The Cheshire Murders /// Part 1 /// 154 | Forensic Files

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GameChanger [Music] [Applause] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
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the Donate button or maybe you want to buy the kernel around who's that anyway everybody get GA around grab a chair
grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] [Applause] [Music] crime we have a lady who is in our bank
right now who says that her husband and children are being held at their house the people are in a car outside
the the bank she is getting $115,000 to bring out to them that if the police are told they will kill the
children and the husband they have their faces covered she is petrified they told
us they wouldn't hurt anybody if she got back there with the money she believes them she I think she's walking out
now now now Jennifer Hawke was born in September of 1958 now in 1985 she met William Pettit
who was a third-year medical student at the University of Pittsburgh he went by Bill we'll call him bill so bill was
tall he was a tall guy 6'4 he played basketball in high school and his freshman year in college before deciding
to focus on his studies so the two met Jennifer a new nurse and Bill was on pediatric rotation at
Children's Hospital MH their first date uh this was a very casual one uh with dinner and drinks uh Bill brought his
parents along for the date well that's that's a move you don't normally see yeah not not not a common thing here
meet my parents I guess this was not a planned move um you know this wasn't Bill like trying to take this this first
date this early relationship immediately to the next level I guess Bill was from
you know even when he was a child but more so as an adult he was very close with his mother and father M maybe too
close some said well to the point where they were like they were good friends right uh they would hang out together so
bill is getting ready to go out on this date getting ready to go pick up Jennifer and go to dinner when his
father called and just said casually you know hey what are you doing this evening
and Bill Bill's like well I'm getting ready to go out uh to dinner and have some drinks you want to join me and so
it turns out that the four of them have dinner and drinks together bill would later later say that this worked out
very well for him uh because his parents presence did not make Jennifer nervous at all um so everybody she had a great
time everybody had a great time and Bill's father insisted that he pay the check at the end of the night so Bill
jokingly says that that made Jennifer a cheap date they they pretty quickly Fell
in Love Jennifer and Bill and would eventually marry Jennifer and Bill they purchased a
home in 1987 this was a corner lot on sorghum Mill Drive in chesher Connecticut this
is a quiet street and a quiet neighborhood you know the type of street that not many travel down unless you
lived there or unless you were visiting somebody that lived lived there you would not drive down sorghum Mill Drive
now this is a pretty ritzy area yes this would be uh an upper class uh town and upper class neighborhood their daughter
Haley was born just about 2 years later in 1989 their second daughter Michaela was
born in 1995 now sometime during this time period Jennifer pedit was diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis Haley the older of the two daughters she was an active fundraiser
for MS and Michaela she loved to cook uh it was no secret that she loved to cook
the grandparents she cooked with and for the grandparents she cooked with and for
her parents now basketball remained in Bill's life and became a part of his family's life uh Bill held two season
tickets to both the women's and men's University of Connecticut basketball teams and he often took his daughter's
to the games now in 2007 Haley the oldest daughter she graduated from Miss Porter school and
she was scheduled to attend Dartmouth College Michaela attended Chase Collegiate School right so that's just a
little bit of the background of this family beautiful family smart individuals uh upper class neighborhood
uh doctor nurse smart kids and that kind of brings us up to 200 seven yeah Haley
was getting ready to go off to attend Dartmouth I would be lucky to be allowed to sweep the floors at Dartmouth College
they actually declined they turn me down for that um now our story takes place in
the summer of 2007 um starting with Sunday July 22nd uh the Pettit family attended chesher United Methodist Church
on this Sunday like many others uh they went to the 9:30 a.m. church service um this it was just the three just three
of the four family members though Bill Jennifer and 11-year-old Michaela now 17-year-old Haley as we had said who had
just graduated high school she had stayed the weekend with some friends you know everyone her age was spending much
time together that summer before they all went off to college right pretty typical after church the three members
of the Pettit family went home and Haley returned home from the weekend with her
friends it was a beautiful summer day uh bill and his father went to the country
club to play a round of golf Jennifer and the two girls piled into her van and drove off for an afternoon at the beach
