POLLY KLAAS

January 3, 1981 – October 1993

Missing: 10/1/93 Age: 12

 

Twelve year old Polly Klaas of Petaluma, California was abducted on October 1, 1993 from her mother’s home during a slumber party. During the sleepover with two other girls, Klass went to get sleeping bags from a nearby closet. When she opened the door, a man stood with a knife in his hand. The man proceeded to tie up the two other girls and told them to count to a 1,000 while forcing Klaas out the house with him.

Her abductor, Richard Allen Davis, was wanted man who failed to show up for parole for a previous crime. After Klaas’s abduction, thousands of people volunteered in search of young Polly as well as the police. During the search officers found Davis in a nearby rural town trying to pull his truck out of the mud. Unaware of Davis’s parole violation, the officers let him go after calling his driver’s license in to a dispatcher. Soon thereafter, it is believed that Davis drove to a more isolated area where he killed, and buried Polly’s body.

On November 30, 1993, Davis was arrested for his parole violation. His prints were found in Polly’s bedroom, and therefore accused of her death. He later confessed and led the police to where he buried Klaas’s body. Davis was tried and convicted in 1996 to first-degree murder, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, and lewd acts on a child. Davis is currently on death row in San Quentin State Prison in California.

For more information on Polly’s story, visit Polly Klaas.