Latest / Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast / The Cheshire Murders - Part 1

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The Cheshire Murders - Part 1 · Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast

0:07
Speaker 1: In the name of good versus evil. There are countless
0:10
Speaker 1: cases out there that highlight what humans are truly capable of.
0:14
Speaker 1: One such case is our subject today. The Pettit family
0:18
Speaker 1: were an honest, hard working family, but would eventually fall
0:22
Speaker 1: victim to two individuals who were born into cruel circumstances. Together,
0:28
Speaker 1: these two decided they were going to pray on the
0:31
Speaker 1: more fortunate than them, and slowly their desire for causing
0:36
Speaker 1: harm became more satiable, until one horrible event left one
0:41
Speaker 1: member of the Pettit family wishing they had done more
0:44
Speaker 1: to stop the violence as they grieved over the death
0:48
Speaker 1: of all their loved ones. This is the brutal and
0:53
Speaker 1: infamous case known as the Shechesher Murders.
0:58
Speaker 2: My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked Ingrim.
1:02
Speaker 1: A true crime podcast.
1:06
Speaker 2: Following material more mature audience listener.
1:34
Speaker 1: So, I just spilled coffee all over my lap and
1:36
Speaker 1: I just did it again. Okay, this this is not
1:39
Speaker 1: something to pour from very I've done it before on
1:41
Speaker 1: the show.
1:42
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I don't know. I love you to just
1:46
Speaker 2: like wipe it on your pants.
1:47
Speaker 1: Well, there, there's already coffee on them, and they're just
1:50
Speaker 1: like ratty jeans. It's just going to add to the
1:53
Speaker 1: the hipster used feel of them, you know what I mean? Yes,
1:56
Speaker 1: they're worth more money.
1:57
Speaker 2: Now instead of an opening beer where poor coffee?
2:00
Speaker 1: Hey are we are?
2:02
Speaker 2: Well?
2:02
Speaker 1: I mean, this case has been I just dropped my
2:04
Speaker 1: towent them. This case has been something that's taking me
2:07
Speaker 1: a long time to research. It's there's a lot to it.
2:11
Speaker 1: So this is going to be a two parter because
2:14
Speaker 1: of that. I was hoping to cram it all into
2:16
Speaker 1: one episode last night and finish it off, but I'm
2:19
Speaker 1: just I can't do it. I can't keep it into
2:21
Speaker 1: one episode.
2:21
Speaker 2: So well, yeah, sometimes it's it doesn't do the case
2:24
Speaker 2: justice either, exactly.
2:26
Speaker 1: That's exactly why I'm splitting it up, because if I
2:28
Speaker 1: were to just put it into one I would be
2:30
Speaker 1: missing so much.
2:31
Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, I'm listening to a case right now
2:35
Speaker 2: that's like literally thirteen parts.
2:39
Speaker 1: Damn, who's covering that?
2:41
Speaker 2: Do you know?
2:42
Speaker 1: Do you can you remember?
2:43
Speaker 2: Oh? Man, it's I think it's like thirteen hours or
2:46
Speaker 2: I don't even know what the heck. I think it's
2:49
Speaker 2: global I'm not sure.
2:50
Speaker 1: Okay, So it's more like a DoD docu series.
2:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, kind of, but because I'm going to be covering
2:54
Speaker 2: this podcast. But I'm like, I'm like, I'm but just
2:58
Speaker 2: doing this podcast in one episode? So am I doing
3:00
Speaker 2: an injustice? But like, there's just there's just so much
3:04
Speaker 2: more they're diving into, you know that we normally wouldn't
3:07
Speaker 2: so well.
3:08
Speaker 1: I mean, there you can do those deep dives, but
3:10
Speaker 1: a lot of those the time, you are covering a
3:14
Speaker 1: lot of minute information that's not necessary or repetitive information.
3:18
Speaker 2: Yeah. I've been noticing too. They're mentioning things a few
3:22
Speaker 2: times and I'm like, I've heard SORR ready.
3:25
Speaker 1: So yeah, but this one, there's just a long linear
3:30
Speaker 1: story that goes along with it. So we're going to
3:33
Speaker 1: start off. We won't talk a whole lot on this
3:36
Speaker 1: beginning intro, we'll just get right into this episode, but
3:38
Speaker 1: I will tell you that we are going to be
3:39
Speaker 1: kind of starting off introducing to the family and then
3:42
Speaker 1: introducing the perpetrators and kind of building up to what
3:44
Speaker 1: led to the event itself. And I do think a
3:48
Speaker 1: lot of that is really important to understand what happened
3:51
Speaker 1: and why it happened in this case, and it's really
3:55
Speaker 1: unfortunate that it played out the way that it did.
3:57
Speaker 2: But yeah, okay, I.
4:01
Speaker 1: Know this was one that's been on my radar for
4:03
Speaker 1: a while. This is a more popular case. A lot
4:05
Speaker 1: of you out there probably already know of this one.
4:08
Speaker 1: But yeah, we're gonna we're gonna do this. You ready, Yeah, yeah,
4:12
Speaker 1: you've heard of this one, right, the Sheesher Family Murders.
4:15
Speaker 2: I have, But I don't think I've ever like looked
4:18
Speaker 2: into it or listened to a podcast or anything on it,
4:21
Speaker 2: So gotcha. I mean, probably mostly new for me too.
4:23
Speaker 1: Well, I do know, like originally why it caught my
4:26
Speaker 1: attention was the name the Schescher Murders, Sheesher Family murders,
4:29
Speaker 1: because the Cheshier cat right from Alice Wonderland. Yeah, it
4:32
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with Alice Wonderland or the Sheesher Cat.
4:35
Speaker 1: It just happens to take place in some city or
4:38
Speaker 1: town called Cheshire.
4:39
Speaker 2: Okay.
4:40
Speaker 1: So yeah, there's no affiliation, just heads up with that.
4:43
Speaker 1: There's no double entendra planned words or anything, just simply
4:48
Speaker 1: that's the town.
4:49
Speaker 2: Okay.
