Terror in Connecticut: The Petit Murders
A true nightmare began for the family of Dr. William A. Petit, Jr. around 3 a.m. Monday morning. That was when two strangers entered the Petit home in an upscale section of Cheshire, Connecticut and began an assault on the family of 4 that would last nearly 7 hours before ending in flames, leaving three family members dead, one gravely injured.
The alleged killers were Joshua Komisarjevsky, age 26, also from Cheshire, and Steven Hayes, 44, from Winsted, CT. Both Komisarjevsky and Hayes had criminal histories, but apparently nothing in the background of either man predicted the level of violence visited on Dr. Petit, his wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and the couples’ daughters Hayley, age 17, and Michaela, age 11.
Police were contacted by bank employees at a Cheshire Bank of America after 9 on Monday morning. One of the men had forced Jennifer Hawke-Petit to go to the bank to withdraw money. While there, Hawke-Petit managed to indicate to a bank employee that there was trouble.
Cheshire police officers were dispatched to the Petit home at 300 Sorghum Mill Drive and there they found the dwelling in flames. The suspects, fleeing in one of the Petit family vehicles, crashed into three Cheshire police cruisers before finally being arrested a block from the home. In the meantime, a badly beaten Dr. William Petit, who had been bound and held in the basement of the home, managed to get out of the house and to a neighbor’s residence.
After the fire in the Petit home was under control, Jennifer Hawke-Petit was found deceased on the first floor. Recent high school grad Hayley Petit, who was to attend Dartmouth in the fall, was found at the head of the stairs. Michaela Petit was bound to her bed, and according to the Hartford Courant, the child’s body was so badly burned in the fire that engulfed the home that police are not sure how she died.
The charges against Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes suggest the true horror of the crime — Komisarjevsky has been charged with one count each of assault, aggravated sexual assault, burglary, arson, conspiracy to commit arson, robbery compounded with risk of injury to a minor, two counts of larceny, and four counts of kidnapping — all in the first degree. Most of the same charges have been leveled against Steven Hayes, including sexual assault.
Normally the older man might be the dominant criminal in such a situation. Steven Hayes, with a record of burglary and larceny spanning 2 decades, would be a natural to lead the younger man in such a brutal assault on a family.
But as was alluded to in the Courant, Joshua Komisarjevsky had already been called a “cold calculating predator” by a judge when he was sentenced in 2002 on multiple counts of burglary. If the attack on the Petit family was premeditated, it may have been the younger man — also a resident of Cheshire — who was the instigator.
Joshua Komisarjevsky began breaking into homes at age 14. By the time he was caught in 2002 he was a cool-headed cat burglar. His burglary equipment included night vision goggles, latex gloves, and a knife to rip through screens on windows. Komisarjevsky preferred electronic items. In burglaries he was convicted of committing in February, 2002, he hauled away computers, monitors, phones, at least a thousand compact discs, as many as 60 DVDs, console games and a DVD player.
When Komisarjevsky was being sentenced in December of 2002 he cried crocodile tears. The insincerity in regrets he expressed towards his victims in court nearly 5 years ago was evident in the statement he made: “I’m truly sorry (…) I wish some of the victims showed up today so I can show how truly sorry I am.”
Emphasis was added. Joshua Komisarjevsky wanted to show, not tell anyone. He knew that he needed to appear contrite. His tears, though, were more likely for himself.
Why the pair targeted the Petit family is still not known. While Dr. William Petit held a prominent position in the medical community as medical director of the the Joslin Diabetes Center Affiliate at The Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain, but he was surely not the only well-known physician in the area. The chances are the home was targeted and perhaps even watched simply because it was in an upscale area. The alleged sexual assaults may have been crimes of opportunity.
The tragedy is too much to grasp for the Cheshire community, based on reports in the local and national media. This is perhaps compounded by the fact that both Dr. Petit and his wife were healers. Jennifer Hawke-Petit was a nurse and one of two directors of health at a private boarding school. After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis almost a decade ago, Hawke-Petit became active in the Connecticut State chapter of the MS Society and her daughters had joined in, raising money in Hayley’s name over the last 8 years to the tune of more than $50,000. Michaela Petit was planning on following in her sister’s footsteps.
In her last year at Miss Porter’s School, Hayley Petit co-edited a journal of scholarly writings titled Chautauqua. Part of her brief bio from the journal:
[Hayley’s] writing is luminescent, powerful, and inspiring; she brings a fresh perspective and thoughtful, critical eye to the editorial process. In addition to academic excellence, Hayley is an avid athlete as the Nova Nine, Head of the Athletics. She is a cross country runner, a fierce competitor on the basketball court, and a co-captain of the MPS Crew team. Hayley will be off to Dartmouth College next year.
An active and eloquent young woman, Hayley had even been an on-air spokesperson for WTNH during fund-raising activities for the MS Society in the May of this year. In 2006, Hayley captained a youth team participating in a MS Walk in Cheshire, and they won the Best Youth Team award.
Online searches relevant to Hayley and her school make it apparent that she was following not only her father’s example in becoming a leader — she was student head of several groups at Miss Porter’s — but also that she was using being a child of privilege to help those not as fortunate.
