Joshua Komisarjevsky: The Cheshire Murders

Joshua Komisarjevsky, known for his part in the Cheshire Murders, was born on August 10, 1980 to a mother who was just 16 years old, and his father, a boy just barely out of his teens. When he was only 2 weeks old, he was adopted by Benedict and Jude Komisarjevsky, a powerful and prestigious family. Ben and Jude had a background in child care, once working as houseparents at a residential center for developmentally disabled children.

They had quite the full house. There was Joshua, Naomi – Ben and Jude’s natural daughter, born shortly after Joshua’s adoption in a high-risk pregnancy, and two foster children, Scott, a developmentally disabled boy, and Beverly. Both were teenagers who had been abused. Ben said they had to take them in because, “nobody else would love them.”

In 1985 the Komisarjevsky family packed up and moved to Cheshire Connecticut. They moved into a converted farm on a 65 acre estate owned by Ben’s parents, step-father Joseph Chamberlain, a writer, and Ben’s mother, a Russian ballerina. 

As fundamentalist Christians, Ben and Jude believed in traditional Christian doctrines, including the mission of Jesus Christ, the role of the church, and asserted their belief that the Bible was historically accurate, that Jesus’ second coming was imminent, Christ’s virgin birth, resurrection, and atonement. As fundamentalists, they believed in certain prohibitions including smoking, drinking alcoholic beverages, dancing, or attending movies or plays. Instead, Joshua spent his days exploring the grounds, and watching the wildlife, practicing his tracking skills and learning to move in silence. 

Jude pulled Joshua from public school around the age of 9 and began homeschooling him. His grandfather had died just a year earlier, and he became depressed. He suffered a series of concussions and took a downward turn. His mother claimed he had “come under ‘satanic’ influences through other youths,” and that he “was easily manipulated and controlled by others.” She and Ben needed to “instill Christian values in the boy by pulling him out of public school and educating him at home.” Jude later recalled going into Joshua’s bedroom at one point and “he had written over and over again on the walls: ‘death’ and ‘die’ and ‘suicide’.” She also said that Joshua saw ‘an embodiment of terror’ that appeared as a shadow in his bedroom, and he would run into the woods to escape it.

Joshua began peeking into girls’ dressing rooms, peeping through windows, and even stealing panties off of clotheslines. One day Jude testified that she heard “a crashing noise” and saw Beverly running down the stairs, yelling that Scott had tried to sexually assault her. Later she and Ben asked Joshua if he had also been molested by Scott. Scott later admitted to ‘posing games’ with Josh, and said he regretted showing him his body parts. 

Psychologist Leslie Lebowitz interviewed Beverly, who recalled how Scott had ‘put a pillow over her head and raped her’ while she lived with the Komisarjevsky family. Scott Reetz is a registered sex offender in Connecticut, having been convicted in 1993 in an unrelated case.

Ben and Jude told Joshua that homosexuality is a sin, leading him to believe he was condemned to hell. Scott was soon removed from the home by State officials.

Joshua’s behavior continued to deteriorate. In the early 1990’s, Naomi accused him of sexually assaulting her. His father said he was shocked, but believed it was probably true. Knowing he needed help, but with their strict religious beliefs and distrust in psychological counseling and medications, Ben and Jude turned to their faith for help.

Joshua began to sneak out of the house at night. He would meet up with a group of boys who listened to the hard rock band, Korn, and shot BB guns at windows before running away. One day, Joshua set a fire at a gas station and was arrested. Another time, Joshua was away from home for a few days until he was found with marks all over his body. He was hospitalized then sent to Elmcrest Psychiatric Center in Portland. Neither Ben nor Jude informed Elmcrest that Joshua had been the victim of sexual assault. Since Ben and Jude didn’t want Joshua on any medication, they pulled him from Elmcrest and enrolled him at The Fold, a faith based residential housing program for at risk teens and young adults in Vermont. In 2019, a counselor for The Fold was accused of having a sexual relationship with a minor.

Needing to escape the dark and dangerous influences that plagued their family, Ben and Jude packed up and moved them to New Hampshire. There they were able to enroll Joshua in a day program for youths, but his time there was short lived. He had been involved in multiple illegal activities, including burglaries at a local campground. Joshua was expelled.

