00:00:19
Jen and Bill were such awesome parents. They located to Cheshire and decided to raise their girls there and I think had
00:00:32
like a beautiful life there. My aunt was Jennifer Pettit and my cousins were Haley and Michaela.
00:00:44
I think my earliest memory is being at their house in Connecticut. Michaela was just like my very best
00:00:53
friend. Haley would make sure we were all like kept in line. It couldn't be more like siblings when
00:01:02
we were all together. On July 22nd, 2007, I was sitting here and my sister had given me a call. She was at the beach.
00:01:19
When I picked up the phone, I said, "So, how are you?" And she said, "I'm great.
00:01:25
There's not a cloud in the sky. It is the most beautiful blue sky. It is just
00:01:31
the most perfect day. There's your emergency. >> I'm the banking center manager at Bank
00:01:40
of America. We have a lady who is in our bank right now who says her husband and
00:01:46
children are being held at their house. Her name Jennifer Pettit. >> We clearly have a fire fatality. I know
00:01:58
that there's bodies inside, but how many deaths are we looking at? The activities at the home took the
00:02:05
police by surprise. >> None of those officers had ever encountered a scene like they
00:02:11
encountered inside that house. It was pretty clear right from the beginning that this was going to be a terrible
00:02:17
story. >> For this to occur to this family is the worst thing most people could ever
00:02:24
imagine. It was outrage that these guys could do something this horrendous to wipe out an
00:02:31
innocent family. >> They were wonderful human beings. And we lost a lot in losing these three women.
00:02:43
>> These women did everything that they were told to do. So it was hard. >> This was a all-American family living in
00:02:52
a beautiful suburban town. And then horror came to their house. >> I miss all of the future that we had,
00:02:59
like the the future memories, the future fun events. My mom should have gotten to
00:03:04
be with my aunt. And I feel so sad that she doesn't get to have that. >> I don't know how anyone can do this.
00:03:12
Like, you're not human to me if you do things like this. [Music] [Music] This one's when the girls came to visit
00:03:53
us and Jen and Uncle Billy and we had I believe it was an anniversary dinner party for our parents
00:04:05
and the four of you are standing on the stairwell here and then you're up in the bonus room on
00:04:14
this brightly colored floral couch we had. >> You probably picked out our outfits.
00:04:18
Would you like chat with her about like I'm going to dress her in this and you're going to dress her in that? Like
00:04:22
they coordinate well. Did you guys pre-plan things like that? >> I think we always just made sure we
00:04:28
thought you had cute clothes on. [Music] >> This is the one where they're out
00:04:38
catching fireflies and we're standing on the porch. My like first clear memory is like
00:04:45
playing with fireflies and catching them with all of them in my grandparents front yard in Pennsylvania and it was
00:04:52
really sweet. [Music] As a Methodist minister's family, you tend to move around a lot.
00:05:05
I feel like Jen and I were a lot closer because we always knew we'd be there for
00:05:10
each other. As an older sibling, she was constantly giving me advice and she had a lot of
00:05:18
finesse about how to dress, how to wear her hair, what looked pretty. I think Jen was very caring about other
00:05:26
people and their feelings. I feel like that's kind of what guided her into being interested in becoming a nurse.
00:05:36
She was working at children's hospital in Pittsburgh. And she said, "I'm going
00:05:42
to go out with this guy. He's in med school here. His name is Bill. He's
00:05:49
taking me to a place downtown called Tramps." And I was like, "Wait, I got to
00:05:55
get this." Like, you're going out with a guy named Bill and he's taking you to
00:05:59
like a nightclub named Tramps. I was like, "I don't know, Jen. this guy
00:06:05
just doesn't sound good to me. Like he just might be a loser. She went out with
00:06:10
him and she had a really good time. And it was just a success story after that. When they got pregnant with Haley, I
00:06:22
couldn't wait for it because I'd never had a child. When I first met Haley, I could see how
00:06:32
Jen and Bill just loved her so much. I just loved rocking her when she was a newborn. And I think I loved her like
00:06:43
she was my own. After Jennifer had Haley, two years later, I was pregnant with Evan. And
00:06:53
then 2 years after I had my daughter Lydia. 2 years later, Jen had Michaela. They
00:07:00
started to just call her KK or KK Rose Bud. >> Hi. Show me what you have there.
