Kenner teen convicted of kidnapping elderly couple he used to do yard work for

KENNER, La. (WGNO) — On Thursday morning, Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul D. Connick Jr. announced that a Kenner teen was convicted of kidnapping an elderly couple back in 2021.

A grand jury found 18-year-old Alexsy Mejia guilty of two counts of aggravated kidnapping and one count of aggravated burglary.

According to a press release, on July 9, 2021, Alexsy Mejia broke into the elderly Metairie couple’s Elmwood Parkway home to rob them. Investigators say he entered through the back bathroom window. Soon after making his way inside, he came into contact with an 81-year-old woman who was in the bedroom. Mejia threatened to kill her 91-year-old husband if she yelled for him.

Mejia demanded the couple give him $100,000, but the victims told him they did not have that much money inside their home. He then forced the couple to drive to a Kenner bank to withdraw money while he held them at gunpoint.

The couple was able to enter the bank together, but Mejia threatened that if they called the police “He had an accomplice who would blow up their house with them in it.” Once inside the bank, the couple alerted the branch manager about what happened and the manager called the police.

Kenner police arrived soon after and Mejia ran away from them. Eventually, officers found Mejia hiding in a garbage can behind a home nearby.

The DA’s office says that Mejia hid his identity from the couple by wearing a mask, but investigators discovered that Mejia knew them and had done yard work for them in the past.

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office said that in his interview, Mejia confessed, saying he targeted the couple because of their age and that he wanted money with which to purchase a car.

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office says that Mejia was 16 years old at the time of the incident, but he will be prosecuted as an adult. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with parole eligibility after 25 years.