Woman Makes Most-Wanted List 40 Years After Murder

Joanne Chesimard was convicted of 1973 killing of NJ state trooper
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted May 2, 2013 10:45 AM CDT
Woman Makes Most-Wanted List 40 Years After Murder
This is an undated file photo provided by the New Jersey State Police showing Assata Shakur - the former Joanne Chesimard.   (AP Photo/New Jersey State Police, File)

The FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list now contains its first female: Joanne Chesimard. Her name was added to the list on the 40th anniversary of the murder of New Jersey state Trooper Werner Foerster, who was killed during a traffic stop, reports Fox News. Chesimard was convicted of the 1973 murder four years later; in 1979 three gunmen helped her bust out of prison, where she was serving a life sentence. She bubbled up in Cuba in the 1980s, where she was granted political asylum and now lives under the name Assata Shakur.

The reward for the former member of the Black Liberation Army has been doubled to $2 million, reports the Record, which spoke with the State Police superintendent, who reveals he still has two detectives on the case. What officials know: She enjoys "rock star status" in Cuba, complete with a free place to live, thanks to her willingness to be an anti-American "propaganda specialist" for the Castro regime; she has even been invited to greet foreign delegations that arrive in the country. (More Joanne Chesimard stories.)

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