00:07:08
Can you show me in the morning before you go how you ride the zipline so nicely?
00:07:18
KK was super softspoken, but I think she went out of her way to look out for other people. She would be
00:07:24
the person that would look around and be like, "Oh, you're by yourself. I'm going
00:07:27
to make sure that you're included." She was just like my little best friend.
00:07:31
[Music] There wasn't anything Haley wasn't good at. She was like classic older child. I
00:07:39
never got to have an older sister and I never got to have a younger sister. And that's what it felt like when we were
00:07:43
all together. Hi. >> I had to get you on video before you go home. >> Lydia, did you have fun with your
00:07:52
cousins? >> You liked sleeping with that one? You girls had a big slumber party in here,
00:08:01
huh? >> Yep. [Music] The last time that I saw Haley, Michaela, and Auntie Jen, all of us went
00:08:18
to our boat in Carolina Beach. And we just spent every day like sun up to sun down at the beach. And it's the
00:08:26
same beach that my mom grew up going to with Auntie Jen. Haley would make sure we were all kept
00:08:32
in line and like everyone had sunscreen on and we were all ready to go and play.
00:08:36
And my brother would always want to go off and do some sporty thing. Her and Evan could just like hang. She could
00:08:43
like rough and tough with any of the boys. I'm sure she could kick his butt like up and down in every sport. So, it
00:08:48
was I feel like he had a best friend there, too. I was sitting here and my sister had
00:08:57
given me a call. She said, "It was so fun when Haley and Michaela and I all
00:09:02
came down and visited your boat. like we really want to come back and bring Billy.
00:09:08
>> I'd been texting back and forth with Michaela excited about it and calling
00:09:12
her about it. We kept kind of going between all of us and the more excited I could get Michaela, the more she would
00:09:18
then go to her mom and be like, "We're so excited. We're going to make sure
00:09:20
this happens." I remember hanging up and being like, "Okay, talk tomorrow. Love you." Like
00:09:26
just real fast. Like things weren't done. Like our conversations weren't
00:09:30
over. Um but that was it. Like Yeah. [Music] In 2007, Cheshire was the kind of town
00:09:49
where people would feel comfortable if they didn't lock their doors. >> Cheshire is one of those places that
00:09:56
felt like it was picture perfect. Like you just couldn't imagine that you weren't safe. Was there crime there?
00:10:04
Yes. But it was typically very low-level type things. I cannot recall in my 39 years of being
00:10:15
a prosecutor, you know, this something like this never happens there. It just doesn't.
00:10:30
[Music] There's your emergency. >> I'm the banking center manager at Bank
00:10:36
of America. We have a lady who is in our bank right now who says her husband and
00:10:42
children are being held at their house. Her name Jennifer Pettit. >> The 911 call was from the bank manager
00:10:52
and I think the police didn't really understand what it was. It took them 5 minutes to respond to the
00:10:58
bank. And in that time frame, Jennifer left the bank, got in the car, and they drove back to the house.
00:11:06
The police arrived uh shortly after receiving the call from the bank teller. They surrounded the house in different
00:11:14
locations. Approximately 5 to 10 minutes later, they observed some flames coming
00:11:21
from the house. I got a call from one of my co-workers and she said, "Just wanted you to know
00:11:28
we have a report of a house fire in Cheshire. It sounds pretty bad." By the time I got there, I knew very
00:11:36
clearly this was far more than just a house fire. At the time, I was a reporter at the
00:11:44
Harford Current and I got a phone call from a state police source that this was going to be a bad case. over the
00:11:51
scanner. You could hear that they were trying to get in because they knew there were people in there.
00:11:57
>> It was difficult for anybody to know where to turn first. >> We had people running down there, you
00:12:03
know, photographers and reporters running down to the scene. So, it was a pretty hectic situation.
00:12:17
[Music] I'm watching them desperately trying to get in the doors and they can't. That
00:12:24
tells me there is somebody still inside. They would not be so frantic to get in if they were not trying to save a life.
