He awoke as blood ran from a gash on his head, he said. The next thing I knew I was seated on the middle of the sofa, with my head down [and] there was something warm running down the side of my face," he testified. Petit testified that the attackers told him to lie down on the couch "and tied my hands at the wrists and my feet at the ankles" and covered his head with a piece of fabric.
He was told he'd be shot if he moved, and eventually he was led to the basement, where he was tied to a pole by a rope around his chest and waist, his hands still bound with plastic zip ties, he testified.
She was eventually found inside the home raped and strangled, authorities said. The attackers tied the girls to their beds and put a pillowcase over their heads, prosecutors said. After getting the money from the bank, the attackers set the home on fire and fled, prosecutors said.
Inside the home, the two daughters, one of whom had been sexually assaulted, died of smoke inhalation, authorities said. Before the fire, Petit was able to untie the rope on his hands and break the plastic ties, but couldn't undo his feet. He said he heard "three loud noises, like someone was throwing or pound sacks on the living room floor. Petit testified he heard a "whoosh" sound shortly afterward. Fearing for his family's safety, Petit, still bound by his feet, hopped up his basement steps, left the home and headed for a nearby house, where he alerted a neighbor and asked him to call Prosecutors say the attackers put gasoline in several plastic gallon-size jugs found at the house to start the fire in the home.
During Hayes' trial, jurors were visibly stunned when they were shown pictures of the victims' burned remains, and at least one wept. He untied the clothesline around his waist but he couldn't free his ankles.
He dragged himself over to the stairs leading to the bulkhead door and pushed himself up the stairs using his hands and elbows. Once up in the yard, he couldn't stand up but he had to get to Dave's house next door, some fifty feet away.
His only option was to roll. When he got close, he started yelling for Dave and pounding on Dave's garage door. D'Agostino writes: 'Dave, his neighbor for eighteen years, looked down at Bill, a beaten, soaking-wet man lying in his driveway covered with blood, and asks, 'Can I help you, sir'? A few seconds later, Dr Petit found a police officer standing over him with his gun drawn, not knowing whether he is a suspect or a victim, and asking who is in the house.
Immediately, he shouted: 'The girls! The girls are in the house'! Dr Petit was then rushed to the hospital in shock after losing some five to seven pints of blood. But back inside Sorghum Mill Drive, more horrors were unfolding. Here are Dr. Petit's talking about his ordeal in The Rising:.
On St. And he talked about his daughters Michaela and Hayley rather than sorrow. At the trial:. On he deadbolt on the bulkhead door:. I called, she was down in the basement, I went down in the basement, and she said she was having a hard time opening this lock, which is a deadbolt. On the bat used by the killers.
I think I received it from my—via my brothers and father, who some time back had several package stores. On the verdict of six capital felonies:. You know, ah, tortured and killed…in her own bedroom…you know? Surrounded by stuffed animals. And was a strong and courageous person.
And Jennifer helped so many kids. Petit talked about Hayley, the older daughter:. She had a friend who was a boy and who still thinks about her. He is now a senior and a basketball player. On daughter Michaela:. One teacher said she always made an effort to over to someone who was ignored by others in the class.
Evil: Joshua Komisarjevsky, 35, was given the death penalty for his crimes which included performing a series of disgusting sexual acts on year-old Michaela before setting her on fire. He is now serving a life sentence. Murderer: Steven Hayes, who raped and strangled Mrs Hawkes-Petit, was also sentenced to death but, like Komisarjevsky, has had his sentence commuted to life after Connecticut abolished the death penalty.
After raping Mrs Hawkes-Petit, Hayes strangled her with his hands. The two girls were tied to their beds with pillowcases over their heads and burned alive. So devastating was the damage caused by the fires started by the evil pair, much of the house was left in ashes, while the insurance adjuster said it was the worst she had seen in 20 years.
For broken-hearted Dr Petit, the days that followed were a blur of tears, recriminations and an ongoing search for a way to cope. He went to live with his parents after the tragedy and spent hours lying on his bed, sleepless. At night, he could sleep for no more than an hour. He didn't want to see people. There was nothing to say.
There was no closure. He wept for hours, haunted by nightmares day and night. Some letters from around the world arrived and gifts. But in the darkness, all the what-ifs went through his mind. That's how they got in from the backyard. Why hadn't he fixed it'? A hundred thousand what-ifs. What if the police had stormed the house five minutes sooner? The police were later quizzed about their lack of haste in storming the Petits' home during the trial of murderers Hayes and Komisarjevsky.
Happiness: Despite finding love again, he says he will never 'get closure' on the deaths of his wife and children. Tribute: Dr Petit, pictured with his new wife, has since given up work as a doctor and has dedicated himself to running a charity in his family's memory.
Captain Robert Vignola of the Cheshire Police Department had been at his desk when the call came in from dispatch that there was a hostage situation. The teller went ahead and called the police when she left the bank. Somehow, he crawled, then rolled to a neighbor's house.
Doctorssaid later Petit had lost as much as seven pints of blood. He said his neighbor didn't even recognize him at first, because he was so bloody. Ullmann noted that Hayes told police that things "got out of control," and that Hayes' co-defendant Komisarjevsky said no one was supposed to get hurt, The Associated Press reported.
Komisarjevsky is awaiting trial. Petit's sister, said outside court on Monday. Petit and Hawke-Petit lived what seemed like a charmed life in an upscale neighborhood.
Hayley, who was planning to attend Dartmouth College, was hoping to become a doctor and follow in her father's footsteps. Hawke-Petit had multiple sclerosis and the family was active in efforts to raise money to fight the disease. In July , authorities said Komisarjevsky followed Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters from a grocery store, returning later with Hayes.
Hayes, 47, was accused of sexually assaulting and strangling Hawke-Petit. Komisarjevsky, 30, is charged with sexually assaulting Michaela. The two allegedly tied Michaela and Hayley to their beds, poured gasoline on and around them and set the house on fire, killing them. Hayes and Komisarjevsky fled the burning home in the family's car and were caught after ramming several police cruisers, authorities said. Both defendants have offered to plead guilty in exchange for life sentences.
But prosecutors, seeking the death penalty for both, pushed for trials, defense attorneys said, forcing the state to revisit the unsettling crime and its lone survivor to relive it in the courtroom. In a case like this one, she said, Hayes' attorney will likely seek to separate his client from Komisarjevsky and play up any aspect of his behavior that might garner sympathy from the jurors "to show that his client was less culpable, which is almost inconceivable in this set of facts.
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