On the evening of October 5, 2016, 95-year-old Thomas Harty and his 77-year-old wife, Joanna Fisher, were attacked in their East River Street home in Orange, Massachusetts. Two people from Athol, Joshua Hart, 23, and Brittany Smith, 27, forced their way in and carried out a nearly two-hour invasion aimed at stealing the couple’s car and cash so the pair could flee the state. Harty was stabbed and suffocated with a pillow and was pronounced dead at the scene. Fisher was cut and also had an attempted suffocation; she was taken to UMass Medical Center with serious injuries and died about a month later.

Hart and Smith stole the couple’s 2003 Toyota Corolla station wagon, credit cards, a cell phone, and cash, and were arrested three days later in Rockbridge, Virginia, after being tracked to a U-Haul at a Walmart parking lot using the stolen credit cards. Both confessed and were charged with murder, attempted murder, and other offenses. Does anyone in the area remember the victims or have information about how Hart and Smith chose that house?