About four weeks ago, Neil Trudeau and Courtney Drysdale established plans of how the next 10 years of their lives would unfold.

Drysdale would operate her bar at the Illinois-Indiana state line near Momence along Illinois Route 114, only a stone’s throw from Indiana. Trudeau would continue his welding business as well as a few other of his business ventures.

All the children would be grown and on their own by that time.

A man, however, walked into her bar – The Line – and one life was ended and another permanently altered, or more accurately, crushed.

The late morning events of that Feb. 2 day inside The Line remain difficult for Trudeau to grasp.

Trudeau has some theories as to what may have caused such an act of violence. He wonders what may have been going through the mind of his fiancée as she faced the alleged gunman at about 11 a.m. that day. He now finds himself living through this grisly encounter over and over.

Trudeau recently agreed to sit down for an interview with Shaw Local regarding the execution-style shooting death of Drysdale allegedly at the hands of Julius E. Burkes, Jr., of Hammond, Indiana.

Burkes worked at the bar for about 30 days in 2018. Drysdale was also an employee at that time.

“I didn’t know him at all. I didn’t know there was any connection between the two of them,” Trudeau said.

Trudeau has his own theory as to what caused Burkes to stop at the location. Those theories are just his own opinion, he said.

“I don’t think he even knew it was Courtney in the building,” he said.

Per video footage, Trudeau said it appeared Drysdale did everything asked of her. She opened the cash register. She even handed over money in different locations.

“She didn’t do anything to provoke (the gunman) that day,” he said.

Trudeau is not a stranger to tragedy. He had a 13-year-old son, Robbie, whose life was lost in an Aug. 7, 2016, vehicle accident in Indiana.

“Whatever is supposed to happen, happens,” he said.

Empty days, sleepless nights

Engaged only since March, the couple, who had been dating since March 2021, had plans for a July 25 wedding. The wedding was to be held on one of the stone bridges at the former South Shore Golf Course, the course Trudeau owned for two years.

A 1992 graduate of Momence High School, Trudeau closed the course in late autumn 2016 following his son’s death. He admitted to having trouble functioning during that time.

He bounced around for some 18 months of what he described as difficult times.

A few years later he met Drysdale and their lives were seemingly set.

That was, of course, until a violent act shattered everything.

“She was just a fantastic person,” Trudeau explained. “You could count on one hand the number of people who may have not liked her.”

The couple met at the bar she later owned, operated and died in. Drysdale tended bar there.

“I was meeting a friend there,” Trudeau said. He then met far more than his friend. He met the woman who would become the love of his life.

He described the relationship which unfolded as “slow going.”

“No one was in a rush. That’s what made it so good,” Trudeau said. ”We were best friends and that’s what made it so good. We didn’t need anyone else. We were happy.”

Drysdale typically arrived at the business, the place she was able to call her own since June 2022, between 10 and 10:30 a.m.

She would do whatever would be necessary to get the location ready for its 11 a.m. opening.

Trudeau described his fiancée’s management style as “no nonsense.” He said customers responded to what she was doing for the bar, which is basically in the middle of nowhere.

The location was part of its attraction. It was away from any nearby municipalities. It was something of an island unto itself.

Customers responded.

“She built the bar around a family crowd. People respected her so much. We would call it a fun dive bar,” Trudeau said.

Fateful day

The fun came to a horrific end on that Feb. 2 day.

Trudeau, at a job site in Mokena, received a telephone call late that morning regarding ambulance calls of a non-responsive victim. His heart immediately sank.

He phoned Drysdale. In a brief moment of relief, the call was answered.

Sadness immediately returned. While her phone was being answered, it wasn’t her voice on the line. It was answered by police.

Information was not being shared. Trudeau had another way to gain information. He had remote access to the security system through his cell phone. He was able to view from multiple camera angles what took place.

“I saw every bit of it,” he said and then paused. He peered at the ceiling for a moment. “I know she died instantly based on what the footage showed.”

Trying to cope

The nights following his fiancée’s murder, he was unable to close his eyes and sleep, he said. He wonders how he managed to get from one day to the next.

Trudeau pulled at the baseball-type cap on his head as he spoke. He said he has to come the realization these past weeks that a higher power determines when it is someone’s time to leave this world.

There can be no other explanation as to why he doesn’t have his soon-to-be-wife at his side.

“Unfortunately when it’s someone’s time, it’s their time.” It is this thought that makes any sense to him. “I’m trying to think the most positive thoughts I can,” Trudeau said.

As a small businessman, he is attempting to keep himself as busy as possible. The most difficult part of each day is returning home and knowing Courtney will not be there.

As much as he doesn’t want to consider life without Courtney, he must think of it. The trips, the laughs, the companionship have been moved into the rearview mirror.

“I had the rest of my life planned with her. I had my life planned. I’ve lost everything,” Trudeau said.

He still has a son, Braden, 26, of Momence, and there is Courtney’s 12-year-old daughter, Aubrey.

Trudeau said he often had a distasteful thought of not sharing life with Courtney.

He will now live that life.

“There is a greater power. I believe that. Our lives are written,” Trudeau said.

He recalled a favorite slogan he and Courtney shared.

“We would say ‘State Line (bar) or die.’ That was her life,” he said.

It was far beyond just her life.