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At 9 a.m. one of the suspects – reportedly Hayes – drove Jennifer to the bank and waited for her in the car. When shown the slip of paper from Jennifer, the bank manager summoned police, who turned up in force in minutes. The police raced to the Petit home, but by the time they arrived, it was too late.
As they pulled up, Hayes and Komisarjevsky were coming out. They had apparently spread gasoline around the beds of the two girls and set them afire in a seeming effort to cover up the crime. Police quickly nabbed them after they had rammed three patrol cars trying to get away. But before cops could enter the house, it was already engulfed in flames. Meanwhile Bill had awakened to the sound of his wife screaming for her life. He managed to untie his hands and escape from the cellar by the outside door. "He couldn't undo his legs, so he hopped his way up the stairs and into the yard," says William Sr. His wife and daughters were not so fortunate. Authorities found Jennifer, who had been strangled, along with Hayley and Michaela, who died of smoke inhalation while tied to their beds. "Five minutes earlier, and they could have saved everyone," says William Sr., "but that's not the way it worked."
JOSH & FERGIE: ROCKED BY SCANDAL
Did he cheat with a stripper?
Married less than a year, the couple denies an Atlanta woman’s claims that she and Josh had a fling
Note that this week’s cover of PEOPLE may differ regionally
