A Franklin Superior Court grand jury has indicted two Athol residents in the murder of an elderly Orange woman in connection with a home invasion in October.
Joshua Hart, 24, and Brittany Smith, 28, are being charged with murder and related crimes in connection with the death of Joanna Fisher, 77, who died Nov. 10 from injuries sustained in the attack, according to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.
The couple were previously indicted in the murder of Thomas A. Harty, Fisher’s husband, who died in the home invasion.
Hart and Smith are expected to be arraigned on the additional murder charge in Franklin Superior Court in Greenfield soon. Fisher did not die during the Oct. 5 attack, but the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined her death stemmed from the assault.
According to Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, the combined charges both will face include: two counts of murder, two counts of home invasion (one naming each victim), two counts of armed robbery (one naming each victim), conspiracy, larceny over $250, larceny of a motor vehicle, receiving stolen property, and unauthorized use of a credit card.
Hart and Smith also face charges in connection with earlier incidents, including breaking and entering and larceny over $250. If convicted of murder in the first degree, the defendants face a mandatory sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors say Hart and Smith critically injured Fisher and murdered Harty, after entering their home at 581 East River St. at roughly 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 5.
According to a previous statement from Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan, prosecutors allege the suspects wanted to steal Harty and Fisher’s vehicle to flee, because they had been arrested days earlier on car theft charges. Hart, who had warrants in his home state of Pennsylvania, wanted to avoid jail and Smith, a heroin addict, did not want to go to drug rehabilitation, according to the district attorney. The suspects targeted a residence with an older model vehicle that did not have tracking technology, according to the statement.
Prosecutors allege the suspects entered the victims’ home through a door off the garage and immediately began attacking the victims, who were watching television. Fisher was struck in the head with a hard object and pushed out of her wheelchair, prosecutors allege.
Both victims were beaten and stabbed during the home invasion, which lasted approximately 30 minutes, according to Bucci’s motion to hold the defendants without bail in January. According to Bucci, Fisher had told authorities her female attacker — later identified as Smith — tried unsuccessfully to fatally cut her throat and asked the male attacker for help suffocating her, which also failed end her life. Harty was suffocated with a pillow.
Prosecutors allege that following the attack, the suspects ransacked the home in search of money and then fled, taking the victims’ credit and debit cards and the keys to a Toyota Matrix.
According to the prosecutors, after the attackers fled, Fisher crawled to try to call for help, but the suspects had disabled the phone and had stolen Harty’s cell phone. Health care workers discovered Fisher when making a regularly scheduled visit at roughly 9 a.m. on Oct. 6 and called the authorities. Fisher described to police the appearance of her attackers before she was LifeFlighted to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.
According to prosecutors, Hart and Smith were apprehended in Virginia and admitted to authorities they had armed themselves before entering the victims’ home at 581 East River St.