NEW ORLEANS — The Orleans Parish Coroner's Office said 73-year-old Linda Frickey died from 'blunt force injuries' after she was dragged to her death during a violent carjacking earlier this week.
The coroner's office released Frickey's official cause of death on Thursday, though the results of the autopsy were not unexpected. New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said Frickey died after she became entangled in a seatbelt as carjackers sped away with her vehicle. Her arm was severed after she was dragged about a block away while neighbors looked on helplessly.
The NOPD said four teenagers - a 17-year-old boy and three 15-year-old girls, were arrested hours after the Monday afternoon carjacking. Two of the teens were turned in by their parents. All face second-degree murder charges, and Ferguson said he would recommend that they be charged as adults.
"I would say absolutely, I encourage, I will ask, that they be charged as adults. ... I mean, look at the nature of the crime," Ferguson said.
A tearful Leanne Mascar and her husband Mark Mascar tried to comfort the victim as she died at the scene.
“I was telling this woman to hang in there,” Mark Mascar said. “Every time I heard a siren, I was hoping and praying that was an ambulance.”
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.