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Shauntay Speaks

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"I think those were people that other units had identified as people we wanted the public's help in locating," Marinella explains. "In fact, we got several calls like, 'Hey, my son's face was up there next to Shauntay, and he didn't even know her.' I was like, 'Hey, that's not what it meant.' I know that's what it sort of looked like."

Nonetheless, Corwin's press conference triggered an avalanche of tips to the police. The Kansas City Star reported that some officers were working 18-hour days tracking down Henderson. Officers held one stakeout at Bannister Mall and another at an inner-city gas station, responding to sightings of Henderson that turned out to be false. Community activist Alonzo Washington recorded YouTube videos of himself begging Henderson to call him so he could help her go to the police. Former Mayor Pro Tem Alvin Brooks used several of his regular one-minute radio spots on KPRS 103.3 to urge Parker's alleged shooter to turn herself in.

Two MySpace pages attributed to Henderson appeared on the Web: "Who Dat Girl" and "Girl on the News" were decorated with wintry photos of Henderson's neighborhood, around 12th Street and the Paseo, and snapshots of a woman resembling Henderson clowning around in a dingy-looking kitchen, exhaling greenish clouds of smoke. People commented on the page with messages such as "Free 'Tay!"

People from all over the metro claimed to know her. Some said she wished she were a man. Some said she was a rapper. People came up with a motive for Henderson's alleged crime: They said she'd been the victim of a gang rape and now was armed with a list of the names of the men who had assaulted her; she'd turn herself in once they were all dead.

A tipster told the KCPD that Henderson had shaved her head and was dressing as a man; the police released an awkwardly doctored photo of what Henderson would look like bald.

Police also took seriously a tip that Henderson had fled to Iowa. Allegedly crossing state lines while a fugitive earned her a federal warrant.

On March 19, police received an anonymous tip that Henderson was hiding out at an apartment complex at 2800 Park Avenue. Police and tactical units, along with FBI agents, surrounded the building. More than 50 law-enforcement officers spent six hours before giving up because Henderson wasn't there.

FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza says a local FBI agent assigned to Henderson's case made the argument for putting her on the Most Wanted list. "It's somewhat of a sales job because there are other agents around the country trying to get people on the list as well," Lanza explains.

On March 31, the same day that agents secured Henderson's Most Wanted status, a tip led police to the Sycamore Hills apartment complex in the Northland. When police knocked on the door, a husky voice said, "I'll be right there."

Henderson kept the officers waiting while she put on her shoes. She called out that she didn't want to be shot. When she emerged, the 5-foot-5-inch, 130-pound fugitive wore a black T-shirt and had a full head of hair. She went quietly into custody.

Was Henderson really as dangerous as the police and the media had made her seem?

Though police have presented prosecutors with other cases allegedly involving Henderson, she has been charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Parker, not with masterminding a crime spree. Marinella, of the homicide squad, says Henderson was the target of investigations in other squads. "But nothing ever stuck," he says.

"How long has she been in custody and she still hasn't been charged with anything new? That right there ... " Marinella trails off, then adds, "Sometimes knowing somebody's involved and proving somebody's involved are two entirely different things."

Corwin says that if he had to do it all over again, he'd handle Henderson's case the same way. The police chief is still convinced that Henderson was the center of a gang war — even though he says he isn't exactly clear about which of the gangs she belonged to.

"I don't remember [if it was 12th Street]," Corwin told The Pitch on January 10 of this year. "I think she was bouncing around all over the place, if I remember right. I feel like I'm not being very helpful, but it's been a long time ago."

On her way to the visiting room at the Jackson County Detention Center a few minutes before meeting a reporter, Henderson passed a group of kids on a scared-straight jailhouse tour.

"What school y'all go to?" she asked them.

Westport, they answered. They looked young, like middle-schoolers.

Henderson tells the reporter that a guard snapped, "Henderson, stay back." The warning clearly bothered her.

She wasn't going to do anything to the kids. She says she told them to stay in school.

Henderson basks in the warmth of the drab visiting room. Though it's 40 degrees outside, she complains that air conditioning blows on the prisoners in their modules. Warming up in the shower is no use; the water's cold. She stuffs the air vents with toilet paper to clog them, though guards warn her that they'll write her up for the offense. Written reprimands lead to revoked privileges, but Henderson has few to lose.

She's locked in a cellblock where misbehaving inmates are kept in solitary confinement. Guards tell her that it's for her own protection, though she can't tell whether this does her much good. "I pass people in the hallway," she says. "If someone wanted to do something to me, they could."

Minimal physical activity and three greasy meals a day have put some weight on Henderson, who estimates that she's gained 15 pounds. "I think it's all in my thighs and my booty, though," she says.

Henderson's attorney, Peters, won't let her answer questions about her case because he doesn't want to jeopardize his defense at her upcoming trial.

Nonetheless, she ticks off the rumors she says aren't true.

She says she never left the state while on the run, the whole basis of the federal charge that landed her on the Most Wanted list. "I never even seen Iowa," she says. "I have a cousin in college there. I felt like they were putting him in danger by saying I might be there."

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