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Posted by: kwflatbed

Associated Press - July 23, 2007 2:54 PM ET
CHESHIRE, Conn. (AP) - Cheshire police are still trying to piece together the details of a home invasion that left three people dead.
Police say three were killed today after intruders broke into their home, held them hostage for several hours and apparently set the house on fire.
Two suspects tried to flee the house on Sorghum Mill Drive after apparently setting the home on fire, but they were quickly arrested when the car they were driving crashed into two police cruisers.
Neighbors say the home belongs to the Petit family - William Petit Junior and his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and their two daughters.
Petit is the medical director of the Joslin Diabetes Center Affiliate at The Hospital of Central Connecticut, and his wife of 22 years worked at the Cheshire Academy, a boarding school.
Cheshire, a suburb with a population of more than 29,000 is just east of Waterbury and about 15 miles north of New Haven.

http://www.wwlp.com/Global/story.asp?S=6826675

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Posted by: kwflatbed

Supects arraigned in home-invasion homicides



Steven Hayes, 44, (top) and Joshua Komisarjevky, 26, were arraigned in Meriden, Conn. in connection with a home invasion and triple homicide of a Cheshire doctor and his family. (AP)

MERIDEN, Conn. - Two convicted burglars were out on parole Monday when they allegedly broke into the home of a prominent Cheshire physician, set it on fire and killed his wife and two daughters, authorities said.
Joshua Komisarjevky, 26, of Cheshire and Steven Hayes, 44, of Winsted were arraigned Tuesday in Meriden Superior Court and were formally charged with aggravated sexual assault, assault, arson, robbery, kidnapping, risk of injury to children and larceny. Komisarjevky lived less than two miles from the victims.
Dr. William Petit Jr., 50, remained hospitalized with head injuries he suffered in the attack. Police and prosecutors said additional charges were likely to be filed following autopsies on his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and their daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela.

The family issued its first public statement about the case on Tuesday.
"Our precious family members have been the victims of horrible, senseless, violent assaults. We are understandably in shock and overwhelmed with sadness as we attempt to gather together to support one another and recognize these wonderful, giving beautiful individuals who have been so cruelly taken from us," the statement said.
The two men had entered the home at about 3 a.m. Monday, planning to burglarize it, state police said Tuesday. When they found the family home, they beat Dr. Petit, then tied up his wife and daughters.
Authorities were tipped off that the family was in danger by employees at a local bank when one of the suspects forced Hawke-Petit to make a withdrawal around 9:30 a.m. Bank employees became suspicious and called police, who drove to the Petit home.
The suspects were caught in the family’s car after ramming several cruisers as they fled the burning home, which they apparently had torched to cover their tracks, authorities said.
Hawke-Petit and her daughters were found dead inside. Dr. Petit escaped the blaze and told police what happened.
Judge Christina G. Dunnell on Tuesday set bond for both Komisarjevky and Hayes at $15 million and transferred the cases to New Haven Superior Court, where both men are scheduled to appear Aug. 7. Dunnell said she agreed with the high bonds recommended by officials, citing both men’s lengthy criminal histories.
At the time of the killings, Hayes and Komisarjevky were both free on parole after serving prison time for burglary convictions in 2003, according to Bail Commissioner Garcia Harris.
Hayes’ criminal record dates back to 1980 and includes more than two dozen convictions for burglary, larceny, marijuana possession, theft of a firearm and escape from custody, Harris said. Komisarjevky also has multiple convictions for burglary and larceny.
Neither man, however, has been convicted of violent crimes, and both were deemed appropriate candidates for supervised parole, said Brian Garnett, a Correction Department spokesman.
"Both were on a weekly reporting schedule with their parole officers and had been in full compliance with the requirements of their release, including being employed on a full-time basis," Garnett said.

Story Continues Here: http://news.bostonherald.com/nationa...format=&page=2

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Posted by: kwflatbed

Capital charges brought in Conn. home invasion killings

By Associated Press
Friday, July 27, 2007 - Updated: 06:29 AM EST

CHESHIRE, Conn. - Two men accused of killing a physician’s wife and two daughters and setting fire to their home could face the death penalty if convicted.

Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes were charged with six capital felony counts in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters during a home invasion, New Haven State’s Attorney Michael Dearington said Thursday. They previously were charged with assault, sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery, arson and other counts in Monday’s attack.
The seeming randomness of the attack has scared residents around the normally peaceful New Haven suburb of Cheshire, with its upper-middle class neighborhoods and Colonial homes with well-kept lawns.

Residents are lining up for gun safety classes so they can buy firearms, said Scott Hoffman, owner of Hoffman’s Gun Center in nearby Newington.


"You talk to these people and you can see it’s hit home, this particular crime," he said. "It’s the sheer grotesqueness of the crime and the fact that it’s such a normal family."


A police source close to the investigation confirmed reports that Komisarjevsky and Hayes spotted Jennifer Hawke-Petit and one of her daughters at a grocery store Sunday and followed their car home.


Police gave family members the same account, said Glenn Petit, Hawke-Petit’s brother-in-law.


"They were attracted to the car," he told The Associated Press, though he was not sure what model Hawke-Petit was driving. "They liked the car, followed her home, thought she lived in a nice house."


Authorities say the men broke into the home of Dr. William Petit Jr. early Monday and held the family hostage for several hours. One of them forced Hawke-Petit to make a withdrawal at a bank later that morning, triggering suspicion among bank employees, police said.


Police were notified and rushed to the Petits’ home, where they encountered the fleeing suspects and found the family’s home ablaze. Petit, who remained in stable condition at St. Mary’s Hospital on Thursday, had been beaten and bound in the basement but managed to escape the fire. The bodies of his wife and their daughters - 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela - were found inside.


"He’s doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances," Glenn Petit said of his brother. "Emotionally, he’s a mess. He is stunned right now. He’s had his family taken from him."


The suspects were caught after they crashed their getaway vehicle _ the Petits’ car - into three police cruisers. Komisarjevsky, 26, and Hayes, 44, were each being held on $15 million bond.


Convicted burglars with lengthy criminal records, they were out on parole when the attack occurred. They had been roommates for a time at a drug treatment center and halfway house in Hartford last year.


Komisarjevsky is a member of a prominent family in the stage arts. He is the grandson of Theodore Komisarjevsky, a Russian theater director and designer, and Ernestine Stodelle, a former dancer, dance critic, author and studio director.

"It was a monstrous, deranged act, beyond comprehension," his family said in a statement released Thursday.


"We cannot and will not condone anything the accused have done. Justice needs to take place," the family said. "We can add nothing more - simply to repeat how tragic this is and how much our thoughts and prayers go out to the Petit family and friends."


Komisarjevsky lived a few miles from the Petits, but it was not clear if there was any connection between them.


Hawke-Petit, 48, was strangled and her daughters died of smoke inhalation, according to the state medical examiner. The mother and younger daughter were sexually assaulted, according to arrest documents.


The crime has prompted the Connecticut Board of Pardons and Parole to review its policies. Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Thursday she wants an in-depth review of the state’s procedures for charging, sentencing and releasing criminals.


Neither suspect had any history of violent crimes when they were paroled this spring, though Komisarjevsky had committed a string of burglaries where he wore military night vision goggles and burglarized homes while the occupants slept.

http://news.bostonherald.com/nationa...format=&page=1

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