FBI INSIGHT PART II: THE ABDUCTION OF POLLY KLAAS

Welcome to part two of the Ret. FBI Special Agent David Alford blog posts. In part one, I discussed the details of the Unabomber case. In part 2, you will learn the details of the Polly Klaas kidnapping and murder.

ABOUT THE CASE

Oct. 1, 1993, started out like any normal pre-teen slumber party. Polly invited her friends Kate and Gillian to her home in Petaluma, California.

​They were playing games for sure, but were also likely braiding each other’s hair and talking about boys.

​Unbeknownst to the girls, a man was loitering outside of their home for an our and a half, waiting for the perfect time to strike. Around 10:30 p.m., he entered the home, found the girls, and abducted Polly at knife point. Before leaving, he tied up Kate and Gillian and told them to count to 1,000.

Before leaving, he grabbed some of Polly’s things and escaped the house with her. Police later found that the abductor and murderer was Richard Allen Davis.
 
After Kate and Gillian were sure he had left, they ran to the room where Polly Klaas’ mother was sleeping. The groggy mother called in the abduction to the police.
 
Not more than an hour later, a resident called Sonoma County sheriff’s office to report that there was a strange and suspicious man standing by a Ford Pinto which was lodged in a ditch. The deputies came by, searched his car, checked him for outstanding warrants, and let him go. On Oct. 19, Davis was stopped, arrested, and booked with drunk driving. No one connected that he was the one who abducted Polly. He was released that same day.

There wasn’t another break in the case until Nov. 28, almost two months after Polly went missing. The same woman who reported the suspicious man called up the police to report that pieces of white cloth were scattered on her land. The white cloth was accompanied by empty condom rappers, red panty hose, and a black sweatshirt. ​

​The red panty hose were taken from Polly’s room, and the white cloths looked similar to the binding that the girls were wrapped in on the night of the abduction. This connected the evidence to the case.
 
FBI agents, according to Alford, found a partial palm print from the bedroom. Alford said that pulling palm prints wasn’t as common at this point, but they were able to pick up the print using special lifting paper. Davis’ print matched the palm print, and he confessed to strangling Polly to death. He took investigators to her burial spot.

INTERESTING FACTS

• Winona Ryder, who is from Petaluma, California, offered a $200,000 reward if Polly was returned safely. After it was revealed that Polly died, Ryder dedicated her role in Little Women to Polly, as it was her favorite book. You probably know Ryder from popular movies like The Heathers or Beetlejuice. 
• Davis is on death row at San Quentin State Prison. He’s been attacked by multiple prisoners and even attempted a drug overdose. Despite this, he still works with his attorneys to appeal the decisions made by the court systems.
• Klaas wasn’t his first abduction. He abducted a woman in 1976 and only served 5 years for his stunt. He had periods of delusion where he heard his dead girlfriend talking to him. This was all reported by his psychiatrist. 
• Klaas’ father, Marc, established the KlaasKids Foundation, which works to prevent crimes against children, assist in finding missing children, and more. 
• Although investigators found condoms at the scene where they found evidence that linked to Richard Allen Davis, he swears to this day that he never sexually assaulted her.
• Polly’s head was almost completely separated, showing the force Davis put on her.
• Polly’s community was small and generally had low crime rates. Because of this, the community really came together to try to find Polly when she went missing.
• Polly’s case led to the “three strikes” law, which gives a criminal a mandatory sentence of 25 to life if they commit three felonies, no matter how minor.
• I was born on this exact day on this exact year.