Petit Murders Suspect Joshua Komisarjevsky’s Taped Confession Released
Sept. 27 2011, Published 9:30 a.m. ET
In disturbing and calculated detail, death row murder suspect Joshua Komisarjevsky explained to police how a home invasion escalated into a triple murder, and RadarOnline.com has the chilling audio of the interview.
During the taped confession, which was released on Monday, the accused killer spoke in a monotone voice and barely paused or stumbled as he described the horrific events after he and accomplice Steven Hayes broke into the Petit family home in Connecticut.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Komisarjevsky - the second suspect in the most horrific murder in Connecticut history - is charged with 17 counts including murder, abduction and assault in the triple homicide of a mother and her two children, and the beating of their father.
The grisly case revolves around the seven-hour abduction of Dr. William Petit, his wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit and their daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, who were held hostage in their Cheshire home on July 22, 2007.
"We proceeded down into the basement and happened to find a baseball bat leaning on the stairs leading up to the kitchen. I took the bat and went up the stairway, into the sun room,” the 31-year-old told Detective Joe Vitello.
"I stood there for 15 or 20 minutes, standing behind him (Dr. William Petit) not wanting to hit him. Not thinking that I could. I could see Mr. Hayes in the window motioning to strike him, to get it over with so we could move on."
Komisarjevsky was then asked by his integrator: "Did you strike him?"
"I did. I hit him in the head with the baseball bat. He let out this unearthly scream. I couldn't take the scream, I've never hit anyone in the head with...anything. Never mind a baseball bat.
"I just kept hitting him until he finally backed up into the corner of the couch and quieted down and just sat staring at me with wide open eyes and sheer confusion," said Komisarjevsky.
"Was he bleeding?" the suspect was asked. "Yeah, he was bleeding profusely," said the confessed murderer matter-of-factly.
Throughout the interview, Komisarjevsky portrayed Hayes, who was tried for his part in the crimes last year and sentenced to death on December 2, 2010, as the instigator of the horror.
"He had first mentioned that we would take the occupants of the home with us in their vehicles and leave the house burning in their wake. I was a bit stunned and perplexed about the whole situation," he said, trailing off vaguely.
"He went back downstairs and I went back into K.K's (the family nickname for Michaela) room."
Hayes then motioned for him to go back: "He was ranting and raving to me about DNA, he was at me because on several occasions I accidentally used his name in front of the occupants of the house.
"And then all of a sudden, 'We've got to kill them.' Kill the family and burn the house down.
"That was not the plan," explained Komisarjevsky, who allegedly told Hayes, "'I'm not killing anyone, that's not how it's going down. We're here for the money - get in and get out. It's almost 9 o'clock, why are you bugging out now?'
"I got on his case, if he was so worried about DNA why was he walking around without his gloves on now? 'What are you doing?'
"I had gloves on the entire time. He was starting to feel the pressure leaving the house with the mom, and then loosing sight of the mom when she went into the bank alone," he told Detective Vitello.
"Things were getting a little tense between the two of us," he added, as if the pair were arguing over something as irrelevant as a bar tab.
The police officer then went on to ask, "How did your conversation about killing the family end?"
"He just walked away. It wasn't a conversation, it was a statement. 'That's how it's going to be and that's that.'
"In my mind, that's simply not an option, it just isn't."
"Did you voice that to him?
"I had made mention, 'I'm not killing anybody, I'm not going to. He didn't care or listen, or whatever," explained Komisarjevsky at the conclusion of the tape.
Much of the death row defendant's confession has been heard in the New Haven, Connecticut courtroom where on Tuesday jurors viewed photos of evidence police found and processed while investigating the deadly home invasion, reported the Hartford Courant.
Prosecutor Gary Nicholson took jurors inside the Petit home, to Hayley's bedroom, showing photos on a movie screen of the 17-year-old's burned bed and soot-covered walls. Materials resembling nylon stockings were tied around the bedposts of Hayley's bed.
As RadarOnline.com reported on Monday, Dr. Petit was overcome with emotion as jurors heard how Hayley's body was found at the top of the family's stairs after struggling to free herself from the ropes that bound her wrists to her bed.
The gory details and graphic photographs of his oldest daughter's death became too much for Dr. Petit, who left the courtroom during the testimony, along with other family members who were moved to tears.
The emotional impact of the gruesome evidence was amplified by the fact that had she survived, Hayley's mother, Jennifer, would have turned 53 on Monday. Instead she was raped and strangled on that fateful day before the house was set alight.
The trial continues.
Listen to the audio below:
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