that evening Jennifer called Bill to tell him that on the way home from the beach they had went to the Stop and Shop
grocery store this is a local grocery store and picked up some groceries Michaela as she did many nights wanted
to cook the family dinner uh with her mother's help so Jennifer was asking Bill to stop at a local farmers market
on his way home to pick up some fresh veggies to go with the meal bill got home and that night the petet family had
dinner together in the sunro of their home on that quiet street in chesher after dinner Bill read the newspaper
laying on a couch in the sunro the girls sat in the family room watching TV and at 11:00 p.m. the girls turned off
the TV they went upstairs to bed locking the doors and turning off the downstairs
lights Bill had fallen asleep on the couch in the sunro um with the newspaper on his chest Michaela went and she got
into bed with her mother and the two read a book together now this brings us to Monday July
23rd it's sometime between 2: and 3:00 a.m. bill is not really sure what is going on he's not even sure if he is
awake he can't see anything but he's being hit in the head with a baseball bat he's in a lot of pain well he's on
the couch mhm when he can finally pull it together he can see the black silhouette of two men standing in front
of him one with an arm reaching out to Bill and in his hand is a gun its Barrel is pointed at bill and the gun is right
in front of Bill's face the men tell Bill to get up and they tie his hands together first with zip ties and then
with rope they put some kind of cloth over Bill's head and then they force him to the floor so again he cannot see then
they tie his ankles again first with these zip ties and then with rope they tell Bill that they are they're just
here for the money right we're just here for the money and then we will leave they asked bill but we just smashed your
face in with baseball bat yeah they ask Bill where uh the safe is Bill tells them that they they do not have a safe
uh he can he can hear one of the men walking out of the room and he hears that man tell the other if he moves put
two bullets in him one of the men goes upstairs where he finds Michaela still in her mother's bed uh he wakes them and
he tells them the same thing he told Bill that hey we are just here for the money he pulls Michaela out of the room
and he puts her into her room the men then cover the mother and the daughter's faces uh by putting pillowcases over
their heads each is tied to their own bed the feet and wrist bound to the bed post after this bill can hear the men
searching through his home at some point the men are once again standing over top
of bill bill by this point is really unsure of what time this could be uh bill has been beaten very badly uh so
badly that it's hard for him to say if he has lost Consciousness at any point anyway they cut the zip ties that are
around Bill's ankles well he he has you know three to 4 in gaps in his skull and
he's bleeding pretty badly yeah he's been he's been hit in the the front and the back of of his head um and it's it's
kind of even hard to say how many times he's been struck in the head with this baseball bat yeah cuz his whole you know
forehead is basically split open uh and so I mean he could have been going in and out of Consciousness the whole time
mhm yeah they they cut the zip ties that are around Bill's ankles uh they pull him up to his feet and then they Usher
him to the kitchen and then down the basement steps so the the basement steps are directly off of the kitchen here his
hands are still tied together at this point and his face is still covered mhm the pettits the Pettit family their
basement is unfinished um so it's kind of easy for us to Picture This basement right you have a concrete floor cold
concrete walls those steel support Post in the center portions of the basement the men then remove the zip ties from
Bill's wrist they sit him down uh his back is up against one of those support posts in the basement then they put his
arms behind him and around the post and zip tie his wrist together once again they zip tie his ankles together and tie
rope around both his wrist and ankles and then they leave him um you know but before they leave him they cover his
face with like an old quilt that they found lying around in the basement yeah um so once again bill can hear the men
uh but he cannot see them so at this point he can hear them rumaging through the home uh apparently looking for
valuables uh they are opening up closet doors they're pulling out drawers uh but
they are finding very little bill is trying to figure this whole thing out he he gets the idea that he should start
moving up and down on the pole he wants to create friction against the rope and the zip ties That on his wrist mhm
here's here's what he can figure out right bill has no firearms uh in the home and he didn't have zip ties or rope
in his home so those items he could figure out that the men had brought with them the bat that the men used to beat
bill in the head he believed probably had belonged to him that they had found it someplace before they had attacked
him right at some point he can hear bir birds singing and chirping outside Bill knew that this meant that at that point
it would have been about 4:45 a.m. in the morning mhm he then hears something in the basement click on
