Contra Costa County, CA – A man from California is set to receive a life sentence following a jury’s decision that he was guilty of taking a family captive in their apartment for more than five hours while making threats against the parents’ lives.

A 34-year-old man named Kenneth McIsaac trailed a family from the community pool into their apartment complex, according to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office. McIsaac, a fellow resident of the apartment complex, trailed the family into their unit, closed the door behind him, and declared his intention to commit robbery.

Officials reported that he raised his shirt to display a firearm to the family, which was later determined to be a replica.

The mother summoned her husband, who walked into the living room, and then McIsaac compelled the family to sit on the floor under the threat of a firearm.

According to a press release from the district attorney’s office, he subsequently fetched kitchen knives and provided the mother with duct tape to restrain her husband and the children before applying it to herself.

For more than five hours, McIsaac kept the family hostage and menaced the parents with death in the presence of their children.

“Through will and determination, the husband was able to free himself from his bindings,” the district attorney’s office said in the release. “When McIsaac returned to the living room, the husband fought back, ultimately subduing the intruder long enough for the rest of the family to escape and seek help.”

In August 2023, McIsaac was directed to the Mental Health Court for diversion, despite the District Attorney’s Office expressing their objections in a release. He was admitted to a treatment facility but subsequently escaped.

A jury found McIsaac guilty on several serious charges, including two counts of kidnapping with intent to commit robbery, two counts of kidnapping for ransom, numerous counts of first-degree residential robbery, felony child abuse, false imprisonment, and making criminal threats, according to the district attorney’s office.

Diana Becton, the District Attorney, stated that the verdict ensures McIsaac faces responsibility for the suffering inflicted on the family he took hostage.

His sentencing is set for June 6.

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