what's your emergency? >> my name is mary lyons, i'm the banking center manager. we have a lady who is in our bank right now.

who says that her husband and children are being held at their house. the people are in a car outside the bank. she is getting $15,000. to bring out to them. that if the police are told, they will kill her children and the husband. her name is jennifer petit, p-e-t-i-t. >> okay. is she still in the bank? >> yes, she is. >> okay. she's being held -- or -- >> her husband -- >> her husband and family is being held? >> yes. >> at their house? >> yes. they're tied up. she said they drove her here. i'm trying to look and see where she has gone. wait, i see her walking now. she is petrified. >> tonight, police removed the body of one of the victims after a home invasion leaves a mother and her two daughters dead. the suspects, 26-year-old joshua komisarjevsky of cheshire, and 44-year-old steven hayes of winsted were caught while trying to escape in the petits' car.

the only question that remains, why did this happen to the petit family? >> there's not one word that i can use to describe our town. but it's a phenomenal town. >> it's known as the betting capital of connecticut, for betting plants. it was historically a farming

and as the state of connecticut grew, as the cities surrounding the town of cheshire grew, it became a budding community, which is probably the way most people think of cheshire. returning to tonight's top story, a mother and two daughters dead, their father severely injured, after a home invasion stunned the town of cheshire. >> the suspects set the house on fire. >> jennifer petit, her cause of death, asphyxiation from strangulation. her daughters, haylee and mckayla, died from smoke inhalation.

>> i had a phone call here monday afternoon from billy's sister. and i said, hannah, it's about the girls, isn't it? and she said, these two men came in, what they think was 3:00 in the morning, and they beat billy really badly with a baseball bat. and his head's all split apart. and then they proceeded to do all these awful things to the girls. and they tied them to their beds. about 9:00, jen was made to go to the bank and withdraw money. and then when she came back from the bank, they set the house on fire and killed them all, so

that they could try to cover up their tracks, i guess. but they got the two guys. and all i could think was, who cares if they got the two guys? we don't have our loved ones anymore. and that's all we had. the hardest thing i think i've ever had to do in my life was to tell my parents that one of their other children, their only other child, was dead. and their two grandchildren, two of their four. >> she quickly told us that the home was set on fire, but bill escaped. and we went to the hospital and got to see bill for the first time. he was badly beaten, and he tried to apologize to us for not saving our daughter. and our grandchildren. and we had to convince him that

he was in no condition to be able to save anyone. and we were grateful -- >> that he was alive. >> that he was alive. >> right. >> this is the last picture we had together. my sister, she was beautiful. and she was usually like the lead in the plays at school. she was on the homecoming court. she was captain of the trojanette team. so she really was kind of like a winner person. >> bill was a committed, dedicated doctor, would leave at 7:00 in the morning and not be back home until maybe 9:00, 9:30. >> when jen was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, haylee wanted to raise money, because she felt if she didn't do anything, it was possible her mother could die.

>> haylee was able to raise a little over $50,000, being a spokesperson for the ms society here in connecticut. receiving awards for that. although you would never know it. >> michaela sometimes shied away from adults, but if she saw someone was having a difficult time, she went to hem and tried to help with whatever she could. >> their lives were just centered around a sense of socialability, justice, and if i didn't smile about it, i would have to cry.

>> well, first of all, thank you for all coming out today to honor the memory of the girls. i would really like to say thank you to people from all over the state of connecticut and all over the country. we have been surrounded with love and cards and flowers and prayer. from east to west, from north to south. i met jen at children's hospital in pittsburgh. she was a new nurse, and i was the know it all third year medical student. i was trying to correct jen on how to take the blood pressure the correct way. since i had about three minutes

of experience at that point. but it became clear pretty quickly that she knew more about pediatrics and how to care for kids than i had ever known. it is. ♪ honey, we need to talk. we do? i took the trash out. i know. and thank you so much for that. i think we should get a medicare supplement insurance plan. right now? [ male announcer ] whether you're new to medicare or not, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. it's up to you to pay the difference. so think about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. i did a little research.