00:12:31
Then we start hearing smatterings of they've got people they're putting in
00:12:36
handcuffs. >> The police had arrested two people leaving the scene at a high rate of
00:12:42
speed. There was a roadblock. They tried to smash through the road block and didn't
00:12:48
succeed. And they were arrested at gunpoint while the fire was burning. >> As reporters, we're all just beginning
00:12:58
to get bits and pieces of information. Things changed very fast, not just for us, but for all of the first responders.
00:13:06
Neighbors are telling me they think at least some of the family members were still in the house. But then another
00:13:14
neighbor said to me that an ambulance was in the area of the back of the Pettit house and that Dr. Pettit came
00:13:22
out of the basement and they're not sure what that was all about. >> Mercy, are you please? Yes. I got Bill
00:13:31
Pett here who hurt my neighbor. The neighbor at first didn't recognize him. He was screaming for help. He had
00:13:38
multiple head injuries that were bleeding. His hands were bleeding. His wrists were bleeding. When they they got
00:13:44
him to the hospital, they determined he had lost almost seven pints of blood. From the information that we were given,
00:13:59
Dr. Pettit had fallen asleep in the sun room watching TV. In the middle of the night, he woke up,
00:14:06
found himself being struck by hard object in the head numerous times. Uh, he began bleeding profusely. It was in
00:14:17
his eyes. He couldn't see, but he could make out there were two people. He had
00:14:23
heard a voice saying, "If he moves, shoot him. Put a couple of bullets in him." He was led downstairs into the
00:14:31
basement. His hands and ankles were bound with plastic zip ties. He was tied up to a support uh pole.
00:14:41
During the 6 hours or so that they were in the house, police believe he was unconscious because of the beating.
00:14:52
[Music] I was only 13 when everything happened. My mom was trying to convince me to do
00:15:03
some kind of math worksheet or something and I remember trying to distract her by
00:15:08
being like, "Well, why don't we call into Jen?" And then our home phone rang
00:15:13
and it was my uncle's sister. I remember handing my mom the phone and before she picked up the phone, she
00:15:22
said, "Something happened to the girls." cuz I'm thinking in my mind like why
00:15:28
would you be calling me like you never call me? You would only call me if they can't. Something must be wrong. And I
00:15:35
said, "Are they dead?" And she said, "How did you know?" She said, "Well, there were these two
00:15:43
men and they like came into their home in the night. They like broke in somehow through the basement, tied the girls to
00:15:50
their beds, and they beat Billy really badly." And I was like, "You mean he's
00:15:57
still alive?" And she said, "Well, for now, I remember going out on my deck and just
00:16:06
thinking, "Oh my goodness, like I have to call my parents and I have to tell
00:16:11
them that not just their daughter whom they love dearly is dead, but their two grandchildren are
00:16:20
also gone." And I just screamed, this guttural scream. [Music] >> I sat next to her as she told my
00:16:30
grandparents what had happened to their daughter and their grandkids. [Music] That's tough.
00:16:45
[Music] I remember when we got to Connecticut, we were staying with my uncle's sister.
00:16:54
It just felt like this like terrible movie that we were in. I had fears of being in public.
00:17:03
I thought, if two men could do this, how do we know we're not in the company
00:17:08
of people that can do other horrible things to us? We went on to see Billy in the hospital
00:17:16
because it was really all we wanted to do was just to like see him. I remember going to the hospital and
00:17:26
seeing my uncle for the first time and just being like, I cannot believe that he's alive. Like touching and holding my
00:17:31
hand like I can't believe you look like that and you're responding and you're
00:17:35
alive. Like that was a miracle in itself. seeing him there laying in that bed and
00:17:41
hearing him saying, "I'm so sorry. Like, it's me and not her laying here. I know
00:17:47
you would rather wish it would be her and not me." And I was like, "No, Billy,
00:17:52
don't think like that. We wish it could have been all of you. But at least you're here."
00:18:02
>> It was clear that he was having a very, very difficult time dealing with what
00:18:07
happened. And that's understandable. I mean, he's lost everything. >> They said he'd lost so many pints of
00:18:17
blood that he really shouldn't have lived. >> The two people arrested were Steven
00:18:27
Hayes and Joshua Cerjeski. Both of them had extensive criminal records. Hayes had a raft of petty larsenies and
00:18:39
burglaries. The last one that had put him in prison was for breaking into a home through a window. Joshua Thomaseski
00:18:46
was 26 at the time. >> He was known to the Cheshire Police Department as someone who was a problem.