this is the irrigation kicking on so he knows that the irrigation at his home comes on at 5:30 a.m. remember bill has
lived here for about 20 years so even though he is he's in this concussed fog uh he's doing his best to try to figure
this whole strange and painful situation to which he he woke to he's trying to figure this thing out right so he's
doing his best to monitor the situation even though he is bound and helpless in his own basement and by now he has lost
a lot of blood and he's he's very weak at this point well and also if anybody's been cuffed with you know ties before I
mean that cuts your wrist really bad so even though you're trying to create that
friction to against the pole to release yourself you know it's probably cutting up your wrist pretty bad well at some
point he can hear his wife speaking with the men this means Bill believes them to
be in the kitchen as he could not hear them before and the kitchen is the closest room to bill now we said that
the burglars had not made the Big Score as they had thought I mean you got to you got to picture this situation like
the Captain said this is a nice neighborhood this is an upper class neighborhood this is a big home it's a
little bit beyond nice yeah so when you view the home from the outside these guys are thinking oh there's diamonds
and gold and stacks of cash inside well if you look at a lot of the average houses in in Cheshire it's like it
almost looks like somebody built a house and then they built another house and then they connected them that's the norm
size of houses there you know what I find funny here and well not funny is not the right word but um maybe unique
is is the better word um Bill he's he's a very successful doctor right um he's he's considered like a specialist in
diabetes especially for the area his wife a nurse she may have have become a stay-at-home mom at some point I'm not
I'm not certain um and then we have the kids who we have the kids who are very uh smart kids
um and the thing is though even though there we have two very successful smart parents yeah they seem to me to be
pretty modest and reasonable people like they don't seem to be they're not living above their
means they're not they don't they don't have a bunch of fancy uh possessions right um the house is not extravagant um
these seem to be very downto Earth uh successful people the house is still pretty big though it is it is a nice one
it's not like but like I said the normal house in Cheshire is like a house connected by another house and that
would be your house and their house was definitely modest compared to those well
they do have the the well-manicured lawn they have the you know the Nice Landscaping outside which I believe um
Jennifer bill and the kids spent time on those things together uh as far as the upkeep of their home um now so we had
said that the burglars had not made the big score that they were hoping for by this point the men had confiscated
Bill's wallet and Haley's wallet as well now Bill's wallet had no cash zero dollars in it right uh Haley's the she's
the oldest daughter had $103 uh cash and a bunch of small gift cards to like local stores and shops M
um these she had Reed received as presents for her recent graduation um the two had also found a
big bar a big jar of full of change and they had emptied the jar into a bag so they could take it with them so a pretty
pathetic score for these two house burglar so we said that bill could hear his wife Jennifer speaking with the two
men she is calmly and politely telling the men that if they are going to go to the bank
she would need to get her purse for her identification and she would also need her husband's uh Bill's checkbook right
so the burglars had ransacked the house finding very little right but one thing they did find was a bank book and
according to the bank book The pedits had an account with about $30,000 in it the two men had decided on a plan that
at 900 a.m. the bank would open and after the bank is open one guy is going to drive Mrs Pettit to the bank where
she will withdraw $155,000 and this is at what time um that they've come up with this plan
right um I do not know what time this is uh but it would would have been after 5:30 a.m. when Bill heard the irrigation
click on so for whatever reason the two of these guys that have broken into the home and this family they come up with
this number of $155,000 that they're going to withdraw um from the pettit's bank account with
Miss Mrs Pettit uh in tow when the bank opens up at 9:00 a.m. meanwhile it's weird that you just want to have her
withdraw the full amount yeah I I I don't know the reasoning behind that but meanwhile the other man the plan is for
the other man to stay behind at the pet at home so the two bad guys will have the ability to communicate with each
other via their cell phones if Mrs Pettit tries anything funny uh then the man left behind at the home will kill
her husband and two children so now the men and the Pettit family to which they have taken captive they are just waiting
for 9:00 a.m. to happen in the meantime Bill hears his wife leaving a message for Bill's nurse and assistant this
message is just um Bill's wife Jennifer explaining that bill is not feeling well
