Mom Withdrew $15K for Robbers Before Her Murder

In a desperate bid to save her family, a Connecticut mom withdrew $15,000 for home invaders who were holding her husband and two daughters hostage. Despite the payoff, she and her children were sexually assaulted and murdered, prosecutors said yesterday. Jennifer Hawke-Petit withdrew the money while at least one of her abductors waited for her in a car outside. "We have a lady who is in our bank right now who says her husband and children are being held at their house," a clerk reported on a 911 call. "They told her they wouldn't hurt anybody if she got back there with the money. She believes them."

Police say Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky followed Hawke-Petit and her daughters from a grocery store to their home, where they eventually attacked the mom and kids, and set the house on fire, reports ABC News. The sole survivor of the attack, father Dr. William Petit, was beaten as he lay napping, then tied up and left in the basement during the attacks. He managed to free himself and run to neighbors for help, but it was too late for his family. It took cops 33 minutes to get to the house after they were called by the bank. Petit sobbed in court yesterday as photos of his daughters' bodies were displayed. For more, click here.
(More Jennifer Hawke-Petit stories.)