4:50
Speaker 1: All right, So let's dive into this. The Pettitt family
4:53
Speaker 1: is where we're gonna start. So the Pettitt family was
4:55
Speaker 1: a close knit family of four made up of the father,
4:58
Speaker 1: doctor William Pettitt, his wife, the mother, Jennifer Hawke Pettit,
5:03
Speaker 1: and their two daughters, Hayley and mike Ella. Now there
5:07
Speaker 1: were they were a well respected family. They were honest,
5:10
Speaker 1: loving family who lived in a modest, modest life. Right,
5:14
Speaker 1: And of course where do you think they lived in Cheshire?
5:19
Speaker 2: How do you say it's Chesherchescher?
5:22
Speaker 1: Well, I've heard too pronouncements pronunciations for Cheshire or Shechesherer.
5:28
Speaker 1: So either way, I'll probably be flip flopping throughout this
5:30
Speaker 1: because yeah, I think Cheshier is going to be how
5:33
Speaker 1: I'll say it, but I might, I might stray a
5:35
Speaker 1: little bit, but yeah, it's it's Chesher, New Haven County
5:38
Speaker 1: and Connecticut, USA. Now, by all accounts, the Petits were
5:43
Speaker 1: fairly normal, blending into their middle middle kind of class neighborhood.
5:47
Speaker 1: You know, a simple two story home at three hundred
5:51
Speaker 1: Sagham Mill Drive. Now, I do want to highlight the
5:54
Speaker 1: fact that I did say it's a middle class neighborhood.
5:56
Speaker 1: It's a simple two story home, but it's probably a
5:59
Speaker 1: little bit nicer than you're imagining. Think like you know,
6:04
Speaker 1: the house from from Home alone, kind of like that.
6:08
Speaker 1: But a little bit smaller. So it's like, that's that's
6:09
Speaker 1: a fucking nice house. Yeah, quite nice, modest home. But
6:13
Speaker 1: I mean being that, for example, the father was a doctor.
6:17
Speaker 1: They definitely did have some extra income, but they they
6:20
Speaker 1: lived modest for for their their their life that they
6:23
Speaker 1: did lead.
6:24
Speaker 2: So there's nothing wrong with that.
6:26
Speaker 1: I feel like, no, no, not at all.
6:27
Speaker 2: Sometimes people think they need this mansion of a house
6:30
Speaker 2: to look like they're successful.
6:31
Speaker 1: No, they definitely had a nice house. They could have
6:35
Speaker 1: had nicer for sure. Yeah, but they definitely they had
6:37
Speaker 1: a nice house, but it was it was fairly modest
6:39
Speaker 1: for them. It's totally fine, right, Yeah, And I am
6:43
Speaker 1: highlighting this because it is actually an important part of
6:46
Speaker 1: this story. Okay, So now, doctor William Pettitt, who was
6:52
Speaker 1: fifty years old, was an endocrinologist, which means that he
6:56
Speaker 1: specialized in diabetes and metabolic disorders. So a lot of
6:59
Speaker 1: times she's helping diagnose and treat people with those sort
7:02
Speaker 1: of diseases. He was also a very well regarded individual
7:08
Speaker 1: in his field and was known for his compassionate care
7:10
Speaker 1: towards his patient He really took care when dealing with
7:14
Speaker 1: them outside of work. Though he was also a very
7:16
Speaker 1: dedicated husband and father who deeply involved himself in his
7:20
Speaker 1: daughter's lives and their activities. His wife, Jennifer Hawk Pettitt,
7:24
Speaker 1: who was forty eight years old, was a nurse and
7:26
Speaker 1: a co director of the health Center at the Cheshire Academy,
7:30
Speaker 1: which is a private boarding school. Now, she was very
7:33
Speaker 1: kind and deeply get dedicated to her family as well
7:36
Speaker 1: and the community, actively participating in local charitable organizations and
7:40
Speaker 1: community events, even despite living with the diagnosis of MS
7:45
Speaker 1: or multiple sclerosis. So that is something that many people
7:49
Speaker 1: do suffer with and it is a deteriorate of type disease.
7:52
Speaker 1: So she was dealing with that and she's still making
7:55
Speaker 1: sure that she's out there not only with the family
7:57
Speaker 1: but in the community doing which you can really impressive.
8:00
Speaker 2: Good for her.
8:01
Speaker 1: Now, their oldest daughter, Haley Pettitt, was seventeen years old
8:05
Speaker 1: and she was an intelligent and very ambitious young woman.
8:08
Speaker 1: She was a top student at Miss Porter School, a
8:10
Speaker 1: prestigious girls prep school where she excelled academically and athletically alike. Now,
8:17
Speaker 1: though she was preparing to attend the private Ivy League
8:21
Speaker 1: Research University of Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire, during her
8:25
Speaker 1: upcoming fall semester, so she was just graduating from that
8:28
Speaker 1: prep school and was soon going to be attending Dartmouth.
8:31
Speaker 1: Hailey was passionate about helping others and actively involved in
8:35
Speaker 1: fundraising for multiple sclerosis research. As we obviously know, it's
8:41
Speaker 1: something that's near and dear to her family.
8:43
Speaker 2: Right, this family seems terrific.
8:45
Speaker 1: They seem like they are like Hollywood picture perfect.
8:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, like I'm already kind of obsessed with them.
8:51
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, as such, it isn't surprising to learn that
8:54
Speaker 1: she was planning to follow interference footsteps in the medical
8:57
Speaker 1: field as well. Now, I'm not too sure which career
9:01
Speaker 1: she planned on going. Whether it was nursing, whether it
9:03
Speaker 1: was doctor, whether it was research, I don't know, but
9:07
Speaker 1: she was planning to target that medical field one way,
9:10
Speaker 1: shape or form. Now, Mikela Pettitt, who was eleven years old,
9:15
Speaker 1: the youngest daughter, who was affectionately known as KK or
9:18
Speaker 1: KK Rosebud by her family. I don't know what the
9:21
Speaker 1: nickname where it comes from. It seems to be a
9:24
Speaker 1: very private kind of nickname. In any article where it
9:26
Speaker 1: was referenced, it was simply just referencing her as such,
9:30
Speaker 1: and there was no ever explanation given.