right uh he won't be able to go into work to that day uh she will need to call and cancel all of Bill's
appointments um Bill hearing this is hoping that this would be a red flag I don't know that it would be but his his
reasoning is you know he' had this practice for many many years and he he couldn't recall having called off before
um if he had ever been sick to the point point of canceling appointments it may have happened once uh so Bill hearing
this is hoping this could be a potential red flag that that somebody on the outside might contact the home or call
the home anyway uh one of the men goes out to Bill pettit's garage there he finds
some empty washer fluid jugs uh the man then drives Jennifer Pettit she has a Chrysler Pacifica van right uh he drives
this van to a nearby gas station the man fills the two empty washer fluid jugs with gasoline $10 worth uh he does not
put any gas in the van at all he pays cash for the $10 worth of gas and then he drives back to the pet at
home twice throughout the night Bill herd um remember he cannot see anything because they have covered his head but
twice throughout the night he heard someone come down down the steps uh the pettits have a refrigerator in their
basement uh inside this refrigerator is mainly soda and beer well twice he had heard someone come down the steps open
up the fridge and crack open a can now Bill gets a little Hope from hearing this whole plan of going to the bank um
you know is this a bad idea yeah I mean here's he considers it to be a bit of a dumb move by these men you know because
they're going to have to go out into public with Jennifer um you know so bill is hoping that this is an opportunity
that the men could make a mistake uh maybe someone at the bank can become aware that Jennifer is in trouble maybe
the police get notified and are sent to the home um but at some point he hears um what sounds like the man one of the
men returning to the home and a little bit later he now I'm guessing this is sometime near 9:00 a.m. because Bill can
hear what sounds to be like his wife and one of the men leaving the home he's assuming that they're going to the bank
right and that's exactly what's taking place so as directed Jennifer walks into the Bank of America after she's driven
there by one of the men in her own van in her Chrysler Pacific a van uh this is their local branch of uh Bank of America
she walks in there and she tries to appear calm even though her family has been tied up and terrorized for hours
and you know basically under the control of these two Mad Men Who had broken into
their home in the middle of the night so Jennifer walks calmly into the bank and
just like we all have before she waited for the next available teller well when the teller comes over
ask if she can help her with anything uh Jennifer requested a withdrawal of $155,000 which as a teller you kind of
go whoa that's a big withdrawal yeah and the teller asked Jennifer for identification Jennifer explained that
she did not have any but she would still need to withdraw the money the teller then tells Jennifer I need to see your
ID and I will need your husband to be present as well to approve a withdrawal of this
amount that is when Jennifer as calm as she could she explained to the teller that there are two men who have broken
into my home and taken my family hostage if she does not give them $115,000 right away they are going to
kill her daughters and her husband yeah the teller then turned and went to the branch manager the teller whispered um
what she knew to the manager manager uh the manager approached Jennifer Pettit and asked her for ID Jennifer held her
pocketbook open showing that she had no identification with her uh she explained
to the manager that the two men had taken her ID cards and would not let her have them Jennifer then showed the
manager pictures of her two daughters and then told her how the men would kill them and her husband if she did not
bring them this money right away and then what does the manager do well the the man the manager is supposed to
assess the situation as quickly as possible you know to figure out is this some kind of scam or is this is this
somebody that's in trouble right that we need to help out here so you would think
that this Branch would actually know who the pedits were yeah I I didn't get that
impression that they did but um maybe they but you know maybe Bill didn't do his bank Bing at the local branch maybe
he went somewhere closer to work who knows yeah and the the thing here is the manager basically says having seen the
pictures of the two daughters and then the look on Jennifer's face the look in her eyes she could tell something was
not right for Jennifer that day and so she very quickly approved the transaction uh the tell the teller
started to process this transaction uh and eventually would give Jennifer the money this is cash money uh meanwhile
the manager called 911 and just as calmly as Jennifer had walked into the bank uh she walked out
she then walked out with the money we'll get right back into this after this quick beer
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freedom [Music] now all right cheers mates happy Halloween happy Halloween so we have
this situation where two men break into the pett family home in the middle of the night probably between 2 and 3 a.m.
