Timeline: Kidnapping and Attempted Murder of a 7-Year-Old Girl (Worcester/Shrewsbury, MA – 2017)

Saturday, August 26, 2017 – Family Cookout (Evening – Worcester, MA): 

• The 7-year-old girl attends a family cookout at her grandparents’ home in Worcester.
• Among the attendees is Joshua Hubert, 35, a family acquaintance.
• The girl is expected to stay overnight at the home.

Sunday, August 27, 2017 – Early Morning – Abduction:

• 2:30 AM Hubert allegedly abducts the girl from her grandparents’ home while others are asleep.
• He puts her in his car and drives away.
• He drove around with the girl in his car for about 90 minute
• During the drive, Hubert begins choking her.
• 3:15 AM Hubert’s car seen outside of his house with the lights on.
• 3:45 AM Hubert parked his light color Saturn Ion in the eastbound lane of I-290 exited his motor vehicle on the bridge and threw the victim over the bridge side down to the water below with the intent to commit murder.”
• Bridge Incident – Worcester/Shrewsbury Line:
• Hubert drove his 2004 Saturn to the I-290 bridge over Lake Quinsigamond (at the Worcester/Shrewsbury border).
• He throws the 7-year-old into the lake from the bridge.

Survival and Escape:

• The girl survived the fall and swam to shore. She reached a home on Lear Street North in Shrewsbury and received help from a woman living in the home near the lake and the highway. The girl was wearing soaking wet pajamas and had bruises on her body, marks on her neck and other injuries, authorities said.
• Despite being choked and thrown into the lake, the girl manages to swim to shore.
• She reaches a nearby house on Lear Street North, Shrewsbury.
• Residents call 911 immediately.

Police Response:

• Worcester and Shrewsbury police respond to the call.
• The girl tells investigators about the abduction and the suspect.
• Detectives begin canvassing for surveillance video in Worcester and Shrewsbury that may show Hubert’s vehicle.

During the Interview The girl tells investigators about the abduction and the suspect.

• The girl told authorities and the court on that she thought it was her grandfather.
• She closed her eyes until she realized she was outside of the house on the front porch and saw Hubert
• Hubert told the girl that her parents had asked him to drive her home. After driving around for a while, Hubert allegedly said to the girl, “Oops, I think we’re lost,“
• Hubert allegedly stopped the car, placed his hands around the girl’s neck and began to choke her
• After continuing to drive around, Hubert allegedly put a plastic grocery bag over the girl’s head and a rope around her neck and attempted to choke her again. At the time of the second attempted choking that he SA the girl
• She was pretending that she wasn’t breathing, when he put her in the trunk

Arrest of Hubert: Later that day, Worcester Police locate and arrest Joshua Hubert. Source

• He was booked on kidnapping charges.

Monday, August 28, 2017 – Court Arraignment – Worcester District Court:

• Hubert is arraigned on a charge of kidnapping a child under 16. Source
• Prosecutors describe the shocking survival of the girl after being thrown from the bridge.
• Hubert is ordered held without bail pending further proceedings.
• Police ask for public’s help as they seek video footage of car driven by man accused of throwing 7-year-old girl off bridge Source

August 29, 2017

• Detectives appeal to local businesses and residents in Worcester and Shrewsbury for surveillance footage of Hubert’s car. Source
• The DA’s office indicates more charges may be added, including attempted murder and strangulation.
• Community shock and media coverage highlight the girl’s resilience and survival.

August 30, 2017

• Fay School confirms Hubert was hired early July 2017 as a systems support analyst in the technology department and is suspended indefinitely.
  Rob Gustavson Jr., the Head of School for the Fay School in Southborough, sent out a letter to parents stating Hubert was hired in early July to work in the school’s technology department.

“We learned this morning that Mr. Hubert was arrested for abducting and physically assaulting a 7-year-old girl,”
“According to reports, the girl was abducted from a private residence in Worcester, and neither that location nor the victim have any connection to Fay School.”

August 31, 2017

• Hubert faces an attempted murder charge at a dangerousness hearing, held in Westborough (as part of the bridge is in that jurisdiction). Bail is set at $1 million cash.

January 25, 2018

• A grand jury handed up the indictments today, charging Joshua Hubert, 36, of 3 Bernice St. with two counts of attempted murder and single counts of kidnapping a child under 16 and strangulation or suffocation. Source

December 14, 2023

• New rape charges are added:
• One count of aggravated rape of a child with force,
• One count of rape of a child aggravated by age difference.
• Hubert, now 41, appears in court to face these enhanced sexual assault charges.

May 30, 2025

• Further delays in the trial are reported, indicating the prosecution and defense have yet to proceed to full trial.

