KC homicide suspect added to FBI Ten Most Wanted; only 13th woman to make list
KaShawn Nicola Roper, a fugitive charged in a 2020 Kansas City homicide, was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list Tuesday, the FBI announced.
Roper, 50, is wanted in connection with her role in an August 23, 2020, shooting that killed 23-year-old Jazmyn Henrion and injured another woman in the area of 68th Street and Cleveland Avenue. She was charged with second-degree murder in the following weeks and a federal arrest warrant was issued for her in July 2021 for alleged unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
“She has been on the run since,” Jeff Berkebile, acting special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation — Kansas City Division said at a Tuesday morning press conference alongside Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves and Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson.
Berkebile also announced that the FBI is offering up to a $1 million reward for information leading to Roper’s arrest and conviction. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the FBI’s tip line at 800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or the local FBI field office. Tips can also be submitted online at tips.fbi.gov. She should be considered armed and dangerous.
Roper has previously lived in Kansas City, but has ties to or may visit Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Colorado, Georgia and South Dakota, Berkebile said.
She was described as being 5-foot-5-inches tall and weighing 120 pounds. She has black hair, brown eyes and several tattoos on her arms, calf, neck and abdomen. She also has pierced ears.
“Today’s announcement should send a clear message the FBI never forgets,” Berkebile said. “We will leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of justice for victims of violent crime.”
At about 3:35 a.m. on August 23, 2020, police responded to a hospital after two gunshot victims were driven there by private car, Graves said. Henrion died at the hospital. The other victim a suffered non-life-threatening gunshot wound.
During the investigation, detectives identified Roper as a suspect, and she was charged 18 days later with second-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.
Police learned Roper fled the Kansas City area immediately after the shooting, prompting the federal arrest warrant, Graves said. She added that police are still actively pursuing her arrest through weekly reviews of cases such as this.
“We have never forgotten,” Graves said.
Kansas City police remain committed to pursuing justice and holding those responsible accountable, no matter how much time passes, Graves said.
“For far too long, KaShawn Nicola Roper has remained a fugitive and avoided accountability,” Grave said.
With Roper now on the Ten Most Wanted list, Graves said authorities are confident she’ll be found and arrested.
Johnson said Tuesday’s announcement was meant to reassure the victims’ families that, for nearly five years, her office and law enforcement partners have not forgotten the people harmed in the shooting.
“One of them was a young woman, a mother who had her entire life ahead of her,” Johnson said. “Her life had value and it was taken from her in an instant of senseless violence.”
Johnson said her office stands ready to prosecute Roper the moment she is “brought back to face what she has spent nearly five years evading.”
Johnson urged people not to stay silent or look away.
“When we decide that it’s not our problem, or that we don’t want to be a snitch, that does nothing to make our community safer,” Johnson said. “They become more dangerous. Every day a violent offender remains free is another day that our neighbors, our children and our families are at risk.”
Since the program began in 1950, 541 fugitives have appeared on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, with 501 fugitives being apprehended or located. In 163 of those cases, tips from the public made a difference, Berkebile said.
Roper is the 13th woman and second from Kansas City to appear on the list The other Kansas City woman, Shauntay L. Henderson, appeared on the list on March 31, 2007, and was arrested without incident the same day.