with a medicare supplement plan, you'll be able to stay with your doctor. oh, you know, i love that guy. mm-hmm. [ male announcer ] these types of plans let you visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. and there are no networks. is this a one-size-fits-all kind of thing? no. there are lots of plan options. it all depends on what we need and how much we want to spend. [ male announcer ] call now to request your free decision guide. it could help you find an aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you. what happens when we travel? the plans go with us. anywhere in the country. i like that. you know what else? unitedhealthcare insurance company has years and years of experience. what do you say? ♪ i'm in. [ male announcer ] join the millions already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. remember, all medicare supplement plans help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay and could really save you in out-of-pocket medical costs.

you'll be able to choose your own doctor or hospital as long as they accept medicare patients. and with these plans, there could be low or no copays. you do your push-ups today? prepare to be amazed. [ male announcer ] don't wait. call today to request your free decision guide and find the aarp medicare supplement plan to go the distance with you. go long.

joining me on the phone, the police for cheshire. was it when police showed up they found the house on fire and caught these suspects?

because they were caught leaving the burning house. >> yeah. it worked out so officers arrived on-scene just as the suspects were leaving the residence. >> okay of the i don't know how far we should go back, but -- i'm a very detective-like person. i like to know details. and until i know the details around things, it's hard to figure things out. i would like to know why my sister and steven hayes weren't stopped at the bank. why she wasn't held at the bank. there were some police officers that, off the record, said to people in the town that they heard the girls screaming in the end. did they try to enter, did they not try to enter?

and why weren't there policemen looking in the windows? my sister had no blinds on her windows. i just want the facts. and nobody has told us what really happened. >> and today, a state prosecutor said he'll seek the death penalty for komisarjevsky and hayes. today the state charged the men with six counts each of capital felony murder. >> right from the first time that we met, steven hayes was suicidal, depressed. just doesn't really understand how this all happened. his record is lengthy. he's got all these burglaries. most involve car burglaries. in this state, burglary includes the break-in of a car.

and they were all daytime. he would sit and watch, people would park their cars, they would go walking on a trail, break into their car and take a laptop or a radio or a phone. so you were not dealing with someone who had the kind of classic history of violence and all of a sudden stepped into the big time in terms of the next level. you just didn't have it. there was no reason that anyone would ever look at that history and think, well, this guy is going to do something really bad one day. >> the first time that i found out about my dad, i was probably about 5 years old. he would, like, take me to the movies, and he really tried to be that father figure to me. but for whatever reason, he just couldn't stay out of trouble. and so when he went back to jail, like, he would write to me and i would write back. and that was our way of communicating. when i first found out about the

incident, i just came back from the police academy. and my mind was just like -- i told him to call me if something was wrong. i needed to talk to him. i needed to get answers from him. what made him get together with this one guy and do what they did, whose idea was it, was it just one or was it both or did it just happen? it's just like there's no easy answer. and i might not like the answer i get. but it's all just why. >> the details of 26-year-old joshua komisarjevsky's past are more in depth and some say even more disturbing. his rap sheet -- >> we were right in the kitchen here. and we got a call from my brother, ben. and he said, i think josh has been involved in this home invasion. and i said to him, i said, home invasion? this was a murder.

and josh was involved? you see the name spelled out, the komisarjevsky name. and you sit there, and you hold your head in your hands. and you can't believe it. and you want to cry. this young man is a monster. and that is not the way that we as members of this family behave. when we drove up to cheshire, my brother's house was just swarmed with media, knocking on the door, trying to get statements from them. i think it's hard for anybody to be able to deal with that kind of a situation. but probably more so for them, because they were individuals who basically had withdrawn from many aspects of public life. they ultimately posted a notice

on the outside of their door. but that was it. and from that time on, they have had nothing to say. >> it was so disappointing, because i knew i was the last person therapeutically that met with josh, and to really paint a picture of him in a different light. i saw someone who created some beautiful designs. these sketches. i mean, this kid was amazing. how am i going to go in there and tell them that this was a good kid and that i was really close to him? after what he did. >> joshua was a little skinny, frail kid. i saw him behind the bars. he had on his cream-colored jail uniform. he was slight. he was polite.

