12-Year-Old Was Abducted and Killed During Sleepover: Inside the Case of Polly Klaas

More than three decades later, the abduction and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas still haunts the American conscience. On Oct. 1, 1993, Polly was kidnapped from her home in Petaluma, California, while hosting a slumber party with two classmates — an event that would soon capture national attention and reshape state law.

The case ignited one of the largest searches in U.S. history, made Polly’s name known across the country, and directly inspired California’s “three strikes and you’re out” law, which mandated harsher sentences for repeat offenders.

That night, Polly’s mother, Eve, was asleep in another room, while her half-sister, Annie, slept down the hall. At some point, 39-year-old ex-convict Richard Allen Davis — recently paroled after a prior kidnapping conviction — broke into Polly’s bedroom. He bound and gagged her two friends before abducting her into the night.

For 65 agonizing days, thousands of volunteers scoured the state, and law enforcement agencies refined new methods for handling child abductions.

Actress Winona Ryder, who grew up in Petaluma, became one of the case’s most visible advocates. She offered a $200,000 reward for Polly’s safe return and later dedicated her role in the 1994 film Little Women to her — a touching gesture, as it had been Polly’s favorite book.

The search came to its heartbreaking end on Dec. 4, 1993, when Davis confessed to strangling Polly just hours after taking her. He led authorities to a shallow grave near Highway 101, where her remains were found.

One year later, California enacted the “three strikes” law, designed to impose severe penalties on habitual criminals like Davis.

In 1996, a jury convicted Davis of first-degree murder with special circumstances, including kidnapping, burglary, robbery, and attempted lewd acts on a child. He was sentenced to death.

Although Governor Gavin Newsom placed a moratorium on executions in 2019, Davis’ 2024 request for resentencing was denied.

Polly was cremated in a private ceremony surrounded by lavender roses and purple ribbons — her favorite color. Her family later took a boat into Carmel Bay, where her three aunts, Juliet Klaas-Puleo, Marianna Ford, and Elizabeth Klaas, scattered her ashes into the sea.

A decade after her death, Polly’s mother reflected on how her daughter’s memory continues to live on. “We talk about Polly probably every day,” Eve said. “We read from her journal by the fire. We look through her photo albums and tell stories all the time. It’s like she’s still with us — not someone we only remember on anniversaries.”