00:18:53
>> He prided himself on breaking into people's houses at night and literally
00:18:58
watching them sleep. >> It gave him a feeling of superiority over others. and he liked that feeling
00:19:06
of power. He had been sentenced to a significant sentence in jail. >> Thomas Ojeski and Hayes had been
00:19:16
released early from prison. So technically both of them still should have been in jail when this occurred.
00:19:22
>> Once released, they both met up at a halfway house and decided that they were
00:19:28
going to hang out together and commit crime. These guys had broken in and brutally
00:19:36
murdered this family. It could have been any house in any suburb in Connecticut where this happened and people were
00:19:44
freaked out. [Music] Commerce Ojeski and Steven Hayes did confess to certain aspects of the crime.
00:19:59
They both fully admitted, "Hey, look, I'm a burglar. I broke into the house.
00:20:04
We were planning to steal money." Both of their stories was, "Well, it was the
00:20:09
other guy who started the fire. He's the one who killed these people, and it was
00:20:13
never supposed to get that far. [Music] They broke into the house at 3:00 a.m., hit Dr. pet it with a bat, tied them up
00:20:26
in the basement, tied up all the girls in their bedrooms. The perpetrators found a bank statement,
00:20:34
and it was at that point they directed Mrs. Pettit that she was to go to the bank and withdraw the $15,000.
00:20:44
Jennifer Pettit went to the bank with Steven Hayes and she managed to pass a note to the teller saying, "My family is
00:20:52
being held hostage. Call the police." Steven told Mrs. Pettit that if she did
00:21:00
anything to alert a teller that they would kill her children and her husband. So even with that very credible threat
00:21:09
being laid, she still took the risk to try to save her family. >> I think she looked distraught. I know
00:21:16
she probably had the fear of what was happening to the girls back at the house on her mind. I don't know
00:21:26
if she knew what was going on with Billy because he was kind of absent and in the basement.
00:21:40
Dr. Pettit also provided us with some new information concerning the event >> right at the time when Jennifer and
00:21:49
Steven Hayes returned from the bank. >> Dr. Pettit heard like a thud as he described it. It sounded like a
00:21:59
body or something hitting the floor above him. Dr. Dr. Pettit really didn't know what
00:22:04
was going on upstairs. He didn't know. He also heard a voice saying, "Don't
00:22:11
worry, it'll be over in a few minutes." >> Jennifer was killed in the living room
00:22:18
right above where he was tied up. So that's part of what he heard. >> It was at that point when he realized he
00:22:27
needed to do something and he had to get out of there. As a medical doctor, he knew the extreme
00:22:35
amount of blood he had lost that his blood pressure was actually lowered as a result. He was trying to take steps such
00:22:42
as standing up just to raise his blood pressure enough that he had a hope of getting help for his wife and children.
00:22:50
>> He was able to break free and he ran out the back bulkhead that the two guys had
00:22:58
come in, which was still open. He could barely stand up or walk. He literally log rolled to a neighbor's
00:23:06
house. >> Back upstairs, they started spreading the gasoline around the living room, on
00:23:13
the stairs, into bedrooms, and then lit the fire as they were running out of the
00:23:19
house. >> They were running at the same time that Jennifer had just been murdered. And
00:23:27
Bill is out the back door. And it's all happening at once, but the girls were
00:23:33
still alive. [Music] >> To think that these young girls were restrained and having gasoline poured in
00:23:43
their bedrooms knowing that eventually someone's going to light a fire. I I I can't imagine what that was like.
00:23:52
[Music] [Music] So these are Wet and Wild. The four of you on laying on a towel.
00:24:14
>> That's so cute. And this one you all went to get cotton candy. So you're stuffing your mouths
00:24:26
with cotton candy. Look at her face. >> She's so happy. Michaela was a lot of fun. She always
00:24:37
like had this cute little smirky grin that I could relate to. What do we have in here? two sleeping
00:24:48
cousins. >> Haley was so strong, so smart, all of the like perfect first child things.