he's adopted. he went from regular school special ed to home school. this whole package didn't make sense to me. >> burglary, burglary, burglary, burglary and burglary. genius. and he is a genius, in some respects. with a photographic memory. and attention to detail that no normal mind could possibly retain. he told of every burglary he did. he knew every item he took, passports, what dumpsters he threw it in. joshua could get into a third floor, steal things, know which denominations of bills he took a year later, two years later. tell you where each wallet was, where the pants were, on the floor, bed post, closet. stay there for hours, not get caught. joshua used relatively sophisticated equipment for a

burglar. night vision goggles, latex gloves. after he would rob the house, he would stay there on occasion, and listen to the people breathing. and go from room to room, listening to the occupants breathing. for no apparent purpose. that was the frightening part of it. he robbed state troopers' houses, which takes some guts. and i said, judge, he needs to be watched. this kid is sick. you're never going to see him again or he's going to be the worst criminal to pass through these doors, because that's the kind of mind he's got. >> komisarjevsky was arrested for 18 home invasions. and the warning bells in there

should have been ringing very loudly. under a ten-year-old law, prosecutors are supposed to order a transcript evident of the sentencing proceeding and send that along to the parole board. i used to be a prosecutor. i helped write this law i'm talking about. because i knew that it's at the sentencing that you really find out everything you need to know about this offender and the crime. the problem is, none of this ever got to the department of corrections. none of this ever got to the parole board. so from the point of view of the department of corrections, they got first time ever incarcerated inmate, young, white, bright, home schooled, remorseful. never identified as a person with high mental health needs. because he didn't come across as that type of person. he was a real manipulator. the typical sentence for the burglary is a maximum of ten years in prison for each offense.

komisarjevsky could have been locked up for two lifetimes. it was possible. it didn't happen.

lieutenant, good morning, sir. >> good morning, dan. first of all, the cheshire police department and the response to the initial call was absolutely outstanding. they did a stellar job. the chief and all those

personnel and cheshire pt deserve a lot of praise and credit. >> people are asking about a time line. you know, when did this occur, when did that occur. we don't detail that information. that's not something that really the public really needs to be concerned about at this point in time, and has more of an impact on the case itself. you know, the type of injury, the scene that one may try to ebb envision in their mind, we're not going to detail that. we're not going to discuss how someone died. over and above, manner and cause. which we'll give manner and cause of death. but we're not going to get into great, graphic, detailed description. we're not going to talk about assaults, we're not going to talk about weapons.

>> it's starting to pan out, the state's claim is pretty strong. overwhelmingly strong. and that what's at stake at this case is life or death. you have the gasoline aspect of it. you know, the sexual assault. horrible crime scene photos. you have the right defendant. you have the right perpetrator. what do we do? isn't this the case that death is warranted? and i can't accept that. once you allow the death penalty to go forward, then the next case comes along, and it's okay for the next case, because that crime was horrifying. and what if that's a mistake, what's if that's an innocent guy? and this notion of that --

though if you execute somebody, you know, you'll save money. you know, that's the furthest thing from the truth. you know, we have pretty much a blank check. so i'm reminding everybody. listen, steven hayes is ready to plead guilty to all of these charges and take a sentence of life without the possibility of release. it will be over now. you know. there would be -- the case would be done, there wouldn't be any appeals. we would stop spending all this money. we would not have to trauma advertise everybody with the facts of this case.

