5-year-anniversary of Cheshire home invasion

CHESHIRE, Conn. (WTNH) -- Five years ago, the state was reeling from the worst home invasion crime in state history.

Television viewers across the state were just learning about the murder of three members of the Petit family in Cheshire. Now, five years later, the state is about to embark on a new criminal tracking system aimed at finding warning signs that might prevent such crimes.

It was days after the horrific crime in Cheshire that we found out that one of the principle suspects in the case, Joshua Komisarjevsky who's now on death row, had a history of psychological problems that were noted in his juvenile crime trial transcripts. However, that was information the Connecticut Board of Pardons and Paroles never saw, information that they said later would have influenced their decision to let him out of prison just weeks before the Cheshire home invasion.

The following are some of the things that Komisarjevsky' own defense attorney said at his sentencing hearing, things that the parole board and the Correction Department never got to see: "So what I'm trying to suggest to the court is that there's a mental abnormality or psychiatric problem that needs to be addressed over and above the drug abuse and drug addiction."

The defense attorney concluded by saying he "obviously has a twisted psyche." It was a loud warning that no one else ever heard because state computers couldn't talk to each other, so the parole board and the prison system never knew Komisarjevsky was a ticking time bomb.

Now, $23 million later a new system will allow computers at the Correction Department, local police, the courts, the Department of Mental Health and other agencies to all share everything; ending up with a sort of "Google" for the criminal justice system, where everything will finally be connected.

"At the end state of when all the different feeding systems is completely added into it, they'll be able to get pertinent information," said George Perron, NEOS computer expert.

"Everything you'd want to know to decide how to treat them, which one is the Komisarjevsky, who is that needle in the haystack that you have to look out for," said Mike Lawlor, Governor Malloy's criminal justice adviser. "The warning signs are there often times, this will make sure that they're knowable to the people that need to know them."

When the system is up within the next two to three months police at a crime scene will have access to everything, which should make crime fighting more effective.