00:24:56
[Music] Haley was just like brilliant and was just like insane at athletics. >> She was definitely on a path to
00:25:06
something greater and to think that that was all cut short was just so sad. [Music]
00:25:19
I wanted to go to their home because I wanted to see that it was all real and it did all happen. The outside didn't
00:25:28
portray really what happened inside the home. >> Going into that house is not something
00:25:34
I'll ever forget. Upon going into the front door, you were confronted with just a black charred mess
00:25:46
and the smell of smoke and burnt material. It's all you could smell. The most disturbing of all though was
00:25:55
going up those stairs because we knew when we went in there that two young girls had died on that
00:26:02
second floor. And that was very hard to uh to deal with. It was quite evident that there had been
00:26:12
accelerants poured. You could see the pore patterns on the floor. >> The police literally tracked the
00:26:18
gasoline that was left up the stairwell into the rooms of the two girls. This leaves a very different mark than if
00:26:27
there was just a regular fire occurring. So they could actually see the exact pathway the fire took.
00:26:40
There were ties still attached to the beds. >> Haley was able to untie herself and like
00:26:49
she got out of her like restraints and instead of going to leave, she went to go try to untie Michaela.
00:26:56
It was clear that she was running to her sister's room when she was overcome by
00:27:01
the fire and the smoke and her body was found at the top of the stairs, not too far from the entrance to Michaela's
00:27:08
room. Michaela never was able to get free. >> I'm sure Haley was trying to figure out
00:27:14
a way to get Michaela out of her bindings and she would never have left that home without her little sister.
00:27:25
Haley was just 17 years old and Michaela was only 11. These two offenders had no intention of
00:27:32
leaving these victims alive. Going into the house, as difficult as it was, it was a necessary thing.
00:27:42
The two people arrested had given versions of what happened and it was necessary to go into the house to see
00:27:49
whether or not the evidence that was found in the house matched up with what they were telling police.
00:27:56
>> Police wanted there to be no ambiguity on this. They wanted as much physical
00:28:01
and forensic evidence to make sure they were both found guilty in court. There are a number of feelings that go
00:28:08
through your head when you go to a crime scene such as this. Anger, frustration that it couldn't have been
00:28:17
stopped, and sadness of the tragedy that the community had lost three vibrant young women.
00:28:28
Uh yeah, I had a family [Music] Yeah, it was hard. When you have a young daughter who's the
00:28:46
same age as the younger victim here, it kind of hits home. [Music] When the memorial service happened, Bill
00:29:04
had been in the hospital still and so we didn't know if doctors were going to
00:29:09
release him to even come. I remember seeing Billy before he came to the church. We observed a doctor
00:29:19
removing the stitches from his head. I just remember thinking, he's so black and blue.
00:29:28
watching my uncle leave the hospital and sitting behind him and like still seeing
00:29:33
all like the stitches and like the open wounds in his head and like it's unreal
00:29:37
to picture that he was like, "Okay, like I have to be there for my family now."
00:29:42
>> I remember when I saw Billy get up to speak just thinking, "Oh my gosh, like
00:29:48
he's really getting up. He's going to do this." I couldn't believe it.
00:29:53
>> There was a collective gasp in the room. He talks about Michaela as like the kid
00:30:01
that would go out of her way to like take care of the FLKs and he like explained it as like funny looking kid.
00:30:07
KK was just showing those like little things that she was going to be a great human.
00:30:14
He was immensely proud of his daughters and I think he relished every moment with them.
00:30:22
I remembered him talking about Haley and just like how strong and athletic she was and how close she was to her dad was
00:30:28
really special. I wanted someone to love me the way that he like loved my aunt. He was talking about her like she was
00:30:37
glowing. It was very clear that his family was the center of his world, that Jennifer
00:30:45
was his best friend. His general message was when you leave here, remember who they were and let that guide you to do
00:30:57
things in their memory that exhibits their kindness and their compassion and their excitement for life. You know, it
00:31:05
was a message of this was a horrible thing, but this cannot be how we remember them. We have
00:31:13
to remember who they really were. If we can keep doing the good that they would have, then that's the best that we
00:31:19
can do. [Music] Because this was a death penalty case, it took several years for them to
00:31:37
actually go to trial. The trials were held in New Haven's Puria Court. Each of them were blaming the other for
00:31:45
basically escalating the event which led to the murders and so they had to be tried separately.