>> as a united methodist minister, i am a minister of a church at large that is opposed to capital punishment. that has put me between a rock and a hard place. >> we certainly don't approve of torture of people. but we feel that there has to be some justice in how people are dealt with when they are so inhumane in their treatment of others. >> you know, it just makes me want to cry.

jennifer, hayley and michaela, they were kind and they were sweet. they looked out for other people. they cared about other people. and spent their time helping people. so for them to suffer, you know, horrific, horrific deaths seems incredibly injust. it would seem incredibly injust for anybody. but obviously, they're the three people i knew and loved the best in the world. and it just -- contra -- contra -- the opposition of the just absolute evil that attacked us versus the goodness they represented. it's just worlds apart. >> a benign visit to the grocery store to get milk, bread, toilet paper.

oh, and "people" magazine. because a family my brother killed is on the front cover. and my brother's picture is in it. he raped a woman. he choked her to death. he poured gasoline on two little girls. and he set them on fire. how does a person do that? mid november. he peed funny, so they threw him back and paroled him five months later. personally, they're stupid, because they don't get it. you don't care enough about the people in your society to put these type of people back out on the street. and i want to say that it's really tough for me to say, because one of those people is my brother. >> who is steve? he's manipulating, he's

deceptive. and that's my brother. >> monday, when i saw it on the news, all i heard was that there was the home invasion and what not. and it seemed like something steve would do. >> but he never -- >> smashing of the police cars and the breaking and entering and stuff like that. >> but the killing, the raping and the burning? >> that could have been josh. i don't know who was the mastermind. >> well, obviously, neither one of them, because they got caught. and they did something -- >> well, being a mastermind doesn't mean you don't get caught. honestly, you know, it is. it's -- it is the equivalent of the perfect storm. >> dear caroline, good evening, sweetheart. when i wake every morning, the sun is just starting to rise. its light dances across your picture, radiating your beautiful eyes and pretty smile. it's the best part of the day. a calming mix of hope, beauty

and tranquility. take care, caroline, smile. someone is thinking of you. strength and honor, sincerely, joshua. ps, miss you. we called joshua the hopeless romantic. that was the biggest side i loved about him. joshua and i did have a very sexually active relationship. and he did like to tie me up. and, of course, i was the submissive one. and sometimes i was the dominant one. but most of the time, i was submissive. joshua always asked me, is this too tight? are you okay? joshua always was concerned. joshua was definitely a soul mate, and that's what killed me the most.

[ male announcer ] meet mary. she loves to shop online with her debit card. and so does bill, an identity thief who stole mary's identity, took over her bank accounts, and stole her hard-earned money. unfortunately, millions of americans just like you learn all it may take is a little misplaced information to wreak havoc on your life. this is identity theft. and no one helps stop it better than lifelock. lifelock offers the most comprehensive identity theft protection available. if mary had lifelock's bank account alerts, she may have been notified before it was too late. lifelock's credit notification service is on the job 24/7. as soon as they detect a threat to your identity within their network, they will alert you, protecting you before the damage is done. lifelock has the most comprehensive identity theft protection available,

guarding your social security number, your money, your credit, even the equity in your home. my years as a prosecutor taught me that we all need to protect ourselves from crime. in today's world, that includes identity theft. it's a serious problem. we all have to protect ourselves. [ male announcer ] while identity theft can't be completely stopped, no one works harder to protect you than lifelock. you even get a $1 million service guarantee. that's security no one can beat. you have so much to protect and nothing to lose when you call lifelock right now and get 60 days of identity theft protection risk free. that's right. 60 days risk free. use promo code notme. order now and get this document shredder to keep sensitive documents out of the wrong hands. a $29 value free. don't wait until you become the next victim. ♪ ♪

to this addict, drugs are not my main problem, i am my main problem. what i like about getting high is to escape my feelings. i have self medicated so much, i don't know how to feel anymore. this is his own words. he's writing this. unresolved anger controls me. it haunts me, day and night. sometimes to the point of obsession. even scary fantasy. >> a day or two before the crime occurs, steven saw that his life was once again going downhill. and he says that he locks himself in a hotel room with crack cocaine and heroin and goes on this drug binge with a desire and hope he would kill himself.

