Connecticut Family Massacre Survivor William Petit Remarries - East Idaho News
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Connecticut Family Massacre Survivor William Petit Remarries

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080612 WilliamPetit?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1344283099197ABC News(WASHINGTON) — Dr. William Petit, the sole survivor of the deadly home invasion that claimed the lives of his wife and two daughters in 2007, has remarried.

Petit, 55, wed photographer Christine Paluf, 34, on Sunday in West Hartford, Conn. A reception was held in Simsbury.

“It was fun,” Hayley Hovhanessian of the Petit Foundation told ABC News. She said there were “a ton” of family and friends celebrating the happy day.

Petit and Paluf got engaged after Christmas in 2011.

Paluf is a professional photographer who specializes in weddings, events and portraits. She also photographs events for the Petit Family Foundation. Photos of William Petit at foundation events are part of Paluf’s online portfolio. The pair reportedly met through her photography work for his organization.

Petit’s wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and the couple’s two daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela, were killed during a July 2007 home invasion carried out by Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky. The mother was raped and strangled while the girls, tied to their beds, died when the house was set ablaze.

William Petit was the only one to survive. Brutally beaten with a baseball bat and left bound in the basement, he managed to escape to a neighbor’s house. Petit sat in the front row throughout the separate murder and sentencing trials of Hayes and Komisarjevsky.

Both men were convicted and sentenced to be executed and are currently on Connecticut’s death row.

“There is never complete closure when you lose your wife and family, but the first part is over and we think justice has been served,” said Petit after the jury delivered its verdict for Komisarjevsky in a Connecticut courtroom on Dec. 9, 2011.

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