9:32
Speaker 2: Well, it's freaking adorable, I know, kk rosebud oh yeah.
9:39
Speaker 1: So yeah. She was a bright and vibrant young girl.
9:41
Speaker 1: She attended the Chase Coligate School, where she was known
9:44
Speaker 1: for her kindness and enthusiasm for learning. Now, Mikela also
9:48
Speaker 1: had a budding passion for cooking, enjoying time in the
9:50
Speaker 1: kitchen with her mother and also tending the garden that
9:53
Speaker 1: they had where she was able to grow fresh ingredients
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Speaker 1: to actually you know, go from like farm to table
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Speaker 1: sort of thing, learn the whole process.
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Speaker 2: So at eleven, that's really awesome.
10:03
Speaker 1: At eleven, I have a feeling that she was going
10:05
Speaker 1: to be diving into a cooking field in her future
10:10
Speaker 1: for sure. Now together, the family shared a very close bond,
10:15
Speaker 1: as their home in Sheeshire, Connecticut was a place of warmth,
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Speaker 1: love and laughter. However, the events that would soon unfold
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Speaker 1: within the happy home that the Petits had built would
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Speaker 1: soon have locals in utter disbelief and calling the event
10:31
Speaker 1: the Sheesher nine eleven. Now, I do want to highlight this,
10:36
Speaker 1: though their intent is not to compare the incident with
10:38
Speaker 1: nine to eleven or take awareness away from those atrocities
10:41
Speaker 1: that took place in New York City that day. Their
10:43
Speaker 1: intent is simply to put words into just how shocking
10:46
Speaker 1: it was for them to feel this happened so close
10:48
Speaker 1: to home in Cheshire. For them, it felt like nine
10:51
Speaker 1: to eleven had just happened. Okay, But just before we
10:55
Speaker 1: get into that horrific crime, the one that occurred on
10:59
Speaker 1: July twenty third, two thousand and seven, we need to
11:02
Speaker 1: first take a look at the individuals who go on
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Speaker 1: to commit the brutal axe. So he just introduced to
11:08
Speaker 1: the Pettitt family. Now we're going to introduce you to
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Speaker 1: Joshua Andrew Comitzcavari. Now, Joshua was born on August tenth,
11:17
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty in Cheshire, Connecticut, and he entered the world
11:21
Speaker 1: to a young mother and a father who was barely
11:24
Speaker 1: out of his teens, and I believe the mother was
11:25
Speaker 1: only sixteen years old herself. As such, he was a
11:29
Speaker 1: put up for adoption and was adopted at about two
11:32
Speaker 1: weeks old by Benedict and June Commits Kavari, which is
11:36
Speaker 1: where he would eventually get his last name. Now, the
11:39
Speaker 1: former being the son of a renowned a theatrical a theatrical.
11:44
Speaker 1: I can't say the word theater director, there we go.
11:47
Speaker 1: Theatrical is a word trying to say.
11:49
Speaker 2: I thought that was what it was.
11:50
Speaker 1: But theatrical director Theodore Commitscavari and dancer Ernest Stotle. Now,
11:57
Speaker 1: Joshua's early life was fraught with difficulties. In the early
12:01
Speaker 1: nineteen nineties, his sister actually accused him of sexual assault,
12:06
Speaker 1: an allegation that led to his conviction. Now, during his
12:10
Speaker 1: trial in the penalty phase, his father actually admitted that
12:13
Speaker 1: the accusations were more than likely true.
12:16
Speaker 2: Oh No.
12:19
Speaker 1: Academically and socially, Joshua struggled significantly as he grew older.
12:23
Speaker 1: His adoptive parents, who held strong religious belief often sought
12:27
Speaker 1: thought sorry, sought solutions. That's almost a tongue twister. There.
12:31
Speaker 1: Often sought solutions through their faith rather than through physiological
12:36
Speaker 1: counseling or medication, sorry, psychological counseling, which they basically flat
12:42
Speaker 1: out distrusted. So their trust relied heavily on spiritual with
12:48
Speaker 1: their religion rather than actually seeking a doctor. And though
12:52
Speaker 1: I'm not going to say, you know, one is better
12:55
Speaker 1: than the other, or one is going to work and
12:57
Speaker 1: one isn't going to I think certainly one needs to
13:00
Speaker 1: explore both paths. If you do believe in one, then
13:03
Speaker 1: I think you need to make sure that you should
13:05
Speaker 1: maybe you know, at times look at the other as well. Yeah,
13:08
Speaker 1: and I think Joshua definitely needed the latter in his life.
13:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, it sounds that way for sure. Now.
13:14
Speaker 1: Joshua's criminal activities began at the young age of fourteen,
13:18
Speaker 1: when he committed his first burglary. Now by two thousand
13:22
Speaker 1: and two, he had been arrested for a total of
13:25
Speaker 1: eighteen home invasions. Day his defense attorney noted that Joshua
13:30
Speaker 1: could recall every single detail of his crimes with remarkable precision. Wow,
13:37
Speaker 1: I can't remember. I think it's called a nidetic memory.
13:41
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's actually been like diagnosed with it.
13:45
Speaker 1: I don't know if it diagnoses the right word, But
13:47
Speaker 1: I don't know if he has actually been said to
13:49
Speaker 1: specifically have it. But he's definitely showing signs of it
13:52
Speaker 1: because he was able to identify the exact amounts of
13:56
Speaker 1: money he would steal in the exact denominations from the
14:00
Speaker 1: specific houses, on the specific dates, even the locations in
14:04
Speaker 1: the homes where he found it. He found it in
14:06
Speaker 1: a wallet. He was able to tell you the type
14:08
Speaker 1: of genes the wallet was in. With the wallet was
14:11
Speaker 1: like every fucking detail. He was able to shit relive
14:16
Speaker 1: those things.
14:17
Speaker 2: I can't remember shit, So that's like.
14:19
Speaker 1: I know, wow, yeah, so it's incredible here an incredible mind.
14:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, but imagine how much is space that's taking up too?
