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The Cheshire Murders /// Part 2 /// 155

November 29, 2022 / 50:37

This episode covers the tragic home invasion and murders of the Pettit family in Cheshire, Connecticut, in 2007. Hosts Nick and the Captain discuss the details of the crime, the perpetrators Stephen Hayes and Joshua Karma sajevski, their capture, trials, and the aftermath for the sole survivor, Dr. William Pettit.

The episode begins with a description of the brutal attack on Dr. William Pettit and his family, where his wife Jennifer and daughters Haley and Michaela were murdered. The hosts recount how the two men broke into the Pettit home, the violence inflicted upon Dr. Pettit, and the subsequent terrorization of his family.

Nick and the Captain detail the backgrounds of the assailants, including their criminal histories and motivations for targeting the Pettit family. They discuss the events leading up to the crime, including how the assailants followed Jennifer and Michaela from a grocery store.

The hosts analyze the trials of both Hayes and Karma sajevski, highlighting the shocking testimonies and the emotional toll on the Pettit family. They reflect on the public outcry and the complexities surrounding the death penalty debate that arose from this case.

Finally, the episode touches on the legacy of the Pettit family, including the establishment of scholarship funds and memorials, and the ongoing impact of this tragedy on the community and Dr. Pettit himself.

TLDR

The episode details the horrific 2007 Pettit family murders in Connecticut and the trials of their attackers.

