Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
E017: The Cheshire Murders
1.9k Plays6 years ago
It was an average summer day for the Petit family in Cheshire, Connecticut--beach trips, golf, and a grocery store outing. Everything was well with this all-American family. However, two men with plenty of petty crimes on their records were looking for their next fix. Little did the Petit family know that their American Dream was about to become a living nightmare.
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/CoffeeAndCases)Recommended
Transcript
Transitioning to Online Teaching
00:00:01
Speaker
Alison and I have had a surreal week. We had to, as teachers, put all of our content for two weeks worth of classes online, communicate changes with our students, and deal along with the rest of the world with a lot of uncertainty. In times like these, we're being asked to make lots of changes. We're being asked to keep our distance from others, to stay inside when possible, not together in large groups, to have faith that we will get through this.
00:00:27
Speaker
Unfortunately, Allison and I need a favor from you as well. To bear with us as everything around us is changing. For the next few weeks, we will sadly be recording separately. I from my home and Allison from hers. We appreciate you, Sleuthtown, so much and want to continue to provide you with cases. After all, our goal is continued hope and closure for these cases. And especially in times like these, we want to continue in our small way of helping those families to keep their family member in our hearts and minds.
00:00:57
Speaker
Thank you for bearing with us and for understanding. We care about you. Stay together, united in the human spirit, even if not physically. Stay safe. Now, onto this week's episode.
Podcast Introduction and Goals
00:01:43
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron.
00:01:53
Speaker
We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families. With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive.
Exploring the American Dream
00:02:16
Speaker
So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week.
00:02:22
Speaker
I think we all have a picture in our heads of what living the American Dream looks like. We picture white picket fences, green, perfectly manicured lawns, a beautiful house, a nice car, a few kids, and a happily married couple. Every time I hear the words American Dream, I think of the great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby worked so hard to overcome poverty, just for a chance to be with Daisy. He was willing to sacrifice everything for love because that was his American Dream.
00:02:52
Speaker
Achieving the American Dream isn't easy, and honestly, it looks different for every single one of us. But regardless of what your American Dream looks like, you have to work hard at it. It takes dedication. It takes guts. It takes strength.
Introducing the Petit Family Tragedy
00:03:07
Speaker
The family in our story today appeared to have it all. They had the nice house, the beautiful family. They worked hard for that life. A life that was shattered, a family that was left broken.
00:03:20
Speaker
When you've worked your whole life to provide a good life for your kids and your wife, only to have that ripped out of your hands, what's left? Tears? Regret? Questions? When you're the sole survivor, how do you go on? According to the Cheshire Murders and the Illusion of Safety by Alexander Nazarian, quote, if hope is the thing with feathers, then dread is the thing with claws, end quote.
00:03:48
Speaker
And sadly, sleuthounds, the claws of society came out in this case. Before I begin our show today, I want to remind you guys about the challenge Allison and I have going on. You all were awesome at getting us to our 15 written comment goal and you did it really fast, so we wanted to up the ante. This one is a lofty goal, but we know
00:04:10
Speaker
that we can do it together. We want to get 150 ratings on iTunes. Right now we have 78, so we are aiming to almost double that now, but it only takes a split second. If you're listening to us on iTunes, click that five star rating. We have listeners from everywhere, from all over the world, so while this is a lot to ask, we know that you guys can do it. It may take a little longer than last time, but when we get to that 150, we'll do another bonus episode.
00:04:39
Speaker
Just make sure to follow us on all of our social media accounts, Coffee and Cases podcast on Facebook, or at Coffee Cases podcast on Instagram, or as always, listen in each week to know when that bonus episode will air. Okay, Sleuth Hounds, let's dive into today's episode. All right, before we get started, I do want to let you guys know just a couple things. One,
00:05:00
Speaker
I'm at home, so you are likely to hear the pitta patter of puppy dog feet, the occasional bark. My husband is in the other room watching Survivor, so you may hear some of that. Just a little heads up about the show. There are a lot of names in here that I can't pronounce, and so I'm sure I'm gonna pronounce them wrong, but know that I tried and the story still stands.
00:05:28
Speaker
We also live super close to an airport slash national guard base. So you could hear airplanes flying over. So again, this is a big change, but hopefully it's just for a few weeks and we're going to make it through. So let's get on to the show today.
