Missouri murder suspect arrested in Florida after FBI Ten Most Wanted listing

KaShawn Nicola Roper was captured in High Springs, Florida, about 10:30 a.m. on April 15, less than one day after the FBI placed her on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list and offered up to $1 million for information leading to her arrest and conviction. The speed of the takedown suggests the list still carries real operational force when a case is pushed hard into public view and paired with immediate law enforcement coordination.

Roper, 50, formerly of Kansas City, Missouri, is accused of fatally shooting 23-year-old Jazmyn Henrion and wounding another woman during an altercation on August 23, 2020, when multiple shots were fired at a car. Henrion, described by local officials as a mother of three young children, died in the attack. Roper was charged in Missouri state court on September 10, 2020, with second-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon. A federal arrest warrant followed on July 1, 2021, after she was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

The FBI said Roper should be considered armed and dangerous. It described her as a Black woman, about 5-foot-5 and 120 pounds, with black hair, pierced ears and tattoos on her left arm, upper left arm, upper right arm, back, left calf, neck, right wrist, right breast and abdomen. Investigators said she had ties to, or may visit, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Colorado, Georgia and South Dakota, and that she may have specifically fled to Denver, Colorado.

Authorities said the arrest followed tips tied to the FBI’s announcement and came during a routine traffic stop in High Springs. Officers from the High Springs Police Department worked with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Marshals Office and Alachua County’s Warrants Unit Task Force, while investigative support came from the Kansas City Missouri Police Department and the FBI’s KC Metro Violent Crime Task Force. High Springs Police Chief Antoine Sheppard credited coordinated efforts, shared intelligence and mutual trust across agencies.

Roper was the 541st person added to the Ten Most Wanted list, a program created in 1950 to enlist the public in finding fugitives. Her arrest, nearly six years after the Kansas City shooting, underscores both the limits of a long manhunt and the power of a widely circulated tip line once a case reaches the FBI’s highest-profile stage. Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson said the arrest gives a grieving family hope that justice will be served, while Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves called it proof of the strength and connectivity of American law enforcement.