Episode

50:37
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[Music] [Applause] thank you welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
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Parts Unknown right Captain that's enough of the business everybody gather round grab a chair grab a beer let's
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talk some true crime now [Music] in the early morning hours of July 23 2007 two men broke into the home of Dr
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William Pettit Pettit had lived at the home on sorghum Mill Drive and the quiet safe town of Cheshire Connecticut for 20
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years at home with Dr Pettit that night was his wife and two daughters the two men found Dr Pettit asleep on a couch in
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the sun room they beat him with a baseball bat from there the two men went on to ransack the house and terrorize
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the girls this is the nightmarish story of a home invasion and murder Dr pettit's wife Jennifer and two daughters
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17 year old Haley an 11 year old Michaela were killed by these two men a few days later at the memorial
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services for the three victims Jennifer Pettit and her daughters Haley and Michaela over 4 000 people were present
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people came in from several states away all three were buried in white caskets per Bill's request
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and somehow Bill still nowhere near having recovered from the physical attack he had been subjected to somehow
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bill he had the strength to speak at that service now let's go back to Monday July 23rd
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because right after the vehicle stolen by these two men Jennifer's van had crashed into two police cars the
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police thankfully arrested those men right so now we have these two guys in custody
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the police arrested Joshua Karma sajevski he's he's younger than his partner in crime Stephen Hayes by about
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20 years the two of them they shared the same set of issues both of these guys are career criminals they're in and out
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of trouble for most of their adult lives they both have problems with alcohol and
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drugs now both these guys up to this point were guilty of having committed pretty much just Petty crimes you know
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uh breaking into cars stealing cars that was Stephen Hayes's thing within hours of the arrest Stephen Hayes was ready to
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confess and tell the police just what went down the how and the why now according to Stephen Hayes the two
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men he and Joshua had met at a halfway house and became they became friends of sorts
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Hayes would typically commit crimes to feed his alcohol and drug problems but he was looking to quote unquote step up
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his game he wanted to start breaking into homes because he was under the impression that you will find more money
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and more valuables especially if you go and pick out a nice home and watch it for a while
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anyway Joshua is a pro at breaking into homes as a matter of fact that is like his specialty he's been arrested many
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times for breaking into homes yeah and I think when he was arrested one time he claimed that he broke into 18 different
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homes uh so Joshua starts showing his new friend Stephen Hayes how to pick out a
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good house how to break in what to look for all that sort of stuff right in fact
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just the day before they broke into the pet it's home the two had broken into several homes
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Stephen Hayes was learning new Criminal skills and Joshua was now Joshua now with the help of a partner was scheming
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other ways to increase the score plus it's widely believed that he wanted to start committing other types of crimes
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rather than just bne and burglary one of the questions becomes why did they pick
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the Pettit family well we have a situation Captain where late in the afternoon on Sunday July
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22nd 48 year old Jennifer Hawk Pettit she's with her 11 year old daughter Michaela
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they went to that Stop and Shop grocery store in Cheshire now during their trip to the grocery
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store somehow they attracted the attention of Joshua karmasavjevsky who followed them home he was there waiting
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for somebody he said something like um a contractor was supposed to pay him some money or something like that but
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anyway he he sees the woman and her child at the store it seems like he may have had some
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some attraction to the child he definitely did yeah and he decides to follow them to their home where he
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notices that they live in a nice neighborhood and a big house and I think he says quote it looked like a nice
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place to be someday yeah Stephen Hayes would tell us that Joshua told him that he had liked the way the 11 year old
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girl looked Stephen Hayes messages Joshua he sends him a text message saying hey I'm chomping at the bit to
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get started need a margarita soon to which he gets no reply from Joshua Stephen Hayes then texts later saying we
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still on question mark Joshua replies yes Stephen Hayes wants to know if it will
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be soon and Joshua answers I'm putting the kid to bed hold your horses Stephen Hayes then wrote dude the horses
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want to get loose LOL at some point the two men get together that evening and they decide to go out to a bar and
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they're having several drinks I'm guessing what they're doing is they're planning their attack because Joshua is
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telling him about this home that he has become aware of that he followed these two people home from the Stop and Shop
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grocery store and he liked their house it was a big house there's probably lots of valuables in there according to Hayes
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confession the two men had planned to rob the pet at home under cover of Darkness leaving the family bound but
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unharmed the men got into the home through the Cellar Door remember the Cellar Door that leads down into their
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basement from their backyard the the the lock on this door was broken it actually had been broken for quite
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some time yeah but this is also a neighborhood at that time a lot of people didn't lock all their doors and
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the seller basement stairs uh once inside would lead up to the Pettit family's kitchen this door too had a