Cheshire, CT has little experience with violent crimes of this magnitude. The median household income there is considerably higher than the national average, and murder is exceedingly rare.
Frequently, when a crime as horrible as the murders of three members of a family is committed in such a community, there is often a desire to believe the killers came from somewhere else.
Here, though, Joshua Komisarjevsky apparently presented a homegrown threat. He had committed his previous crimes in and around Cheshire, and his family has apparently lived in the area for years. Komisarjevsky’s father Ben is mentioned in a 1995 obituary for author, columnist, and editor John Chamberlain as being one of Chamberlain’s step-children, making Joshua Komisarjevsky Chamberlain’s step-grandchild. The former Wall Street Journal writer was a Cheshire, CT resident when he died — eulogies for Chamberlain came from well-known writers such as William F. Buckley, Jr.
Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky are being held on $15 million dollar bail for each man. William Petit is in the hospital in the hospital in serious condition. The United Methodist Church attended by the Petit family has called in grief counselors to assist those who have been impacted by this crime. They have a big job ahead of them.
Any updates will be added below.
NOTE, 7/27/07
The comments have been closed for the time being. It has been evident since this crime first hit the news that the authorities did NOT suspect Dr. Petit of any complicity in the nightmare visited on his family. This has only been reinforced in subsequent reports. I personally had no such suspicions. I have argued with comments proposing otherwise, but that doesn’t stop some people from persistently posting half-assed theories, sometimes based (at least in the case of one commentator) on Dr. Petit’s gender. As a fellow member of that gender, needless to say, I found that comment particularly insulting.
Plenty of sleuthing and theorizing has gone on in this blog in other cases, and we (me as the owner and editor and the other folks who post entries) have led the way. It’s certainly encouraged whenever we are led to believe there may be a question as to whether or not a crime has been solved.
That is not the case here. It seems very clear at the moment that police in Cheshire, CT are not looking past Mr. Hayes or Mr. Komisarjevsky, and if they are, they aren’t targeting Dr. Petit. William Petit is a victim here, and I personally feel that a certain amount of genderism is playing into the stubborn expressions of suspicion about the doctor in comments posted on this entry. That is, people believing he somehow played a part in the tragedy just because he was a man. Evidently none of the folks coming from that perch have heard of a “black widow.” That’s for another blog entry, though.
I run this blog and I wrote this entry, and if you have a problem with me shutting down the comments, too bad. I feel much more sympathy in this instance with the folks who are posting dismayed and offended comments that Dr. Petit is suspected by anyone.
There are a ton of true crime message boards out there to choose from, and you can get your own blog for free at Blogger.com. If you want to keep throwing stones at a man who just lost all the women in his immediate family to unspeakable acts of savagery, you can use either of the options I’ve presented, but you can’t use this post.
What is this world coming to....
Moderators: Tunnelcat, Jeff250
I would venture to say that the human emotion that played into the murderer's hearts and perpetuated this atrocity is the same that is compelling online readers to post comments about their suspicions regarding even grander foul play by implying that Dr. Petit had something to do with it - jealousy.
The fact that Komisarjevsky was a distant relative of the victims and had lived in the same community for many years is a factor. I'd be willing to guess that he knew that, and could not help but weigh his own life and struggles against theirs, finding that he was the darkest part of their lineage, while they were the brightest and most privileged. They were very likely the embodiment of the mirror he loathed to look into, because the monster was always there. I doubt he will ever come to realize during the course of his lifetime that the mirror doesn't matter; the monster will always remain.
The fact that Komisarjevsky was a distant relative of the victims and had lived in the same community for many years is a factor. I'd be willing to guess that he knew that, and could not help but weigh his own life and struggles against theirs, finding that he was the darkest part of their lineage, while they were the brightest and most privileged. They were very likely the embodiment of the mirror he loathed to look into, because the monster was always there. I doubt he will ever come to realize during the course of his lifetime that the mirror doesn't matter; the monster will always remain.
I unfortunatley have had this in my life for the past few days because my signifigant other is a mortician... guess who is at her home... I get an utterly disgusting feeling thinking about this. I'm pretty sure my sister who is diabetic used to go to him as a child also... Moster is correct... I think the amazing thing is they aren't being charged for murder... why is that? Do they need to build a case first or something?
They usually sometimes do wait to press all the various applicable charges until enough investigation has been done to make sure they're being booked with the correct crimes. Due process and all that.
It's a foregone conclusion, though. They wouldn't have such insanely high bail placed on them if they weren't being considered for multiple counts of the worst crimes.
As for being in contact with Dr. Petit and being indirectly exposed to the tragedy and trauma going on down there, extend my greatest and most sincere sympathies to all involved. Dr. Petit especially is going to have some of the hardest struggles imaginable ahead of him, most of them within his own heart and head as he tries to reconcile all that has happened and tries to go on.
It's a foregone conclusion, though. They wouldn't have such insanely high bail placed on them if they weren't being considered for multiple counts of the worst crimes.
As for being in contact with Dr. Petit and being indirectly exposed to the tragedy and trauma going on down there, extend my greatest and most sincere sympathies to all involved. Dr. Petit especially is going to have some of the hardest struggles imaginable ahead of him, most of them within his own heart and head as he tries to reconcile all that has happened and tries to go on.