Terry Drake

This case made it to my list because while researching a few of the cases I have done recently his name was mentioned in an article. That is how come names make it to my list. The article was mentioning that he was asking for clemency from the Governor of Indiana. He was serving a sentence for murder. The article was on a site I use for archived newspaper articles from my area. There are times it seems here lately that is the only place I can find information on a case and while that was true about the murder of Linda Kearschner by Terry Drake in 1977, it did not mean that my Google search came up empty. He would serve his time for that murder, which I will obviously be going into, but that was not the last we heard from Terry Drake. The next time we heard from him was at a national level.

On Thursday November 17, 1977 Michael Kearschner returned to his rural Vanderburgh Indiana home around 11:30 that night, after work, to find his wife, twenty-five year old Linda, missing. It was not made clear whether he had left work early because he was worried that he had been unable to reach her in several hours or whether he rushed home after his shift. The Kearschner's lived in a pretty isolated area. The stretch of road they lived on is built up now with homes lining the road but there are still some spots as you drive down where homes are way more spread out so it is not hard to imagine why in 1977 this was considered to be “isolated” as I described. Michael worked at the Alcoa factory in Warrick County, the next county over. Today that drive would be close to forty-five minutes to an hour, so again, in 1977 it would have likely been even longer. The Kearschner's only owned one vehicle so Linda would be left at home while Michael worked with no easy access to leave. When he discovered his wife missing he called the police.

Authorities entered the home and it had apparently been left the way Michael found it. The television and lights were on and investigators believed that Linda had been in the middle of washing dishes and making tea at the time she had left or been taken from the home. They discovered that six guns in the home had been taken and they found a piece of duct tape that appeared to have Linda's hair attached. Michael as well as neighbors were interviewed and attention quickly focused on Terry Drake.

The Kearschner's had met Drake a few years earlier at their church. They belonged to a motorcycle group organized by the church called “The Christian Bikers.” Some later articles that I read on Terry Drake indicated that he and Michael Kearschner were best friends but that was not the impression that I got from the start of this crime. I was left with the impression that yes, once the couple and Drake had been closer than they now were but nothing like being “best friends.” In fact, Michael would say that his home had been burglarized in 1974 and some guns were taken and he had suspected Drake. But, just because his guns were missing again does not mean that is why suspicion fell on Drake.

Michael Kearschner told investigators that he had talked to Drake earlier that day. Drake and his wife had recently moved back to the area after living in Louisville Kentucky with their young child for several months. In the conversation Drake had discussed the fact that he was jobless and asked Michael if he could help him out, but that was not what Drake had asked that concerned him. Drake had also seemingly asked Michael some strange questions about how long he would be working that day and what Linda planned to do while he was gone. Michael said the conversation made him uncomfortable and had concerned him even more when he was unable to reach Linda on the phone. Neighbors in the area were also questioned and they described seeing a station wagon in the driveway of the Kearschner home that evening. The car they described sounded like Drake vehicle so investigators went to talk to his wife, Teresa, who gave them a more detailed description of their vehicle. This was released to the media and other police departments.

The following morning, at about nine, Terry Drake turned himself into authorities in Warrick County in the town of Newburgh. He claimed that he had heard that authorities were looking for his car and seemingly voluntarily spoke with them. He was held on suspicion of murder and transferred back to Vanderburgh County. His car was impounded and also taken for a search. It appears that it did not take long before Drake confessed not only to abducting Linda Kearschner, but also murdering her and was ready to take authorities to her body. Drake took authorities about sixty miles north to a bridge over the White River off of Highway 41. It was there that the body of Linda Kearschner was found with at least one gunshot wound to the head.

I want to take a second here to touch on a few things. First, I stated there was “at least one” gunshot wound to Linda's head and I said this because there was another report, much later that indicated that she may have been shot twice. All of the newspapers articles I could find at the time never confirmed whether she had been sexually assaulted. It was said that her body was fully clothed and I found nothing that was reported later that any examination had revealed she was raped. However, decades later an article was written about Drake and the new crime he committed stated that he had raped Linda Kearschner in 1977. I am going to be completely fair here in saying I cannot say if this was true or if it was stated as such in 2003 to over sensationalize both the 1977 case as well as the charges he was facing then. This is done more often than one would think when a sexual crime is committed or someone faces a charge that falls under a category of such.