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lock on it so you could lock it from the kitchen side um however this lock was not locked that
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night and it wasn't common practice for anyone in the Pettit family to lock this
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door well after creeping in through the Cellar Door through the basement up the stairs uh they eventually found William
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Pettit sleeping on a couch some people call this the porch it's more of a sun room
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now bill says he never heard the men approaching him um he actually didn't wake up until Josh
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struck him in the head with the baseball bat Josh had found the baseball bat there are several accounts of this most
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of them saying that it was lying in the yard somewhere in the backyard there is an account or two that said they may
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have found it in the basement then tying Bill up at gunpoint and later moving him
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to the basement the children and their mother were bound and locked in their respective rooms Stephen Hayes said that
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he and Karma sajevski were not satisfied with the amount of money or valuables that they found in the home and that was
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when the bank book was discovered which showed that big available balance that we discussed
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Stephen Hayes went and he purchased the gas um the gasoline in those two jugs he
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actually is about seven o'clock he actually got lost on his way back to the home
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um driving around more than necessary he was communicating with Joshua either by
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way of text or phone calls or both to try to find his way back to the pet at home
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which of course we know he ultimately did he unloaded the gas and then he drove Mrs Pettit to the Bank of America
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he mostly drove around you had said yesterday that she was in there longer than he had expected and I think this
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probably made him nervous knowing that there would be some type of cameras or possible surveillance outside of the
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bank so he was driving around maybe to hide his identity a little bit better but during this time Joshua is still
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back at the house he severely escalated the nature of the crimes that would be committed
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Stephen Hayes says that when he returned with Mrs Pettit in the money back to the
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house that Joshua had told him that he had sexually assaulted the 11 year old girl that was locked in her room
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upstairs he said that Joshua provoked him provoked Stephen Hayes into raping Mrs
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Pettit while Hayes was raping her on the floor of the living room Joshua entered
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the room at some point and announced that bill Pettit had escaped the house yeah but let's be clear about this
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because you know when they're first arrested you know Josh is coming out right away saying my name is you know
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Josh there's these you know here's the people that are in the house when Stephen is arrested he doesn't give them
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the name he doesn't basically cooperate at all within hours they're both kind of
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turning on each other this is just shows you what kind of horrible pieces of [ __ ]
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these people are when they say oh well he provoked me to rape the mother yeah you could have just said no you got
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gasoline because you were worried about fingerprints and DNA so you knew you're going to torch this house yeah they go
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back and forth with their stories and they're constantly like you know it seems like most the time they're telling
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the truth and then there's these little tiny gray areas where they start putting
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the blame on the other individual and I think this is one of them oh he provoked
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me yeah I mean we have this situation where there Stephen is saying that the the plan was to just get rid of the
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fingerprints that we just need to hide evidence that we probably left unknowingly left within the home and if
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we could get this gasoline we could ransack the house we could get the money from the bank and then we could tie this
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family up move them elsewhere and torch the house with the gasoline right and he
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but what he's saying is because Josh escalated it by um raping the the daughter that that that's the reason why
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they had to kill him you knew that they saw your face anyways I think there was a possibility that
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they knew that they were going to get rid of this family you know all along and Stephen says once
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he's told by Joshua that bill Pettit had escaped the home from the basement um that he strangled Jennifer and then
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doused her lifeless body and then other parts of the house with that gasoline including the daughter's rooms while
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they're still tied to their beds both both of the daughters have been doused with gasoline each with her head with
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their head still covered with these pillowcases fire was started and Stephen Hayes and Joshua Karma sejevski fled the
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scene Haley and Michaela both died from smoke inhalation um they were burned to death and the
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oldest one there were signs that she actually got up so she was alive while she's being set on fire and as we said
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the two suspects fleeing the home there immediately spotted by police pursued and arrested just one block away from
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the from the home the whole home invasion lasted roughly seven hours uh both men smelled strongly
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of gasoline uh during the the interrogation process detectives noted this each of the two lowlifes as you had
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said blamed or implicated the other as The Mastermind and or driving force behind the sexual
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assaults and The Killing Spree there were even attempts at times to blame the husband and father Bill Pettit as some
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type of accomplice yeah and that was kind of the rumor in town when you have a whole family that is murdered the way
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they are and and the husband gets free I think a lot of people assumed that maybe
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he had something to do with it on September 13 2010 this is how long it takes Captain to get to the first trial
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in this situation oh but there's some stuff to talk about before the first trial I mean both individuals both of
