An attack that left a 95-year-old man dead and his wife severely injured lasted two hours, according to court documents obtained by WFXT.
After a hearing in Orange District Court in Massachusetts Friday morning, prosecutors released court documents outlining the allegations against a couple arrested in Virginia last week for the crime.
The brutal attack resulted in the death of Thomas Harty, 95, and left his wife, Joanna Fisher, badly beaten -- with her throat slashed.
According to the court documents, Joshua Hart and Brittany Smith broke in through the garage on the evening of Oct. 6 and immediately attacked the couple living there.
Smith allegedly slashed Fisher's throat and, when that failed to killed her, asked Hart to help her suffocate the woman.
The couple didn't manage to suffocate Fisher, but Harty died in the assault after he was stabbed several times and suffocated with a pillow, prosecutors said.
Smith and Hart allegedly ransacked the home looking for money, taking credit and debit cards, as well as the keys to the Toyota Corolla station wagon.
Once the suspects left the home, police say Fisher -- who is wheelchair bound -- crawled in an effort to call for help. She had been stabbed, beaten and had a cut to her throat.
However, the couple wasn't discovered until health care workers showed up for a regularly scheduled check-in at 9 the next morning.
Fisher was flown to UMass Worcester Hospital for treatment. Fisher was able to described her attackers and police quickly started looking for the couple's car.
Police say Smith and Hart went into a Walmart near the elderly couple's home and made a purchase -- where they were caught on surveillance video.
A trail of out-of-state credit and debit card transactions led police to Hart and Smith in Rockbridge County, Virginia.
According to police, Hart and Smith admitted to the attack and had targeted the elderly couple because they likely had money to help them get away, but had an older model car that could avoid tracking.
Police say Hart and Smith were trying to avoid jail and drug treatment respectively, and the attack was their strategy to escape and "start a new life."
Instead, the couple have been charged with murder, attempted murder, home invasion, armed robbery, conspiracy, larceny over $250, larceny of a motor vehicle and receiving stolen property.
Both were held without bail.
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