71-year-old kidnapped and robbed by hitchhikers she picked up in GA, feds say
A jury found a Georgia woman guilty of a federal kidnapping charge after prosecutors say she helped abduct and rob a 71-year-old woman, who offered to give her and another hitchhiker a ride.
While driving from Georgia to North Carolina on Nov. 30, 2023, the older woman picked up Stephanie Miranda Neace, who’s now 32, and Jordan Nathaniel Hedden, now 31, after seeing them walking outside in the cold, according to prosecutors.
The woman welcomed them into her car because she “was just trying to help out of the kindness of her heart,” Russ Ferguson, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, said in an April 9 news release.
Shortly after the woman drove into North Carolina, Hedden told her to take them to a location where he said his car was located, according to prosecutors. She agreed.
But when they made it to the location, prosecutors said there was no car.
That’s when Hedden demanded the woman to pull over, according to prosecutors. After she wouldn’t, he’s accused of forcing her to stop driving.
Hedden made the woman get in the back seat then got in the driver’s seat, prosecutors said.
He drove the car to Tennessee, where the woman eventually escaped, prosecutors said.
Neace’s defense attorney, Joshua D. Nielsen, told McClatchy News on April 10 that “this was a very unique and unfortunate series of events.”
“Ms. Neace maintains that she only acted to try and keep everyone involved safe and under duress for her small role in the events,” Nielsen said in an emailed statement.
Neace, of Blairsville, Georgia, was found guilty of aiding and abetting kidnapping on April 8, the jury’s verdict form shows.
Neace was arrested by federal authorities several months after the kidnapping, on July 16, 2024, according to court records. She pleaded not guilty at the federal courthouse in Asheville, North Carolina, the next day.
“She is very sorry for any harm caused to (the woman),” Nielsen said.
Hedden’s federal public defender, Rhett Johnson, didn’t immediately return McClatchy News’ request for comment April 10.
Hedden, of Murphy, North Carolina, previously pleaded guilty to kidnapping the woman, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina.
The woman has her phone stolen
As Hedden drove the woman’s car to Tennessee, he “was smoking a glass pipe and appeared to be high and agitated,” prosecutors wrote in court filings.
When the woman started crying, Hedden yelled “shut your (expletive) mouth,” court documents say.
Eventually, Hedden started acting paranoid and suspected the woman of having a tracking device, according to prosecutors.
He pulled over and searched for tracking devices, prosecutors said. Neace helped him look, according to prosecutors.
Hedden and Neace then stole the woman’s phone and “disabled it,” prosecutors said.
Afterward, Hedden wanted money, according to prosecutors.
He “demanded money from the victim, but (she) only had $2,” prosecutors said.
Out of fear, the woman asked Hedden and Neace to drive her to an ATM, according to prosecutors.
“Please don’t hurt her,” Neace repeatedly asked Hedden after they crossed into Tennessee, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
“Hedden made (the woman) promise that she would not call the police and that she’d give them money from the ATM,” court documents say.
The escape
In Tennessee, Hedden parked the car at a People’s Bank of East Tennessee in Ducktown, put on a mask and grabbed her ATM card, demanding her PIN number, according to prosecutors. The bank, which was closed because they arrived there at night, is about a 260-mile drive southwest from Charlotte, North Carolina.
While there, the woman “refused” to share her PIN and said Hedden and Neace would “have no further use for her” if she gave it to them, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
Though this refusal made Hedden angry, the woman convinced him to drive to a Shell gas station across the street, where she said she’d withdraw money, according to prosecutors.
She promised to give them cash, as long as they let her stay at the gas station afterward, prosecutors said.
Outside of the gas station, the woman grabbed her purse, “surreptitiously” took her car key fob and convinced Hedden to turn off the car, according to prosecutors.
Then, when she and Hedden walked to the gas station, she raced to the door and screamed for help, prosecutors said.
Hedden reacted by rushing back to the car to flee but couldn’t because the woman had her key fob, according to prosecutors.
Hedden and Neace ran into the woods and spent a few days on the run — until authorities apprehended the pair, prosecutors said.
“People who commit crimes like this affect how we treat one another, and we are committed to bringing them to justice,” Ferguson said in a statement.
Hedden will be sentenced to prison on April 14, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Neace’s sentencing hearing wasn’t listed in court records as of the afternoon of April 10.
This story was originally published April 10, 2025 at 3:29 PM with the headline "71-year-old kidnapped and robbed by hitchhikers she picked up in GA, feds say."
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