NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A police detective says a Connecticut man charged with a brutal home invasion that left a woman and her two daughters dead initially told investigators he may have poured gasoline before the house was set on fire.
The testimony undercuts defense efforts to blame Joshua Komisarjevsky’s (koh-mih-sar-JEV’-skee) co-defendant, Steven Hayes, for pouring the gas. Hayes was convicted last year and is on death row.
Detective Joseph Vitello also says Komisarjevsky took explicit cellphone photos of 11-year-old Michaela Petit. The detective says Komisarjevsky planned to have Hayes show the photos to the girl’s mother to get the woman to cooperate.
Komisarjevsky’s attorneys tried to show the jury he immediately cooperated with police by telling them two girls were in the house engulfed in fire, while Hayes offered no help.