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these um low life pieces of [ __ ] they say hey look we will tell you everything we'll
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plead guilty you know just give us life in prison with no possibility to parole that was their first thing that they did
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and for whatever reason the state decided that that wasn't enough yeah and it's it's unfortunate because there are
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there's a lot of media regarding how this came about there's a lot of people saying that Dr Pettit that bill Pettit
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was the driving force saying we have to we have to sentence these guys to death well because there was a bill going to
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be passed and they're going to get rid of the death penalty they basically State because of this case and because
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of the horrific nature of this case that we're gonna I think the governor vetoed
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it and they said okay well now that Bill is vetoed for right now and now we're going to go to trial Bill Pettit would
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say that you know he never argued never never fought the uh prosecutors on this but it was the prosecutors that had
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given the recommendation to him that we go after the death penalty and we don't need to get into a whole death penalty
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debate or anything like that but uh well that's what this case becomes the aftermath of it and the fact of the
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matter is I mean I think okay I'm just going to say this because is kind of what I believe I mean none of
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these details none of this stuff has to come out in public and you don't have to
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spend money on this stuff these guys are going to plead guilty because it's been
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the rest of their lives in jail they're not going to go to regular jail they're going to go to solitary confinement it's
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basically like being buried alive and these guys are going to have to live with their actions for the rest of their
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lives also in the meantime before the trial happened I believe both of them try to take their own lives
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yeah these guys want to die you know and so you're going to go after the death penalty that's kind of what
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they want so why would you give these animals what they want lock them lock them in a cage have them deal with their
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actions and what they did and they'll have to think about that every day the other
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problem that I have with this case is that once you go to trial now all these details have to be relived and some of
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these details weren't known because the cops and the media the cops weren't sharing this with the media because they
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didn't have to they have confessions and so to me uh you know it's like you can you can protect them after their
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death by not having to relive this or not have to put this information on to the public yeah but I there's clearly no
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right answer here um you know you can make a strong argument for either situation that they
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should be um they should just let them confess and give them life in prison or have the
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state kill them you can make a strong argument for either one I think in this situation
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whatever the sole survivor of the home invasion wants to go after and if the person that doesn't make it right just
00:19:05
because he was the sole survivor it doesn't make it wrong though either um I think there is a right and wrong
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answer here okay I mean I think one I don't know if we should get into this right now but the state spent over seven
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million dollars trying to prosecute these guys and then uh Steven has now asked to be sent to death and they're
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still appealing it he's like hey go ahead kill me I want to die I don't want to live with what I did and and the
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state's still going no we're still going to have appeals we're going to still spend more and more money on this
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I I don't know how that makes any sense okay well I don't I don't want to put a dollar amount on on Seeking Justice for
00:19:48
for victims of horrible crimes that's no that's how's that seeking any justice I
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mean the big question here becomes when did the cops know about this and what could the cops done to possibly prevent
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this I mean there were they weren't dousing the house with gasoline until they got
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back and within probably 30 seconds of them returning back home police were on the scene
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you know so they have the house surrounded that becomes the big question I think that's uh a moo argument to say
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well we're gonna I'm putting a price on Justice you know what is Justice that's what these killers wanted they wanted to
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die so isn't that given them what they wanted and is that Justice I would rather give Bill what he wants I
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don't care what these two guys want anyway at the first trial wait September but what you're saying doesn't make any
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sense because what Bill wants and what the killers want are the same thing it does make sense how does it not make
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sense I'm saying that the the guy that had to live through this nightmare that every day has to wake up without his
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wife and his two children if he wants these guys killed I'm fine with it that's what I'm saying I'm fine with it
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right and it doesn't matter what Stephen Hayes or Joshua Karma sajevski guys who
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have lied and manipulated people their entire lives say that they want I don't care I don't care what they right but
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this is not about them right it's not about them at all but once you go to trial once you go seeking the death
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penalty then guess what it becomes about it becomes about them because now we have to argue why did
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they do this what made them this way and so the whole trial becomes about the horrific stuff that they did to your
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family and it then it becomes about these two individuals and if you if you would have just taken
00:21:48
the plea deal and you just would have locked them up for the rest of their lives we wouldn't be talking about this
00:21:53
now we wouldn't I I don't think so I mean this is a home invasion with three murders this is one
00:21:59
of the most publicized uh home invasion murder cases in in in the state of Connecticut yeah one of the main reasons
00:22:07
it's so publicized is because they went to trial and sought the death penalty okay let's get to the first trial
00:22:12
because we could debate this all night we have the first trial it takes till September of 13th of 2010 to take place