Details of the Petit Family and the Crime
00:05:46
Speaker
The Petit family appeared to be the all American family. According to the Cheshire murders and the illusion of safety article,
00:05:52
Speaker
Jennifer was a nurse and she was 48. Dr. Petey Jr. was 50 and was a celebrated doctor in town. Their house was a beige two-story colonial home. It wasn't anything super extravagant. Their daughters looked like the girl next door. They looked innocent in all of their pictures. There were no pictures I saw of them with the infamous duck face. Hailey was 17 and she was going to attend Dartmouth. Michaela was 11 and she loved watching Rachel Ray.
00:06:22
Speaker
According to the True Crime Times, Haley had just graduated from Ms. Porter's school. It was a very prestigious school with graduates like Gloria Vanderbilt and Jacqueline Kennedy. She was headed to Dartmouth in the fall where, like her father, she too wanted to study medicine.
00:06:40
Speaker
Hailey also worked tirelessly to raise funds for multiple sclerosis research because her mother suffered from that. Hailey was often described as humble. Little sister Michaela attended Chase Collegiate School and planned to take over Hailey's fundraising duties when she left to go to college. Michaela is described as thoughtful and gentle and she loved spending time with her family. Their day started off like any other.
00:07:08
Speaker
sleuth hounds, I can see the family enjoying that beautiful summer day at 300 Sorgam Mill Drive in Cheshire, Connecticut. Hayley had just got home from the beach. Mom Jennifer and Michaela had gone to stop and shop a local grocery store to get things to make dinner that night because as I mentioned before, Michaela loved to cook. She loved Rachel Ray, so she took it upon herself to cook her family dinner that night.
00:07:32
Speaker
When Dr. Petit or Bill called on his way home from around a golf, his wife asked him to stop by the farm sand to get them some fresh veggies. All seemed normal, but sadly it wasn't. Danger was closer than this family ever imagined. Sleuth hounds, we talk about a lot of gruesome stuff on this case. And I want to let you know before we get any further in, this case does get very gruesome and very graphic. So listener discretion is advised.
00:08:02
Speaker
It takes a cruel person to kill a girl man or a woman. It takes an evil person to kill a child. And the men that we're going to talk about today in this story are evil. We've talked about a lady who was possibly killed by her husband, a young woman that may have been possessed, but it's stories like this that involve children that really stick with me.
00:08:26
Speaker
Several articles I read spend a great deal of time focusing on the life of our two murders, Stephen Hayes and Joshua Karmitz-Vojcicki. Sleuthhounds, I'm honestly not going to give them the time of day to try to justify the horrible things that you're about to hear. I'm not going to go into details of how Hayes, who according to some was abused by his babysitter, or Karmitz-Vojcicki, who was adopted by a loving and wealthy family but had oppositional defiant disorder.
00:08:52
Speaker
Because honestly, none of those things justify what they did to this family that night. The Cheshire Murders in the Illusion of Safety article says, quote, they weren't people herders, but rather, stuff takers. They dealt drugs and took drugs. They were, until that night, two down and out white guys in a state with some of the richest white people in the nation.
00:09:14
Speaker
They later said that they thought the robbery at 300 Sorghum Mill Drive would be a sample transaction conducted with minimal violence, end quote. But as you're getting ready to find out, this case with everything but minimal.
00:09:28
Speaker
It was that seemingly innocent trip to the local grocery store that was a turning point for our family today. As Jennifer and Michaela were walking out of the store, Karmet Spojewski noticed them. He took note of how nice their car was. He imagined the house that they must live in. It must have been a beautiful house. He craved to be in a house like that, so he followed them home. He was impressed by their house, like he had imagined it was nice, and the family seemed well off.
00:09:58
Speaker
This was a perfect place to get some extra cash. By the time Bill got home at 7.15, Michaela had made pasta. But on the other side of town, Hayes and Karmet Swojcicki met up in a parking lot of a bar to plan out what they thought would be a simple robbery. After dinner, Bill took the Sunday paper into the sunroom.
00:10:19
Speaker
while the girls settled into the living room to watch one of their favorite TV shows, Army Wives. When the show ended at about 11 p.m., Hailey went up to her room, and Michaela snuggled up to Jennifer in her parents' bed with her brand new Harry Potter book.