and we have four people in the home Bill his wife his two daughters and they devis this plan because they don't find
much of value in the home they devis this plan that they're going to drive Mrs Pettit to the bank and they're going
to have her withdraw $115,000 and if she returns to them with the money they say they're going to
leave they will leave her and her family uh after this action takes place well they take her to the bank and of course
the bank surveillance cameras they capture the transaction which shows Jennifer Pettit as she informed the
teller as to her situation uh as we had said the bank manager then called 911 reported the details to the
police while Jennifer was still with the teller the manager reported to the 911 dispatcher in real time as Jennifer left
the bank and was then picked up by the van driven by one of the men who had broken into her home the bank manager
described the man and described his clothing as he drove away with Jennifer well I describe the car as well but a
lot of people you know have speculated why didn't Jennifer try to stay in the bank longer uh she was actually in there
longer than actually originally planned by the Invaders and so she she kind of she tried to give as much information as
she could and stay in there a little bit longer but you know you also have you you have that fear in the back of your
mind that you know if if I don't make this transaction quickly he's going to assume something's up and he he's One
Call Away or one text away from possibly my family being murdered yeah and we played the 911 call for you at the
beginning of this episode this was Mary Lions uh that did the 911 call she was the manager there uh she tells the 911
operator basically we have a lady in our bank that says her husband and children
are being held in their house uh the people who are waiting out there are people that are waiting for her outside
of the bank in a car she's getting $115,000 to bring to them if the police are told they will kill her children and
her husband uh they have their faces covered and she meaning Jennifer is petrified they told her they would not
hurt anyone if she gets back there with the money and Jennifer believes them the
chesher police responded to this 911 call by sending an unmarked car several unmarked cars in fact back to the
pettit's neighborhood they began calling officers and sending marked cars to the
neighborhood as well the marked cars were to block off traffic in and out of the neighborhood once the police started
to arrive on scene they would establish and build a perimeter around the house this would be after they do a couple of
these Drive buys to see if they can gain any knowledge regarding the type of activity that may be going on on inside
right um the how and of course uh the why and of course to see if they could learn anything about the two
perpetrators well and they don't know if it's just two correct they're they're told to but you don't know that and we
we don't know how little you know even though Jennifer told the bank teller and the manager what's going on we don't
know how little she knows you know there's a situation where it's a big home she's seen two people there could
be other people in that home well when they first do the uh driveby when the police first do the driveby in the
unmarked car they see that the Chrysler Pacifica van that was driven to the bank
had already returned to the house and it is in the driveway M they can see no lights um or activity in the windows of
the home right but their curtains aren't drawn you you can see into the house yeah and I actually um we have a
situation where I believe Jennifer's sister stated that um and this is how kind of modest the pedits were she said
you know they had this big beautiful home and my sister didn't even really own any curtains um didn't put curtains
in the window um and so they see no lights they see no activity as the captain pointed out there there's not a
whole lot obstructing their view um we have the officer in charge uh he has the telephone number for the
Pettit house right and he also has cell phone numbers for the members of the Pettit
family but he has to go off of what information he has you know what has been reported to them the men had
threatened Mrs Pettit and her family but according to Mrs pet according to Jennifer they had been
nice uh also they were going to leave they were going to leave once they got their money um but the other information
had is that they would kill the family if the police had found out about the situation right and keep in mind that
this is a very small town Cheshire is pretty small I mean the population at this point is well you know not well
under but it's definitely under 30,000 right so it's a pretty small community so what kind of technology and what kind
of training did this police force have yeah and these type of Hostage situations they're not common you know
and especially you would you would guess in a town of of that size that this may
be something they've not dealt with before and so basically that's what you're working with here you have the
situation where that they've been nice the perpetrators have been nice they're going to leave once they get the money
we know they have the money but they're going to kill the family if the police finds out what's going on so that's what
you have to try to form a game plan with and the officer in charge now he starts
sending officers to position themselves he's sending them to positions in the wooded area behind the Pettit family
home right so let's go back into the house for a second here right because by now it's got to be near 10: a.m. this is
Bill guessing bill is still tied up to the steel support pole in his basement um he has been beaten in the head with
that baseball bat his wrists are still bound behind his back and around the pole yeah but let's not go with what he