00:22:19
now unfortunately Bill had to sit just about 10 feet from one of the men who had killed his family at the very start
00:22:28
of the trial the defense for Stephen Hayes simply stated that everything the state says Hayes did he is guilty of he
00:22:35
broke into the pet at home watched his partner beat Mr Pettit with a baseball bat he tied up the girls purchased the
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gasoline drove Mrs Pettit to the bank to get the money returned her to the home raped Jennifer Pettit and strangled her
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he Then followed Josh as the two perpetrators fled the home knowing it was in flames and that three persons
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were tied up and still alive at least two possibly three people tied up and still alive in the home so this trial
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was not going to be to decide if Stephen Hayes was guilty now this trial would simply decide how Stephen Hayes is going
00:23:12
to be punished would he get sentenced to life in prison or would he get the death
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sentence attorney Thomas Allman told the jury this is um Hayes attorney told the jury
00:23:24
that a sentence of life in prison would be the harshest possible punishment for his client because he was so tormented
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by his crimes and would be isolated in prison stating life in prison without the possibility of release is the
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harshest penalty it is a fate worse than death if you want to end his misery put
00:23:45
him to death if you want him to suffer and carry that burden forever the guilt and humiliation
00:23:51
sentence him to life without the possibility of release yeah and one of the things like I said before he tried
00:23:59
to kill himself and one of the reasons was he kept on having these reoccurring nightmares that you know Stephen had a
00:24:05
daughter and his and his nightmare his daughter was burning alive and he would have this dream over and over yeah there
00:24:14
were several complications uh with his trial one like you said the suicide attempt I guess he was
00:24:21
um he was pilfering away these the the drugs maybe some of this I think that was his second attempt yeah he was
00:24:28
pilfering away these these pills for quite some time saving them up so he could take a whole bunch of them at once
00:24:34
and attempt to kill himself and then he also had some health issues throughout the course of the trial that may have
00:24:40
slowed it down a bit it came out in Stephen's trial that according to the men medical examiner an unspeakable act
00:24:48
had been committed on 11 year old Michaela Joshua Carmen sajevski had sodomized the little girl this was new
00:24:57
information that further shocked the public and the poor family had to hear this information in person at the trial
00:25:03
of Stephen Hayes Joshua had admitted to assaulting the girl orally but not this the jury also learned that the police
00:25:12
had found pornographic pictures on Joshua's cell phone that were presumably taking taken by Joshua during the time
00:25:19
that he was assaulting the little girl the picture showed Michaela naked and tied to her bed in the uh showed
00:25:27
Joshua's genitalia as well in the uh the pictures yeah and this happened when Stephen left to get the gas around seven
00:25:35
o'clock there was more than one assault um you know regard however you look at Steven Hayes story also presented at
00:25:43
this trial were the journals of of Joshua in which he referred to his breaking into homes as extreme sport uh
00:25:52
in his diary he chose to call Bill Pettit a coward and claimed that bill could have stopped the murders had he
00:26:00
wanted to he said that Jennifer the mother and wife was Brave and that Haley the oldest daughter was a fighter and
00:26:08
again he said bill was a coward the man he had beat over the head multiple times
00:26:12
with a baseball bat I mean it's just ridiculous that he would refer refer to Mr Pettit as a as a as a coward I mean
00:26:23
we have Stephen Hayes Steven Hayes says in his confession he says that Josh hit Mr Pettit in the
00:26:31
front and back of the head with the bat as hard as he could now this is a man that that most
00:26:37
certainly was threatened with a gun uh quote remember the quote if he moves put two bullets in him a man that had
00:26:46
lost over seven pints of blood that was slipping in and out of Consciousness a man that was beaten and bound and had to
00:26:52
hope and pray that the the men that had beaten him were being honest when they told him they were only there for the
00:27:00
money and then they would leave and these same dirtbags told Jennifer told Mrs Pettit if you go to the bank
00:27:07
and get us the money we will leave and instead she was not rewarded for doing this
00:27:12
not rewarded for doing what they said at all she was punished for doing what they
00:27:17
had said Stephen Hayes ultimately was found guilty on 16 of 17 counts related to the home invasion murders now on
00:27:26
October 5th 2010 as when he was found guilty in early November the jury returned with
00:27:33
a recommendation for him to be executed he was sentenced to death the jury chose
00:27:39
to show him no mercy he was seeking Mercy as he had he he's claiming you know he had a pretty bad drug problem at
00:27:46
this time uh he's also saying you know I offered a confession to the police I told them everything that I knew
00:27:54
um but they they would show him no mercy foreign [Music] all right we're back cheers mates we're
00:28:14
back from punching each other in the face and cheers to you Captain uh on December 2nd 2010 Stephen Hayes he
00:28:22
apologized for the pain and suffering he had caused the Pettit family and added that death for me will be a welcome
00:28:30
relief and I hope it will bring some peace and comfort to those who I have hurt so much now Judge John Blue uh
00:28:39
formally imposed six death sentences one for each of the capital charges um blue then added a sentence of a
00:28:48
hundred and six years for other crimes that Stephen Hayes committed during the home invasion
00:28:54
and before he finished he stated this he stated this is a terrible sentence but is in truth a sentence you wrote for
00:29:02
yourself in Flames may God have mercy on your soul now just as the captain had mentioned Stephen Hayes had attempted to
00:29:09
negotiate a life sentence during a plea bargain and that did not happen after the verdict his defense attorney stated
00:29:17
Hayes smiled upon hearing the jury's recommendation of a death sentence he added he is thrilled he is very happy
00:29:25
with the verdict that is what he wanted all along basically they're going hey we're going for appeals and he's like I
00:29:32
don't want to appeal I want to die now so again like I said it's I know that's what Bill wanted but it's also what the
00:29:40
killers wanted now there was a second trial we have to try um Joshua karma sajevski for this uh he
00:29:48
was born in 1980 to a 16 year old girl and a 20 year old mechanic and was later adopted by Benedict Karma sajevsky
00:29:58
Joshua was a very similar setup let's say you know we have this situation where you're caught
00:30:05
red-handed so it's more of a trial of is he going to get life or death Joshua was basically begging the jury in
00:30:14
the court for Mercy his biological parents had a history of mental illness and Joshua grew up in a home where he
00:30:23
was molested when he was about four years old his adopted parents brought in a 15 year old foster kid who raped
00:30:31
Joshua and put cigarettes out on him when Joshua was was older he ended up molesting his little sister
00:30:40
it's a little unclear how much knowledge the parents had of both of these situations but it seems like at some
00:30:49
point during his childhood they had some type of knowledge yeah um and then choosing to deal with these situations
00:30:56
themselves rather than to involve the authorities or any type of counseling what angers me is that this guy gets his
00:31:04
day in court to basically you know justify why he did what he did and and so but these claims you know
00:31:14
originally when they made these claims I thought well this is probably just a bunch of
00:31:18
you know horse [ __ ] right yeah but the the kid was 14 at the time the foster kid
00:31:25
