A Connecticut Nightmare

"We were within 24 hours of being that family," Ronald Bergamo, Jr. told the Associated Press.

Bergamo's house was robbed on Saturday, July 22—the night before the tragedy at the Petit house. While five people slept upstairs, including Bergamo, his wife, their 12-year-old son and another couple, burglars entered the house, looked through drawers, and took $140 in cash. A large carving knife was left on the family room table.

Joshua Komisarjevsky confessed to the break-in to journalist Brian McDonald. He says the house was the biggest on its street, Country Club Road, which is several miles away from the Petit home. Breaking in was easy, Komisarjevsky says, because he'd broken into the same house 12 years earlier. He threw a towel over the motion detector and entered the house through an open window in the back.

According to Komisarjevsky, his partner Steven Hayes was nervous, loud and awkward. With no experience as a burglar, the older man kept making unnecessary noises as they approached the Bergamo house, and once inside he kept bumping into furniture. When the two heard a car pulling into the driveway they quickly left the house through the back door.

The young thief had bought a BB pistol that day and some zip-ties. They had more to do. Even though they were leaving, their night wasn't over.