WORCESTER (WHDH) – A man charged with kidnapping, strangling and throwing the daughter of a lifelong friend off a bridge into a lake in Worcester was ordered held Thursday on $1 million bail.
Joshua Hubert, 35, was suspended indefinitely from his job as a systems support analyst at a school in Southborough after police said he kidnapped a 7-year-old girl early Sunday from a family cookout in Worcester, choked her and then tossed her 50 feet off the I-290 bridge into Lake Quinsigamond.
Hubert made an initial appearance in court Monday, after which his attorney said his client maintains his innocence. Hubert is charged with kidnapping. A not-guilty plea was entered at his arraignment. On Thursday, prosecutors filed an additional attempted murder charge against him, which he’ll answer to on Tuesday in Westboro District Court.
Hubert’s attorney Richard Walsh says he is “very concerned” with the fact that the child was injured. Walsh says Hubert is “not doing well” and does not belong in jail because he has no criminal record.
Tuesday night, investigators returned to the scene, looking for clues and hoping to piece together what happened. Police said the girl survived the drop and then swam to shore in the town of Shrewsbury and ran to a woman’s house for help.
“She had to walk up a hill and up some stairs. I think it’s pretty miraculous that she is alive,” said Marsey Pendexter, who lives on the lake.
Prosecutors said the girl was in her pajamas and soaking wet when she knocked on the woman’s front door at around 4 a.m. Police said she suffered “visible injuries” that were not life-threatening.
Officials at the Fay School in Southborough sent a letter to parents Tuesday explaining that Hubert was still in his probationary period of employment and that he did not have any unsupervised interactions with students. Hubert has been banned from the school pending a police investigation.
The school said Hubert went through the same vetting process that the school follows for all prospective employees. Hubert also briefly worked at the Sterling Police Department as a dispatcher.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)