um he admits to it um he apologizes but it seems like this family always turned to religion
00:31:32
so instead of going to the authorities or anything like that okay well you know homosexuality is wrong and
00:31:39
we're gonna put this kid and we're gonna push religion onto him and I think that's one of the reasons
00:31:45
why how do I say this that he's he was attracted to younger females probably because of the abuse okay but
00:31:55
didn't turn to males because of the the condemning nature of his religion religion yes right just to be clear in
00:32:03
case it confuses anybody we're stating we're telling the story here and the story is that homosexual situation is
00:32:12
the situation is this homosexuality is wrong according to Joshua's church so the church that he attended at the time
00:32:20
not according to the captain or the colonel or Nick or however many people are in the garage here but now like we
00:32:29
saw in the first trial Captain um with the journal with Joshua's Journal coming out that that stating you
00:32:37
know Bill Pettit was a coward we see this again in the second trial where Josh is now saying he claimed that he
00:32:45
believed that bill Pettit could have escaped earlier uh he claimed that the zip ties in the Rope were loose enough
00:32:51
that bill could have wiggled his way out at any time his lawyer Joshua's lawyer also argued that for his client to be
00:33:00
sentenced to death the victims that were murdered had to have died in a cruel manner now their argument is because two
00:33:08
of the girls here's their argument this is this is going to make you want to you thought
00:33:14
you meant you thought you and I got into it earlier with the back and forth this
00:33:18
is going to make you want to kick a hole through the garage door here done and done okay so the argument is this that
00:33:26
Stephen Hayes killed the mother right so you have to take that one off the table
00:33:31
when you're when you have Joshua on trial so he should only technically be charged with killing two people
00:33:41
um and they're stating these two girls their cause of death is technically listed as smoke inhalation
00:33:48
the smoke inhalation is described and this was forced to be described by Josh's lawyer he had the experts the
00:33:57
medical experts explain what typically happens when somebody dies of smoke inhalation well their argument is that
00:34:05
the way the the experts describe this did not particularly mean that it was a cruel manner in which these two girls
00:34:13
were killed of course they failed they purposely failed to mention the hours of traumatizing the girls the little one uh
00:34:22
raped both douse with gasoline and like you said were on fire and surrounded by Flames as they died there were some
00:34:31
details that were learned in the trial regarding that night um as the two men had some troubles with
00:34:38
a 17 year old Haley remember uh Joshua's Journal had said that she was a fighter
00:34:44
yeah both the men had ripped landline phones out of the walls once they took over the home well at least once I
00:34:53
believe possibly twice they caught Haley with her cell phone or someone else's cell phone attempting to either notify
00:35:01
someone or possibly call 9-1-1 on October 13 2011 Josh Karma sujevsky was convicted
00:35:12
on all 17 counts on January 27 2002 Judge John blue sentenced him to death by lethal injection to which his
00:35:24
sentence became an automatic life sentence as did Stephen Hayes's when eventually Connecticut abolished the
00:35:32
death penalty this took place in 2015. now both Hayes and Carmen sujevski are housed in separate prison facilities in
00:35:42
the state of Pennsylvania to serve out their life sentences yeah and I think this is the part
00:35:49
you know that makes me so mad about this case why did this information have to come to light in public
00:35:56
you know I you know why did they veto the bill for the death penalty penalty just to have this trial then once they
00:36:03
have the trial then they basically put that they passed the law anyways you know it seems like wasted time wasted
00:36:11
money wasted hurt you know I I don't know well to be fair to you Captain I think as with all of us
00:36:19
this is just one of many aspects of this case that that make us all very angry and upset with one really everything I
00:36:29
mean there's just no way to feel good about any of this regardless of what type of sentence or punishment these two
00:36:36
monsters end up getting in the end right and HBO made a documentary about this and when I was watching it
00:36:44
um towards the end of it and they're talking about Josh's trial and and what happened to
00:36:50
him as a kid I mean I think that's what really frustrated me the most and what made me so angry is these these guys are
00:36:57
horrible individuals and and I didn't want I don't want to know why they got that way
00:37:04
and I don't want to feel sorry for him at all but when you hear this stuff that happened to this kid somebody helped
00:37:12
create a monster was he going to be that way whether this happen without that I don't know whatever you think is Justice
00:37:19
whether it's the death penalty or just rot in jail I just want that to happen but I don't want to look at him as a
00:37:26
victim and I think by giving him the day in court you have to examine those things
00:37:33
yeah and this was unique because For the First Time In in the state's history the
00:37:39
Connecticut state judicial branch offered post-traumatic stress assistance to people who had served on the juries
00:37:46
of these two triple murder trials because they had been required to look at disturbing images and hear ghastly
00:37:54
testimony there were several parts during both trials where there were there were pictures that were not shown
00:38:02
to the public to the people that just showed up to witness the trials there were many obviously many images that
00:38:10
were shown to these people however with when it came to the jury there were several times during these trials where
00:38:17
they took a manila envelope you know one of them file folders and they put in it
00:38:21
whatever horrible graphic image that they had somebody had taken a picture of whether it was a picture Joshua had
00:38:29
taken on his cell phone or whether it was police and firefighter photographs during the investigation itself
00:38:37
and they had to pass these folders along and you know the one reporter wrote that
00:38:43
every time that these these file folders were brought to the jury I mean you could see it on their faces
00:38:51
it was as simple as this it was handed to one juror he or she would open up the the folder right look at the thing for a
00:38:59
second or two close it and hand it to the next person and the reporter said that anytime this happened in this in
00:39:06
this trial in these trials that's all you could hear in the entire courtroom everyone was silent and all
00:39:14
you could hear was the flapping open of this file folder somebody having to see something no one should ever have to see
00:39:21
well they had to take multiple breaks because of this yes and pass it along to the next person and of course the family
00:39:28
the Pettit family um they had to sit there and hang their heads uh when this happened as well the
00:39:36
victims these Three Angels of of humans you know they're the victims not not these animals but you give them their
00:39:46
day in court and like I said you have to examine that stuff that happened to them as well yeah
00:39:52
I mean that's that's two monsters pleading for Mercy um they didn't obviously didn't show anybody any Mercy
00:39:59
that night so I'm glad that uh 24 people decided not to show them any Mercy as well as the judge
00:40:07
the aftermath of this thing I mean is is huge but I did want to touch upon a few
00:40:12
things um Bill Pettit established the Michaela Rose Pettit scholarship fund for the
00:40:19
chase Collegiate School he also established the Haley's hope and Michaela's Miracle Ms memorial fund
00:40:28
um there were several organizations and and foundations that have been set up uh
00:40:34
because of Bill Pettit and because of people close to this case trying to do a lot of good for
00:40:40
um because a lot of bad happened yeah um in August of 2012 Bill Pettit married uh he got remarried and eventually they
00:40:49
went on to him and his new wife went on to have I believe a son um so some some kind of form of healing for for
00:41:00
bill um yeah they actually tore down the Pettit Family Home and they turned that
