The port of Los Angeles in San Pedro is a place where families usually go to have fun. Before the pandemic hit, people would take their kids there to watch the "Dancing Fountains" at Gateway Plaza near where the cruise ships docked. Families still come to this waterfront today to picnic near the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. Or they grab a shrimp dinner at Ports O' Call Village, overlooking the water.
Sadly, Ali Elmezayen of Hawthorne brought his wife and two sons here to die on April 9, 2015.
The Sea Princess in the Port of Los Angeles. Photo by Bajonona.
He had planned their deaths for years.
Ali Elmezayen had money trouble and needed a solution to his financial woes. He came up with a plan to make a pot of cash and get himself out of debt. Beginning in July 2012, Elmezayen began buying life and accidental death insurance policies for himself and his family from multiple insurers. The policies ended up totaling more than $3 million.
He hoped to cash out on these policies by killing his wife and two children while a third child was at camp.
A twisted plot planned by an evil individual.
Elmezayen drove his then-wife and their two youngest children to the port in San Pedro. Both boys suffered from severe autism. He took them to a fishing dock not far from where families go to take in the sights and have a nice outing. Elmezayen kept driving. He drove his car right off one of the docks.
The car quickly sank into the murky depths of the water. Elmezayen was able to swim out through an open window on the driver's side. His now-ex-wife was not a strong swimmer though. He hoped she'd perish in the crash.
She didn't. She managed to escape from the car and was saved by a nearby fisherman. However, the couple's two children, who were strapped tight into the backseat, sadly drowned.
Map of San Pedro by Los Angeles Times.
This is a tragic story that really hit home to me, not only because I live right up the street from the exact spot where these murders took place but because I’m the mother of two boys. One of my sons is also autistic.
I take my sons to eat waffles from a vendor on the waterfront. They ride the coin-operated rides. Elmezayen only came to the port to kill his children for his own greedy needs.
He wasn’t caught until November 2018
At first, Elmezayen got away with the plot. He collected more than $260,000 in insurance proceeds and used part of them to purchase real estate in Egypt and a boat. It took until November 2018 for him to be caught and he's remained in federal custody ever since.
I was overjoyed to learn that he was finally sentenced for his crimes on March 11th, getting 212 years in federal prison.
I live right up the street from the Port of Los Angeles.
I can hear the horns of the container ships from my windows. These ships come in and out of the port every day, guided by tugboats. The port is a visually stimulating place. It's nothing like anything you usually see on the coast here in Southern California.
Typically, you only see beaches. You don't see cranes lifting containers off giant cargo ships.
At night, the reflection of the lights from all the machinery on these docks makes the water of the port sparkle as if it's covered in a sheen of gold. No wonder the people who live in the hills that overlook this port call this view "Vista del Oro": view of gold.
Photo by Martin Damboldt.
But there's darkness in more than just the depths of this water. Undoubtedly there is darkness in the mind of Ali Emezayen. At least now Emezayen is safe behind bars for good.