he leaves the hotel room feeling like he's failed at this suicide attempt, leaving him, in his view, more desperate. he shows up at an aa meeting in hartford, and there's joshua. and joshua started talking to him about ways to make some real money. >> good morning, everyone. >> good morning, this. >> this is a continued hearing in a matter of complaint brought by the hartford currant against the town of cheshire. >> we applied through the town of cheshire for more material right after the crime took place. we finally got new information yesterday, a complete transcript with the time of the initial call from the bank official regarding mrs. petit being at the bank, saying she might be held hostage to the time the suspects were arrested outside the petit household. and our review of this document,

which is heavily edited, to protect potential witnesses of the town, has told us, raises the possibility that officers on alert could have maybe stopped this car with the suspect and mrs. petit as they were coming home from the bank. perhaps could have beat them back to the house, could have separated the two suspects at that time. and maybe things would have had a different outcome. and what's still out there, no one knows what the initial 911 call said, what the bank official said to police when she called. what were they told? was it clear? did they know they had a hostage crisis? >> there's always more information that is yearned for. either in a journalistic sense, a due diligence reporting sense. and sadly, in a salacious sense. so it is hard to say no, i don't have anything to tell you right now. over and over again.

>> upon arrival at the victim's residence, the first officer observed the private residence fully engulfed in flame. >> yeah, it worked out so officers arrived on-scene, just as the suspects were leaving the residence. >> i get really tired of the stories that say, oh, by the time the police showed up, the house was already in flames, and that's not true at all. >> when billy came out of the house, he was pretty sure he saw men in the woods hiding behind trees, and we think those were all the police officers. and he was calling out to a neighbor, while hopping across the yard, tied and badly beaten. >> that should have raised the police eyebrows to say, what are they doing in there? we need to get in there and find out.

that's why i wrote letters to the police. i felt like, and i expressed in my letter, that their goal was to catch the men, whoever were guilty. and above and beyond the saving of lives. and i felt that their priorities were very much askew. >> we have asked a lot of questions, written a lot of letters. but they have not sat with me and they have not sat with my parents to tell us what happened and what unfolded and why and how. i believe that truly they think they did something wrong. i have heard all kinds of things, that it was a small town, and they hadn't had the experience in the past. i think they were afraid. >> i just can't say enough good

things about how proud i am of the extraordinary effort of our police officers and our firefighters. they're extremely well-trained, they're a great group of professionals, and i think today exemplified the finest of what the police and fire were all about in this community. and i can't thank them enough, because without their great work, this could have been a far worse tragedy. we were very, very fortunate. >> i was just literally shocked when i heard him say that, and that there were no further casualties or something. and i thought, you know, how bad does it have to be? i mean, i thought it was awful. and he was commending them on what a great job they had done. and i was sorry. but i didn't feel they did a great job. i mean, if they had done a great job, nobody would have died.

>> as you look through this dispatch, you can't help but walk away thinking there was another tragedy within the tragedy that occurred to the petit family here. initial call comes into the police department, 911. and this is the call that was actually from the bank manager. >> i will watch and see what kind of car she gets in. i'm in the office with the lights off. my teller says she saw the driver, he had a black hood over -- a hoodie and a baseball cap on. >> i'm going to keep you on hold for a couple minutes, all right? >> okay. >> some police officers were actually at the scene within second or minutes of when steven hayes and jennifer petit get back to the house. they had the phone number of the

house early on. nobody made a call. nobody knocked on the door. 9:56, two suspects are moving into chrysler. 9:57. there is a fire also at the scene. initial call comes in at 9:21. this is over a half an hour later. they were actually at the scene for 30 minutes. the strangulation of jennifer petit occurred. the rape of jennifer petit occurred. the pouring of gasoline occurred throughout the house. and the actual setting on fire of the house. all of this is taking place while the police are watching

the house, setting up their perimeter. it's really outrageous. [ male announcer ] for diarrhea, you take kaopectate.

but for all these symptoms, you also take kaopectate. new kaopectate caplets -- soothing relief for all those symptoms. kaopectate. one and done.

