was not an attempt to get Drake to incriminate himself. Jenkins testified that everyone booked into jail is informed of the charges against them, and did not expect Drake to respond, and that the question was not an attempt to gather information about the crime.

When defense counsel objected to the question, “Do you understand?” Sequoyah County District Attorney Jack Thorp cited the routine booking question exemption to Miranda, and reiterated that the question is “the same thing every single person that’s booked in, when they’re given their instruction and they’ve gone through the booking process, they have to acknowledge that they understand the booking process.”

Orendorff agreed that Jenkins’ question was not an attempt to elicit information, that it was part of the booking process and that “I do not believe that a reasonable person, in that context in the booking situation, would feel like they’re being interrogated by being asked that question.” The judge further explained that “Do you understand?” “was not a question that could have elicited an incriminating response. It is a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question. Had he answered ‘yes,’ it would not have been incriminating. Had he answered ‘no,’ it would not be incriminating.”

Thorp then pointed out that an utterance by Drake when advised of the charges proved particularly damning, one Jenkins did not expect.

Jenkins said Drake took exception to the three murder charges against him, arguing, “There was only two people in the place,” which elicited sporadic gasps from the courtroom gallery.

Jenkins identified Drake in the courtroom as the same person who was arrested, extradited to Sallisaw and booked into the county jail.

Foundational testimony

Other witnesses called by the state, who provided primarily foundational information, included:

• Detective David Craig, El Reno Police Department sergeant, who was among those who investigated the death of Phillip Emerson at his El Reno home at 204 N. McComb. He described bloody drag marks at the home, finding Emerson in a pool of blood covered by a blanket. He said the 1994 Chevrolet extended cab pickup driven by Emerson was missing.

• OSBI Special Agent Roy Williams, who assisted El Reno Police with the homicide investigation of Emerson, then traveled to Sallisaw when the stolen pickup was found. Williams testified that the pickup was registered to Lisa Noriega, who was identified as Emerson’s girlfriend.

• Sharon Mitchell, a 911 communications operator in El Reno, who spoke to Sam Emerson who requested a welfare check of his brother, Phillip. Sam Emerson then called 911 about 3½ hours later to report his brother had been murdered, and that his brother’s pickup was missing.

• Detective Jeremy Gore, El Reno Police Department criminal investigator, was among those who investigated Emerson’s, and then traveled to Sallisaw where Emerson’s pickup was found.

• Shane Petree, a deputy with Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office, investigated Emerson’s abandoned pickup, and had it impounded.

• Kevin Borutski, IT vendor for LaFerry’s Propane, detailed during his testimony where exterior surveillance cameras were conspicuously located at LaFerry’s, and testified he provided all video evidence to the OSBI.

Courtney Barnett, OSBI

• OSBI Special Agent Courtney Barnett, who was assigned to the bureau’s crime scene unit, assisted with the homicide investigation at LaFerry’s Propane, and processed the pickup found abandoned about four miles from LaFerry’s. She testified that two spent shells from a .45-caliber handgun were found at the business. Barnett said she took DNA swabs at both LaFerry’s and at the pickup, and that OSBI personnel were at LaFerry’s for 19 hours.

• Tina Buckner was working at the Alma (Ark.) Travel Mart at I-40 and U.S. 71 when Alma Police initially asked to look through trash at the business, and who later alerted police when a customer discovered multiple cellphones in a public trash receptacle at the convenience store. She testified that one phone was “bent and cracked,” another “looked like it was smashed with the heel of a foot,” and another was intact and rang when called by the police.

• Katie Berger, who owns Alma Travel Mart, testified regarding video surveillance equipment at the business and about those who had access to the video recordings.

• Paresh Kumar Patel, owner of the Motel 6 in Morrilton, Ark., testified that he reported to police an unattended Acadia in the motel’s parking lot on June 18, 2024. Although he initially thought the car was abandoned, he later confirmed that the driver had booked a room at the motel. Patel said Morrilton Police subsequently presented him with a search warrant for the room where the driver stayed.

• Nick Baker, an asset protection investigator for Walmart in Morrilton, Ark., testified that surveillance video showed that at 8:54 p.m. on June 18, 2024, Drake entered the store. He subsequently made a purchase at 10:10 p.m., paying in cash for “mostly sporting goods, equipment and clothing,” as well as camping gear.

• Detective Ivette Medina, Jefferson County (Ala.) Sheriff’s Office, was the lead investigator on May 15, 2024, in Fairfield, Ala., for a homicide of Qundarius Young. Medina testified that Young, a homeless man, owned a Glock 30 .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, which was not found during the crime scene investigation. Medina confirmed that the serial number for Young’s gun was the same as the serial number of the gun and parts in Drake’s possession when he was captured on June 20, 2024, in Arkansas.