thinks I mean the call came into the police at 9:24 mhm so um by the time they head back uh this is before
10:00 right um and he's still tied up with those zip ties in the Rope we should point out that the zip ties are
so tight around his wrist that they are actually slicing into his skin right like I said before his feet are bound
with the zip ties as well and the Rope the men who put them there for some reason they put this cloth over his head
obviously so he couldn't see but they've also thrown some type of quilt over top
of him as well so what he can see are really only Shadows throughout the night and at this point but they also oddly
place down pillows mhm because it's a hard concrete floor so again I think that's some evidence that you know their
motive is money and and not murder now they have uh he's lost a lot of blood like we said from his head
wounds bill has spent hours moving up and down on the pole and twisting his wrist in his hands hoping the friction
in the twisting will eventually wear on the zip ties so he can break free and like the captain said for some strange
reason they put those cushions under him uh the cushions by this point are now stained red with Bill's blood right and
Bill's eyes Sting from the blood and the sweat that are running into them bill can hear noises from upstairs but he is
unsure of what he is hearing he hears some kind of some thumping he says that it sounds like somebody was throwing you
know like a a 20 lb bag of sand onto the ground onto the floor above him uh he tries to yell out um and when he does he
he then hears a voice from the upstairs yell back at him that says don't worry this will all be over in a couple of
minutes well Bill takes this to mean that the men terrorized his family will soon shoot all four of them and then
leave them dead in their home mhm Bill works hard and faster to try to weaken the restraints around his wrist and arms
finally after trying for hours the zip ties on his wrist they break and the Rope comes loose Bill reaches down but
he cannot break the plastic ties around his ankles the pet at home on soram Mill
Drive has two doors that lead to the basement one like we said at the top of the flight of stairs
um which leads to the kitchen right the other is this it's a Cellar door that leads to the
backyard up to the Cellar Door is a a shorter flight of stairs bill is going to attempt to make it up these stairs
and out the Cellar Door and over to the neighbor's home hoping that he can notify the neighbor what's going on on
and call 911 and notify the police bill goes over to the stairs and one step at a time he pulls himself up and then
pushes open the Cellar Door by this time it's raining outside he swings his legs
onto the lawn and then through a series of rolling and crawling he somehow makes
his way this is just a little more than 50 feet away from this door over to his neighbor's home um his neighbor Dave
Bill's still lying on the ground he pounds on Dave's Garage Door after several attempts the door finally opens
and there's Dave Dave has known bill for like 18 years by this point remember we
said Bill lived in the home for 20 years before this this incident took place but
but Dave looks at Bill and he cannot recognize him bill is so badly beaten and covered in blood that Dave shouts at
bill can I help you can I help you sir and Bill louder than Dave yells back Dave it's me Dave it's me it's Bill it's
Bill call 911 call 911 now remember by this time we have police officers that are stationed and positioned all around
the pet at home and throughout the neighborhood right so I assume some of these officers actually saw Bill coming
out of the house yeah yeah one of them who has been watching the pet at home um I'm not sure if it was one from the
Street or from behind a tree in the backyards of the H backyard of sorghum Mill Drive um he approaches the two men
uh this being bill and his neighbor Dave he approaches the two men with his gun drawn aiming the gun at the bloodied man
bill on the ground and the officer the officer orders Bill to stay down and then a second officer appears out of the
rain one of the officers shouts at Bill who is in the house to which Bill replies the girls the officer yells
again who is in the house and Bill yells back the girls the girls are in the house right and this I I think shows
lack of training well very quickly after this this takes place a call on the police radio reports
that there is a man at the neighbor's home yelling and it's believed that the man is from the pet house right now the
officer in charge he's stationed close to an and with a good view of the pet at home he hears this call go out on his
radio he's actually Reaching For His Radio to request more information when he sees someone fleeing the pet at home
running with a bag in his hand toward the van in the driveway and another call goes out on the police radio announcing
that the suspects are on the move the officer in charge then sees a second man wearing a hat fleeing the home the
younger thinner suspect gets in the driver's side and the older heavier suspect gets in the passenger side of
the vehicle the driver slams the vehicle into reverse this is the Chrysler Pacifica van and the Pacifica goes
flying backing out of the pedit driveway yeah and I would just want to be clear that this is the pettit's car yes
Jennifer pettit's van that was driven to the to the bank by the perpetrators now
they're fleeing in her van as well but we have a couple problems happening here so we have the suspects leaving in the
ped's vehicle we got to stop them but uh cops also heard screams from inside the
house and also the house is now on fire yeah um and I don't know that they that all of the the officers have recognize
this by this point uh the officer in charge says that he has not seen the fire he's kind of focusing on this van
at this point which is right in front of him and it violently backs out you know