September 2, 2025

• Hubert appears in Worcester Superior Court for a pretrial hearing alongside his attorney, Kevin Larson.  Source
• Hubert and defense attorney Kevin Larson appear before the judge.
• The defense argues Hubert’s right to a speedy trial has been delayed for eight years.
• A trial date is officially set to proceed.

September 4, 2025

• Jury selection begins in the Joshua Hubert rape case, which prosecutors say involved kidnapping a 7-year-old in 2017, then assaulting her and trying to kill her.
• Prosecutors indicate as many as 54 potential witnesses, including the victim, may testify. Patch

September 8, 2025

• Victim Testimony: Now a teenager, the girl takes the stand and recounts the harrowing details of her ordeal:  Source
• She describes choking, the use of a plastic bag and rope, being thrown from the bridge, and feeling a “slight relief” upon entering the water.
• She testifies:
• “If I breathed really lightly and quietly, he would think that I was dead and everything would stop.”
• And about the fall:
• “I was slightly relieved because he couldn’t hurt me anymore.”
• Opening Statements are delivered by prosecutors on the same day. Hubert maintains his plea of not guilty.
• Prosecutors confirm Hubert is charged with:
• Two counts of attempted murder,
• Child kidnapping,
• Strangulation or suffocation,
• Aggravated rape of a child with force,
• Aggravated rape of a child, five-year age difference.
• Hubert pleads not guilty. His lawyer, Kevin Larson, emphasizes his client has been denied his “day in court” for eight years, and expresses confidence in an acquittal

Worcester Superior Court – September 2025

Tuesday, September 2, 2025 – Pretrial Hearing

• Hubert and defense attorney Kevin Larson appear at Worcester Superior Court.
• Larson argues that Hubert’s right to a speedy trial was violated after 8 years of delay.
• The court confirms the case will move forward to trial.

Thursday, September 4, 2025 – Jury Selection Begins

• Jury selection opens for Hubert’s trial.
• Hubert is free on $50,000 bail, despite facing:
• Two counts of attempted murder
• Two counts of rape of a child
• Kidnapping a child under 16
• Strangulation/suffocation
• Prosecutors prepare to call more than 50 witnesses.

Monday, September 8, 2025 – Opening Statements & Testimony

Prosecution’s Opening (Assistant DA Emily Meyers & ADA Mark McShera):

• Emphasize the absence of Hubert’s DNA on seatbelts, car seats, or the victim’s clothing.
• Confirm DNA from the victim’s father’s sperm cells was found on her underwear.
• Prosecutors say the jury will hear from the father directly about how it got there.
• Surveillance evidence: footage of Hubert cleaning his car the morning after the crime.
• Physical evidence: ligature mark around the girl’s neck, burst capillaries on her face.

Defense Opening (Attorney Kevin Larson):

• Calls the crime “unbelievable,” repeating the word over a dozen times.
• Argues prosecutors are “jamming puzzle pieces” together to support testimony he says is not credible.
• Claims for 8 years he has been “screaming into the abyss.”

Victim’s Testimony (now a teenager):

• Describes being choked, suffocated with plastic and rope, and thrown from the I-290 bridge.
• Recalls pretending to be dead so the attacks would stop:

“If I breathed really lightly and quietly, he would think I was dead and everything would stop.”

• On falling into the lake:

“I was slightly relieved because he couldn’t hurt me anymore.”

Mother’s Testimony:

• Psychiatric nurse, now divorced from the father (divorce filed 2020).
• Relationship with ex-husband described as “tenuous.”
• Explains laundry situation as possible reason sperm DNA could be on the child’s underwear:
• Shared laundry baskets in the bathroom.
• Clothes, including children’s and adults’, were often mixed.
• Denies ever putting “dirty” underwear on her daughter.
• States the child wore the same underwear earlier that day and into the night.
• Reiterates: neither she nor her daughter believe the father ever acted inappropriately.

Grandfather’s Testimony:

• Recalls being present at the cookout the night of the abduction.
• Supports the girl’s account of being kidnapped from the grandparents’ home.

Father’s Testimony (age 42, carpenter, Worcester):

• Long-time childhood friend of Hubert, considered him “like family.”
• Admits his DNA was found on daughter’s underwear but denies any abuse:

“No, I would never do that.”

• Provides two possible explanations:
• Laundry contamination (shared baskets, basement washing).
• Sexual activity with ex-wife in bathroom where laundry was kept.
• Masturbation in the bathroom may also have led to sperm transfer.

Jury listens to explicit testimony about how sperm might transfer during household routines.

Tuesday, September 9, 2025.

• Cross-examination scheduled to continue 

Wednesday September 10, 2025

• Planned Jury Field Trip: Jurors will be taken to view the I-290 bridge over Lake Quinsigamond, the site where Hubert allegedly threw the victim.