Illinois Local Justice

Illinois authorities say 30‑year‑old bar owner and mother Courtney Drysdale was shot twice 'execution‑style' and killed late Monday morning, Feb. 2, 2026, while opening The Line, her bar in rural Momence near the Illinois‑Indiana border, even after she complied with an armed robber’s demand for money. Kankakee County detectives used surveillance footage showing a suspect in a bright yellow jacket leaving in a white BMW to help track 47‑year‑old Julius E. Burkes Jr. to Hammond, Indiana, where he was arrested about 26 hours later as he left his residence. Investigators say Burkes tried to rip out the bar’s video recording device before fleeing, and public tips were crucial in locating him across state lines. Court records cited in local coverage show Burkes has a decades‑long record, including a 2014 battery conviction, a December 2025 home‑invasion case for which he was out on bond, and a 1995 guilty plea to two counts of felony murder at age 15 that led to a 37‑year sentence. He is being held in Indiana pending extradition to Illinois, while Drysdale’s killing is fueling local anger and online debate about bail decisions and supervision of violent repeat offenders.