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Komisarjevsky Not Involved In Sale Of Personal Items On "True Crime" Website
A state Department of Correction investigation found that Cheshire home invasion killer Joshua Komisarjevsky did not take part in the sale of his personal items on a website that sells items of serial killers and other notorious murderers.
His belongings were part of the website's "True Crime Museum & Prison Art Gallery, "that features items from more well-known infamous killers like Charles Manson, Gary Gilmore and "Son of Sam" killer David Berkowitz.
Once prison officials were alerted, they launched a probe into how items tied to one of Connecticut's worst crimes in recent history ended up in the collection.
Andrius Banevicius, a spokesman for the state Department of Correction, said this week that the investigation showed that Komisarjevsky "did not knowingly take part in placing personal items belonging to him for sale on the website darkvomit.com."
He said the investigation also showed that "there was no misconduct on the part of staff at the Northern Correctional Institution regarding this incident."
Komisarjevsky and his accomplice, Steven Hayes, are on death row awaiting execution for the torture and slayings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Hayley and Michaela, during a home invasion and arson at their Cheshire home in July 2007.
Kelly Hutchison, an artist and art dealer from California who runs darkvomit.com, told the Courant in February that he did not have any communication with Komisarjevsky and obtained the items through a "pen pal" of Komisarjevsky. He described the pen pal as a "struggling single mom" who needed the money.
Hutchison said Komisarjevsky would not be "compensated in any form for the items."
Kahan, director of the Houston-based Mayor's Crime Victims Office, said Thursday that he would continue to monitor the website. Kahan has been battling against the sale of the macabre items for 15 years and does daily checks of the roughly six websites that sell such items.
So far, two drawings and Komisarjevsky's commissary list have been sold. A poem, two of his sweatshirts and two books he has read on death row are still for sale, now at a discount.
When asked if Komisarjevsky's mail would be monitored more closely in light of the incident, Banevicius declined to comment, saying he could not comment on security matters at the prison.
He said there are policies in place that regulate prisoner correspondence, ranging from how often an inmate can send mail to whom mail can be sent.
Banevicius said the level of supervision for death row prisoners is the highest.
http://www.courant.com/news/connecti...430-story.html
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