CHESHIRE, Conn. — Two parolees with long criminal records were arraigned yesterday on charges alleging they broke into a doctor’s home, forced a hostage to withdraw cash from a bank, and set fire to the house several hours later, killing the doctor’s wife and two daughters.

The suspects were caught Monday in the family’s SUV as they fled the burning home, which they apparently had torched to cover their tracks, authorities said.

Dr. William Petit Jr., 50, a prominent endocrinologist, was the only survivor and was severely injured in the attack.

Joshua Komisarjevky, 26, of Cheshire, and Steven Hayes, 44, of Winsted, were charged with assault, sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary, robbery, and arson. Bail was set at $15 million each, and state police have said additional charges are likely.

A court bail commissioner said Hayes and Komisarjevky each have rap sheets with more than 20 prior burglaries, and both were out of prison on parole.

The two men did not enter pleas, and answered only “yes” when asked if they understood their rights. Both were represented by public defenders.

Bank employees had contacted police around 9:30 a.m Monday after one of the suspects accompanied a female hostage, who was not identified, to make a withdrawal. Police went to the home, where they found the victims and arrested the two men.

Petit’s wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, were dead in the home, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation said.

The attack rocked Cheshire, an upper-middle class community of 29,000 full of colonial-style homes just east of Waterbury and about 15 miles north of New Haven.

“In Cheshire we’re not used to this type of event,” town Police Chief Michael Cruess said. “It’s a very unfortunate, tragic event that’s probably going to reach right down to the core of the community.”

Hayley Petit had received an early acceptance to Dartmouth, her father’s alma mater. She was a fund-raiser for multiple sclerosis and captain of the basketball and crew teams. She was also devoted to her school, so much so that even while she was recovering from a collapsed lung, she attended commencement.

“She was such a good, good person,” said M. Burch Tracy Ford, head of school at Miss Porter’s School in Farmington. “The younger kids just worshipped the ground she walked on.”

Dr. Petit, 50, the president of the Hartford County Medical Association, is a noted specialist in diabetes and endocrinology and the medical director of the Joslin Diabetes Center Affiliate at the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain.

“It is a shocking day for everyone. It’s just beyond anyone’s understanding,” said Larry Tanner, president and chief executive officer of the hospital.

Jennifer Hawke-Petit was a nurse and co-director of the health center at Cheshire Academy, a private boarding school.

“They’re just a lovely family,” said the Reverend Ronald Rising, a neighbor for more than a decade. “It’s just awful to think it would happen to a family like that in this community. You don’t think about those things happening.”