Tuscaloosa Murder Suspect Faces New Charges

The suspect in the killing of 62-year-old Russell Thomas Andrews on May 14 near the Alcoholics Anonymous building on Warner Parkway now faces a third murder charge. 50-year-old Stacy Lee Drake was officially charged Wednesday with murder in the June 14 shooting death of Phillip Emerson at his home in the small central Oklahoma town of El Reno.

Drake was also previously charged with murder in the June 18 shooting deaths of Tara Huber Underwood and Taylor Sharp at a business in Gans, Oklahoma. That is a town of just over 200 people near Ft. Smith, Arkansas.

The Alabamian faces additional charges of robbery, possession of a stolen vehicle and committing a pattern of criminal offenses in Oklahoma according to prosecutors in Sequoyah and Canadian counties.

According to an Oklahoma court affidavit in the Oklahoma slayings, Drake allegedly killed Emerson in El Reno and stole his truck. The vehicle was later found near a business in Gans, about 100 miles east of Oklahoma City.

A vehicle owned by Underwood was taken from Gans and found June 20 at a motel in Morrilton, Arkansas, about 40 miles northwest of Little Rock.

After a lengthy manhunt which involved Arkansas National Guard and Arkansas State Troopers and Corrections Officers, Drake was taken into custody without incident.

The first incident in the multi-state murder and crime spree took place in Tuscaloosa where Andrews and Drake are thought to have become acquainted at AA. Investigators believe Drake followed the same pattern when he met Emerson.

Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes investigators determined Drake had been living in Tuscaloosa as a transient using a false name prior to the murder of Andrews.

This a story we will continue to follow as more information is revealed.