14:29
Speaker 2: And there you know, Oh that's overwhelming too.
14:32
Speaker 1: With an incredible mind, generally, you also encounter incredible troubles
14:36
Speaker 1: and I think that's what Joshua was experiencing. He had
14:39
Speaker 1: a lot of troubled things going on in his head
14:43
Speaker 1: along with these gifts or curses. I'm sure you could
14:46
Speaker 1: attribute them either way.
14:47
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, because that just made me think too, Like
14:49
Speaker 2: lots of times people who say are in school or
14:52
Speaker 2: whatever and they're not being challenged, they like end up
14:55
Speaker 2: getting in trouble or something, right, because like, with a
14:58
Speaker 2: mind like that, I think you have to be chat
15:00
Speaker 2: you have to challenge, have some sort of challenge that
15:03
Speaker 2: will like I'm describing this terribly, but you know.
15:07
Speaker 1: You occupy it yea, yeah, yeah.
15:09
Speaker 2: They keep your mind occupied.
15:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's funny because we're watching I don't know if
15:12
Speaker 1: anyone else there has actually seen this series of Yeah.
15:14
Speaker 2: Shameless, literally thinking of that one too.
15:17
Speaker 1: So there's a character called Lip where in high school
15:20
Speaker 1: he just didn't even have to try. So he was
15:22
Speaker 1: getting into so much trouble because he didn't have to
15:24
Speaker 1: try it all. He didn't wasn't challenged, and then they're
15:27
Speaker 1: they're a bit of an impoverished family. So he managed
15:29
Speaker 1: to get a full ride scholarship through college, and he
15:32
Speaker 1: goes to college and all of a sudden, he's not
15:37
Speaker 1: smart anymore.
15:37
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, he has to put some effort in, for sure.
15:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, And as soon as he has to try and
15:41
Speaker 1: apply himself, he changes. It's like he's not like this
15:45
Speaker 1: bad kid roaming the streets getting into shit anymore. I mean,
15:47
Speaker 1: of course he's doing the odds ends here, but it's
15:50
Speaker 1: the same sort of story. When you don't apply yourself,
15:53
Speaker 1: you get bored and you look to do something entertain
15:57
Speaker 1: yourself or challenge yourself. And I think that's a big
16:00
Speaker 1: thing for Joshua is maybe not he wasn't being challenged,
16:06
Speaker 1: but there was things going on in his head that
16:08
Speaker 1: he was trying to at least occupy for sure. Now,
16:11
Speaker 1: Joshua did admit to his attorney after robbing these houses
16:15
Speaker 1: that he would often watch the occupants as they slept
16:18
Speaker 1: as well, finding satisfaction in violating their sense of security.
16:24
Speaker 1: That which, I think, to me, takes us right back
16:30
Speaker 1: to what we were talking about. I think he's occupying
16:32
Speaker 1: his mind with like, I can do these things and
16:36
Speaker 1: there's nothing you can do about it. And also the
16:39
Speaker 1: ability to just watch someone's sleep and the calmness that
16:43
Speaker 1: might have come over is so full mind with all
16:46
Speaker 1: these details and things in his head.
16:49
Speaker 2: I guess. But God, that's just.
16:51
Speaker 1: It's disturbing as fuck. But I think for him it
16:53
Speaker 1: was basically zen.
16:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes sense actually now.
16:57
Speaker 1: Sometimes he would actually break in, specifically, not even to
17:00
Speaker 1: steal anything, as simply to experience this thrill of invading
17:03
Speaker 1: someone's home. He would often even rearrange items in unsettling ways,
17:08
Speaker 1: you know, put something here.
17:09
Speaker 2: And over there, and to play with their mind, just to.
17:13
Speaker 1: Play with their minds when they woke up in the
17:14
Speaker 1: morning and say, I don't know, plant is from their
17:17
Speaker 1: living room is now in the middle of their dining
17:19
Speaker 1: room table. I don't know if he did that. That's
17:20
Speaker 1: just a sporadic yeah thing I threw out there. But
17:24
Speaker 1: as an example, what the fuck would be someone's first
17:27
Speaker 1: hot when they woke up in.
17:28
Speaker 2: The morning, right, no kidding, Yeah, it would. It would
17:31
Speaker 2: like that would just fuck with you for weeks, probably,
17:34
Speaker 2: oh probably, fund if you're like sleepwalking or what's going
17:38
Speaker 2: on for life?
17:39
Speaker 1: I would be on my deathbed remember that fucking time
17:41
Speaker 1: that plant just appeared in the middle of the table.
17:43
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that would drive me. It would drive
17:45
Speaker 2: the nuts.
17:46
Speaker 1: I would not I would one hundred percent go insane. Yeah.
17:51
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's kind of what Joshua was doing. And
17:53
Speaker 1: in December of two thousand and two, he was finally
17:55
Speaker 1: convicted on twelve counts of burglary and was sentenced to
17:59
Speaker 1: nine years in prison. Judge James bent Of again, I'm
18:03
Speaker 1: pretty sure I got the name as close I'm gonna
18:05
Speaker 1: get it, but I'm gonna try it again. Bent Vigana
18:07
Speaker 1: Vegna bent Of Vegna, there we go described him during
18:11
Speaker 1: the sentencing as calculated, cold blooded predator. Oh wow, yes,
18:17
Speaker 1: and I do think that is a very good description,
18:19
Speaker 1: especially the calculated part.
18:21
Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay, but so at this like, at this point
18:24
Speaker 2: he has what he's being charged with, his break and enters. Well,
18:29
Speaker 2: he did have the oh, for his sister.
18:31
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, yeah, but now it's just the the twelve
18:34
Speaker 1: counts of burglary, okay, yeah, And he was sentenced to
18:37
Speaker 1: nine years in prison, but it would be five years
18:40
Speaker 1: later in two thousand and seven when Joshua was paroled
18:44
Speaker 1: and after his release, he stayed in the Suliman Halfway
18:48
Speaker 1: House and it would be there that he would eventually
18:50
Speaker 1: meet an individual by the name of Hayes.
18:53
Speaker 2: Gosh, five years does not seem like enough time to
18:57
Speaker 2: change your ways, eh.
