Polly Klaas
Polly Hannah Klaas
Polly Klaas

30th Anniversary
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2023
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The Disastrous Abduction That Killed Polly Klaas

In 2019, a contact informed me that they were interviewed by the FBI for seven hours in 2006. They stated the interview was as much about Polly Klaas as JonBenet Ramsey. The FBI played numerous recorded calls from 2001 wherein I discussed Klaas in depth with an informant. The FBI stated that I had discussed details of Klaas with her killer in multiple conversations. I have a message for the FBI and Polly Klaas's killer.

(JMK) 10/01/23 - On the night of October 1st 1993, in Petaluma California, twelve year old Polly Klaas had invited her two best friends, Kate McLean and Gillian Pelham, to her house for a sleepover. Meanwhile, Richard Allen Davis was under the impression that Klaas would be alone in her bedroom that night and would be his for the easy taking. He presented himself at her bedroom window and entered. Much to his surprise, there were two young girls in the bedroom with Klaas. It was said that he called out, "Which one of you is Polly Klaas?" Davis bound and blindfolded Polly's friends, Kate and Gillian. He then exited with Polly through the bedroom window he had entered, with a knife held to her throat, leaving her friends Kate and Gillian behind who were, at that point, eyewitnesses to the abduction of Polly Klaas.

Davis took Klaas to his car. They drove away from Polly's house in Petaluma. Instead of going to a certain location with Polly, Davis instead drove around with her in his car for some time that night. On at least one occasion, Davis stopped at a gas station allowing Polly to enter and use the restroom. He said later that he was surprised to see her return to his car as he had thought she would have surely made a run for it. Something very dramatic must have occurred between the time she returned to his car and the time she was ultimately murdered by Davis.

According to the general consensus, Davis killed Klaas to keep her quiet after raping her. But could there have been another reason? If Davis killed Polly to keep her quiet, why didn't he kill Kate McLean and Gillian Pelham to keep them quiet? After all, they had seen Davis's face just as Polly did. If killing one twelve year old girl came easy to Davis, how much harder would it have been for Davis to kill two more twelve year old girls?

On November 30th 1993, Davis was arrested for a parole violation. On December 4th 1993, over two months after Polly Klaas was abducted, Davis led investigators to her remains in Cloverdale California - forty-eight miles north of her home in Petaluma. He was the model cooperative suspect in a murder case - almost too perfect.

Davis's trial for the murder of Polly Klaas would not take place until 1996. There was a change of venue in Davis's trial to Santa Clara County in the South Bay due to intense publicity surrounding the case in Sonoma County. Davis was convicted on June 18, 1996, of first-degree murder with special circumstances (committed during a burglary, a robbery, a kidnapping, and the attempted commission of a lewd act upon a child under the age of 14). Davis was sentenced to death on August 5th, 1996 and is currently on death row at San Quentin Prison outside San Francisco.

In 2006, authorities tried to prove that I had had a correspondence with Davis over the years. His prison cell at San Quentin was turned upside down as authorities searched it in an attempt to find any letters or other evidence that I had sent mail to him. Authorities were seeking to uncover the contents of the alleged correspondence between Davis and me. Davis was very displeased with all of this. He expressed in interviews, in and around that time, that he wished I would be 'popped', which is street gang jargon for 'shot in the head' - quite a strong reaction to a person who was only somewhat responsible for his prison cell being tossed.

In late October 2019, a contact informed me that they had been interviewed by two agents from the FBI for seven hours. The year was 2006 but the focus was far from only involving questions about my involvement in the murder of JonBenet Ramsey. The contact stated that the conversation from the agents was as much about Polly Klaas as it was about JonBenet Ramsey. As the interview progressed on the topic of Polly Klaas, the contact said that the FBI played numerous recorded phone conversations from 2001, between informant Wendy Hutchens and me, wherein I discussed Klaas in depth. The contact said the FBI told them that I had also discussed details of Polly Klaas with Richard Allen Davis himself in multiple conversations. I can only tell you what was told to me by this contact. The contact is someone I consider to be very credible. Many of the details of the seven hour interview were not conveyed to me by the contact. Some of the information the contact shared is being withheld from publication here.

