5 Hours of Terror: Man Bound Family in Duct Tape, Threatened Kids with Killing Parents — and Now He's Paying the Price

A California man is facing a life sentence after a jury found him guilty of holding a family hostage in their apartment for over five hours and threatening to kill the parents. 

Kenneth McIsaac, 34, followed a family from the community pool into their apartment complex, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office said. McIsaac, who also was a resident at the apartment complex, followed the family into their unit, shut the door, and said he was there to rob them.

According to authorities, he lifted his shirt to show the family that he had a firearm, which later was found to be a replica. 

The mother called for her husband, who entered the living room, after which McIsaac forced the family to sit on the floor at gunpoint.

He then retrieved kitchen knives and handed the mother duct tape to bind her husband and the children before doing it to herself, according to a press release from the district attorney’s office. 

For over five hours, McIsaac held the family captive and threatened to kill the parents in front of the 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.”

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In August 2023, McIsaac was referred to the Mental Health Court for diversion, despite objections from the District Attorney’s Office, they wrote in their news release. He was accepted and released to a treatment facility – which he fled. 

McIsaac was convicted by a jury of two counts of kidnap to commit robbery, two counts of kidnapping for ransom, multiple counts of first-degree residential robbery, felony child abuse, false imprisonment and criminal threats, the district attorney’s office said. 

District Attorney Diana Becton said the verdict holds McIsaac accountable for the harm he caused the family he held hostage. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 6.