19:00
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, if for burglary, hey maybe maybe,
19:05
Speaker 1: I guess, for if you're doing something a little bit
19:07
Speaker 1: like more like murder, yeah, fuck no. So I don't know.
19:12
Speaker 1: I don't know if I really know enough to make
19:16
Speaker 1: a comment on that, because I think I think someone
19:18
Speaker 1: could actually rebilitate themselves. But I think it's going to
19:20
Speaker 1: be circumstantial per.
19:22
Speaker 2: Poah, that's true. But I mean, gosh, from nine to
19:25
Speaker 2: five years, it's interesting.
19:29
Speaker 1: Well regardless, though, Hayes was an individual who was born
19:32
Speaker 1: by the name of Stephen Joseph Hayes, but they Hayes,
19:35
Speaker 1: but they now go by the name of Linda Hayes.
19:37
Speaker 1: And for the purpose of the story, I will be
19:39
Speaker 1: referring to them by their last name, Hayes, And for
19:42
Speaker 1: the record, I found conflicting reports on their now chosen
19:46
Speaker 1: identifying gender and could not find solid confirmation on what
19:51
Speaker 1: their gender identification is now, So I'm going to be
19:53
Speaker 1: doing my best to use they them and just refer
19:56
Speaker 1: to them as their last name. So Hayes's early life
19:59
Speaker 1: was was marred by significant dysfunction and abuse. Raised in
20:03
Speaker 1: a household where physical and sexual abuse were unfortunately relatively common,
20:08
Speaker 1: Hayes struggled from a young age. They first faced legal
20:12
Speaker 1: trouble as an adult in nineteen eighty at the age
20:14
Speaker 1: of sixteen, and we're paroled in eighteen sorry, nineteen eighty two,
20:18
Speaker 1: and Hayes violated that parole conditions within seven weeks, so
20:22
Speaker 1: it didn't take long. And over the years, Hayes began
20:25
Speaker 1: dealing in substance abuse as well, and was arrested nearly
20:29
Speaker 1: a total of thirty times, spending majority of this period
20:33
Speaker 1: behind bars. Holy shit, and much like Joshua, Hayes had
20:38
Speaker 1: a lust for theft, often done in order to help
20:43
Speaker 1: support their life of drug use, and in two thousand
20:46
Speaker 1: and four, Hayes was arrested for smashing a car window
20:48
Speaker 1: with a rock and stealing a woman's purse from inside
20:51
Speaker 1: the vehicle. By two thousand and six, Hayes found themselves
20:55
Speaker 1: on parole and was sent to the Silamon Halfway House,
20:59
Speaker 1: which is where they crossed paths with.
21:00
Speaker 2: Joshua gosh At thirty times, you feel like there's just
21:05
Speaker 2: got to be something that kind of keeps you in
21:07
Speaker 2: jail a little bit longer to kind of get your
21:09
Speaker 2: shit together, because that is just such a waste of
21:13
Speaker 2: resources to do. Hey.
21:14
Speaker 1: Well, and there's a difference between committing a crime thirty
21:17
Speaker 1: times and being arrested thirty times, because don't get me wrong,
21:22
Speaker 1: they're both fucking bad. But if you do a burglary
21:24
Speaker 1: thirty times in a row, you're only going to be like, hey,
21:28
Speaker 1: you know, I can keep doing this. I'm getting away
21:29
Speaker 1: with it. You get cocky, and then you finally get
21:31
Speaker 1: caught and it's like, okay, reality checks in. You get arrested. Yeah,
21:35
Speaker 1: you can't do that anymore. You now have a criminal record,
21:39
Speaker 1: clean yourself up, right. Yeah, But it's like, hey, I
21:41
Speaker 1: do a crime. Oh shit, now I'm behind bars. Hey
21:43
Speaker 1: I do a crime, and I'm back behind bars. Hey
21:45
Speaker 1: I do another crime and I'm back behind bars. You
21:47
Speaker 1: do that thirty fucking times, Clearly you're not reforming yourself, right.
21:50
Speaker 2: Well, and there could be it could be doing two
21:52
Speaker 2: crimes and then back in jail exact rhymes, right, So
21:55
Speaker 2: it's probably more than thirty.
21:57
Speaker 1: Crimes one hundred percent going to jail thirty times versus
22:02
Speaker 1: committing a crime thirty times.
22:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a difference, for sure, there is.
22:07
Speaker 1: Like I said, they're both bad, but that going to
22:10
Speaker 1: jail thirty times, that shows you do not give a fuck.
22:12
Speaker 1: You are not going to be reformed. I do not
22:14
Speaker 1: think that someone like that should be out on the
22:16
Speaker 1: fucking street. Yeah, I do think that there should be
22:18
Speaker 1: a cap if you're arrested X amount of times. I
22:20
Speaker 1: don't know how many it should be. There clearly should
22:23
Speaker 1: be some some legislation written about it, and not just
22:25
Speaker 1: some podcast dude making up a number on the spot.
22:28
Speaker 1: But let's just say it's fucking ten for the sake
22:31
Speaker 1: of the conversation. You go to jail ten times, you
22:36
Speaker 1: should serve life.
22:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent, because clearly, like you have a pattern,
22:41
Speaker 2: you know it's going to happen.
22:42
Speaker 1: Again, yeap. But then that comes into play with, you know,
22:45
Speaker 1: overpopulated prisons, and so it does get complicated and muddy,
22:50
Speaker 1: so I understand. But yeah, still, anyways, now that they're
22:55
Speaker 1: in this halfway house together, both Joshua and Hayes, almost
22:58
Speaker 1: immediately they became close friends and they shared in their
23:01
Speaker 1: troubled history, right, a bit of a difficult upbringing, and
23:05
Speaker 1: specifically they share the love for robbery. Now it's tragic
23:08
Speaker 1: to think, but this specific meeting between these two individuals
23:12
Speaker 1: would ultimately set the stage for the horrific events that
23:14
Speaker 1: would soon take place in Cheshire. And that is not
23:19
Speaker 1: where we're ending today. We are going to keep contelling
23:23
Speaker 1: I just wanted to fuck with you for a quick second.
