Joshua Komisarjevsky turned the key to start his red Chevrolet van in the Stop & Shop parking lot in Cheshire when a silver SUV pulled in right next to him, and Jennifer Petit and her 11-year-old daughter Michaela got out.
Intrigued, Komisarjevsky turned off his van and waited while they were inside the grocery store. As Michaela walked back out, carrying a bag of groceries, Komisarjevsky's cell phone rang. It was his halfway house pal Steven Hayes, wondering if he had any plans for the night.
"Maybe," Joshua said. "Lemme get back to you," according to his account of the day in a book released today.
And then he followed the Petits' van back to the family's home at 300 Sorghum Mill Drive. That, police say, was the beginning of what would become one of the most horrific crimes in state history — the brutal murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Michaela and Hayley, 17, on July 23, 2007.
The 244-page book gives Komisarjevsky's detailed version of what happened that night inside the Petit home, starting with the conversation with Hayes and the chance meeting with two members of the unsuspecting Petit family as they went about a routine chore.
The author Brian McDonald interviewed Komisarjevsky three times in jail and got more than 200 pages of hand-written notes from him while compiling the book, titled "In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood."
The book, which is sure to have legal ramifications since both Komisarjevsky and Hayes still haven't gone to trial, intersperses quotes taken directly from Komisarjevsky's letters to McDonald, many of which end with a handwritten smiley face, with details from what happened inside the Petit home.
While the book borrows liberally from other media accounts, including The Courant's accounts of the crime, it offers new details all told through Komisarjevsky's view, including the idea that Komisarjevsky planned to kill Hayes once they had left the house because he had taken his gloves off during the night and left fingerprints all over the Petit house as he rummaged through drawers and purses looking for money.
The book spares no details, describing pictures he took of Michaela on his cellphone to "blackmail" Dr. Petit; the five swings with a baseball bat he took at William Petit as he slept on a couch; the sound the gasoline made when they lit the match; and Hayes' laughter as they ran outside.
It leaves no doubt who Komisarjevsky blames for the murders.
"Joshua contends he didn't kill anyone that morning," McDonald writes. "He told me he watched Hayes strangle Mrs. Petit and that, though he wanted to come to her aid, he inexplicably "froze up."
Hayes, 46, of Winsted, and Komisarjevsky, 29, of Cheshire, are charged with capital felony and murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and arson. Both face the death penalty.
They are due back in Superior Court in New Haven on Thursday, although it is unclear if that court date will now be canceled.
The judge involved in the case has gone out of his way to keep details of the crimes sealed. The 911 call to police has been redacted, Komisarjevsky's 75-page confession to police has been sealed even when part of it has been used in defense motions, and a gag order has been placed on attorneys and Cheshire police involved in the case.
It is unclear if Komisarjevsky himself has now violated that gag order. While the book has a limited release with little pre-publicity by its publisher, St. Martin's Paperbacks, it may have an impact on finding a jury to sit on the cases.
Hayes is expected to go to trial first sometime in early 2010.
Intrigued, Komisarjevsky turned off his van and waited while they were inside the grocery store. As Michaela walked back out, carrying a bag of groceries, Komisarjevsky's cell phone rang. It was his halfway house pal Steven Hayes, wondering if he had any plans for the night.
"Maybe," Joshua said. "Lemme get back to you," according to his account of the day in a book released today.
And then he followed the Petits' van back to the family's home at 300 Sorghum Mill Drive. That, police say, was the beginning of what would become one of the most horrific crimes in state history — the brutal murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Michaela and Hayley, 17, on July 23, 2007.
The 244-page book gives Komisarjevsky's detailed version of what happened that night inside the Petit home, starting with the conversation with Hayes and the chance meeting with two members of the unsuspecting Petit family as they went about a routine chore.
The author Brian McDonald interviewed Komisarjevsky three times in jail and got more than 200 pages of hand-written notes from him while compiling the book, titled "In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood."
The book, which is sure to have legal ramifications since both Komisarjevsky and Hayes still haven't gone to trial, intersperses quotes taken directly from Komisarjevsky's letters to McDonald, many of which end with a handwritten smiley face, with details from what happened inside the Petit home.
While the book borrows liberally from other media accounts, including The Courant's accounts of the crime, it offers new details all told through Komisarjevsky's view, including the idea that Komisarjevsky planned to kill Hayes once they had left the house because he had taken his gloves off during the night and left fingerprints all over the Petit house as he rummaged through drawers and purses looking for money.
The book spares no details, describing pictures he took of Michaela on his cellphone to "blackmail" Dr. Petit; the five swings with a baseball bat he took at William Petit as he slept on a couch; the sound the gasoline made when they lit the match; and Hayes' laughter as they ran outside.
It leaves no doubt who Komisarjevsky blames for the murders.
"Joshua contends he didn't kill anyone that morning," McDonald writes. "He told me he watched Hayes strangle Mrs. Petit and that, though he wanted to come to her aid, he inexplicably "froze up."
Hayes, 46, of Winsted, and Komisarjevsky, 29, of Cheshire, are charged with capital felony and murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and arson. Both face the death penalty.
They are due back in Superior Court in New Haven on Thursday, although it is unclear if that court date will now be canceled.
The judge involved in the case has gone out of his way to keep details of the crimes sealed. The 911 call to police has been redacted, Komisarjevsky's 75-page confession to police has been sealed even when part of it has been used in defense motions, and a gag order has been placed on attorneys and Cheshire police involved in the case.
It is unclear if Komisarjevsky himself has now violated that gag order. While the book has a limited release with little pre-publicity by its publisher, St. Martin's Paperbacks, it may have an impact on finding a jury to sit on the cases.
Hayes is expected to go to trial first sometime in early 2010.
Why are these two scumbags still breathing? And on our dime they live. Great!
enoughsenough (10/13/2009, 2:40 AM )