Connecticut murder victims had local ties
The daughter and two granddaughters of a retired Butler County minister and his wife were killed in a horrific home invasion in Connecticut, authorities said.
Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, the daughter of the Rev. Richard and Mary Belle Hawke, of Slippery Rock, was strangled Monday at the home in Cheshire, Conn., near New Haven.
Hawke-Petit's two daughters -- Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11 -- died of smoke inhalation after the house was set on fire to cover the crime, police said. Her husband, Dr. William Petit Jr., 50, remained hospitalized last night with head injuries.
Richard Hawke is a former district superintendent of the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church based in Cranberry, said the Rev. Michael L. Kundrat, of Library.
Two men with long rap sheets who were on parole were arrested as they tried to flee the burning home.
Joshua Komisarjevky, 26, of Cheshire, and Steven Hayes, 44, of Winsted, were arraigned yesterday on a variety of charges. Bail was set at $15 million each.
The men were planning to burglarize the home when they broke in around 3 a.m. Monday and found the family inside, state police said.
They beat Petit, then tied up his wife and daughters, investigators said.
Employees at a bank called police after one of the suspects forced Hawke-Petit to make a withdrawal around 9:30 a.m.
The men were caught in the family's car after ramming several police cruisers as they fled the burning home, authorities said.
Hawke-Petit and her daughters were found dead inside. Petit escaped the fire and told police what happened.
Richard and Mary Belle Hawke went to Connecticut after learning of the crime, Kundrat said.
Hayes and Komisarjevky each have more than 20 burglaries on their records. At the time of the killings, both were free on parole after serving prison time for burglary convictions in 2003.
Petit, the president of the Hartford County Medical Association, is a noted specialist in diabetes and endocrinology and is the medical director of the Joslin Diabetes Center Affiliate at The Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain.
Hawke-Petit was a nurse and co-director of the health center at Cheshire Academy, a private boarding school.
