3 men charged with murder, robbery in death of Papa John’s delivery driver
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Three suspects – Juwan Terry, Jasean Dale, and Jason Epeards – have been officially charged by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office in the death of Lavon Drake.
Terry, Dale and Epeards all three face two counts murder and one count of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury for Drake’s Aug. 20 murder.
The shooting happened just before 7:45 p.m. at Kristen Circle Drive near 30th Street and German Church Road.
Officers were called to a residence in the 11400 block of Kristen Circle to check on the welfare of a person. When officers arrived, they found a male victim suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.
Nearby residents told News 8’s Julian Grace that the residence had been vacant for two months and that people were working on the house.
One of Drake’s former coworkers who wished to remain nameless referred to Drake as a brother.
The worker goes on to say that Drake volunteered to come in and help deliver pizzas at Papa John’s on Monday, which was his scheduled day off.
Drake who worked as a manager for the pizza company, trained some of his coworkers.
Those close to the investigation add that Drake cooperated with the suspects once he was approached.
Detectives add that Drake handed over the cash and the pizza, yet the suspects forced the father of one into a house and shot him.
According to court documents, a witness saw the suspects, later identified as Terry, Epeards and Dale, walking between houses and the vacant house. They were seen carrying a pizza box and an assault style rifle.
Court documents show that a witness saw all three suspects get into a Blue Chevy Impala and then exit the neighborhood, headed north.
Canvassing the area officers were able to locate the exact same Blue Chevy Impala in the 3000 block of Redskin Lane, which is just a few blocks from the crime scene.
Epeards was then spotted entering the car and left the complex before coming to a stop in the 900 block of Waring Drive after seeing police vehicles following him .
Epeards was place under arrest. He admitted to officers, documents state, that he robbed the driver of the vehicle and that all three of them came up with the idea to rob a delivery driver, but said that Terry and Dale shot and killed Drake.
He told police Dale had a handgun and Juan had a rifle.
However, documents also show that Dale told officers that Epeards and Terry were the ones who shot and killed Drake.
Terry told officers a story similar to that of Epeards, saying that at no time did they have any intention of paying for the pizza and that he and Dale shot and eventually killed Drake.
“LaVon he didn’t deserve to die he was a selfless human being not only did you take a Papa John’s delivery guy, you took a hero,” said a coworker who wished to remain nameless.
