American man sentenced to 212 years in prison for drowning his autistic sons to collect insurance

Sylvie Claire / Mars 12, 2021

A California resident was sentenced Thursday to 212 years in prison for killing his two autistic sons, who drowned after he deliberately drove the family car off a Los Angeles Harbor pier to collect insurance money.

Ali Elmezayen, 45, had waited to commit his crime until April 9, 2015, and the expiration of the waiting period on the last of many insurance policies he had taken out for his family, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles noted in a statement.

In the back of her vehicle were her 8 and 13 year old boys, both with a severe form of autism, who were wearing seat belts and drowned.

Raba Diab, Ali Elmezayen's ex-wife, who was in the front seat of the car, could not swim and could have drowned if a fisherman had not thrown her a buoy.

Ali Elmezayen as for him had easily slipped out of the car through the window that he had taken care to leave open and had swum to the platform.

He subsequently collected more than $260,000 in compensation from various insurance policies taken out in the event of his children's death and invested the money in real estate purchases in Egypt, his home country, as well as in a boat.

udge John F. Walter sentenced Ali Elmezayen to the maximum penalty provided by law, emphasizing in his judgment the diabolical schemes and the vicious and ruthless nature of his crimes 

.He is the ultimate impostor and liar (...) His only regret is to have been caught, continued the judge, who ordered this greedy killer to return to the insurance companies the money collected.

The prosecutor's office is convinced that the man had long planned the murder of his children and his wife, whom they believe he abused physically and emotionally

From July 2012 to March 2013, Ali Elmezayen had taken out insurance on his family's life from eight different companies, totaling more than $3 million. He was paying $6,000 a year in premiums while declaring annual income of less than $30,000 to the IRS.