Murder in Connecticut
A moving account of the shocking, summer 2007 Connecticut crime that is still making national headlines, Murder in Connecticut examines what happened to Dr. William Petit, his wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and their two daughters, Hayley and Michaela, in the early morning hours of July 23, 2007 in the quiet town of Cheshire—and how their community rallied bravely around the sole survivor of this vicious home invasion.\ \ Who was the Petit family? How were they marked for murder by their...
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From the IntroductionThis is not the story of the two nonentities who attacked one summer night, although out of necessity they must appear. It is rather the story of an idyllic little town in central Connecticut—the town of Cheshire, population 29,000, median household income $80,466—a town that could have buckled under, its world sullied forever, a black spot evermore blocking their sun, but instead did not. It is the story of a community that has stuck together and supported one another during the hardest possible times—a community that, only in crisis, has discovered its own formidable strength. It is a story of anger and how even the most liberal of neighbors have rethought their opinions on capital punishment. And it is the story of a husband and father who lost everything yet somehow clung to his sanity, who in a town of thousands of lights became the brightest beacon of all.
Preface: Central Connecticut-A Lesson in How to Heal ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Double-Locked Doors and Restless Nights xii1 Outside the Stop & Shop 12 The Waking Nightmare 93 Immediate Aftermath 244 "I Sure Am Glad That I Didn't Run into Him" 435 Komisarjevsky and Hayes 496 "We Plan to Seek the Death Penalty" 827 Services-Private and Public 918 Candlelight Vigil 1079 More Search Warrants 11310 Angry Voices 11711 "I Came Here to See What Evil Looked Like" 12512 Bartlem Park Rally and the Three-Strikes Controversy 13413 A New Cohesion in Deaconwood 14014 The Congregation's Dilemma 14315 Autumn 14916 Dr. Petit Writes a Letter 16017 The Cheshire Lights 16918 Then It Happened Again 17519 More Legislative Debate 17720 March Madness: A Turning Point in the Healing Process 18421 The Grieving Schools: Miss Porter's, Chase Collegiate, and Cheshire Academy 18922 Forever Michaela 199 Afterword: The Darkness and the Light 203 Appendix A 911 Transcript 204 Appendix B Cheshire Police Dispatch Log, July 23, 2007 218 Appendix C Glossary of People Mentioned 222 Appendix D Bibliography 230 Appendix E Where to Send Donations 236 Index 238 About the Author 242
