Ronnie Dontell Drane

Serial Killer

Ronnie Dontell Drane: Four Murders, Witness Elimination and a Multistate Manhunt

Background

Ronnie Dontell Drane, also known as Ronnie Patterson, is an American murderer associated with a series of killings in Indiana and Kentucky between 2002 and 2003. Four homicides are supported by court records and subsequent convictions or criminal proceedings: Tomorra "Precious" Taylor, Larry Peaches Jr., Delores Buchanan and Herman Buchanan. The crimes were not identical in motive or method. Taylor was raped and strangled, while the later victims were shot. What connects the cases is Drane himself and an escalating pattern of violence that eventually included the deliberate targeting of a surviving witness to earlier murders. Drane's crimes drew the attention of local police departments, state prosecutors and federal fugitive investigators. By the time he was captured in 2004, authorities in Indiana and Kentucky were seeking him in connection with multiple murders, attempted murder and other violent offenses. The U.S. Marshals Service eventually placed him on its 15 Most Wanted fugitives list, and his case received national exposure during the hunt for him.

The Murder of Tomorra "Precious" Taylor

Drane's first confirmed murder occurred during the night of May 27 into May 28, 2002, in Gary, Indiana. Twenty-five-year-old Tomorra "Precious" Taylor spent much of May 27 visiting friends and relatives with her cousin Adrian Ross. During the day, Taylor made telephone calls to Drane, and later that evening she arranged to meet him. Her final documented telephone conversation with Drane occurred at approximately 9:47 p.m., after which she left her foster mother's residence alone. Later that night, an off-duty Gary police corporal noticed a gray or silver minivan parked near the barbecue shelters at M.C. Bennett Park. The vehicle attracted his attention because the park was closed after sunset. When he passed the area again two or three hours later, what appeared to be the same van was still there. At approximately 9:00 the following morning, May 28, a man collecting cans in the park discovered Taylor's body inside a shelter near the area where the minivan had been seen. Taylor had suffered numerous injuries. Court records described injuries to her lip, ear, jaw and back, a fractured bone in her neck and substantial bruising. The coroner determined that she had died from strangulation. The condition in which Taylor was found also became important evidence in the prosecution's allegation that she had been sexually assaulted during the killing. Investigators reconstructed Taylor's final hours through telephone records. Their investigation led them to a residence associated with Tiffany Copeland, with whom Drane was living. Drane was using a cellular telephone registered in Copeland's name, and a silver minivan connected to Copeland was also investigated because witnesses believed it resembled the vehicle seen shortly before Taylor disappeared and later at the park. DNA testing provided another major element of the case. Biological material recovered from Taylor could not exclude Drane as a contributor. Drane ultimately admitted that he had engaged in sexual intercourse with Taylor during the night she was killed, although he maintained that the encounter was consensual and claimed she left afterward. Prosecutors rejected his explanation and argued that the physical evidence, telephone evidence, eyewitness testimony and circumstances surrounding Taylor's discovery demonstrated that Drane had raped and murdered her. ...

Confirmed Victims: (4)

Tomorra Taylor Age: (25), Date of Death: May 27, 2002

Suspected Victims:

Tiffany Copeland Age: (29), Date of Death: April 2004

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