at a very high rate of speed backing out of the Pettit driveway and into one of the officer cars the police near the
police vehicle they draw their guns and they aim them at the driver and passenger of this van the driver slams
the Pacifica into to drive into drive mode squeals the tires and rushes from in front of the driveway down the street
at a very high rate of speed and takes the corner ahead the officers can no longer see the Pacifica but they hear a
loud crash the two suspects had crashed the van into a parked into two parked police cruisers that had been set up to
stop traffic going in and out of the neighborhood both of the suspects are forced to the ground um they're being
asked by the officers who have guns on them who they are what was going on in the house who is in the house and then
the officers take the two suspects into custody they make arrest there and now they can focus on clearing the house at
10:15 a.m. Bill pettit's mother Barbara calls her husband this is Bill senior she tells him that the alarm company
from their son's house has called the smoke detectors triggered this call when no one at the home answered the alarm
company they then called the backup number listed right which was Bill's parents Bill senior was already out and
about that day he tried calling members of the family himself but he got their voicemail
greetings then since he was in the neighborhood he thought he would swing by Bill's medical office he gets there
and the nurse tells him that Jennifer had left a message that bill was sick and not coming in to work Bill senior
then decides to go to the pet at home because their home is relatively close to Bill's medical office so he wants to
go to the home and check on the house and check on his son as he gets near the home an ambulance and several police
cars pass him going opposite direction he then sees what looks to be Jennifer's Chrysler Pacific AV crashed and smashed
on the side of the road he can't get too close to the house because the police have set up a roadblock right he tells
one of the officers who he is you know I'm I'm I'm Bill pet Senor I'm I'm Bill's father uh and he tells him that
the crashed vehicle looks to be his daughter-in-law's vehicle and he needs to be let through the officer explains
that he will have to get someone to come over and speak with him well while Bill
senior Waits he's trying to piece this whole thing together why was Jennifer's van smashed and was Jennifer okay and
what did that have to do with the smoke alarm going off at the home or his or his son being sick and missing work at
this point the Pit's property I mean it's it's just a it's a giant crime scene and it's chaotic mhm well
eventually an officer approached Bill senior and explained to him that there has been a fire at the pettit's home he
tells him that your son is on his way to the hospital and there are three people
deceased in the home Bill Pettit Senor calls his family members first his wife and then his
daughter and tells them the terrible sad news he struggles to get the words out um he has to tell them that that his
wife's son Bill Junior and his daughter's brother is is near death and going to the hospital and all of the
girls are dead Bill Pettit Jr was rushed to the emergency room uh like we said he
had been beaten very badly beaten so badly in the face and head that his parents and sister when they arrived
they didn't recognize him he has bruises and cuts around his wrist and ankles and
he has lost a lot of blood he's lost seven pints of blood by this's lucky to be alive with losing that much blood and
then also just the the gash you know there he has some gashes on the back of his head which can't
really see because of his hair obviously MH but it's um it's the gash on the front of his face I mean it's you know I
mean not to make lightly of it but when you think of somebody dressing up you know a Halloween costume or something
you know putting a big fake gash on their head that's what it looks like yeah it's it's gruesome and it's big
yeah and in pictures uh pictures of Bill shortly after this took place like you said you can't really see the Damage
Done to the top or the back of his head um but you can see where there's large portions of his hair that is is missing
um you can tell that from the front pictures of him and the best way to describe this wound to the front of his
head is it it basically runs from his hairline down to one of his eyebrows and it almost looks like somebody put a
zipper there right um and it's uh terrible terrible wound well and then like we said I mean with these zip ties
you know he was only Bound for you know a handful of hours but the amount of damage and bruising they did to him is I
mean is pretty severe yeah and some of that he had to do to himself to try to to eventually be able to weaken them to
the point where he could escape from his own basement yeah and then his wife's family's going to show up and I think
one of the saddest things reading was you know he loved his wife and his wife family shows up to see him in the
hospital and he's basically apologizing that he couldn't do any more to help that he didn't stop him that he left the
house and he wishes you know like we said there was two exits one outside the house to go get help to go to the
neighbor's house call 911 and the other option would have been to go upstairs and and try to attack these uh you and
again you don't even know how many people I mean you had two guys beat you up but you don't know that there's only
two guys and and he was apologizing to them and wishing he could done more I mean that would have been a sad sad
situation yeah and her parents Jennifer's parents explained to bill that you do you don't have anything that
you need to apologize to anybody for and we are lucky just to have you and you know thinking about that situation of
