Lily Stewart smiled, and the entire internet fell in love with her mug shot.
She was 20, studied at the University of Georgia, and on March 8, 2025, she was stopped twice in Morgan County: according to the police report, she was first going 79 miles per hour in a 55 zone and shortly afterward, 84.
In the booking photo, she appeared with flawless makeup, pearl earrings, and a cover-girl smile, looking more like a graduation portrait than a mug shot. Commenters dubbed her “Miss America” and even asked the governor to pardon her. She said the smile was pure instinct and that she didn’t even think it was a good photo.
Just 15 days passed. On March 23, campus police arrested her again, along with three other people, after an alarm went off as they tried to enter a locked university building. According to the report, they found her crouching behind a brick wall near the stadium. She faced misdemeanor charges of obstruction and loitering and was released that same morning after paying 4,000 dollars in bail.
A photo made her famous. It happened while she was still out on bail.