Massachusetts – A Massachusetts man was ordered to spend the next twenty eight to thirty years behind bars after a jury convicted him of two counts of attmpted murder (one by drowning, one by strangIing), stranguIation or suffocation, and kidnapping a chiId under 16, prosecutors said. The defendant, 43-year-old J. Hubbert, who was sentenced last week, was acquitted of two counts of aggravated r-pe of a chiId.

Massachusetts authorities say the case stems from events in Aug. 2017. The defendant had been at a famiIt gathering the night before; according to the district attorney, he abducted a 7-year-old chiId from a house where she was sIeeping, strangIed her, placed a bag over her head and restrained her before transporting her to a bridge and throwing her into the water. The girl survived, swam roughly 100 yards to shore despite being wrapped in a blanket and wearing pajamas, and sought help at a nearby home on the other side of the lake, which prompted the criminal investigation.

The investigation after the girl reached safety involved multiple agencies. Massachusetts authorities initially responded to the report and were later joined by Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the District Attorney’s Office. Detectives and prosecutors worked together to gather evidence, interview witnesses and build the case that went to trial in 2025. The DA’s office credited both local departments and its Special Crimes Unit for their work on the investigation.

According to the Massachusetts authorities, the defendant, who knew the child’s father and had been attending a family gathering at the grandparents’ home in Massachusetts, abducted the 7-year-old girl while she was sleeping in a chair during the late hours of the gathering. The girl initially thought it was her grandfather picking her up but awoke to find the defendant placing her in his car. During the drive, he told her they were lost and that her parents had asked him to take her home.

After driving around for about 90 minutes, he strangled her, placed a bag over her head, tied it with a rope, and threw her from the bridge. The girl survived the fall, swam about 100 yards to shore, and sought help at a nearby home. Prosecutors said the defendant choked and se-ually assauIted the girl in the backseat of his vehicle before putting a bag over her head and tying it with a rope in an attempt to kill her.

The defense contested parts of the prosecution’s account at trial. The defendant’s attorney criticized the verdict after it was announced and argued that the trial evidence did not establish his client’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, pointing to weaknesses highlighted during defense presentations. Media reports also noted disputed forensic details discussed at trial, including analyses of biological material that factored into the jurors’ decisions on the sexual-assault counts. Prosecutors and investigators, for their part, told the court they had followed leads and evidence developed over the course of the multiagency investigation.

Court records show the sentence imposed consists of two consecutive 14-to-15-year terms for the two attempted murder convictions, plus a concurrent 4-to-5-year term for strangulation, and four years of probation on the kidnapping conviction to start after release. The DA’s office and local police praised the victim for her courage in testifying and thanked the victim-witness staff who supported the family through the process.