Kidnap suspect pleads not guilty to threatening prosecutor
OSSIPEE, N.H. - A New Hampshire man accused of kidnapping a 14-year-old girl and raping her over the course of nine months has pleaded not guilty to charges that he threatened the lead prosecutor in the case.
Prosecutors say 35-year-old Nathaniel Kibby kidnapped the girl on her way home from school in Conway in October 9, 2013, then imprisoned her in his home and a storage unit until July 2014. He faces more than 200 charges.
Kibby pleaded not guilty on paper Tuesday to a new felony charge of improper influence and misdemeanor charges of criminal threatening and obstructing government administration.
According to the indictment, a recorded phone call he made from the Carroll County House of Corrections in December captured Kibby making vulgar threats to harm Associate Attorney General Jane Young.
In the kidnapping and rape case, Kibby is accused of using death threats, a stun gun, zip ties and a shock collar to control the teen as he sexually assaulted her at his trailer home in the northern New Hampshire town of Gorham.
Prosecutors also said he ordered his captive to lie to police and help him destroy evidence. The Carroll County indictments said she spotted his full name inside a cookbook in his home and revealed that information to investigators days after she returned.
Kibby is scheduled to go on trial in the kidnapping and rape case in March 2016. It will be held in Belknap County.
Law enforcement agencies and media outlets, including The Associated Press and 48 Hours' Crimesider, published the girl's name and image frequently after she disappeared. The girl's family and prosecutors have asked that her name and image no longer be published because they fear the publicity and association with sexual abuse will slow her recovery.