00:41:06
into a memorial garden I really liked what one of the grandparents said is that uh if closure
00:41:15
means anything I'm forgetting then I don't want any closure and I thought that was that was good because you know
00:41:23
the thing is that these um three beautiful souls they were trying to do good in the world and who knows
00:41:30
what I mean you have a young daughter that raised over fifty thousand dollars for MS
00:41:36
yeah you know that's yeah I mean they were the the three girls were good in every sense of the word I mean all three
00:41:45
of them and here's one thing I also want to touch upon too Captain is you know I I've heard people say and I
00:41:53
think this is a fantastic quote that that once one's character is best judged in a time
00:41:59
of tragedy and the way that the bill Pettit and um his parents and the family members of
00:42:09
you know the hawk family and Jennifer pettit's family the way that They Carried themselves
00:42:15
presented themselves and their Humanity uh through this whole thing to it to me it was amazing how well they
00:42:25
were able to to carry themselves and hold themselves together yeah during and remain civilized
00:42:31
in a situation that none of us can actually can imagine and should never have to imagine going through now Bill
00:42:39
Pettit he has not returned to his medical practice since the murders stating that he his desire is to be
00:42:46
active in the foundations set up to honor the memory of his deceased family he now serves as a I believe a state
00:42:54
representative the other thing too regarding him not returning to his medical practice we have to keep in mind
00:43:01
the injuries that he sustained during that and the the type of you know he's got to have a clear mind he's got to
00:43:09
have steady hands he has to be able to think on his feet uh because of his job and he has said that the injuries he
00:43:17
sustained in the loss um emotionally mentally his heart is broken that he he's no
00:43:26
longer able to be of sound mind and we be somebody that's able to care uh for his patience in the
00:43:34
way that they deserve to be yeah when you go through that a tragic like that or a tragic loss like that you have to
00:43:41
figure out why care to go on and that's what he he had to figure out uh one final thought
00:43:47
for me Captain is Joshua Karma sojevski he called Bill Pettit a coward and personally I can't think of a more
00:43:57
sick and cowardly act than raping a child Joshua karma sajevski is a child rapist
00:44:05
he had a daughter of his own and there may have been one possibly good thing that could have come
00:44:14
of this I believe he would have eventually if he hadn't already I believe he would have raped his own
00:44:20
daughter and very likely many times that's what he is that's what Joshua karma sajevski is he's a child rapist
00:44:28
and he in fact is the coward uh Bill Pettit uh because of cowards like Joshua Karma sajevski and Stephen Hayes
00:44:39
he chose to speak at the funeral and two trials for his wife and two daughters and on those days
00:44:49
bill William Pettit was more of a man than I have ever been asked to be and more
00:44:56
Brave than I could ever imagine to be one thing that we should touch on because if we don't we'll probably get
00:45:03
some heat mail is the reaction from the cops and how they handled this situation
00:45:08
there has been some criticism from the hawk family yeah and I get it I get it I don't know that I
00:45:14
but here's the problem I'm able to sit here in the garage with you you know and and have a good time
00:45:21
with you and not today my friend yeah today's been aggravating but it's because of the case not because of you
00:45:27
not because anything out outside of you but I'm I'm lucky I'm able to sit here and have a beer and relax and talk about
00:45:34
this thing that happened 10 years ago right and so you think my mind would be clear
00:45:40
more clear than what than what it is that I should have a hard stance on these different opinions but I don't I
00:45:46
what I see is a crime that took six or seven hours to commit that broke a lot of people it broke the family members
00:45:56
and it it broke the community the thing here is you have a situation where I think I think in a good number
00:46:05
of ways the police were just following protocol they were setting up a perimeter they were trying to you know
00:46:11
they have to keep the peace and if that means um trapping it with inside those four
00:46:16
walls right sometimes that's what they have to do and as you and I both agreed on they don't fully know the situation
00:46:23
as to what's going on inside those four walls I agree with the people that are that are angry at the police and and
00:46:32
here's what I mean by that I agree that they're angry because I too am angry I just don't know that the police are the
00:46:38
right people to be angry at I think that this case is um one of these ones that just rips your
00:46:43
heart out and the problem is you when you have these two lowlifes who get life sentences or committed to death whatever
00:46:51
regardless of what they end up getting you're still angry you're still mad and you're still upset and at some point you
00:47:00
need more to blame than just these two guys because this just seems too horrible for only two people to be
00:47:07
responsible for and so that's when you know when you see um the hawk family upset with the police
00:47:15
I agree with them and I think you have to let them vent I don't know what could have been done differently I know that
00:47:22
bill has never publicly blamed the police for any misdoings yeah you want to talk about being courageous I mean
00:47:28
here's the individual that he feels you know he lost all this blood and he still feels
00:47:36
that he should have went up the different stairs instead of going outside that he should have went into
00:47:40
the kitchen and I think he blames himself a little bit and he's probably angry and I guarantee you these cops
00:47:48
this law enforcement team now knowing what they know I guarantee you they're angry with some of their
00:47:55
decisions put yourself in their shoes you don't know what's happening you're trying to assess the situation these
00:48:02
cops did not want this to take place I guarantee you that every single one of them wish wishes that they could have
00:48:09
stopped it and I'm sure that they're angry and I'm sure that they blame themselves and there's no reason for
00:48:15
more people to point the finger at them hey one thing I want to point out to all
00:48:19
the Great Garage people out there is that we have our blog that's active on truecrime garage.com a lot of these
00:48:27
cases you know we cover so many cases a new one every week A lot of times we are
00:48:31
asked if we could do an update and things like that yeah that is the blog is a running update of all those cases
00:48:38
and the great thing is that everybody out there gets to contribute to that blog and to that information you can
00:48:44
participate by reading or writing your own comment there I do want to throw one thing in here please Captain uh we'll no
00:48:54
silence he shut it down just like that um regarding this case um let's let's not get into a whole Pro
00:49:02
against uh death penalty debate on the blog we will refrain from doing that um but certainly leave your other
00:49:10
thoughts there at truecrime garage.com a lot of interesting conversation going on
00:49:15
regarding the Kanika Jenkins case uh the Delphi case um all these cases still very active so
00:49:22
check out that information there yeah you can uh speculate if we're left or right wing but uh we'll never tell you
00:49:29
because this is not a political show so what I can tell you Captain is that this
00:49:34
case has made me so very angry and I'm very lucky and thankful to have a whole big bowl of leftover candy bars from
00:49:41
last night and I will use that entire Bowl to comfort myself I'm gonna use I want to get me through this troubling
00:49:50
moment I'm going to use a thing called bourbon so all right thanks for sharing on
00:49:55
social media thanks for supporting the show we would be nothing without you uh we'll see you again next week have a
00:50:02
happy Halloween and until next week be good be kind and don't litter [Music] [Applause]
00:50:28
thank you [Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 95
    Most heartbreaking
  • 90
    Most shocking
  • 90
    Most controversial
  • 85
    Most emotional

