Background: Julius Burkes Jr. appears in court on Feb. 11 (WGN). Inset: Courtney Drysdale (Jensen Memorial Chapel and Cremation Society).
The Illinois bar owner who was fatally shot as she opened up her business knew the man who allegedly killed her.
Julius Burkes Jr., 47, appeared in a Kankakee County court on Wednesday after being charged with the murder of 30-year-old Courtney Drysdale. During the hearing, which was covered by local CW affiliate WGN, prosecutors revealed that Burkes and Drysdale had been co-workers at the bar she would eventually own. Prosecutors told the judge that in 2019, when the bar was under different ownership and a different name, Drysdale told the former owner that Burkes was stealing money. The accusation cost Burkes his job.
About six years later, prosecutors said Burkes "crossed state lines" to return to the bar, now known as The Line and owned by Drysdale, to rob it and execute Drysdale. First Assistant State's Attorney Carol Costello said, "He planned it out."
As Law&Crime previously reported, Burkes was arrested at his home in Hammond, Indiana, right across the Indiana-Illinois state line, on Feb. 3, a day after Drysdale was found dead at The Line in Momence, Illinois. After releasing video footage taken at the bar on the morning of Feb. 2, police received a number of tips that led them to Burkes.
Police said at the time that video footage from inside the bar showed that Burkes "brandished a firearm and demanded money from the cash register" before Drysdale was shot "execution-style." More details about that footage were revealed by Costello in court on Wednesday. Costello told the judge that seven minutes after Drysdale opened the bar at 11 a.m., Burkes entered the bar and aimed a firearm at Drysdale.
"[Burkes] then orders Courtney around the interior of the bar for several minutes, removing items from the cash register and office area. The defendant appears to order Courtney to sit on the floor behind the bar."
Costello continued, "At 11:13 a.m., the defendant then shoots Courtney one time in her head, execution style, and you see her body collapse to the floor." She said Burkes started to leave, but "15 seconds later, walks back towards her, reaches over the bar, and again, execution style, shoots her a second time in her head." Burkes then left the bar, got into his white BMW, and drove away.
About an hour after allegedly murdering Drysdale, Costello said investigators found a bank receipt for a $751 deposit into a bank in Hammond, Indiana, where Burkes lives. They were also able to track his phone as he traveled back and forth between Hammond and Momence.
According to Costello, Burkes' current girlfriend identified him in the surveillance footage. His ex-girlfriend confirmed the car in the video was the one she had sold to him.
Burkes was charged with three counts of murder, armed robbery, and felony possession of a firearm. He is being held at the Jerome Combs Detention Center without bond.
WGN reported that Drysdale's family and friends, who attended the hearing a day after Drysdale's funeral, started a GoFundMe for her surviving daughter, who is now living with her aunt and uncle. Drysdale was engaged to be married at the time of her death.
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