FORT SMITH, Ark. — Teri Reagan says she was at her home in New Orleans when she received a call from her sister. When she answered to her sister crying, she thought it might be about her elderly mother. Instead, her sister delivered news that her son, Taylor Sharp, was killed.
"I collapsed. Collapsed. It, I mean, it was just inconceivable. I really couldn't believe what I just heard," Reagan said.
Sharp was killed with his co-worker, Tara Underwood, at LaFerry's Propane in Gans, Oklahoma on June 18. Like Underwood's father, Reagan says she has cried plenty of tears and had no sleep since Tuesday.
"When you do finally get to fall asleep from exhaustion, then you wake up and it's right there, and you have to go through that initial shock all over again," Reagan said.
Reagan drove up from New Orleans and had to make her way through Morrilton, Arkansas. The drive brought her miles away from her son's suspected killer, Stacy Lee Drake, who was eventually caught by law enforcement in that area.
"It was relief, and then it was anger, and then it was just, I can't believe it, and I still, you know, it'll hit me sometimes I just I cannot believe that this random act of violence took my son," Reagan said about Drake's arrest. "A part of me didn't want him caught. I wanted immediate justice for his victims."
Reagan thanked the diligence and determination of the law enforcement involved in his arrest, saying she had no doubt he'd be caught in the state.
"I'm proud, and I'm so glad that that he didn't hurt anyone else, because I fully believe that he was is just a cold-blooded killer. He's a killer, and he would have continued to kill," she said.
Reagan spent time in Fort Smith, where she raised Sharp for many years. She would bring him to Carol Ann Cross Park where she once played, eventually taking Sharp's children to enjoy the park too. She says revisiting the area brought back memories.
"A lot of memories flood my mind and my heart. It's a very strange feeling, and that's happened to me driving around town or anything. You know, he's all around here," Reagan said.
Reagan describes Sharp as an old soul, that would talk to anyone. She explained that Sharp carried a life of trucking to provide for his family. She remembered the times he would call her to tell her stories of the road. Reagan said she would help him care for his children while he was on the road, but eventually would move out from Cedarville to Oklahoma. She said that's when he made the switch to LaFerry's, to have a more 9-5 job and care for his children himself.
Reagan explained that her mother was watching her grandsons, Sharp's twin boys, on Tuesday. She said on another day the boys could've been at LaFerry's when their father and his co-worker were killed.
"They went to work with their dad sometimes, you know, and there was talk of them going to work with him that day. He said, 'no, why don't you go ahead and stay with your nan today?' And Caden said- they call me Gram- And said, 'Gram, you know, if we had been with dad, I would have been murdered too,'" Reagan said.
Now leaving behind 3 children and his grieving family, Reagan said she'd do everything to bring justice for his death.
"As a mother, I the first thing I looked up was, what state still had the death penalty? As a Christian, that's a hard one for me. You know, so I'm just going to say that I'm going to walk by faith, and I'm going to let God's in control, and whatever is supposed to happen. Will happen. I will say that every any hearing, trial, meeting anything that I can be at, I will be there"
Reagan explained that Taylor's body was still with the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner at the time of the interview. She said funeral arrangements are still being figured out and won't be set until after they receive his body.
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