The Brutal Murder of Polly Klass
Why a young girl suddenly went missing and how police were able to catch her killer.
Every parent’s worst nightmare happened to Mark and Eve Klaas on October 1, 1993. It was a Friday night, and Polly Klaas, 12, and her friends, Kate,12, and Jillian, also 12, were having a slumber party in Petaluma, California. They were dancing, listening to music, and having a great time. The girls could never imagine the horror that would happen to them in a few hours. Polly’s mother was in the next room, asleep.
At around 11:00 pm, a man entered Polly’s bedroom carrying a knife. He gagged the girls and took pillowcases to cover their faces. He told them if they screamed, he would slit their throats. He grabbed Polly by knifepoint and dragged her out of the house. The crime took less than five minutes.
Polly was never seen alive again.
The other two girls freed themselves and ran to the mother’s bedroom.
The mother called the Petaluma Police Department, and they called the FBI.
Stranger Abduction
The investigators knew that this was a stranger abduction case and that it would be much harder to solve than a known abduction. A stranger has no connection to the victim or the family…