23:25
Speaker 1: It worked good. So from two thousand and six to
23:29
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, this is kind of when they
23:32
Speaker 1: had met up and were kind of getting involved with
23:34
Speaker 1: each other, and this duo, this newly formed duo of
23:38
Speaker 1: Hayes and Joshua, involved themselves in a new series of
23:41
Speaker 1: break and enters together.
23:43
Speaker 2: Well while living in the halfway house.
23:46
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if they were still living in the
23:47
Speaker 1: halfway house. To be honest, I know they met in
23:49
Speaker 1: the halfway house. They could still be living in it.
23:52
Speaker 1: One could be in it, one could be out. I'm
23:54
Speaker 1: not sure. But if they were in the halfway house,
23:58
Speaker 1: they were clearly going to be breaking curfews, that's for sure.
24:02
Speaker 1: But so we digress on that. But they were now
24:07
Speaker 1: together and they were doing this series of break ins,
24:09
Speaker 1: and being the older of the two Hayes forty four
24:12
Speaker 1: and Joshua twenty six, Hayes took a bit of a
24:15
Speaker 1: leadership role in their partnership and showed Joshua how to
24:18
Speaker 1: actually how lucrative robbery could be as a business.
24:23
Speaker 2: Quote, business has a business. I was curious their ages
24:26
Speaker 2: because I felt like there would be quite a gap there. Yeah.
24:29
Speaker 1: So yeah, hayeses forty four and Joshua is twenty six.
24:33
Speaker 1: So for Joshua many times, it wasn't about the money
24:35
Speaker 1: breaking and entering. It was the thrill that we kind
24:38
Speaker 1: of talked about earlier. But if they could capitalize a
24:40
Speaker 1: bit more on it and make some money along the way,
24:42
Speaker 1: hey why not. So Joshua was totally in for this idea,
24:47
Speaker 1: and it's not like it was a foreign concept from
24:48
Speaker 1: him for him either to be actually stealing when he's
24:51
Speaker 1: in there. It's just it wasn't the always the prime
24:54
Speaker 1: thing he was going for now a slept they're breaking
24:57
Speaker 1: and enters would begin to develop a specific pattern. Under
25:01
Speaker 1: this newly formed business plan if you again, business plan right,
25:05
Speaker 1: they began focusing their attention on gaining access to nicer homes,
25:09
Speaker 1: often choosing those and with residents who were either away
25:13
Speaker 1: or asleep. Now, Joshua had gained expertise in silently entering
25:17
Speaker 1: home specifically since he, like you know, had this desire
25:20
Speaker 1: to be there with the residents watch them sleep. So
25:22
Speaker 1: he kind of got that like cat burglar type vibe
25:25
Speaker 1: about him, and he was able to actually manage the
25:28
Speaker 1: initial break ins, while Hayes was the one who stood
25:31
Speaker 1: back and watched to ensure the coast was clear, basically
25:34
Speaker 1: being the lookout. Okay, then Hayes would be you know,
25:37
Speaker 1: given a signal of sort and Joshua would let him
25:40
Speaker 1: into the home alongside him. Now, this strategy followed them
25:45
Speaker 1: to move through targeted properties, and it made them very
25:49
Speaker 1: efficient along the way, like a well oiled machine. And
25:52
Speaker 1: this with each successful break in, their confidence, of course, grew.
25:58
Speaker 1: Just as we were talking earlier, you could commit one
26:00
Speaker 1: crime and arrested it after you know, thirty times you
26:03
Speaker 1: get cocky, you get more confident along the way, That's
26:06
Speaker 1: exactly what's happening here. They began selecting more luxurious homes
26:10
Speaker 1: that promised higher rewards, that took greater risk in term
26:13
Speaker 1: of day, the time of day, and length of time
26:16
Speaker 1: that they spent inside. And they quickly got good. They
26:19
Speaker 1: were practicing and became increasingly proficient and executing their operations
26:24
Speaker 1: with each successful break in. So by now the confidence
26:27
Speaker 1: of the duo was reaching a new height, and it
26:30
Speaker 1: would be on July twenty second, two thousand and seven
26:33
Speaker 1: the Pettit family would enter the picture. So on this day,
26:38
Speaker 1: Jennifer had went out and taken her daughter Mikella to
26:42
Speaker 1: the stop and Shop grocery store in Cheshire. They were
26:46
Speaker 1: out doing a typical air and run getting some groceries. However,
26:49
Speaker 1: it wasn't just an erin run. Mikella was, as I
26:53
Speaker 1: already mentioned, developing a passion for cooking in culinary skills.
26:57
Speaker 1: Going to the grocery store with her mom was also
26:59
Speaker 1: an experience to learn about new ingredients and expand her
27:02
Speaker 1: cooking knowledge. And for Jennifer it was a chance to
27:05
Speaker 1: take a mundane task and turn it into something special.
27:08
Speaker 1: For her and her daughter together.
27:09
Speaker 2: I just love that so much.
27:11
Speaker 1: As they walked the aisles, checking off items on their
27:14
Speaker 1: lists and exploring everything the store had to offer, they
27:16
Speaker 1: were unaware that a pair of eyes was watching them.
27:20
Speaker 1: Joshua just so happened to also be at the store
27:23
Speaker 1: and spotted the mother and daughter duo. Now it's not
27:26
Speaker 1: clear to me which Joshua was doing at the store,
27:29
Speaker 1: whether he was a lookout trying to find a target
27:32
Speaker 1: or someone, or he too was just shopping for someone,
27:34
Speaker 1: But either way, when he saw Jennifer and Mikela, he
27:36
Speaker 1: knew that they fit the demographic that they were after
27:39
Speaker 1: for targeting homes and individuals. Shit Their clothes, the way
27:44
Speaker 1: they held themselves, the items that they were purchasing to
27:47
Speaker 1: all together told Joshua that this family was wealthy enough
27:50
Speaker 1: to target, so he began to tail them through the store,
27:54
Speaker 1: then through the register to pay, and eventually to the
27:56
Speaker 1: parking lot and even all the way to their home.
