N.H. man pleads guilty to kidnapping, raping teen he held captive
LACONIA, N.H. -- A man who initially denied kidnapping a 14-year-old girl and raping her repeatedly during nine months of captivity changed his plea to guilty on Thursday -- with the girl in the courtroom to witness it.
Nathaniel Kibby had been scheduled to go on trial next month in Laconia on nearly 200 felony charges related to the girl's October 2013 disappearance and the months that followed. He acknowledged his crimes during a change-of-plea hearing Thursday in Belknap County Superior Court, where corridors were packed with police officers and FBI agents who worked the case.
Kibby pleaded guilty to aggravated felonious sex assault, kidnapping, criminal threatening, witness tampering and other counts. He has been sentenced to 45 to 90 years in prison.
Before Kibby could enter his new plea, a prosecutor said Kibby had kidnapped the girl by offering her a ride home from her school and then brandishing a gun when she attempted to get out of his car.
Prosecutor Jane Young said the girl and Kibby didn't know each other and she accepted a ride because she'd worn boots to school and her feet were blistered. Young said when the girl tried to get out of the car in a parking lot Kibby pulled out the gun and threatened to "blow her brains out."
Last week, a judge ruled that the 35-year-old Kibby's lawyers could not question the girl before his trial about her exposure to media coverage and the amount of freedom she was given to move about his trailer in Gorham, where prosecutors say he used a stun gun, zip ties and a shock collar to control her.
Kibby was charged with kidnapping the girl on Oct. 9, 2013, as she walked home from her high school in Conway. The girl returned to her home in North Conway the night of July 20, 2014, but prosecutors have not elaborated on the circumstances of her return. She waited until a week after she was home to reveal Kibby's identity, court papers show. She was able to identify Kibby because she spotted his full name inside a cookbook in his home, they show.
Lawyers hired by the girl's family said she had suffered "numerous acts of unspeakable violence" during her months of captivity. Their statement was largely a plea for privacy and did not elaborate on what she endured. The girl, who is now 17 years old, attended Thursday's hearing.
Judge Larry Smukler also denied Kibby's bid to question the girl's sister and three school workers about her home life and family dynamic.
Defense attorney Jesse Friedman argued that transcripts of recorded interviews between prosecutors and the girl "are not adequately specific as to the time frames of the alleged sexual assaults and (her) ability to move freely during her alleged captivity." He said it was necessary to question the girl to prepare to cross-examine experts about domestic violence and Stockholm syndrome, a psychological condition in which people develop feelings of trust or affection toward their captors.
The judge noted the state provided the defense team with 12 interviews consisting of nearly 18 recorded hours and 685 pages of transcripts. In some, the girl described sexual assaults as occurring "every day, pretty much."