00:31:53
>> Hayes went to trial on September 13th, 2010. >> Steven Hayes was tried on 17 counts.
00:32:03
Those involved assault charges, kidnapping, home invasion, and felony murder. as well as arson
00:32:12
murder. >> Commiy went on trial about a year later in September of 2011. Joshua Commer Jesi was tried for the
00:32:23
same crimes as Steven Hayes. [Music] It was clear that the case really started the night before when Joshua
00:32:37
Okamajeski happened to go to the stop shop at the same time as Michaela and Jennifer to get supplies to make some
00:32:45
pasta dinner. >> Kasujeski saw Michaela in the grocery store and immediately took a liking to her.
00:32:55
>> He had a weird infatuation with young girls. He followed him home and watched
00:33:02
the house for a bit and then called Hayes and told him to come down to Cheshure that they were going to make a
00:33:08
big score. He sexually assaulted Michaela after hours of having her be tied up. This, I
00:33:17
think, was the primary goal. The robbery was actually just a an additional thing
00:33:23
that they were able to get out of this horrific crime. The sexual assault on Michaela took
00:33:31
place while he had sent Hayes and Mrs. Pettit to the bank. When Steven Hayes got back from the bank with Mrs. Pettit,
00:33:41
Thomas kept pressuring him. I assaulted the girl. Now you have to assault the mother. Steven Hayes did uh strangle her
00:33:51
to death after sexually assaulting her. They were intent on getting rid of whatever evidence could connect them to
00:33:59
those sexual assaults and that was a big reason for the fire to cover up their culpability.
00:34:08
There was accelerant on both of the defendants on their footwear on their pants and so forth.
00:34:17
As far as we were concerned, they were both entered up to their eyeballs. I think some people never heard autopsy
00:34:31
results before, especially involving a crime. It's always hard. >> Haley and Michaela Pettit both had died
00:34:42
from smoke inhilation. They had also suffered burns from the fire having direct contact with the flames.
00:34:52
>> I think one thing that did seemed to really strike people was that Haley had
00:34:58
managed to get free and make it to the top of the stairs before she collapsed. She'd fought so hard to save Michaela
00:35:08
and just didn't quite make it. There was extensive accelerants that were poured on that stairway.
00:35:19
That clearly showed the intention of the perpetrators was to make sure that no one was going to be able to escape down
00:35:26
the stairway. Jennifer's body had been extensively burned, which appears to be an effort to
00:35:35
destroy evidence of a sexual assault. Despite the fact that it was said numerous times by these defendants that
00:35:43
there was no intent to do that, they did it. It's kind of a an explanation that
00:35:49
doesn't really make much sense. There were 12 jurors in total. They all had to agree unanimously that the
00:36:07
defendant was guilty. They found Steven Hayes guilty of 16 charges. He was found not guilty of the
00:36:15
arson. >> And that's because the jury was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that
00:36:20
he's the one that set the match that lit the fire that started the arson. >> But they felt that the death penalty was
00:36:28
the appropriate penalty. >> Joshua was convicted on all 17 counts and sentenced to death.
00:36:37
I was satisfied with the verdicts. I thought justice was done. >> Not long after Joshua was convicted,
00:36:47
Connecticut did decide to eliminate the death penalty. And so their cases were commuted into a sentence of life in
00:36:55
prison without the possibility of parole, which means they will die in jail. >> Three young women are gone and it's a
00:37:04
loss. It's a big loss to the community. It was a big loss to the family. It's
00:37:09
just unfortunate that they never had the opportunity to do the good things that they were destined to do. Uh, and that's
00:37:18
tragic. [Music] When we finally did get the 911 records and the dispatch, it showed that police
00:37:30
were outside the house for roughly 26 minutes. how that could have changed the trajectory of this horrific case. I'm
00:37:39
sure that just weighs on the rest of the family members. Did it have to happen like this?
