Petit family murder

[Anonymous]

I have been away and haven't followed this story closely. I can't bear to read about it online, so I was hoping someone could just tell me quickly: was this family targeted, or was it random? Have the suspects given any motive? (Did they even steal anything??)

[Anonymous]

Random attack. One of the killers had a thing for young girls and spotted the mom and the younger daughter at a grocery store parking lot that evening and followed them home. He later returned with his partner and invaded the house. I don't really think robbery was the motive. The guy with the young girl fetish had a history of middle-of-the night break-ins while home owners were sleeping, and leaving creepy messages (like a knife in the kitchen counter) to show his victims he'd been there. I think he just got off on the power trip of stalking his victims (he used night vision goggles in some of his break-ins). They DID steal a lot from the house, including the $15,000 cash that Mrs. Petit withdrew from the bank the morning she was killed, but I don't get the sense that was the true underlying motive.

[Anonymous]

Don't read anything - I read an article and was in tears. Just so sad, and so heartbreaking. But definitely random. I hope the dad will one day find some peace.

I don't know how they got in the house, if it was just left unopen. From what I understand when the dad woke up, he was literally being attacked by one of the murderers, so he had no warning (ie he may have woken up to forced entry, etc.?).

[Anonymous]

Agree with 12:09, every time I read something about this particular crime, it just kills a part of me. It reminds me of the Harvey family murders from several years ago in Richmond - I literally think about that every single day when I come inside my house and lock my door, because those criminals simply walked into the first house where the door was unlocked.

[Anonymous]

I made the mistake of looking up the story about the murder of James Bulger a few months back after hearing it referenced in the news. It literally gave me nightmares for several weeks. I seriously thought I was suffering from post traumatic stress from just having read about it - and it happened decades ago.

[Anonymous]

You'd think I'd have headed the warning and not just read about every murder mentioned in this thread, but unfortunately I did not. I feel completely ill, especially looking at the pictures of the happy families..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I made the mistake of looking up the story about the murder of James Bulger a few months back after hearing it referenced in the news. It literally gave me nightmares for several weeks. I seriously thought I was suffering from post traumatic stress from just having read about it - and it happened decades ago.

Ugh, yes, I also read an update on one of the murderers recently, and it was about a paragraph that barely mentioned the details of the murder (which I already knew, and had thankfully blocked out for a long time), and it made me cry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with 12:09, every time I read something about this particular crime, it just kills a part of me. It reminds me of the Harvey family murders from several years ago in Richmond - I literally think about that every single day when I come inside my house and lock my door, because those criminals simply walked into the first house where the door was unlocked.

I still think about the Harvey family a lot too, some horrific crimes just really stay with you. I don't know anything about James Bulger, and I don't think I will let myself look it up.