Morrison, Ark. – An Alabama man wanted in connection with homicides in Oklahoma and Alabama was arrested Thursday in Arkansas after a manhunt that spanned several southern states, Arkansas State Police said.
Stacy Lee Drake, 50, was arrested about 10 a.m. in a wooded area in Morrilton, state police said. He was taken into custody “without incident,” the agency said in a brief statement.
Morrilton Mayor Allen Lipsmeyer told CBS affiliate KFSM-TV Fort Smith, Arkansas, “We were so blessed that … he was able to be arrested without anyone (else) getting hurt … Today he's arrested and we hope he does not let them out for a long time.”
Drake is wanted in connection with homicides and carjackings in Oklahoma, Arkansas State Police said. They said he was also wanted on other felony warrants from multiple jurisdictions on charges including aggravated robbery, carjacking and murder.
A man and a woman were found dead inside a business near Gans, Okla., near the Arkansas state line, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said. Both had injuries consistent with homicide, and the agency said Drake is a person of interest.
Arkansas authorities initially said Drake was wanted in three homicides in Oklahoma, but OSBI spokesman Hunter McKee said Thursday that Drake has only been connected to the two in the Gans area.
“We are still investigating what else the suspect may have been involved in,” McKee said, but added that Drake was not wanted for any other Oklahoma murders.
The bodies of the two victims were sent to the state medical examiner for identification and to determine the causes of death, OSBI said.
Drake's last known address was in Birmingham, Alabama. He was taken into custody Thursday at the Conway County Detention Center in Arkansas.
Drake had an extradition hearing scheduled for Friday morning, the jail administrator said. It was not immediately clear if Drake had an attorney.
In Alabama, Drake is accused of killing Russell Andrews on May 14, according to the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office. Capt. Jack Kennedy of the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit said there is a warrant out for Drake on one count of murder. The media reported that Andrews, 62, was found dead in the Alcoholics Anonymous building.
Authorities in Tuscaloosa said Andrews' vehicle was stolen when he was killed and was caught on camera hours later driving on an interstate near the Arkansas-Oklahoma border.
