NEW ORLEANS, LA – A young man who recently celebrated his 18th birthday has been found guilty of second-degree murder in a shocking carjacking crime that resulted in the death of a 73-year-old woman. This incident in New Orleans last year has sent waves of horror throughout the city.
After approximately four hours of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict. This conviction carries a mandatory life sentence, with the possibility of parole after 25 years. The sentencing hearing is set for January 12th.
The crime involved four teenagers, aged 15 to 17 at the time, who were all charged as adults in the murder of Linda Frickey in March 2024. The other three participants, all girls, entered guilty pleas to charges of attempted manslaughter in November, and each has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The trial opened with the defense attorney acknowledging his client’s involvement in the horrific crime. However, he questioned whether the teenager, who he described as an “underdeveloped, underprivileged youth,” deserved a life sentence in the state’s maximum-security prison.
The prosecution presented a case that painted all four teenagers as co-conspirators in the carjacking plot. According to Assistant District Attorney Matthew Derbes, the defendant was singled out as the primary aggressor and the one who drove the stolen vehicle.
The court heard the harrowing details of the attack on Frickey, which included the use of pepper spray, punching, and stomping on her face. The teenager then drove off with Frickey entangled in the driver’s seatbelt, dragging her for a distance equivalent to nearly two football fields.
A bystander, Leanne Mascara, gave a chilling account of the incident. She initially mistook Frickey for a mannequin being dragged by the car before she heard a voice pleading, “Let me go.” Mascara described the defendant’s attempts to shake off Frickey “like a piece of trash had stuck to the car.”
The ordeal ended when the car drove over a curb, and a utility pole cable severed Frickey’s arm. Mascara and others present at the scene tried to comfort Frickey and prayed over her while waiting for emergency services to arrive. Tragically, Frickey was declared dead by the time help came.
In his closing arguments, Boggs suggested his client was too “dumb” to have planned the carjacking and pointed to societal and parental failures as contributing factors to the incident. Despite this, he conceded that his defense hinged on the jury’s mercy.
In response, Derbes argued that while a better upbringing might have prevented the crime, it did not absolve the defendant of guilt or change the law.