Conn. killer's faith taught that end was near (AP)

[Yahoo! News]

AP - A man facing a possible death sentence for killing three people in a home invasion grew up in a religious environment in which he was taught the end of the world was near, his former girlfriend testified Monday.

Frances Hodges said she grew up in a similar atmosphere and testified that she and Joshua Komisarjevsky were taught that they would be persecuted and that she imagined her mother being burned to death.

"As a child growing up I thought it was only a matter of time before I would have to, that I would be persecuted for my faith," Hodges said. "I was just anxious all the time."

Komisarjevsky and co-defendant Steven Hayes were convicted of killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela, in 2007 at their home in Cheshire, a wealthy New Haven suburb. Komisarjevsky and Hayes, who is on death row, have blamed each other for escalating the violence at the Petit home.

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