While I have you on this subject I want to point out something that I have noticed over time. We obviously live in a world in which sex offenses are taken seriously and with the sex offender registry everything is public so the media tends to jump fast on those sorts of cases. When you see an article online, or I suppose in an old-fashioned newspaper, with a title that talks about child pornography charges or sentencing take a look. More often than not I have seen articles titled for example “Man sentenced to thirty years on child pornography charges” and when I open it up to read the article child pornography is the least offensive of the person's charges. Generally those with that long of a sentence received such because either a) they have much more serious charges such as child molestation or crossing state lines with a minor or b) they have served prison sentences on multiple occasions prior to this and is considered a habitual offender. I could maybe understand the title if they had a long list of criminal activity and that was the only charge they faced this time, but I am yet to understand these sorts of titles when it comes to much more offensive charges. My only thought is that the title is done so in order to place fear into people who do not read the article. Anyways, that is my soapbox for the day.

Investigators had learned that six guns had been stolen from the Kearschner home. They found .45 caliber casings at the scene and knew Linda had been killed with a .45 caliber handgun but the gun was not in the area. They also knew that three of the missing guns from the home were .45 caliber. Near the end of December of that year all but one of the guns were found in a wooded area in Warrick County. The police had been given a tip on where to find the guns and they were found “within a 25 foot radius” of each other in an area between the Alcoa plant and the next town over of Boonville. The article I read spoke about the fact that within this find were all three of the .45 caliber weapons and that they would be tested to see if one of them was the murder weapon. While I never saw anything specific to the findings, an article discussing his crime in 2003, and recounting the 1977 murder stated that Linda had been murdered with a gun from her home. The search of his car produced yet another piece of duct tape and like the one found at the Kearschner home, this too appeared to have Linda's hair attached.

This all brings us to the number one rule in law.... jurisdiction. This determines what agency or county has the right to bring charges. Now, in this case the kidnapping and theft occurred in Vanderburgh County while the murder was presumed to have been committed in Knox County, all in Indiana. Since the murder occurred in Knox County and was the most heinous of the charges they could have technically charged him with both the kidnapping and the murder considering that Linda was presumably taken to Knox County against her will. But, they would not have had jurisdiction on the theft charges. The theft of the guns was obviously minor compared to the murder but Vanderburgh County also had the right to combine it with the kidnapping charges since that was where Linda was taken. Counties sometimes will do this to ensure that the perpetrator gets the prison time they feel they deserve. If Knox County had taken over the kidnapping charges along with the murder and Drake was somehow acquitted those charges could never be re-filed. That would have only left the minor charge of theft in Vanderburgh County and he would not have likely gotten much time if he was convicted in that case. So Knox County indicted Drake on first degree murder charges while Vanderburgh County charged him with the kidnapping and the theft. It is unclear which county held him but both had bonds on him. The Knox County bond was $100,000 while the Vanderburgh County bond was $15,000.

I found it interesting that in 1977 investigators got an order for hair, saliva and blood samples from Drake. Today that is pretty common place and sure some investigators believed right around the corner were forensic breakthroughs and were preserving things that would amazingly be helpful decades later but it was still rare. The defense attorney objected but the courts agreed. Investigators said these samples were needed to compare things like cigarette butts at the Kearschner home, in his car and at the crime scene.

On November 21^st Drake attempted suicide in jail by using the ribbon on his mattress. He was taken to the local hospital where he was “revived and returned to jail.” The following day Knox County indicted him for murder. This is where things get a little sketchy for me. It appears that Drake did not take his case to trial and decided to plead guilty in Knox County. On August 8, 1978 Drake was sentenced to thirty years for the murder of Linda Kearschner. It appears that Vanderburgh County never pursued charges and that could have been part of the deal he made in the plea. At the time of his sentencing Drake would have been eligible for parole in November of 1992.

In May of 1987 Drake was doing his time at the Pendleton State Prison, just northeast of Indianapolis. He was doing a work detail job out in the yard and just before a a rain storm approached it was noticed that Drake was not around. A search was started, dogs were even brought out but the rain came fast and hard and the search had to be called off. The following day Drake was found on the grounds of the prison hiding in a grain silo. It is not clear if he was given more time with an escape charge or whether he was simply denied parole in November of 1992. Ultimately he was released in April of 1994.

