The Kidnapping and Murder of Polly Klaas

Hello, all! I’m sorry for not posting yesterday but my husband and I had an early Thanksgiving. The food was DELICIOUS, so delicious that we fell asleep for a few hours immediately after. For today’s case, I chose to write about a very famous case from the 90’s, Polly Klaas. Besides Polly being kidnapped and murdered, she also had friends over that night, who could also have been taken or harmed. Thank god they weren’t, but one family lost their young daughter at the hands of a stranger.

Background

Polly Klaas was born on January 3, 1981. She was just 12 years old when she was taken from her house and killed. At the time of her kidnapping, Polly was at her mom’s house in Petaluma, California. She was having a sleepover with a few of her friends.

*Probably the most infamous picture of Polly*

Kidnapping and Murder

On October 1, 1993, Polly and her friends were just hanging out in Polly’s room, probably staying up late. Around 10:30pm, a man entered the room and had a knife in his hand. He tied up Polly’s friends, put sleeping bags over their heads and told them to count to 1,000.

The man’s name was Richard Allen Davis, a complete stranger to the Klaas family.

Investigation

An APB (all points bulletin) was put out 30 minutes after Polly was taken, with the suspect’s information. Polly’s friends ran and woke up Polly’s mom, and she called the police.

There were also many searches that took place over two months, and around 4,000 people came out to search for Polly.

In Santa Rosa, a babysitter called the police when a suspicious vehicle was parked in a private driveway. She decided to leave with the child she was babysitting, and when she left she passed Richard Allen Davis. The babysitter called the police, and they came to talk to Davis.

At this time, the police had no idea that Davis was the one that kidnapped Polly. They just ran his license plates, and tried to convince the owner to charge David with trespassing. However, the property owner declined.

A Discovery

On November 28, 1993, a property owner was outside doing yard work, when she came upon some items that looked like they belonged to a younger girl. She found a torn pair of ballet leggings, the leggings matched a part of the leggings taken by the FBI crime lab.

There were many people who also told the police that they had come in contact with Richard Allen Davis the day of the kidnapping. He also had to fill out a FI card, when he was in the private driveway. Davis’ palm print was also matched to the scene of the kidnapping. He was not arrested that day, but the police arrested him a few days after.

On December 3, there was another massive search for Polly. To this day, it was one of the largest searches in California. There were over 500 search members from 24 different agencies.

Confession

The police were set to continue to search until they figured out what happened to Polly. However, on December 4, Richard Allen David, confessed. He said he kidnapped and strangled Polly, and he led the investigators to where her buried her. He buried her in a shallow grave in Cloverdale, California. Her nightgown was also found pushed up to her waist. She also had fabric and rope in her hair, that had been tied into loops.

The police believe that Davis killed Polly either before or after they stopped him the first time, when he was in that private driveway. He has never given them a timeline of the murder.

Conviction

On June 18, 1996, Richard Allen Davis was found guilty of first degree murder and four special circumstances for robbery, burglary, kidnapping and lewd acts on a child.

Richard Allen Davis also taunted Polly’s family at trial and put up both of middle fingers at the cameras in the courtroom. In case he didn’t make this family suffer enough, he also said that Polly told him her dad abused her, and that those were her last words.

The judge, Judge Thomas Hastings, sentenced Davis to death by lethal injection. He told Davis:

““It is very easy for me to pronounce this sentence, given your revolting behavior in this courtroom.””

Richard Allen Davis is still on death row at San Quentin Prison. He is now in solitary confinement, after surviving a drug overdose and attacks by other prisoners.

Polly’s Legacy

Polly’s body was cremated, and her family and friends spread her ashes in the Pacific Ocean.

Mark Klaas, her dad, also started the KlaasKids Foundation, and is now a child advocate.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Richard Allen Davis is a loser, and a monster. He deserved everything that happened to him in prison. I don’t condone violence, but he entered Polly’s home that night and took her, killed her and probably scarred her friends for life. He probably did some unimaginable things to Polly as well.

Also, how dare you taunt a family at trial? From what I know about Polly’s family, especially her dad, they are heartbroken and now do everything they can to help other families who have gone through the pain, loss and heartbreak that they did.

I’m happy that Polly can rest in peace, and that Davis can’t hurt anyone else, although he should have been in jail when Polly was killed.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Polly_Klaas

https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-polly-klaas/amandasedlakhevener

https://www.foxnews.com/media/polly-klaas-three-strikes-law-fox-nation

https://www.newsweek.com/sad-case-polly-klaas-190468