Three of four Louisiana teenagers charged with murder for carjacking and dragging a grandmother to her death — have struck a plea deal to avoid life in prison.
Briniyah Baker, 17, Lenyra Theophile, 16, and Mar’qel Curtis pleaded guilty to attempted manslaughter for killing 73-year-old Linda Frickey in New Orleans on Monday, 4 WWL reported.
The three teens were dealt a 20-year prison sentence and will serve at least 15 years each.
The guilty plea comes more than a year after Frickey’s gruesome death, in which her arm was also severed.
“I felt relief because that’s what we’ve been after this whole time for justice,” Jinnylynn Griffin, Frickey’s sister, told the outlet.
Griffin said she feels “sadness” for the teens despite them taking accountability for the death of her sister.
“They probably did not want to do what they did, as to go as far as the murder, but they still were trying to steal a car. That’s still a felony,” she told the outlet.
The three girls apologized to Frickey’s family in court and asked for forgiveness while in court.
“I think they really were sincere in their apology, and we appreciate that they did admit their guilt and accept their punishment and hopefully as time goes on, everyone can heal,” Frickey’s sister-in-law Kathy Richard told the outlet.
However, the family will have to return to the courtroom to hear about the death of their loved one in detail as a fourth defendant, John Honore, 18, will be going to trial.
“John Honore deserves no mercy,” said Richard. “We’ll give him the same mercy he gave Linda. None.”
“We want him to get the maximum. He drove the car. He stomped on her,” said Griffin. “The girls, they were all there for the ride, but the issue we had with them is they didn’t do anything to stop it.”
All four defendants had been charged as adults with second-degree murder in connection to Frickey’s death after they violently carjacked her in a New Orleans neighborhood and dragged her for nearly a block after her arm got stuck in her seatbelt in March 2022.
Disregarding the grandmother’s life, the teens reportedly stopped the vehicle to open the door so Honore could kick the grandmother into the street after her arm detached and her clothing stripped away.
Frickey was trying to put something in her car when the teens “jumped in and kicked her out, and she got caught in the wheel well,” an eyewitness told WWL-TV at the time.
“I heard screaming, like, ‘You’re about to die’ screaming!” the witness said.
Neighbor Leanne Mascar had been walking in the area when she heard the screams, and described the gruesome scene that followed to Fox 8.
“She was screaming, and she was screaming to please let her go and then they slowed down and opened the door to kick her out,” Mascar said — adding she “just started running” to help the grandmother.
“I thought if I could somehow, I don’t know what I could do, but I thought if I could dislodge her from this car … When I looked down her body was already there, and her arm was … It’s just not something you expect to see,” she said.
Mascar said she grabbed a sheet to cover Frickey after she was left on the road.
“She was laying there naked, and I thought the indignity she just suffered; it was already too much.”
Her husband, Mark Mascar, was nearby during the horrific carjacking and rushed over to aid his wife, telling the outlet they sat “beside a woman who’s a mother or grandmother and watch her fade away.”
“I was telling her to hang in there because every time I heard a siren, I was hoping and praying it was the ambulance. I kept telling her to hang in there, breathing, her eyes were moving. I’ve never seen something so horrific,” Mark added.
Frickey’s gray SUV was found later that day, 13 blocks away from where she was left to die.
With the three teenage girls pleading guilty, the Frickey family hopes they will use their lengthy prison sentence as a time to reflect.
“I don’t think they really realized the impact of their actions and hopefully while they’re in jail, incarcerated, they do get involved in programs to maybe help the next generation to speak out and be an example that there are consequences for your actions,” said Richard.
Honore’s trial begins on Nov. 27.
