Convict got mixed up in satanic cult, teacher says
The devil didn’t make this murdering sociopath rapist.
A man facing a possible death sentence for killing a woman and her two daughters was involved in a satanic cult as a teen and claimed to hear voices telling him to kill himself, so his family turned to tearful prayers and pastoral mentoring, witnesses testified Thursday.
Joshua Komisarjevsky, 31, faces life in prison or the death penalty after being convicted of killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters in their Cheshire home in 2007. The girls were tied to their beds, doused in gas and left to die in a fire.
Komisarjevsky’s accomplice, Steven Hayes, was sentenced to death last year for raping and strangling Hawke-Petit and killing the girls. Komisarjevsky also was convicted of sexually assaulting the 11-year-old girl.
The defense says Komisarjevsky’s religious family was opposed to psychological counseling and medications. His attorneys say he was sexually abused by a foster teen as a child.
Armen Abrahamian, who taught Komisarjevsky Sunday school, testified in the sentencing phase of Komisarjevsky’s trial that around 1995, one of Komisarjevsky’s mentors rescued him at a home where a satanic ritual was taking place. The mentor, who has since died, did not know where Komisarjevsky was but felt “led” to find him after praying because he believed Komisarjevsky’s safety was in jeopardy, he said.