“This child, raped of his innocence, guilty of silence, dripping in sin, learned at an early age the art of repression. This terrible feeling grew. In time it became a conscious, raw tingling that jangled my nerve and made me want to jump out of my skin. ‘Rebuke the devil — and pray.'”

Joshua Komisarjevsky

During his interview with Leslie Lebowitz, Joshua told her he had been raped by ‘an important friend’ that made him feel ‘dead and completely out of control.’ He began self mutilating, and started a relationship with a girl he had met at a church camp in Maine – Clairees Mesel.

By the time he was 16, Joshua had broken into hundreds of houses. He said sometimes he did it “just do hear people breathing,” and enjoyed messing with people, rearranging photos and leaving without being heard. He usually wore latex gloves, and bragged that burglarizing taught him how to build a house “from laying the foundation to hanging the last door.”

In the late 1990’s, Joshua joined the Army Reserve. He completed basic training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, and trained to be a heavy equipment operator. He wrote letters to his father professing his faith and apologizing for his behavior. His father did not believe him.

Joshua returned from basic training and took on a job at a ski area in Rochester, New York, where his unit was located. It didn’t last long though, he went AWOL, returning to Connecticut where he met a girl and started doing drugs – heroin and coke. He met a girl, Jennifer Norton, and she got pregnant.

He continued burglarizing homes, and was caught. In 2002, Joshua was convicted of committing 19 burglaries and spent 4 ½ years in jail. During this time Clairees wrote him letters and even visited him in prison. She took her younger sister, Caroline with her, and when Joshua was released, he was 27, and Caroline was 18. The two began dating. Clairees disapproved right off the bat. “My sister was much younger. She wasn’t quite emotionally developed. I didn’t understand how there could be a relationship. I started to feel something was very wrong,” she added. “He was starting to date my little sister. My perceptions (about Komisarjevsky) started to become different and clearer.”

Clairees said she was initially attracted to Joshua because “he seemed like the bad boy.” When he was released from prison she said he was still dark and brooding, “but it had a more sinister aspect because he was dating my little sister.”

Caroline’s father, who was a pastor of Turnpike Wesleyan Church in Plattsburgh, New York, also had his reservations, having met Joshua in 1993. “He was cold, unemotional,” he said. Mr Mesel also said “has no soul” and is “a pathological liar.” He recalled “I told him I thought he’d be a career criminal,” referring to Joshua. “I told him I thought he’d be a career criminal.” He also said “I told him I felt he was a pedophile.”

“What does a 27-year-old have in common with an 18-year-old?” Mesel asked in reference to Joshua. He also noted that at 18, his daughter still resembled a 12 year old. When the family picked up and moved to Arkansas, Joshua was very upset that he had been separated from his girlfriend. It is worth noting that Caroline and Joshua became engaged, but she later broke it off because of his criminal activities.

Joshua’s daughter was born in 2002 while he was in prison. When he was released, he stayed at a halfway house, and once he was out, he petitioned a family court judge for sole custody of Jayda Norton, his daughter who was about five at the time. Her mother, Jennifer, was being held at a hospital for drug treatment. His petition was granted. In an interview from her parents’ home in Southington, Jennifer said, “We were not on good terms. He’s been fighting ever since [Jayda] was born for her to be with him,” she said from her parents’ home in Southington, Connecticut. “I did not want him with her at all. I wouldn’t take her to prison to visit him. … I didn’t want her with a dangerous criminal.” She claimed he was only able to gain custody because “he has a certain way of talking” that could be convincing. Jayda is currently living with Ben and Jude Komisarjevsky.

While staying at the halfway house, Joshua met Steven Hayes. Together the pair would go on to commit Joshua’s biggest crime yet. They set off to burglarize the Petit family in Cheshire Connecticut, and it ended with the murder of Jennifer Petit and her two daughters, Hayley and Michaela. It is the most horrific crime to ever happen in Connecticut. The Cheshire Murders.

Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes were both sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life in prison when the death penalty was abolished in Connecticut.