Woman, 73, Dragged to Death During Carjacking – 4 Teens Turned in by Parents

Four juvenile suspects have been arrested in connection with a fatal carjacking that took place in New Orleans on Monday, the New Orleans Police Department wrote in a news release on Tuesday. 

The teenagers are accused of carjacking Linda Frickey around 1:30 p.m. in the Mid-City area on Monday, dragging the 73-year-old, who was leaving her job at Security Plan Insurance, for more than a block while she remained tangled in the driver’s side seatbelt, per local news station WDSU. 

Her arm was severed as she was dislodged from the vehicle, the outlet reports, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 17-year-old male, a 16-year-old female and two 15-year-old females were booked at the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center on one count of second-degree murder, according to the NOPD. Because the suspects are minors, their names and photos have not been released.

“The mother of one of the 15-year-old female suspects turned her daughter in to police. Later in the evening, officers located and arrested the male suspect and one of the female suspects at the location after receiving information from the male suspect’s parents,” NOPD wrote. “The remaining female suspect surrendered to police this morning (March 22).”

“This was an incredibly difficult decision, on the behalf of these parents, and I want to commend them for doing the right thing,” NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said in a press conference on Tuesday. “It’s very painful to turn in your child for something you know they were not raised to be.”

Witnesses who watched the incident unfold tried to intervene. 

“I got out of my vehicle screaming, ‘Stop, stop, you are dragging someone.’ He took off with the vehicle. Still dragging her. Reckless. No care for human beings at all,” Todd Ecker told WDSU.

Frickey’s family members are still in shock following the news of her death. Her husband had just retired, with Frickey planning on retiring in a month. The couple was looking forward to spending more time together, as well as with friends and family — including their granddaughter, according to Fox8.

“She never met a stranger. If you go to the store with Linda, you’re doing a two-hour stay. You can never just pop in and pop out,” her sister, Jinny Griffin, told NOLA.com.

“It’s just so senseless. Linda did not deserve this. Nobody deserves this,” Frickey’s sister-in-law, Kathy Richard, added.

“Linda should have lived to be 100 years old, still helping everybody,” Richard told Fox8 in a separate interview. “She didn’t have the chance to see her son get married next year and her granddaughter was only seven years old. She didn’t get enough time with her. She did not deserve to go that way.”