Good Question: How Do You Get On The FBI's Most Wanted List?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It has only happened ten times in the 66-year history of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list: a woman has made the cut.
The FBI in Milwaukee says Shanika Minor shot and killed a woman who was nine-months' pregnant after confronting her about loud music.
Minor is one of eight on the list accused of murder.
"When you talk about worst of the worst, unfortunately there are a lot of people in the running for that," said FBI Special Agent Kyle Loven. "But these are particularized in the dangerousness and heinousness of their crimes."
The list started back in 1950 when a reporter asked then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover for names and descriptions of "the toughest guys" the bureau would like to capture.
The list back then was mostly bank robbers, car thieves and burglars.
Some of the most well-known fugitives on past lists have been Osama bin Laden, Ted Bundy or Andrew Cunanan.
Current fugitives include a man accused of kidnapping and killing a 5-year-old girl, a man accused of killing his entire family and a man accused of killing an armored car driver.
Victor Manual Gerena has been on the list the longest, since 1983. He is accused of armed robbery and incapacitating security guards.
FBI field offices propose fugitives for the list to the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. A committee there then reviews those proposals and makes the ultimate decision.
"They look at the dangerousness of this individual," Loven said. "Is this individual a menace to society? Is there a potential threat to public safety? Coupled with the fact will publicity bring them to justice."
People are taken off the list if they are apprehended, have died or had federal papers against them dismissed.
In most cases, someone must come off the list before another person is added. An 11th person is added for a short time in rare cases. James Earl Ray -- the man convicted of killing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr -- and Ramzi Yousek -- a perpetrator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings -- have both been number 11 on the list.
Of the 509 fugitives who have been on the list, 476 have been located or apprehended.
"Statistically, we think it's worthwhile and we think that we've had a lot of success because of the list," Loven said.