It is unclear where or what Drake did from the time he was released in 1994 until early 2003 but at the very least by March of that year he was living in Middlebury Indiana, less than ten miles from the Michigan border. Drake met the Ryan family, from Jones Michigan, at a church. Drake, who was said to be fifty-six at the time although that is a question I will address later, started talking to fourteen year old Lindsey Ryan online on a very regular basis.

On March 5, 2003 Lindsey Ryan locked her bedroom door and climbed out her window. Before she did so she apparently took some guns, ammunition and $4,000. It is not clear how long she had been gone before her parents realized she was gone but that happened when her dad “busted” down the door and found her bedroom window open. Lindsey's parents would later say they completely believed that she had been abducted against her will until the police convinced them otherwise showing them that there was only one set of footprints outside and they belonged to her. Fairly quickly it was determined that Lindsey was with Terry Drake.

An Amber Alert was issued for Lindsey and although I cannot say how authorities determined this, it seems they knew early on that they were likely headed towards California. Terry Drake's 1995 Dodge Dakota was seen by several people seemingly heading west across the country. When this was all over the media and authorities were praised for getting and keeping the story out there and working together for a resolution. On March 24^th authorities in California got a report that Drake and Ryan were camping in a remote area. Authorities went there and found them. Drake was arrested and Lindsey Ryan was returned home. Before anyone asks I found nothing so I assume that no charges were brought against Lindsey for the guns and money that were taken from her home. I am not saying that I do or do not think she should have faced charges, just that I found nothing indicating that she was.

Drake was facing charges in several areas this time. First, both the states of Michigan and California were prepared to file charges on him. Also, federal authorities had the right to charge him for crimes also. It was said that in July of that year Drake sent a letter to Lindsey saying that he would “hunt her down and pay her back.” It is not clear whether he was threatened with charges for this. In September of 2003 Drake agreed to plead guilty on charges that he violated The Mann Act in a federal court. The agreement was he would received twenty-five years (federal prison use months so, 300) and California and Michigan would not pursue their charges. The Mann Act is also known as the White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910 and makes the transport of a female for the purpose of “immoral purposes” a crime.

It is unclear where Drake spent most of his time in prison but in June of 2019 he was moved to a federal prison in Tucson Arizona. On December 15, 2020 Drake became one of the several people in prison who were afflicted and died due to the COVID-19 virus.

There are just a few more things I want to touch on here. First, I believe it was in my last blog where I talked about how I always insert my opinion at the end of a case, this case all but kind of proves that wrong. In this case I am not sure there is really anything to say about his guilty, innocence or the process. In my opinion not only were both crimes that he committed pretty cut and dry. It sounds as if the laws were followed and pursued the way they were meant to be.

When Lindsey Ryan disappeared with Drake there was media coverage all over in an effort to find her. I found an article written in Evansville that recounted the Linda Kearschner murder and her husband Michael was interviewed. It was mentioned that Drake had met the Ryan family at church, just as he had met the Kearschner's. Michael indicated he believed that churches may have been his breeding ground of sorts. I am unsure that I can disagree. It does appear that he used the church to meet people and would then pursue them.

The last thing I want to touch on was Terry Drake's background and alleged age. When he was arrested for Linda Kearschner's murder it was said that he was thirty years old. It was also said that his wife at the time of the murder was his fifth. A former wife reported to authorities that from her understanding he was born in 1940, which would have made him thirty-seven at the time and not thirty. Newspaper articles seemed to indicate, at least during that crime, that it was not necessarily resolved. The Indiana Department of Corrections listed his birthday as February of 1947 but I am unsure whether they verified this or not. It does appear that this date remained with him because he was said to be fifty-six when he abducted Lindsey Ryan and seventy-three at the time of his death but he very well could have been eighty when he died.

Prior to Linda's murder Drake had been arrested on three occasions. Two of those times involved traffic issues. The third was a charge of malicious trespassing where he had shot out the windows and tires of a parked car. In that case he was give a sixty day jail term and fined $500. Court documents stated that Drake had said this was part of a KKK effort to harass a black man. There were allegations that he was a former KKK member but that was not clarified. According to Michael Kearschner Drake told him he had attempted to join the radical group but had not done so. At each of these arrests Drake gave a different place of birth. He said Ohio once, Florida once and also Louisiana. This, along with his age never really seemed to be resolved.