On July 23, 2007, the Petit family's idyllic life in Cheshire, Connecticut, ended when two convicted criminals, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, broke into the house. The men intended to rob the upscale home of the respected doctor, William Petit Jr.; his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, a former nurse who had recently been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis; and their two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11. However, the burglary quickly transformed into a terrifying home invasion that included multiple acts of assault and ended with arson.

After law enforcement captured the perpetrators, many people in the wealthy town were left asking how such a brutal crime could have occurred in their quiet community, as well as what, if anything, could have been done to prevent one woman and two girls from losing their lives. The Cheshire Murders, as the crime came to be called, is an example of a home burglary that spun out of control.