state lawmakers are considering a bill to change the death penalty law in the hearing that dr. petit gave. >> they love the slogans such as don't kill in our name and the like and thus death penalty proponents value the their own life other than the victims. for me, if you are for the death penalty, this is the poster child no, question about it. if you are against the death penalty, this is the poster child for it, and h him and saddam hussein, right, hard to argue the case, but it is not a philosophical debate anymore. this is reality. and the ordeal you have to go through once it is a death penalty case is considerable.

it is a guaranteed multiple years' ordeal just in terms of the trial. after the conviction, scores of years of appeals and frustration, an all of this time the focus is on the murderers and they become mini celebrities. >> you have to go into gruesome detail about what happened, because the prosecutor must prove that the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors and the aggravating factors are cruel and heinous, and in other words, you have to prove that compared to other triple murders, this one is much worse. once this gets under way, people are not going the like what they see, and it is just starting to get under way now.

>> it'll probably be two years before they even start selecting of the jury. getting pretty old. i hope that i live long enough that i can attend the trial. i want to see justice done. >> a thief in the night, i have come to steal not jewels and money, but your personal safety, privacy and security. i violate your inner asylum of intimacy, and i piss on your

optical illusion of peace and innocence. i feast on your animosity. the petit family passed through their fear and into the calm waters of abject terror. to see that fear on another's face means that the pain in me is real. shock waves of myself's hopelessness reverberates through my rocked soul at the realization that i crossed life's bridge of life's bridge of dark, timeless, depravity.

my dna...s me. it helps make me who i am every piece is important... it's like a self-portrait this part.. makes my eyes blue... so that's why the sun makes me sneeze... i might have an increased risk of heart disease... arthritis gallstones hemochromatosis i'll look into that stuff we might pass onto to our kids... foods i might want to avoid... hundreds of things about my health... getting my 23andme results it really opened my eyes... the more you know about your dna the more you know about yourself... i do things a little differently now... eat better... ask more questions change what you can, manage what you can't i always wondered what my dna said about me... me... me. now i know. know more about your health. go to 23andme.com and order your dna kit for only $99 today. learn hundreds of things about your health at 23andme.com

roll the video. >> sure. >> one, two, three, four, five. >> there are two suspects but steven hayes goes on trial today. he is looking different than his mug shot. no handcuffs on him in front of the jury, and it is because the case has gotten so much publicity that picking an impartial jury could be difficult. >> inside of the courtroom today, what sort of state that

komisarjevsky seem to have? >> well, this morning the judge told him -- >> from the courthouse, i don't think that cheshire is a 15-minute drive. everybody knew this drive, timmy mcveigh and he knew this, and talking to the protech spif jurors, everybody knew the conclusion based on the publicity and the conclusion was clear that he was guilty. 75% also expressed the opinion that joshua should die. i never had a jury selection where people would jump out of the seats yelling, "i will kill him now."

>> it is about 11:00 this morning, 9:00 a.m. pacific time that one of steven's attorneys called and they wanted to check on him this morning, as he was unresponsive and steven is lying in a coma induced by a medical team. they are not sharing why. you know, the attorney said that he could very well die. we are expected to be back in court tomorrow. they can't proceed without him in the room. >> steven squirreled away nine or so doses of thorazine and klonopin, and you might question how this could happen. about a year before this, steven hayes had made a suicide attempt and one of the thing they found in his cell was a suicide note. i quote, i am sorry. all i want to do is die.

it is the only way to end the pain i go through everyday 24/7 and more important the pain that trial will bring to others. time to go to the last undiscovered country, although i am not the monster that josh is, i am one nevertheless. a coward, because i could not do what was right. looking back on my life, i was nothing but a self-centered asshole who cared only of himself. but the ironic facet to this is that i have always had the ability to change, but cowards don't change. they become me. >> the judge actually toured his cell yesterday. it is called a safe cell which will protect him from harming himself. he learned a lot. he wears something called ferguson clothing which is an inmate wears if they are in jeopardy of killing themselves, because they can't tear up the clothes and it