Man wanted in connection with Oklahoma homicides arrested: Police
MORRILTON, Ark. (NewsNation) — The search for an Alabama man wanted in connection with multiple homicides in Oklahoma has ended after he was located and arrested in Arkansas by the Morrilton Police Department and Arkansas State Police, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
Stacy Drake, 50, of Birmingham, had been on the run since late Tuesday evening.
He was last seen on surveillance footage at a hotel in Morrilton, Arkansas, about 50 miles northwest of Little Rock, according to police. The Morrilton Police Department also said the Arkansas State Police had notified them that the vehicle used in the homicides was parked at the hotel.
Officials said that officers searched the hotel, but Drake was not found. Police said it is unknown how he left the hotel.
Around 10 a.m. local time Thursday, police discovered Drake hiding out in a wooded Morrilton area.
The 50-year-old is currently being held at Conway County Detention Center and further information will be released as it becomes available, police said.
Drake is a person of interest in homicides from two different carjackings in Oklahoma.
One of those occurred Tuesday, when authorities in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, were called to a double homicide in Gans, roughly 100 miles southeast of Tulsa. According to NewsNation affiliate KFOR, a man and a woman were found dead inside a business “with injuries consistent with homicide.”
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation named Drake as a person of interest in the case, though they did not share why.
According to Nexstar's KARK, investigators in Oklahoma say Drake was also sought in connection to the killing of 56-year-old Phillip Emerson in the town of El Reno on June 14.
Arkansas State Police say Drake is also wanted on multiple felony warrants from multiple jurisdictions, with charges including aggravated robbery, carjacking and robbery.
NewsNation affiliate KARK contributed to this report.