00:37:46
There were no blinds and no curtains on my sister's windows. How could they not
00:37:50
have seen what was going on there? You could have just looked in and seen that my sister was like already laying there.
00:37:56
But at least you could have saved the girls. they were outside their house and they
00:38:02
should have done something. I can't like harp on that because it destroys me, but
00:38:06
that stuff matters. When people are taken hostage and there's a intruder in a home, the police
00:38:14
are always concerned. Is this person armed? Will they just shoot and kill the hostages immediately?
00:38:22
A lot of illogical thinking happens and that's what police are afraid of and
00:38:26
they take extra precautions to make sure that they're protecting the lives of
00:38:30
these victims so these terrible outcomes don't occur. However, there are rules that allow police to
00:38:38
deviate from that because they think there is imminent danger or time is of the essence. There's a crime ongoing and
00:38:45
if they don't do it immediately then in fact lives or evidence could be lost.
00:38:51
But in this small town where they hardly ever experienced this, they probably weren't that well verssed in these types
00:38:57
of rules. >> The fire was lit right before the defendants fled the scene. So certainly
00:39:06
had the police gone in there before the fire was lit, good chance the girls would have been saved.
00:39:12
But it's very difficult when you're presented with a situation and you simply don't have all the facts to make
00:39:19
a decision that could end up costing people's lives. The police afterwards felt terrible.
00:39:27
They might have been saved. The pettit women and unfortunately it didn't turn
00:39:32
out that way. [Music] Billy, my brother-in-law, was like, "What would you do with that property if
00:39:43
you were me?" I'm like, "That house just needs to be taken down. Nobody wants to
00:39:47
try to refurbish a house where that awful thing happened." >> He turned it into a memorial garden for
00:39:55
them and people in the community helped tend it and it is beautiful. After the verdicts, I felt we should go.
00:40:09
Yeah. And uh it was kind of like to get some closure for myself. It's uh a peaceful place. I think it's a
00:40:24
place that people go to remember the family that lived there [Music] to remember the pet the Pettit girls and
00:40:34
Mrs. Pettit and uh kind of reflect on their lives. They were extraordinary people and so uh
00:40:47
they'll always be in my thoughts. Cheshure carries this. It was a tremendously traumatic event. They'd
00:40:58
never had anything like this and haven't had anything like it since then. [Music]
00:41:08
I still do feel like I'm lucky that I have such special people to grieve. And
00:41:12
I think that all comes from like watching my mom handle it because she lost everybody. Like it felt like she
00:41:18
was like left behind kind of. and she met it with grace. >> At my daughter's wedding, she was given
00:41:26
very small charm that I keep on the mirror in my car and it had like a picture of the three girls in the middle
00:41:36
of it. It was wrapped with a ribbon at the bottom of my daughter's bouquet. So,
00:41:42
we felt like walking down the aisle, the girls were right there with her. [Music]
00:41:53
Who's getting ready to go home? >> We can have a great time. >> Hey, what'd you get? Back seat book.
00:42:03
[Music] >> Go Santi Chen back for Connecticut. Bye. >> Bye. Bye-bye.
00:42:24
>> This past summer, we finally like buried my aunt's ashes. Like, it took this long
00:42:29
because my grandparents wish was like them to all be buried together. And I like got to hold my husband's hand
00:42:36
through all of that and be like, he got to see, I guess, that side of everything.
00:42:42
And that was my like full circle moment where like I got to show Sullivan where I grew up and made all these memories
00:42:48
with my cousins and we got to catch the fireflies and like do all of the things.
00:42:54
The positive things that I think of when I see my daughter with her son are things like what a great mother my
00:43:02
sister was to her daughters and what a good family they had and how they worked very hard at trying to educate their
00:43:12
daughters to make them be the best people they could be. >> It's been so long since I've gotten to
00:43:19
like have them and be around them and like listen to them laugh. I love I always get called like a mini
00:43:26
Jennifer. I thought she was like this perfect beautiful human. I just wanted to be
00:43:32
her. Like I love that we match and look similar, but like I would have loved the comparison now.
00:43:39
Like I would have loved to get to stand next to her and take those pictures. Yeah.
00:43:45
[Music] [Music]