New Hampshire Man Indicted for Kidnapping, Sexual Assault
A New Hampshire man who allegedly kidnapped a 14-year-old girl and imprisoned and sexually assaulted her over a nine-month period was indicted on 205 charges Wednesday.
The 200-page indictment of Nathaniel Kibby, 34, of Gorham, N.H., includes charges of kidnapping, sexual assault, robbery, criminal threatening, and illegal use of a gun.
The court papers allege Kibby imprisoned the girl in a storage container, using a shock collar on her and threatening her, her family, and her pets if she ever named him to police or anyone else.
Kibby allegedly picked up the girl as she walked home from high school on Oct. 9, 2013. The girl, now 16, re-appeared in July of this year after being missing for nine months. The only trace of her during those months was a letter that surfaced last December which police said she wrote home to her mother the previous month. The indictment alleges that Kibby forced the victim to include false information about her condition in the letter, and that he used a taser-like device on her as punishment when she tried to provide information on him.
Boston.com has previously reported the identity of the kidnapping victim and is now withholding her name and image at the request of her family and prosecutors. It is Boston.com’s policy not to name the victim of alleged sexual crimes unless that person agrees to be identified.
In a press conference Wednesday, New Hampshire Attorney General Joseph Foster and Associate Attorney General Jane Young asked the media to refrain from using the child’s name or photo, with Foster telling reporters “it is simply the right thing to do.’’
The New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence released a statement on the case Wednesday, which also requested that the media not use the victim’s photo, though the situation is complicated by the fact that her name and photo were initially widely spread when she was missing.
“The fact that she was initially a missing child and then sexually assaulted should not mean that she is afforded less protection than other child victims.’’ the Coalition’s Executive Director, Lyn M. Schollett, said in the statement.
Kibby remains held on $1 million cash bail.
