Throughout history, some crimes have been so evil that they are never forgotten, especially in the areas where they occurred. The Villisca Axe Murders, The Butter Box Babies, and The Hi-Fi Murders have each become infamous for their pure acts of depravity.
On July 22nd, 2007, The Cheshire Murders would become such an event. On that day, two men would reach an echelon of human cruelty that would change Cheshire, Connecticut, forever.
In a botched home invasion, two drug-addicted dirtbags, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, would be convicted of rape and murdering three members of the Petit family. Both were sentenced to death.
Almost 18 years later, Newsweek reporter Joshua Rhett Miller features Hayes in an article. Miller insinuates that everything is okay now. Hayes is really, really sorry about what he did. He feels really bad about it, but most importantly, at least to Miller, Steve is now Linda.
EXCLUSIVE: Nearly 18 years after killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two young daughters during a home invasion in Connecticut, the murderer formerly known as Steven Joseph Hayes says she’s now at peace — though still haunted by the killings she regrets.https://t.co/zj5oTRVMQq
— Joshua Rhett Miller (@joshuarhett) January 31, 2025
Even on its surface, the premise of Miller’s article is grotesque and disrespects the memory of Hayes’s victims. To really understand the degeneracy Miller had reached in his ‘Murdering rapist turned trans activist’ redemption arc, you need to know the monster that his protagonist, Steven Hayes, is.
The Petit family was not randomly targeted. Komisarjevsky had seen Jennifer Hawke-Petit at a local convenience store and followed her home, where she lived with her husband, William Petit, and their two daughters, Hayley and Michaela. He saw the home and the family’s ‘nice’ cars and decided it would be a good target to rob. At 3 a.m., he returned with Steven Hayes, and they broke into the home.
Recommended
The violence began immediately as the two encountered William, who had fallen asleep in the sunroom. He was beaten with a baseball bat, bound, and taken to the basement. Seriously injured and incapacitated, William Petit would be the only member of the family to survive the ordeal.
Jennifer was in the Master Bedroom with her youngest daughter, 11-year-old Michaela. They had fallen asleep reading Harry Potter. 17-year-old Haley was sleeping in her bedroom. The girls were overpowered quickly, had their heads covered with pillowcases, and were tied to their beds.
The intruders then ransacked the home but were not satisfied. They kept the family captive until morning. Steven drove Jennifer to the bank and instructed her to withdraw as much money as she could. Komisarjevsky remained at the home with her children and injured husband. She was told that if she complied and got the money, no further harm would come to her family. She did as she was instructed, withdrew $15 thousand in cash, and returned to the car.
By the time they returned to the house, things had gone tragically wrong. While Steven was at the bank with Jennifer, the cowardly walking piece of human excrement, Joshua Komisarjevsky had raped 11-year-old Michaela.
How did the redeemed anti-hero of Miller’s article respond to the news? After some discussion with his child rapist partner in crime, Steven Hayes raped Jennifer and then strangled her to death.
What was supposed to be a robbery had escalated to rape and murder. There was a body and witnesses. It was at this moment that Steven Hayes took part in something so horrifically evil that it’s almost beyond comprehension. In an effort to destroy evidence and silence the witnesses, Micheala and Haley Petit, still tied to their beds, were doused with gasoline, and the house was set on fire.
Steven Hayes had made the conscious decision to burn those little girls alive. However, as Miller reminds us, Steve has changed, and he feels terrible about what he did.
Nearly 18 years after killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two young daughters during a home invasion in Connecticut, the murderer formerly known as Steven Joseph Hayes says she’s now at peace — though still haunted by the killings she regrets
After setting the fire, the two soulless killers stole the family’s car and made their escape. In what was probably the most tragically ironic twist to the whole ordeal, the two moronic murders almost immediately crashed… Into a police cruiser.
As it turns out, Jennifer did not go quietly. While she was at the bank, she informed the bank teller of her situation. The teller then called the police. The police, responding to what they believed was a hostage situation, did not raid the home. They set a perimeter and dispatched a hostage negotiator. Tragically, when the Petits were murdered, the police were just outside the house.