00:10:34
Speaker
Flashing back to Hayes and Carmitt Swojcicki, they watched as people left the bar where they sat. They creeped on people as they withdrew money from the nearby ATM. Time and time again that night, they were disappointed by the little amount of money people were withdrawing from that very ATM.
00:10:51
Speaker
So they drove to the very nice house Karmet Svajewski had seen earlier that day. It was now nearly 3 a.m. in the morning. Meanwhile, Bill was asleep on the sofa room couch. Hayes and Karmet Svajewski found him asleep there. Sleuth hounds, I can picture the scene they looked in on. I can see Bill asleep with a newspaper in his hand, his head tilted slightly to the side as he quietly snored. I can imagine him dozing in peaceful bliss.
00:11:20
Speaker
Maybe he was dreaming about their upcoming family vacation. I can see the terror in his eyes as he suddenly awoke to Karmet Svajewski beating him over the head with a baseball bat. The doctor awoke horribly confused. He must have said things like, who are these guys? What are they doing? Where's my family? Bill was on blood thinners, you see. So he would have bled more than the average person. According to some accounts, he lost several pints of blood.
00:11:48
Speaker
The two men tied him up and later took him to the basement, where they bound him to a pipe. Upstairs, Michaela was asleep next to her mom. She'd fallen asleep reading that very same Harry Potter book. Hailey was snoozing in her own bed. All three women were bound with pillowcases over their heads.
00:12:06
Speaker
Bill refused to sleep. He listened for any sign of movement as the long hours passed. Hayes and Carmen Swojcicki ransacked the home. This beautiful and nice home was sure to be home of thousands of dollars. There had to be a safe somewhere, right?
00:12:22
Speaker
Wrong. After all that searching, they only found approximately $130 in Haley's wallet. What they thought must have been a house overflowing with material riches gave them nothing. Nothing until they ran across the couple's bank statement. Even though their search had left them empty handed, they had hope that the petite's checking account would give them the money they wanted. So they decided to wait until the bank opened.
00:12:51
Speaker
and take Jennifer there to withdraw $15,000.
The Crime Unfolds and Police Response
00:12:55
Speaker
Finally around nine in the morning, Bill heard Jennifer's voice. He heard her saying that she needed his checkbook if she were going to be able to withdraw the money. So he put two and two together and knew that they were headed towards the bank. Hayes and Jennifer, that is. I'm sure he had a surge of hope. Surely going out in public would be the fatal mistake that these two men would make. Surely someone would be alerted and surely his family would be rescued.
00:13:21
Speaker
Hasted Jennifer to a Bank of America branch where she withdrew $15,000, even though several reports claimed she didn't have $15,000 in that bank account. The clerk could tell she was in danger and gave her the money anyway. In the midst of withdrawing that money, she was able to tell the bank teller that something was amiss at her house. The teller told the manager who called the police.
00:13:44
Speaker
The call came in at about 9.21 a.m. Quote, we have a lady who's in our bank right now who says her husband and children are being held at their house. The manager said, adding that the woman who withdrew the exorbitantly large sum looked quote, petrified, end quote. Back at home, Bill heard a loud thump upstairs in the living room. He was quoted in saying quote, it was like someone was throwing 20 or 50 pound sacks on the living room floor, end quote.
00:14:14
Speaker
According to Dad Rebuild's life after family was bound, tortured, and murdered by Marine Callahan, he heard a man say, quote, you're all right, don't worry, it's all going to be over in a few minutes, end quote. Bill said, quote, I felt a major jolt of adrenaline and thought, it's now or never. In my mind, at that moment, I thought they were going to shoot all of us. My heart felt like it was beating 200 beats per minute, end quote.
00:14:40
Speaker
We now know that that loud thump was Mikaela hitting the living room floor. Karmasz Wojcicki forced her to perform oral sex on him, and as if that weren't disgusting enough, he captured pictures of it on his cell phone.