28:00
Speaker 2: Really, hey, gosh, okay, that seems like a little bit
28:04
Speaker 2: of a new level. Yeah, uh okay.
28:08
Speaker 1: Joshua made note of what their home looked like, their
28:11
Speaker 1: neighborhood and what kind of place it was, and of course,
28:16
Speaker 1: it was sure to be filled with things good enough
28:18
Speaker 1: for them to steal. He quickly reported it to Haze,
28:21
Speaker 1: and the two of them began making their plan, intending
28:24
Speaker 1: to tie up the family and steal any valuables that
28:27
Speaker 1: they had inside. At around three am the next morning,
28:32
Speaker 1: the pair broke into the home. They made their way
28:35
Speaker 1: through an unlocked basement door, and they then through the
28:39
Speaker 1: house in the darkness, and it didn't take long before
28:41
Speaker 1: they found doctor William Pettitt asleep in the sun room
28:45
Speaker 1: where he had fallen asleep reading the paper. Joshua grabbed
28:49
Speaker 1: a nearby baseball bat and didn't hesitate as he quickly
28:52
Speaker 1: raised it overhead and began to pummel the sleeping doctor
28:56
Speaker 1: Pettit with the bat, he struck him repeatedly, over over,
29:00
Speaker 1: multiple times in the head. These blows left him with
29:03
Speaker 1: a bleeding wound gash across his head, several bruises. His
29:07
Speaker 1: eyes were now swelling shut, making it difficult for him
29:10
Speaker 1: to see or defend against any of the assailants that
29:12
Speaker 1: were now present in the darkness. To make matters worse,
29:16
Speaker 1: doctor Pettitt was on blood thinners, specifically one name Komadin.
29:21
Speaker 1: It was for an irregular heartbeat, which only made his
29:23
Speaker 1: situation worse as he was now beginning to face serious
29:27
Speaker 1: blood loss from the attack.
29:28
Speaker 2: What the fuck this is escalated right like big time?
29:32
Speaker 2: They were never harming the homeowners and shit were they?
29:36
Speaker 1: Nope? Not before?
29:37
Speaker 2: What the actual fuck? And who was doing that? Who
29:40
Speaker 2: was with the bat?
29:41
Speaker 1: Josha, this was Joshua?
29:43
Speaker 2: Yes?
29:44
Speaker 1: Wow. Now I do know Joshua initially grabbed the bat
29:47
Speaker 1: and was beating doctor Pettitt with it, But I'm not
29:50
Speaker 1: saying that Hayes was not also beating him. But I
29:54
Speaker 1: do know that the bat was very prevalent in this
29:56
Speaker 1: and they were both involved in the assault.
30:00
Speaker 2: Complete pieces of shit.
30:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, So Joshua and Hayes now with the beaten doctor Pettitt,
30:07
Speaker 1: bound him with zip ties and drug him into the
30:09
Speaker 1: basement of the house where they first entered. Once they
30:13
Speaker 1: had him secured in the basement, they strapped him to
30:15
Speaker 1: a support pole, and Joshua and Hayes proceeded back upstairs
30:19
Speaker 1: in the search for the rest of the family. They
30:23
Speaker 1: slowly made their way down the halls in the darkness
30:26
Speaker 1: to the master bedroom, where Jennifer and her young daughter
30:29
Speaker 1: Mikella were asleep together while the two laid their sleeping,
30:34
Speaker 1: Joshua and Hayes attacked, and with Jennifer's multiple sclerosis, she
30:39
Speaker 1: was easily overwhelmed and had her hands and feet tied
30:43
Speaker 1: together and a pillowcase placed over her head. Young eleven
30:47
Speaker 1: year old Mikella was no different. She too was also
30:50
Speaker 1: bound just like her mother. The two men quickly moved
30:54
Speaker 1: on through the house to ensure that there was everything
30:56
Speaker 1: secured and ready to go, and that's when they found
30:59
Speaker 1: Haley Pettit, the seventeen year old daughter, in her bedroom.
31:03
Speaker 1: She too had her hands and feet tied and a
31:05
Speaker 1: pillowcase placed over her head. And now with the entire
31:09
Speaker 1: family secured, they made their way through the house looking
31:12
Speaker 1: for whatever they could steal, primarily looking for money and
31:16
Speaker 1: of course, doctor Pettitt in the basement hearing his family
31:19
Speaker 1: being attacked and his house being ransacked above him. Unfortunately,
31:25
Speaker 1: neither Hayes or Joshua really found anything that they were
31:29
Speaker 1: hoping for. There wasn't a whole lot of valuables in
31:32
Speaker 1: the house. There wasn't a bunch of cash. As I mentioned,
31:34
Speaker 1: the family, though well off, lived a very modest life.
31:38
Speaker 1: They did, however, discover some personal documents that indicated Jennifer
31:42
Speaker 1: had over thirty thousand dollars sitting in a bank account.
31:47
Speaker 1: This was it, This was the big score. They wanted.
31:51
Speaker 1: Each break and enter that they made was leading up
31:53
Speaker 1: to this. They just needed to get it from the bank.
31:56
Speaker 1: So they decided they would force Jennifer to make a
31:59
Speaker 1: way withdrawal from the bank. They went through the house
32:03
Speaker 1: to ensure everyone knew what was at stake. No one
32:06
Speaker 1: was to make a move or else they would face
32:09
Speaker 1: the end of a gun, which I'm not sure that
32:11
Speaker 1: they even had, but either way, we do know that
32:15
Speaker 1: they're capable of assault and had a baseball bat at
32:17
Speaker 1: least in hand. Jennifer, of course was terrified, but it
32:21
Speaker 1: was only money. If it meant draining the bank account
32:24
Speaker 1: to ensure that their family was safe, she had no
32:26
Speaker 1: problem complying with the demands. Between Joshua and Hayes, they
32:30
Speaker 1: made the plan that Hayes would drive Jennifer to the
32:32
Speaker 1: bank and ensure that the withdrawals of the money was successful,
32:35
Speaker 1: while Joshua stayed at the house to ensure nobody else
32:38
Speaker 1: caused problems. So at approximately nine am on July twenty third,
32:43
Speaker 1: two thousand and six, Hayes took Jennifer in the vehicle
32:47
Speaker 1: down to the Bank of America and this is where
32:50
Speaker 1: we will leave things till next episode.