Steven and Joshua were arrested, and both would receive the death penalty.
Steven Hayes smiled when he was sentenced to death.
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) February 1, 2025
Unfortunately, Connecticut abolished the death penalty, and Steven’s sentence was commuted to life in prison. After spending time in a Pennsylvania penitentiary, he is now serving his time in Oregon.
What could this child-murdering rapist piece of crap possibly have done to deserve being featured in a Newsweek article?
He, with the help of an Oregon judge, changed his name.
Hayes — now Linda Mai Lee after finalizing a name change this month — and accomplice Joshua Komisarjevsky, now 44, were sentenced to death for the attack, which included sexual assaults of Hawke-Petit and her 11-year-old daughter. The pair, who previously met at a halfway house, doused the family’s home with gasoline and set it ablaze. Hayley Petit, 17, and her younger sister, Michaela, died of smoke inhalation, while Hawke-Petit was strangled by Lee after they returned from a bank where she was forced to withdrawal $15,000. Lee and Komisarjevsky’s sentences were later reduced to life without parole
“For the first time in my life I am happy to be alive and do not want to die,” Lee told Newsweek via email on Jan. 15, adding she intends to resume hormone replacement therapy shortly.
Hayes sued to legally change his name from Steven to Linda; he changed his last name to honor his prison ‘husband’ who passed away after being released.
Steven is also suing the prison in Pennsylvania over, among other things, not allowing him to have a cupped bra. The prison only offered sports bras.
Miller goes to great lengths to present Hayes as a sympathetic character. From gender dysphoria to depression and suicidal ideation, reading Miller’s story, you would think the man who was willing to burn children alive was the real victim. The Petits were just collateral damage.
Shame on Newsweek for running that ridiculous story. He was sentenced to death and he should have gotten it. He wants treatment for male pattern baldness and doesn’t see the irony? Rapist and murderer should have been killed.
— LoveHerMadly (@Xlovehermadly) February 1, 2025
Hayes is going to get his injections, but they’ll be hormones instead of Benzodiazepines and a fatal dose of Potassium.
What an absolute POS you and @Newsweek are for featuring this vile human.
— Just Carmen (@Carmen50) February 1, 2025
This is where the article misses the mark. Because Hayes has declared himself to be trans, it somehow becomes okay for Miller to embrace the plight of the monster.
This man held a family of four hostage in their home for hours, beating them, raping the 11 year old daughter and the mother, then strangling the mother, and finally setting the house on fire, killing both children from smoke inhalation.
Newsweek now publishes a puff piece on… https://t.co/7mFpWzBwZ9 pic.twitter.com/key69b4iSn
— Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) February 1, 2025
The entire post:
This man held a family of four hostage in their home for hours, beating them, raping the 11 year old daughter and the mother, then strangling the mother, and finally setting the house on fire, killing both children from smoke inhalation.Newsweek now publishes a puff piece on how he is now happy and at peace since he came to terms with his gender confusion. They claim his “former anger” had been fueled by this distress. Now he is seeking treatments to feminize his appearance. (Undoubtedly funded by taxpayers.)You don’t hate the media enough.
You do not, in fact, hate the media enough.
LOOK AT THEIR FACES A**HOLE. pic.twitter.com/4GCm3lJYN1
— JustClaudia (@saucy_craboo) February 2, 2025
This is the beautiful family that Steven Hayes Destroyed.
Haley Petit was 17 years old and was planning to attend Dartmouth University.
Michaela Petit was only 11. She loved to cook and Harry Potter
Jennifer Hawke-Petit was a nurse and a loving wife and mother.
William Petit is a doctor who struggled to put the pieces of his life back together after losing his family to a senseless act of violence.
He runs a foundation in honor of his girls. He has since remarried and has a son.
In a 2023 interview, he said that he lives with the murders of his family every day. His only wish is for his wife and daughters to be remembered.
It doesn’t seem like a lot to ask.
