‘I Was Expecting Her to Go Out In a Blaze of Gunfire’

A 26-year-old mother of three accused in a Thanksgiving Day carjacking in Catonsville—part of a 13-day string of crimes—was recently overtaken by her drug problems, family members told The Washington Post.

Stephanie L. Schwab, 26, was arrested Wednesday after a police chase ended in a crash. The Manassas mother of three was wanted in in the Maryland-Virginia region.

Schwab was on Interstate 495 and exited the Beltway at Old Georgetown Road when . Schwab, reported to be a former gang member, had been nicknamed the 'Blonde Bandit' and testified in the past against MS-13 gang members.

Her family members told The Washington Post in a story published Tuesday that she was “on the streets of Manassas,” bouncing between the homes of relatives or motels.

Schwab’s three children live with her mother in Manassas, the paper said.

“I’m her cousin, and I love her, but I was expecting her to go out in a blaze of gunfire,” her cousin, Jason Schwab, told the Post.

Schwab is accused in an attempted carjacking of a woman on Thanksgiving Day in Catonsville, and police say they have connected her to a bank robbery in West Springfield, VA; a carjacking in Tysons, VA; and a bank robbery in Prince William, VA.

Baltimore County police issued a warrant for Schwab for the incident in Catonsville on Thanksgiving.

On Nov. 24 at 2:13 p.m., a woman gave another woman a ride from the Safeway to the Shopper's Food Warehouse, both of which are located on Baltimore National Pike.

When they arrived, the suspect pulled a knife on the driver, demanding that she keep driving. According to the police report, the victim tried to call for help to a man passing by. The suspect grabbed the steering wheel and pushed the accelerator but the car was in park. The victim grabbed the knife, causing injury to her left arm before the suspect ran away heading east on Baltimore National Pike towards Baltimore City.

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