Two suspects have been named in a home invasion in Orange last week that left a 94-year-old man dead and his wife seriously injured.
Arrest warrants were obtained Sunday for Joshua Hart, 23 and Brittany Smith, 27, according to a statement from the Northwestern district attorney’s office. The most recent address for Hart and Smith was Athol.
Hart and Smith have been apprehended by the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Department in Virginia and were being held without the right to bail, according to the statement.
The arrest warrants charge the pair with murder, attempted murder, home invasion, armed robbery, larceny and conspiracy.
The victims’ stolen motor vehicle, a gray/silver 2003 Toyota Corolla station wagon, has also been recovered in a different location in Virginia.
Thomas A. Harty was killed in the home invasion Wednesday and Joanna Fisher, 77, was hospitalized at the UMass Memorial Medical Center for treatment of throat wounds. The hospital has declined to discuss her condition.
Harty was a passionate hiker and mountain climber and was still active outdoors, according to a Recorder story published last summer. According to the article, Harty served in the Navy during World War II, and had worked at a local foundry for 45 years. At 94, he was still working in sales for Donbeck Sales, a family business, in Orange.
According to an Oct. 3 police log item in the Recorder, Brittany E. Smith, 27, of Chase Road, Athol, and Joshua A. Hart, 23, of Chestnut Hill Road, Athol, were placed under arrest in Orange following an investigation. Smith was charged with larceny of a motor vehicle, and Hart was charged with being an accessory after the fact.