Police: Man charged in 2007 Conn. home invasion says planned home robbery ‘got out of control’

Conn. home invasion break-in ‘got out of control’

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — One of the men charged in the 2007 home invasion killings of a Connecticut woman and her two daughters told authorities he had sex with the mother after his co-defendant told him he had to — to “square things up” — because the other man already had sexually assaulted one of the girls.

Detective Anthony Buglione testified Wednesday that Steven Hayes, one of two suspects charged with murder, sexual assault and other crimes in the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters on July 23, 2007, told authorities the original plan was break into a home, tie the people up, steal their money and flee, but things got out of hand.

Buglione testified that he interviewed Hayes the day of the crime and that an emotionless Hayes, who smelled of gasoline, told him in detail what happened at the Cheshire home.

Dr. William Petit, the sole survivor, hung his head during the testimony in New Haven Superior Court.

The detective said Hayes and his co-defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, who had met 18 months prior at a halfway house where they had attended alcohol and drug abuse meetings together, hatched a plan to rob a home. The men ended up in a a neighborhood in Cheshire, and the house they picked had a light on the rear porch, he said.

Police say Hayes told them they saw a man sleeping on a couch on the porch, and Komisarjevsky hit him four or five with a baseball bat they found at the home.

“He said the man started screaming and there was a lot of blood,” Buglione testified.

They told him to be quiet and they were only there for the money.

But when they didn’t find as much money as they had hoped, they went upstairs for more, where they found an older woman and two girls. They tied them up and put pillow cases over their heads.

It’s at that point the plan changed, Hayes allegedly told police.

They found a bank book with $20,000 to $30,000 in the account, and decided to take the mother to the bank and have her withdraw some of it. Hayes also went to a gas station to fill some gas containers they found at the house.

Hayes said while he took the mother to the bank, Komisarjevsky was supposed to put the family members in a car and then they would burn the house to destroy any evidence.

Hayes told police that when he got back, Komisarjevsky inferred he had sex with the younger girl and told Hayes to have sex with the mother to “square things up.”

Hayes told police he raped the mother.

Hayes said Komisarjevsky came into the room and told him Dr. Petit had escaped and the police were coming. “Things got out of control,” Hayes allegedly told the detective.

Hayes said he smelled gasoline and the men grabbed some jewelry and the money and were apprehended as they fled.

Sgt. Karen Gabianelli testified earlier Wednesday that some of the victims’ belongings were found with the suspects.

Hayes’ trial resumed Wednesday after being delayed early this week because the judge was hospitalized.