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In this Dec. 7, 1993 file photo, Richard Allen Davis appears with his public defender, Bruce Kinnison, in Sonoma County Municipal Court in Santa Rosa, California after confessing to kidnapping and killing 12 year old Polly Klaas. (AP / Press Democrat / Paul Sakuma / Photo Designed by JMK)

Davis has always denied that he had sex with Klaas before or after he killed her. Furthermore, it was never determined that Davis had sex with Klaas, mostly due to the advanced decomposition of her remains. Though Davis had a lengthy criminal past, he had no criminal history involving sex crimes against children or young girls.

If Davis was being truthful about not abducting Klaas for sexual reasons, the question would remain as to his motive for taking her. This might lead some to believe that Davis was hired to abduct Klaas and deliver her to another person or persons, perhaps as part of some abduction network. Davis has never confessed to this scenario but there might be reasons for that.

There's a possibility that Davis was sworn to secrecy to never reveal the identity of the person or persons who hired him to abduct and deliver Klaas. He might have had his life threatened to hold this secret to protect those who hired him; therefore, Davis might have remained silent for almost three decades out of fear for his life.

Davis might have seen prison as that extra layer of protection from the one or ones who hired him. It might be considered that Davis was compliant with law enforcement in showing where he had discarded the body of Polly Klaas in 1993 because he felt he would have been safer in prison than he would have been on the streets. If Davis was hired to deliver Klaas, a sizeable amount of money would have been involved. Possibly, he would have received a small down payment up front, receiving the remaining balance once he delivered Klaas. Rest assured, Davis never saw the remainder of that money because the delivery of Klaas, alive and well, was never made. Maybe Davis opted for ultra protective custody on death row to stay alive for a little longer. Sometimes, one's life takes precedence over one's freedom. After all, what good is freedom if you're dead?

Unfortunately for Davis, even in a place like San Quentin Prison, one inmate can be murdered by another inmate quite easily. All it takes is a prison visit and a few thousand dollars placed on a hired inmate's prison account to carry out the deed. For a few thousand dollars more, one can buy off a few corrections officers to place an ultra protective custody statused Davis in a vulnerable position for such an attack while they turn a blind eye. If this sounds like something from a movie, refer to the reality of the prison murder of Jeffrey Dahmer. The one or ones who hired Davis to abduct and deliver Klaas has likely threatened this scenario for three decades to keep him quiet.

Now that it's been considered why Davis might hold the secrets of the night of Klaas's abduction and death, there could be reasons he might talk after thirty years. Would he stand to somehow gain from such a revelation? Knowing Davis, he wouldn't talk if he didn't gain somehow from doing so.

One reason Davis might richly benefit from handing over the one or ones who hired him would be the establishment of diminished responsibility for his horrible crime. The one or ones who hired him would be considered the masterminds while Davis would be considered a mere pawn only doing what he was told for a few thousand dollars. The FBI might promise Davis that the establishment of diminished responsibility, through such a revelation, could result in a reversal of his death sentence.

Another reason Davis might make an abduction for hire revelation about the night Klaas died is that of changing the unanimously held conclusion that he was some dirty, pathetic pedophile who raped a twelve year old girl before or even after he killed her. Davis was adamant in 1993 that he did not sexually assault Klaas prior to or after her death. He exhibited a hatred for any man who would do such a thing. He accused others of having sex with Polly instead, stating that Klaas herself had told him that her father was having sex with her. Of course, no one believed anything Davis said about not having sex with Klaas himself but maybe they should have. Davis certainly established, from the beginning, that such a label was disgusting to him. If Davis reveals that he was, instead, a hired abductor who was paid a sum of money to take Klaas and hand her off to another person or persons, his motive for abducting Klaas for sexual gratification would be discounted, once and for all. Davis would be content in knowing that, finally, everyone would believe him when he says, he did not have sex with a twelve year old girl like some vile, child rapist, pedophile - a label that he has openly and defiantly detested and denounced for all these years.

