Fugitive wanted in Tennessee attempted murder, kidnapping plot arrested in Palmer Park, police say

A woman suspected in a Tennessee attempted murder and kidnapping plot that led to a national manhunt was arrested Sunday in Carrollton’s Palmer Park, New Orleans police said.

Jarret Heitmann, 26, and Makayla Stillwell, 22, were both on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Top Ten Most Wanted list after they allegedly kidnapped a woman, used her to lure another man out of his home, and then shot him on June 20. Heitman was arrested Aug. 31 on a shoplifting charge from the Rouses in Mid-City, but Stillwell remained at large.

NOPD officers in the Uptown-based Second District then began receiving tips that she had been seen around the Cohn Street area of Carrollton, and that she might be easy to spot because she was nursing an injured leg that had kept her either in a wheelchair or limping, said NOPD Second District Lt. Jennifer Dupree. Officers checked at the Cohn Street home where she was believed to be hiding, but no one there knew her, though many neighbors said they had noticed her around, Dupree said.

“She really just stuck out,” Dupree said.

Officers then spotted Stillwell at Palmer Park overnight on Sunday. She was not armed, Dupree said, and she surrendered to police without incident.

Stillwell is being held at the Orleans Parish Jail on a Tennessee warrant charging her with murder. Her bond was set at $1 million Monday morning, with an extradition hearing set for Wednesday.