A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated less than an hour on Wednesday evening (Sept. 25) in finding William Frye guilty of robbing a Jefferson Highway bank before forcibly taking a car from a nearby family and speeding away with a teenager in the back seat.
Frye, 47, of Jefferson’s Shrewsbury neighborhood, was convicted as charged of two counts of simple robbery, carjacking and second-degree kidnapping.
Wearing a hooded shirt and erratically waving a white pillowcase, Frye stormed into a bank branch in the 3600 block of Jefferson Highway at about 1:15 p.m., on Nov. 30, 2022, threatening deadly violence and demanding that the tellers turn over cash.
He threw the pillowcase at two tellers, ordering them both to fill it. They complied. He then fled on foot, dumping his gloves, the pillowcase and the hoodie in a Sizeler Avenue back yard before hopping a resident’s fence and emerging in the 3500 block of Berwick Street.
At that time, a woman and two family members arrived at a Berwick Street business. The woman alone had exited the car but left the engine running. Frye jumped into the driver’s seat, rebuffing another family member’s attempts to physically remove him.
Frye sped away with an 18-year-old woman in the back seat. About 25 yards away, the terrified teenager jumped out of a back door, breaking her pelvis and she hit the roadway.
After striking a parked car and continuing, Frye abandoned the car less than a mile away, at Scott Street and Saia Lane. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, which launched a manhunt that included the agency’s helicopter, quickly obtained information identifying Frye as the suspect.
Detectives and FBI agents tracked Frye to a motel in the 5700 block of Airline Drive, where he had been renting a room. After conducting surveillance, agents located Frye walking out of the room. When he saw the law enforcement officers, Frye fled on foot. He was captured a short distance away.
Frye left the motel that morning, telling the manager he would pay for his room that day but that he had to go to the bank, first. Detectives later obtained images from the motel’s security system of Frye leaving the business that morning. He wore the same clothing as the robber.
In Frye’s pocket when he was arrested, detectives found cash that was directly linked to what was stolen from the bank. In the motel room he occupied, detectives found cash stuffed under the mattress. One of the white pillowcases was missing.
Further, the Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab found Frye’s DNA on the steering wheel of the car he stole and in one of the gloves he wore during the robbery, which he dumped in the Sizeler Avenue backyard.
From her hospital room, where she underwent surgery, the teenaged kidnapping victim read an online news report about the bank robbery that included Frye’s booking mugshot. She alerted detectives, confirming that Frye was the carjacker.
Frye denied committing the crimes. His attorney argued that the Sheriff’s Office arrested the wrong suspect.
The jury, which was seated Tuesday and heard two days of testimony, deliberated 49 minutes before returning with its unanimous verdicts.
Judge Frank Brindisi of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Frye on Wednesday (Oct. 2).
Assistant District Attorneys Eric Cusimano and Taylor Somerville prosecuted the case.