One Connecticut family was marked for death inside their own homes when a brutal killing duo launched an seven hour-long attack of rape, sexual assault and finally murder.

Joshua Komisarjevsky and his co-defendant, Steven Hayes, were convicted of killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit, a nurse, and her daughters during the horrifying attack on July 23, 2007.

They had spotted Jennifer and her daughter in a supermarket and followed them home to their house in New Haven, where the family’s chilling ordeal would begin.

He memorised their address, went home to put his own daughter to bed and returned to the Petit’s house in the middle of the night, while the family slept. His initial plan was to rob them – but this basic crime transformed into an act of pure evil.

It comes after a separate incident in which a woman who thought she was meeting her potential husband was gang raped in the woods.

The pair tormented the family for hours. First beating father, William Petit with a a baseball bat so badly he was unconscious as the horror around him unfolded.

His two daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela, were tied up and Jennifer was forced to withdraw $15,000 from a bank account after the twisted pair took her to a local teller.

Hayes raped and strangled Jennifer, while Komisarjevsky sexually assaulted her 11-year-old daughter, Michaela. Michaela and her 17-year-old sister, Hayley, were tied to their beds and died of smoke inhalation after the house was doused in gas and set on fire. Hayley and Jennifer were both sexually assaulted, according to Vocal Media. The entire ordeal lasted seven hours.

Jennifer even managed to quietly alert their bank and they notified authorities that the family was held hostage, but by that point Komisarjevsky and Hayes had escalated their crimes into a full-on hellscape. One detective described the crime scene as something that “never leaves your mind.”

The intruders drenched the house in fire and set it on fire. Miraculously, William Petit, the father, survived. The doctor was beaten, tied up and taken to the basement where he drifted in and out of consciousness for hours.

He managed to escape and crawl to a neighbor’s house for help. But he was not able to save his two daughters and his wife.

Petit advocated keeping the death penalty in Connecticut and successfully lobbied state senators to hold off on repeal legislation while Komisarjevsky was still facing a death penalty trial.

“July 23, 2007, was our personal holocaust,” Petit said after Komisarjevsky was sentenced to death, referring to the day his family was killed. “A holocaust caused by two who are completely evil and actually do not comprehend what they have done.”

Hayley suffered horrific final moments after she managed to break free from her restraints before collapsing form inhaling smoke. Michaela never escaped her room.

The killers attempted to flee in the Petit’s car but police found them almost immediately. Komisarjevsky said he considers volunteering to be executed on his darkest days.

In the last half-century, Connecticut has executed only one inmate – a serial killer who was put to death in 2005 after voluntarily waiving his appeals.

“I don’t think I’ll be executed against my will,” Komisarjevsky said in his first interview since he was convicted last year. “I think if I volunteer, the state will execute me.”

“I guess my reaction is not the reaction society expected,” Komisarjevsky said.

Cynthia Hawke-Renn, the sister and aunt of the victims’ told NBC she did not expect an apology from the killer, according to ABC.

“He doesn’t have nightmares, but I have nightmares and I can’t stop thinking about it,” she said. “I wish I could. And I think it’s really sad that he doesn’t have a conscience and have remorse and apologize to my brother-in-law or my parents.”

Komisarjevsky now fills his time in solitary confinement by drawing, watching television and reading and responding to hate mail as well as notes from supporters.

“Some days you’re just overwhelmed by the isolation and the difficulties in communicating with loved ones, dealing with your own crisis of conscience,” Komisarjevsky said.

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a new law that ends the state’s death penalty for future crimes, but it does not apply to those already on death row .

“In order for some to swallow this bitter pill, it was inevitable that we would be left out,” Komisarjevsky said.