Episode Highlights

  • The Lonesome Boatman Ale
    A complex Red Ale perfect for colder months, rated four out of five bottle caps.
    “The Lonesome Boatman was my best friend at sea.”
    @ 01m 23s
    November 29, 2022
  • A Family's Tragic Night
    On July 23, 2007, a home invasion led to the tragic murder of Dr. Pettit's family.
    “This is the nightmarish story of a home invasion and murder.”
    @ 03m 20s
    November 29, 2022
  • The Attackers' Background
    Joshua Karma and Stephen Hayes, career criminals, escalated their crimes to a horrific level.
    “Both of these guys are career criminals.”
    @ 04m 40s
    November 29, 2022
  • The Aftermath of the Crime
    The attackers' confessions led to a highly publicized trial and discussions on the death penalty.
    “This is one of the most publicized home invasion murder cases in Connecticut.”
    @ 21m 59s
    November 29, 2022
  • A Moment of Reflection
    William Pettit was more of a man than I have ever been asked to be.
    “William Pettit was more of a man than I”
    @ 44m 50s
    November 29, 2022
  • The Weight of Anger
    This case has made me so very angry, reflecting the deep emotional impact it has.
    “this case has made me so very angry”
    @ 49m 31s
    November 29, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • Time is running out for Parts Unknown!
    The Cheshire Murders /// Part 2 /// 155
  • This is the nightmarish story of a home invasion and murder.
    The Cheshire Murders /// Part 2 /// 155
  • He had the strength to speak at that service.
    The Cheshire Murders /// Part 2 /// 155
  • Brave than I could ever imagine to be.
    The Cheshire Murders /// Part 2 /// 155
  • this case has made me so very angry.
    The Cheshire Murders /// Part 2 /// 155
  • I'm very lucky and thankful to have a whole big bowl of leftover candy bars.
    The Cheshire Murders /// Part 2 /// 155

Key Moments

  • Welcome00:43
  • Beer Review01:10
  • Home Invasion02:46
  • Tragic Loss03:40
  • Trial Discussions21:54
  • Emotional Reflection44:56
  • Anger and Frustration49:31
  • Comforting Moments49:37

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown