Who Is Marilyn Hartman? ‘Serial Stowaway’ Arrested Again After Sneaking Into Airport

An Illinois woman dubbed the “Serial Stowaway,” was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport early Sunday morning after refusing to leave the airport. The woman has a history of sneaking onto airplanes and was arrested in London earlier this month after it was discovered she boarded an airplane to England from Illinois without a ticket.

The woman, Marilyn Hartman, 66, of Grayslake, Illinois, was arrested after police responded to a disturbance call. It was not immediately apparent how the woman got into the airport and the Chicago Police Department could not provide more information after a request by International Business Times. O’Hare International Airport did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Chicago Police told IBT that Hartman had fled the scene when police officers responded to the call, and a search of the airport ensued. The woman was eventually found in the airport’s terminal 3 and arrested. Hartman appeared in court Sunday and was charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass to state land and violation of her bail bond, according to NBC News. The woman was given a $50,000 bond with electronic monitoring for the latest trespassing charge. She is scheduled to appear in court again Wednesday.

On Jan. 14, Hartman boarded a plane at O’Hare after getting through security without a boarding pass or passport. Hartman was detained at London’s Heathrow Airport after the plane touched down and was flown back to Chicago. For the incident, she was charged with a misdemeanor count of criminal trespass to state land and one felony count of theft or unauthorized control greater than $500 for the ticket she didn’t have.

The judge in the case earlier in January told Hartman to stay away from both of Chicago’s two airports and that she would be required to undergo a mental health examination, but neither of those conditions were listed on her $10,000 bond form, according to WMAQ, a Chicago NBC News affiliate.

“Releasing any seriously mentally ill person without support and treatment is never a good idea,” Cara Smith, Cook County Sheriff’s policy head, told the station earlier this week. “This order seriously reflects many things wrong with the criminal justice system.”

Hartman has served jail time in the past for similar incidents. In 2016, she was sentenced to six months of house arrest and two years of mental health probation, according to the Associated Press. In 2014 she served three days of a 177-day jail sentence she received for violating a probation for sneaking onto a plane from San Jose, California, to Los Angeles. She was released due to jail overcrowding.

Hartman had similar run-ins with police at airports in San Francisco and Phoenix.