Free Republic

The Connecticut man who lost his wife and daughters in a brutal home invasion in 2007 said Wednesday it was 'sad' one of the killers had his death sentence revoked to comply with new state laws. Dr. William Petit was tied up in the basement of his New Haven home during the July 23, 2007 attack and almost beaten to death. He could only listen as his wife was raped and murdered by Steven Hayes. Petit managed to flee to a neighbor's home as his daughters perished in the fire Hayes lit. 'It is a very sad day when a...

NEW HAVEN — More than two years later, the details still have the power to horrify. In the middle of the night, two parolees break into a tidy clapboard house in the central Connecticut town of Cheshire. They club the father, a doctor, and tie him up. One of them rapes and strangles the mother, the authorities say. The other molests one of the daughters, 11-year-old Michaela. The father breaks free and shouts for help. But the intruders have set a fire: The girls, Michaela and Hayley, 17, tied to their beds, die of smoke inhalation. The triple murder on...

CHESHIRE, Conn. - Two parolees with long criminal records were arraigned Tuesday on charges alleging they broke into a doctor's home, forced a hostage to withdraw cash from a bank and set fire to the house several hours later, killing the doctor's wife and two daughters. The suspects were caught Monday in the family's SUV as they fled the burning home, which they apparently had torched to cover their tracks, authorities said. Dr. William Petit Jr., 50, a prominent endocrinologist, was the only survivor and was severely injured in the attack. Joshua Komisarjevky, 26, of Cheshire, and Steven Hayes, 44,...