Further Reading for Polly Klaas & Kitty Genovese
Who Killed Polly?: The True Story Behind the Abduction and Murder of Polly Klaas
Kitty Genovese: A True Account of a Public Murder and Its Private Consequences
Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America
Info
The story of Polly Klaas is hard to believe. It’s pure nightmare fuel, particularly if you’re a parent. Polly was 12 when she was kidnapped. She and two friends were in her home having a sleepover when Richard Allen Davis let himself into the family home and entered her room, holding the girls at knife point. Her two friends were tied up and their heads bagged with pillow cases. Davis took Polly with him as he left. Her body was found two months later when Davis led police to the scene of her murder.
Elements of the response to the kidnapping would put into motion a series of events which would eventually lead to the American Amber Alert system, but not right away. Problems in the procedures used to notify local police and neighboring jurisdictions put a kink in the proceedings which allowed Davis to get away with his crime. He had been spotted numerous times on the drive away from the Klaas home. Davis was even found near the location of her body but the circumstances which would have been cleared to arrest him couldn’t be met and with no prior arrests or warrants, he was free to go and then return to the scene at a later time to dispose of the body.
At the time of his trial, Davis was pure evil. He was antagonistic toward the Klaas family in court. This writer is an opponent of the death penalty, which Davis was sentenced to, but some people in this world really are better off dead.
Episode: 24
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