Bill being in the basement you have to again it's a similar situation where you you have to think about the cops outside
that are trying to build this perimeter you can only go off of what very little information you know Bill doesn't know
what's taking place upstairs in his home he doesn't know that his home is being surrounded by the police that they've
already been notified right what he does know is this at one point there's a gun
in his face he has no firearms on him he has you know if they choose to use that
gun he has no ability of Defending his family and secondly by this point he's lost seven pints of blood he's extremely
weak by this point this is a guy that that also suffered from low blood pressure um and we know losing that
amount of blood's going to cause that blood pressure to drop and drop and drop and drop to dangerously low numbers
right and like I was saying before it's he probably went in and out of Consciousness M multiple times and might
not even realized it mhm and by this point he's he's weak he's been beaten upon the head he can't get the toe off
around his ankles I think that that the thought here and it has to be the thought here
is that your best bet is to go and get some real help because what kind of real help is Bill going to be able to offer
other than that it once he got upstairs if he gets upstairs and he tries to defend his family it's very easy for
them to put one in his head put a bullet in his head and boom that that that help
ended right there well and I think that's the big big conundrum when it comes down to hostage situations anyways
you know do you fight back you know and does that cause more harm to yourself and to others or do you let it play out
and I think that's the question in every hostage situation I think that's a question that the police have to face as
well now remember Jennifer's van had been driven by the two men who had broke into the home crashed into the two
police cars that were blocking traffic and thankfully the police arrested those men so now we have two guys in custody
the police arrested Joshua carfi and he was the younger thinner uh suspect that we said was fleeing from
the house H Joshua was in his late 20s back in 2007 a career criminal in and out of trouble for most of his adult
life they also arrested Stephen Hayes he was the older more heavy set one Stephen
Hayes was almost 20 years older thann Joshua uh they arrested both those men on that day on Monday July
23rd now the damage that was done um as the captain had said the home was very badly destroyed uh by this fire
uh there was a fire that was set in several rooms of the home we have Bill Pettit Jr uh who had survived this
incident and sadly his wife Jennifer and his daughters Haley and Michaela did not
then the question becomes for the pedit family uh for the law enforcement for the
community why did this happen and what actually happened and what is going to be the punishment for these two
individuals and what could have been done differently to stop this type of situation
[Music] now all right we want to thank everybody for listening we want to thank you for
telling your friends about the show hopefully everybody has had a wonderful and safe and happy Halloween we have
much more to get to in tomorrow's episode The how and the why there's a lot of answers that we need here Captain
yeah and hopefully nobody found any razor blades in their Halloween candy all right Captain happy Halloween to you
to everybody out there until next time be good be kind and don't litter [Music] [Applause]
[Music] you can start your day off right when you find a professional on Angie to
get your plumbing right first connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well
visit angie.com you can do this when you Angie that

The Cheshire Murders /// Part 1 /// 154

Part 1 of 2

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Two petty criminals met and became friends at a halfway house. This was to be part of rehabilitating both of these criminals with lengthy records back into society. After the friendship was formed the house burglar taught the car thief how to break into homes of well to do families. In July of 2007 the two men broke into the home of Dr. William Petit. Petit had lived at the home on Sorgham Mill drive in the quiet safe town of Cheshire, Connecticut for 20 years. At home with Dr. Petit that night was his wife and two daughters. The two men found Dr. Petit asleep on a couch in the sunroom. They beat him with a baseball bat. From there the two men went to ransack the house and terrorize the girls. This is the nightmarish true story of the Cheshire, Connecticut home invasion murders.Beer of the week - Lonesome Boatman Ale by Outer Light BrewingGarage Grade - 4 out of 5 bottle caps

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Brief Summary

The Pettit family faces a brutal home invasion, leading to tragedy and a desperate police response.

Key points

A Family's Nightmare Begins. The Pettit family faces a terrifying home invasion that escalates quickly.
The Attack on Bill Pettit. Bill wakes to find himself under attack, tied up and beaten.
A Desperate Situation. Jennifer Pettit is forced to withdraw money for her family's safety.
Desperate Withdrawal. Jennifer Pettit walks into the bank and requests a withdrawal of $155,000, fearing for her family's lives.
A Frantic Escape. Bill Pettit manages to escape his captors and reaches out to his neighbor for help.
Bill Pettit Sr. Receives Bad News. Bill learns that his son is hospitalized and three family members are deceased.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

They told us they wouldn't hurt anybody if she got back there with the money.

The tension escalates as a woman is forced to withdraw money for her family's safety.

4:14WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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