Polly Klass
| Polly Klaas | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Polly Hannah Klaas January 3, 1981 Fairfax, California, United States |
| Died | October 1, 1993 (aged 12) Petaluma, California, United States |
| Cause of death | Strangulation |
| Body discovered | December 4, 1993 |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Occupation | Student |
| Known for | Murder victim |
| Website | pollyklaas.org |
Polly Hannah Klaas (January 3, 1981 – October 1, 1993) was an American murder victim whose case gained national attention. On October 1, 1993, at the age of twelve, she was kidnapped at knife point during a slumber party from her mother's home in Petaluma, California. She was later strangled to death. Richard Allen Davis was convicted of her murder in 1996 and sentenced to death.
On October 1, 1993, Polly Klaas and two friends were having a slumber party. Late in the evening, Richard Allen Davis entered their bedroom, carrying a knife. He tied both friends up, pulled pillowcases over their heads and told them to count to 1,000. He then kidnapped the weeping 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 information was broadcast within 30 minutes of it, on October 1, 1993. However, the broadcast only went out over Sonoma County Sheriff's Channel 1. In a rural area of Santa Rosa, about 20 miles north of Petaluma, a babysitter returning 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 the suspect. 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 the suspect's driver's license number and car 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 citizen must 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 him into custody. The property owner refused.
The deputies called for a tow truck to get the suspect'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 the suspect was not driving at the time of the deputies' contact and mere possession of an open container was not illegal. Before the suspect 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. It showed that Davis was the person with the Ford Pinto that night.
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Wikipedia