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| Joshua Komisarjevsky |
As alleged killer Joshua Komisarjevsky gets his day in court -- with all the sickening details of that awful day in Cheshire again rehashed -- I can't help wondering if Bristol police and prosecutors could have prevented the murders had they taken seriously an apparent statutory rape a decade ago.Komisarjevsky almost certainly had sex with a 15-year-old Bristol girl before his 2002 arrest for burglary in Bristol -- and police knew it at the time. They chose to do nothing about the abuse of a 15-year-old girl by a 21-year-old man.Had they charged him, Komisarjevsky might not have gotten out of prison in 2007 and certainly would have landed on the sex offender list and perhaps been watched a little closer. We'll never know.I don't blame police for what happened to the Petit family. That was the work of twisted, evil men,But had Bristol public safety officials taken an apparent statutory rape more seriously, the Petit family might well be alive today. It's hard to escape that reality.Here are links to my 2007 blog posts detailing what we know on this issue:
Allleged Cheshire killer a child molester? (July 30, 2007)
Suspected killer's daughter born in Bristol (July 27, 2007)
Alleged killer has a daughter? (July 25, 2007)*****
Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
