In the quiet community of Momence, Illinois, the life of 30-year-old Courtney Drysdale, a White Caucasian female, was brought to a tragic and violent end on the morning of Monday, February 2, 2026. A beloved mother and the proud owner of The Line, a local bar she had operated for four years, Drysdale was preparing to open her establishment for the day when the unthinkable occurred. Shortly before noon, deputies responded to a report of a possible death at the bar, located on the Illinois-Indiana state line. Upon arrival, they discovered Drysdale with fatal gunshot wounds; she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into Drysdale's death quickly revealed the incident was a homicide that took place during a robbery. Authorities reported that an unknown man entered the bar, brandished a firearm, and demanded money. Despite her full cooperation with the assailant's demands, Drysdale was shot twice in what Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey described as an "execution-style" killing. Before fleeing the scene, the suspect attempted to remove a digital recording device from the wall, but investigators were successful in recovering video evidence from the premises.
Within a day of the tragic event, authorities released surveillance images of the person and vehicle of interest. The swift dissemination of this information, coupled with numerous tips from the community, led to a rapid breakthrough in the case. On Tuesday, just 26 hours after the incident, 47-year-old Julius E. Burkes Jr. of Hammond, Indiana, was taken into custody as he was exiting his home. The arrest was a collaborative effort involving the Kankakee County Sheriff's Office, the U.S. Marshals Service Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, and the Hammond Police Department.
Further investigation into Burkes' background revealed a significant and violent criminal history. At the time of Drysdale's death, he was reportedly a convicted killer, having previously been sentenced to 37 years in prison for a double homicide in Illinois in 1994. Following his arrest for Drysdale's murder, Burkes waived his extradition and was set to be transferred to Illinois to face charges in connection with the senseless death of a young mother and business owner that left a community in mourning.