32:54
Speaker 2: Oh boy, the fuck. I'm just like pissed over here.
32:58
Speaker 2: This is just horrible, this perfect little family. Yes, oh
33:03
Speaker 2: my gosh.
33:05
Speaker 1: Wow, Cliffhanger, Hey, dunt dunt dun.
33:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to be asking some questions.
33:14
Speaker 1: Well, ask do you have any questions right now?
33:16
Speaker 2: Oh? No, I need to know what the fuck happens.
33:18
Speaker 1: Well, I'll see if I can subtly answer anything without
33:22
Speaker 1: giving anything away. At the same time, if you have questions,
33:25
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're like who survived, like I.
33:27
Speaker 2: Can't, Like, I know, you know, my questions are like that. So,
33:31
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, I'm just like devastated right now.
33:34
Speaker 1: This makes me ill. Actually it does ill. They specifically
33:38
Speaker 1: targeted the family for who they were.
33:40
Speaker 2: And I just I can't comprehend either why it escalated
33:44
Speaker 2: so much to this extent, Like it just seems so
33:48
Speaker 2: it just seems so random to me.
33:50
Speaker 1: I know, well, their intent was not, as far as
33:52
Speaker 1: I'm aware, to enter the home and beat victims, but
33:56
Speaker 1: that's the first thing they did. Their intent to bind
34:01
Speaker 1: them to tie them up, So I'm assuming that.
34:04
Speaker 2: They probably woke up or something.
34:06
Speaker 1: No, I don't think they woke up, because they found them,
34:08
Speaker 1: then grabbed the bat and then went to them. I
34:10
Speaker 1: think they looked at doctor Pettitt and they were concerned that,
34:14
Speaker 1: you know, he could put up a fight and things
34:16
Speaker 1: could go south, so they decided to incapacitate him to
34:19
Speaker 1: some way, shape or form before binding him.
34:22
Speaker 2: Jeez, oh my gosh. Now we just get deliver a
34:27
Speaker 2: day knowing that people are just complete garbage.
34:29
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I think we already knew.
34:31
Speaker 2: That we did, but it's just like a fucking weekly reminder.
34:35
Speaker 1: Well, it's in the fucking name of this part, I know,
34:39
Speaker 1: like wicked and grim. It's literally because people are wicked
34:42
Speaker 1: and they do grim shit. Yeah, but that's what our
34:44
Speaker 1: fucking name means. If you guys didn't put that together.
34:46
Speaker 2: Before, now you know, I'm also like, gosh, lock your doors,
34:49
Speaker 2: but they would have still found a way to get
34:51
Speaker 2: in regardless of it a basement door was unlocked or not.
34:54
Speaker 1: They would have They won hundred percent, would have. Yeah,
34:57
Speaker 1: because they were not only skilled, they were going to
34:59
Speaker 1: be determined.
35:00
Speaker 2: Hm. I just get so pissed too when it it
35:03
Speaker 2: almost it's also too like when people happen just to
35:06
Speaker 2: be in the wrong place at the wrong time as well.
35:09
Speaker 1: Yep, grocery shopping, like just.
35:10
Speaker 2: Like the tiniest decision in your day could lead to this, right,
35:14
Speaker 2: Like that is just such bullshit. It's just so disgusting
35:17
Speaker 2: and disturbing and anyway, yeah, can you tell that I'm.
35:21
Speaker 1: A little pissed a little bit. The nice thing is, though,
35:24
Speaker 1: you don't have to wait a week, You just have
35:25
Speaker 1: to wait till Tuesday.
35:26
Speaker 2: That's very nice.
35:27
Speaker 1: Yes, so there that's a bonus.
35:30
Speaker 2: Yep.
35:30
Speaker 1: So yeah, so Tuesday will cover the rest of this case.
35:34
Speaker 1: Hopefully by then Nicole has calmed down a little bit
35:36
Speaker 1: and she's not going to like seemingly assault me here.
35:40
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I think you're safe, you think see
35:43
Speaker 2: you think she was not. I mean, it's not but.
35:47
Speaker 1: Exactly nine that I'm going to be assaulted or not assaulted.
35:52
Speaker 2: That you're ninety nine percent safe. That's still not not
35:56
Speaker 2: enough for you.
35:57
Speaker 1: No, it's still concerning. Wow. All right, So thank you
36:01
Speaker 1: for being here. You guys are incredible. You guys keep
36:03
Speaker 1: the show going. So if you guys want to check
36:05
Speaker 1: out things like our Patreon link. We have it down below.
36:07
Speaker 1: We also have tickets if you're local for our two
36:09
Speaker 1: hundredth episode, which is going to be recorded live. If
36:13
Speaker 1: you're not local, you can actually see the live stream
36:15
Speaker 1: of it on our Patreon if you remember there. Yeah,
36:20
Speaker 1: I'm not going to do a whole big spiel. Links
36:21
Speaker 1: are in the description.
36:23
Speaker 2: You know.
36:23
Speaker 1: It all gives a rating if you'd like, we appreciate,
36:27
Speaker 1: We appreciate that.
36:28
Speaker 2: Did you know that this whole episode, I've been kind
36:30
Speaker 2: of being able to pet a dog with my foot.
36:32
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm aware of that.
36:33
Speaker 2: It's that nice.
36:34
Speaker 1: Nice because Ripley got up and walked over like right
36:37
Speaker 1: at the beginning.
36:38
Speaker 2: Pretty much. Yeah, I've loved it. Okay, I mean, she's
36:40
Speaker 2: our emotional therapy dog.
36:42
Speaker 1: Social she is, she really is, so.
36:44
Speaker 2: Okay, So until.
36:46
Speaker 1: Tuesday, Until Tuesday, we hope that you guys can hang
36:49
Speaker 1: on till then, and until
36:50
Speaker 2: Then, stay wicked