Polly Klaas

Polly Hannah Klaas (January 3, 1981 – October 1, 1993) was an American murder victim whose case garnered national media attention.

On October 1, 1993, at age twelve, she was kidnapped at knifepoint during a slumber party at her mother's home in Petaluma, California, and strangled to death.

On October 1, 1993, Polly Klaas and two friends were having a slumber party.

Around 10:30 pm, an intoxicated Richard Allen Davis entered her bedroom, carrying a knife from Eve Nichol's kitchen.

He told the girls he was there to do no harm and was only there for money.

Davis tied up both of her friends, pulled pillowcases over their heads, and told them to count to 1,000.

He then kidnapped Klaas.

Over the next two months, about 4,000 people helped search for Klaas.

TV shows such as 20/20 and America's Most Wanted covered the kidnapping.

An APB (all-points bulletin) with the suspect's information was broadcast within 30 minutes of the kidnapping.

The broadcast, however, only went out over Sonoma County Sheriff's Channel 1.

Within hours of the kidnapping, in a rural area of Santa Rosa, about 20 mi north of Petaluma, a babysitter on her way home noted a suspicious vehicle stuck in a ditch on her employer's private driveway.

She phoned the property owner, who decided to leave with her daughter.

As she drove down the long driveway to Pythian Road, the owner passed Davis.

She called 911 when she got to a service station and two deputies were dispatched on the call.

The deputies did not know of the kidnapping or the suspect's description, due to Sonoma Valley units being on Channel 3.

The deputies ran Davis's driver's license and license plate number, but they came back with no wants or warrants.

The deputies tried to convince the property owner to perform a citizen's arrest for trespassing.

Under California law, a civilian may make an arrest for this type of misdemeanor.

The property owner would have had to go to the car with the deputies and say "I arrest you."

The deputies then would have taken Davis into custody.

The property owner refused.

The deputies called for a tow truck to get Davis's car out of the ditch.

They searched it thoroughly before the arrival of the tow truck and did not find evidence of anyone else in the car.

The only possible violation was an open container of beer, but Davis was not driving at the time of the deputies' contact and mere possession of an open container was not illegal.

Before Davis was allowed to leave, he was instructed to pour out the beer and the deputies filled out an FI (Field Interrogation) card with his information and the FI card was filed.

On November 28, 1993, the property owner was inspecting her property after loggers had partially cleared the area of trees.

She discovered items that made her think they may be related to the kidnapping.

She called the sheriff's department to report her discovery, and deputies and crime scene investigators were dispatched.

A torn pair of ballet leggings were found that were later matched by the FBI Crime Laboratory to the other part of the leggings which were taken as evidence on the night of the kidnapping.

A review of calls in the area the day of the kidnapping turned up the contact with Davis, who had only been identified because both deputies had filled out and filed the FI card.

Once the identity of Davis was revealed, his palm print at the scene of the kidnapping was also traced to him.

Authorities had been unable to match the partial print earlier due to the poor quality of the print.

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Department, in cooperation with Petaluma Police and the FBI, launched a search of the property and the Pythian Road area during a heavy rainstorm.

The first two days of the search were kept as low-key as possible, since Davis was under surveillance at an Indian rancheria near Ukiah, California.

When nothing was found during the initial search and the surveillance of Davis also produced no results, the decision was made to arrest him for the kidnapping of Klaas.

While Davis was being interrogated by Petaluma PD and the FBI, a massive search was launched on Friday, December 3.

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Department was assisted by over 500 search team members from 24 agencies, coming from as far away as Kern County, California, and Washoe County, Nevada.

The mutual aid effort was coordinated by the California State Office of Emergency Services (now known as the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services), FBI Crime Scene teams, and numerous other state and federal agencies.

Richard Allen Davis was convicted of her murder in 1996 and sentenced to death.