00:14:55
Speaker
Hayes would later testify that Carmen Swojewski ordered him to quote, square things up, which he did on the living room floor when he raped Jennifer. The girls were then bound and covered with gasoline. So remember Sleuthounds, the initial 911 call was made around 9 21 that morning when Jennifer left the bank. Most articles I read said that the bank transaction
00:15:17
Speaker
Two at Jennifer's rape, took around 23 minutes. That's a lot of time. So where were the police? In the article, The Cheshire Murders and the Illusion of Safety, it says, quote, it remains unexplained why, as the police circled the house at 300 in Sorgamill Drive, nobody ever thought to knock on the door, ring the bell, just call the house phone, something so simple could have saved three lives, end quote. Sadly, Sleuth hounds, that knock didn't come.
00:15:45
Speaker
Court documents say that the way police responded to that crime wasn't adequate. That they wasted so much time setting perimeters up before they even approached the house. There were reports that several police officers were close to the house but never approached the home. I'll let you all make the call but to me I think more could have been done by the police force and perhaps the story I'm telling you today would have ended differently.
00:16:13
Speaker
Remember, Bill's still in the basement, and according to many sources I read, Bill wore through his hand restraints by squatting down and standing up over and over again until that pipe finally wore his restraints enough that he was able to break free. At 9.51 a.m., a bloodied Bill emerged from his basement. His feet were still bound. So imagine this.
00:16:38
Speaker
He rolled across his lawn towards the house of a neighbor who emerged looking confused because he did not recognize the bloodied form before him. As we talked about, Bill was on blood thinner and bled much more than the average person would have.
00:16:57
Speaker
So I can only imagine the scene his neighbor saw. As he approached his neighbor, a police officer walked over because remember they are near the house at this point. Bill was so unrecognizable that the policeman didn't know if he was a victim or a suspect. Bill was finally able to get out a strangle. The girls are inside.
00:17:20
Speaker
Before police had time to react, Hayes and Carmen Swojewski burst out of 300 Sorgamil Drive. They had stolen the family SUV and were trying to run away from the scene of the crime. However, their efforts came to a quick end when the SUV hit a police car. The two were quickly arrested. Now the family home was up in flames. I can picture the despair on Bill's face as he watched his life burn.
00:17:48
Speaker
I can't imagine his heartbreak, though. By the time firefighters made it inside the house, it was too late. All the bodies had been tied up before the fire was set.
00:17:59
Speaker
Haley, who had been tied to her bed, had been able to break free of the bonds around her hands and was found on the staircase with her feet still tied. She was undoubtedly going to save her sister or her mother. She died of smoke inhalation. Little Michaela was still tied to her bed when the firefighters found her. She too had died from smoke inhalation. Jennifer was also found tied up, but unlike her daughters,
00:18:27
Speaker
She died of strangulation, not smoke inhalation. Her lungs showed no signs of carbon monoxide.
Resilience and Legacy of Bill Petit
00:18:35
Speaker
It later came out in court that Jennifer was strangled after being raped. Sleuthounds, this leaves me speechless. I can't imagine what it was like for Bill, the only survivor, to have to relive this day in court over and over again.
00:18:52
Speaker
Many reports said that he had to walk out of the courtroom, and my heart shatters for him. Now Hayes and Carmen Spawjetski were both convicted and sentenced to death, but sadly Connecticut overturned the death penalty. While this story is heartbreaking, Bill is the testimony of true strength.
00:19:14
Speaker
I can't imagine how hard it would be to carry on when your entire world was stolen from you. How easily do we give up when the first inconvenience comes our way? It's easier sometimes to give up it seems than to keep going. We've all been through trials and have all suffered loss. Our losses are not what define us, but rather our resolve does.
00:19:36
Speaker
Bill could have easily given up, but he didn't. He kept going, and to me, that's the biggest testimony of his love.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:19:44
Speaker
He lived for Jennifer, Hailey, and Michaela because they couldn't. He lives so that they aren't forgotten. Bill's a daddy again, and to me, that's beautiful.
00:19:55
Speaker
I'm sure he sees his girls and his son smile or maybe hears them when his son laughs. They will never be too far from his memory. I will leave you today my sleuth hounds with this beautiful quote by Sylvan Cames and Rabbi Jack Ramirez. Quote, out of the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of the summer, we remember them. End quote.
00:20:18
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Twitter, at casescoffee, on Instagram, at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffeeandcasespodcastatgmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
00:20:48
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.