Teens Drag Woman By A Block, Leave Her To Die After Violent Carjacking

A 73-year-old woman lost her life in a carjacking incident on a New Orleans street. Officials said four teenagers are facing murder charges in connection with her death.

Police chief Shaun Ferguson said the four teenagers — a 17-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl and two 15-year-old girls — carried out the carjacking Monday afternoon. Neighbors had no choice but to helplessly watch as the victim, Linda Frickey, was dragged for a block with her own car, officials added. Her arm was severed as the teenagers sped away with her vehicle and left her to die at the scene, according to AP News.

“The door had closed on the seatbelt, but she was stuck in it,” a resident, Todd Ecker, told WVUE-TV. “I got out of my vehicle, screaming for them, ‘Please stop, you’re dragging a lady.’ Other neighbors were also screaming at them.”

A couple in the area, Leanne and Mark Mascar, said they tried to comfort Frickey in her last moments.

“I was telling this woman to hang in there,” Mark told the outlet. “Every time I heard a siren, I was hoping and praying that was an ambulance.”

Ferguson confirmed in a news conference Tuesday that the victim lost her life after getting entangled in the seatbelt while the teenagers fled with her car. He also noted that officials were able to arrest the teenagers after the parents of two of the suspects informed the police.

“The parents of one 15-year-old female immediately called our investigators and turned their daughter in,” Ferguson said in the Tuesday morning news conference. “This was an incredibly difficult decision on behalf of these parents.”

The four teenagers are currently facing second-degree murder charges.

Ferguson said he wants to suggest having the teenagers be charged as adults. “That’s a conversation that my team will have with the district attorney’s office,” he said, adding: “I would say absolutely, I encourage, I will ask, that they be charged as adults. ... I mean, look at the nature of the crime.”

Frickey’s family spoke about her after she lost her life on her way back from work.

"She was the one always at home at 4:30 getting our kids when we weren't there. You could call Linda at any moment and she'd help you with anything," Jinnylynn Griffin, one of the Frickey's sisters, told WWL.

Krystle Masanz, her son's fiancée, told the outlet, “She was kind and would do everything for everyone, even the worst people who would hurt her. She was there no matter what for you.”

One family member believes Frickey would have forgiven the four teenagers for the violent carjacking. "She herself probably would've forgiven them,” the victim’s sister-in-law, Kathy Richard, told the publication.