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Polly Klaas shows off the new ring and bracelet she got for Christmas on December 25th 1992. It would be her last. The photo was released to ABC News by Marc Klaas in 2024. (ABC News / Marc Klaas / Photo Designed by John Mark Karr)

If Davis ever does reveal that the abduction of Polly Klaas was an abduction for hire, it would be at a time very close to his natural death or just before his execution when he would have much less to lose. If such an abduction for hire revelation is ever made, the question would remain - why did Davis fail to deliver Klaas, opting to kill her instead? Every end has a beginning and a middle. In this case, something must have gone terribly wrong for the outcome to result in the unplanned murder of Polly Klaas. The one or ones who hired Davis know the precise reason he killed Klaas and how it had absolutely nothing to do with him having sex with her. The secret of his motive remains safe with Davis and the one or ones who hired him to deliver her safely into their hands.

If Richard Davis plans to express or has already expressed to the FBI that I was the mastermind who hired him to abduct and deliver Polly Klaas, to me or to any other person or persons, for any purpose, in exchange for an allotted amount of money, and such a revelation results in my arrest - I will expose his ulterior motive for doing so in a court of law, just as I have exposed it in detail in this article, which is that of establishing diminished responsibility in order to save himself from the death penalty, as well as his intent to, once and for all, remove a vile, child rapist, pedophile label that he has openly and defiantly detested and denounced for all these years.

If the FBI arrests me for the conspiracy to abduct Polly Klaas that resulted in her death, which would equate to the charges of first degree kidnapping and first degree murder, I will fight them legally with all that is in me. As for any cooperation with their investigation, if arrested and charged by their agency, I will invoke my fifth amendment right to remain silent and immediately request the presence of an attorney. I know the FBI has an almost ninety-five percent conviction rate and only a small percentage of all those who are charged by the FBI, take their case to trial; however, I will go to trial with them and I will plead not guilty, accompanied by the best legal team I can secure.

I was devastated when I discovered Polly had been murdered. It was nothing I could ever have wanted for this perfect young girl. If I did have contact with Davis on the night of October 1st 1993, as I have been accused of having, I would have pleaded for Polly's life. For years, I kept a copy of Polly's death certificate with me. It was solely for sentimental reasons. It was the only physical item I had that connected me to Polly. In 1993, I was so proud that such celebrities as Winona Ryder and Robin Williams attended her memorial service at Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Petaluma. I was a member of Saint Vincent de Paul. There wasn't a time that I was in that church that I didn't reflect on Polly, knowing her memorial had been held there. I lived in Polly's very own Petaluma. Sometimes I felt like I could reach out and touch her. Alas, she wasn't there and she never would be again. God rest your soul, darling Polly. May your spirit soar to the highest heights of Paradise.

UPDATE - In February 2024, Richard Allen Davis sought to overturn his death sentence. Federal public defenders representing Davis argued in a Santa Clara County courtroom that Senate Bill 483, a California law that took effect in 2022, which invalidates sentencing enhancements for some prior convictions for nonviolent and drug convictions, should be applied to Davis's case. It's interesting that Davis did not launch this appeal two years ago when the law was first introduced. The hearing was in Santa Clara County because Davis’ original trial was moved to the South Bay due to intense publicity around the case.

Sonoma County prosecutors stated that Davis’ endeavor to reverse his death sentence was “absurd”. They further stated that SB483 didn't apply to his death sentence and would affect only two years’ worth of his prison sentence on other charges related to the crime.

It's interesting to note that Davis was represented in Santa Clara County, by federal public defenders. Federal public defender organizations are entities in the United States Federal Government. Their staffs are federal employees. Federal public defenders handle criminal trials in United States Federal Court for alleged federal crimes or criminal cases involving state law violations in which a federal court can assert federal jurisdiction.

On May 31, 2024, Superior Court Judge Benjamin Williams expressed that he saw Davis’ petition to be “a collateral attack on the death sentence” he was given in 1996 rather than a legitimate request for resentencing under the guidelines of the 2022 California Senate Bill 483. The judge summed up by saying, “Accordingly the petition is denied. It is so ordered.”

Sources:
CBS News Bay Area
East Bay Times

"October 1st 2024 marked the thirty-first anniversary of the death of Polly Klaas. Let us all reflect on the life of this incredible young girl on this day of eternal mourning for all of us who loved her and will forever long for her presence."

- John Mark Karr -