A D.C. woman has been arrested and charged with carjacking after a woman’s car was stolen in Colonial Village on Monday.
Leah Elaine Johnson, 26, is being held without bond in the Arlington County Detention Facility, the Arlington County Police Department said in a press release today. She also faces charges of unauthorized use of a vehicle and driving without a license from Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority police.
Airport police spotted the stolen car yesterday afternoon (Tuesday), pulled it over and detained the driver, according to ACPD. Arlington detectives went on to link her to Monday’s carjacking and obtained a warrant for her arrest.
The carjacking happened just before 5 p.m. Monday in the 2100 block of 19th Street N. The victim was walking in the area when the suspect came up behind her and tried to start a conversation, police said.
When the woman walked toward her car, the suspect followed, made a threatening statement and demanded her keys, then took them and drove off in her Volkswagen Tiguan, according to police.
ACPD’s initial crime report described the suspect as a man in his late 20s wearing a white tank top.
Monday’s incident was the second reported carjacking in Arlington in as many months. A Maryland man was charged last month in a July 14 armed carjacking in Cherrydale that ended with a chase and rollover crash in D.C. That was the first reported carjacking in Arlington since September 2025.
The investigation is ongoing, police said. Anyone with information is asked to contact the ACPD tip line at 703-228-4180 or [email protected], or to leave an anonymous tip with the Arlington County Crime Solvers hotline at 1-866-411-8477.
