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The Murder Book: A True Crime Podcast
Each week, The Murder Book will present unsolved cases, missing persons, notorious crimes, controversial cases, and serial killers, exploring details of the crime scenes and the murderer's childhood. Some episodes are translated into Spanish as well. The podcast is produced and hosted by Kiara Coyle.
The Murder Book: A True Crime Podcast
Tragedy in Petaluma: The kidnapping of Polly Klaas Part X
Join us as we unravel the intense story of the raid aimed at capturing Richard Davis, the prime suspect in the kidnapping of Polly Klaas. We start with Sergeant Mike Kearns' masterful press manipulation to maintain the covert nature of the mission. Follow the FBI Special Operations Group’s maneuvers as they track Davis to his sister's home on the Coyote Valley Rancheria. Listen in as we guide you through the SWAT teams' detailed preparations, their high-stakes deployment, and the heart-stopping moment when Davis is discovered to be absent from the targeted location.
Then, shift gears to the gripping interrogation room where Pelton and Davis engage in a tense face-off. He feels the pressure as Davis struggles to piece together his alibi and becomes increasingly agitated when questioned about his criminal past. Special Agent Larry Taylor steps in demanding clear answers, heightening the drama. The episode culminates in a forensic breakthrough—learn how the FBI lab painstakingly matched a partial palm print from Polly's bunk bed to Davis, connecting him directly to the crime scene. This episode is packed with tension, forensic science, and the relentless pursuit of justice.
Host: Clint McNear and Tyler Owen discussing topics, issues, and stories within the...
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Welcome to the Murder Book. I'm your host, kiara, and this is Part 10 of Tragedy in Petaluma the Kidnapping of Polyclass. Let's begin. On the morning of the SWAT raid, sergeant Mike Kearns walked out of Petaluma Police Department in uniform to conduct a press conference. To conduct a press conference. Dozens of reporters were waiting and crews from 20 TV stations were getting up their cameras and testing their satellite feeds. After two months of hearing no solid leads, the media were rabid for new information. Anything more concrete, the atmosphere vibrated with expectation. Whenever Kern set up for a press conference, he usually stood facing south, with the police station behind him. This morning, though, he flipped things around, so the press had their backs to the station. They might not notice the caravan of police cars and FBI vehicles pulling out of the station behind them, heading north for a SWAT raid. If the press caught on and gave chase, the operation would be compromised In the day or so.
Speaker 1:Following the discovery of the suspicious items on Dana Jaffe's property, the FBI Special Operations Group had tracked Davis to the Coyote Valley Rancheria, a small reservation 85 miles north of Petaluma, just north of the town of Ukiah. He was staying at the home of his sister and brother-in-law, darlene and Richard Schwarm, who lived with their young children, two girls and two boys, in a rental house on the reservation. The Schwarms were not members of the Pomo tribe and they were living there illegally as their lease had not been approved by the tribal council. The tribe considered them squatters and had been trying to evict them for two years. A surveillance team had eyes on the Schwarm house through the night while search warrants were written and signed. Davis's October 19 DUI provided the basis for an arrest warrant. An arrest of any kind was an automatic violation of parole and his subsequent failure to appear in court for the DUI arrest was another violation. He had also failed to check in with his parole officers. So the plan was straightforward A SWAT team would enter the house with the element of surprise, swiftly arrest Davis for the parole violation and take him into custody. Once he was safely detained in jail, they would question him about the kidnapping.
Speaker 1:The caravan of SWAT team members made the 80-mile drive north on the 101 to the Mendocino service office, a 15-minute drive from the location of the raid. They needed a place to stage and practice the raid, out of sight of the media. More than 30 people gathered for the briefing by Tom LaFreniere, who would be redirecting the operation from a mobile command center parked nearby. Today's mission will deploy three SWAT teams. Lafreniere went over the operations order, a detail-written plan that outlined every tick and tock of the tactical mission. It began with intel about the house, anything that could provide an idea of the floor plan.
Speaker 1:The sequence will begin as snipers station themselves covertly in the woods watching the house through their long-range scopes and providing cover. Swat vehicles will deliver the assault teams to Faceline Yellow, out of sight of the house, but just around the corner. They would stage there waiting for an all-clear from the snipers, waiting for an all clear from the snipers. Once the snipers relay the all clear, they would advance to face line green, which is the final staging area before the breach point, and they would fall into the stack, which is a predetermined entry order. Lefrenier would give the final command, which is execute, execute, execute. The team leaders will use hand and voice signals to direct the team from there. Each person had a specific assignment, their entry order in the stack, a specific room or area to clear and, in some cases, a particular role. They have choreographed patterns in which they would flow through the house, clear each room, and they rehearsed this choreography in the parking lot where the floor plan was outlined in yellow tape on the asphalt. They practiced unloading from the vehicles that would deliver them close to the target, then ran through the sequence several times. The plan almost always changed, of course, as soon as they entered the target and encountered the unexpected, which is why each SWAT team trained together at least twice a month.
Speaker 1:The mobile command post was parked just up the road from the house and out of sight, roughly the size of a long U-Haul moving truck. It was painted black on the outside and rigged on the inside with radios, whiteboards, benches that doubled as storage lockers for guns and other gear. On the benches rested a table where the incident commander could spread out maps, photographs and documents. Working with tribal authorities, a number of local agencies secured a perimeter around the reservation, establishing roadblocks to prevent civilian vehicles from entering. During the mission, a young deputy from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office was stationed at the entrance, where he was instructed to stop cars and politely explain the wait.
Speaker 1:At 3.30 pm the operation began. The roadblock closed, the snipers were in position, the assault teams loaded in a small convoy, tom Lafreniere was in the command post. The leaders of the investigative team were stationed around the corner from the house, each pair of federal, local partners. They were all working in sync. The convoy snaked through the empty streets of the reservation, stopping just outside of the house. Men in black spilled out and began flowing into formation, moving swiftly toward the house. No one recalls if they knocked or breached. On the other side of the door was a confusing state of clutter. The people present in the house raised their hands and did not resist.
Speaker 1:The men in black flowed through the house, infiltrating every room and closet, poking at piles of clothes and unmade beds to make sure there was not a person hiding beneath. Outside the house, the Petaluma SWAT team fanned out through the yard, which was filled with rusty cars and various states of decay. Bruce Burrows, the leader of Team Bravo, the FBI team, was in the house and they said he's not here. Every member of the operation collectively had the same thought what so? In the yard, stapleton felt a surge of adrenaline and shock. Had he missed him? So, after returning to the outbuildings and finding them still empty, he scanned the surroundings for a possible escape route. The yard was fenced and inside the house, the assault team members lowered their weapons Around the corner, all heads swiveled toward Eddie Fryer.
Speaker 1:Where is he? How could he have slipped past surveillance? You know they're telling it to everybody. There's tension that is crested like a wave, the radio crackle with an update from the outer perimeter. It was the voice of FBI radio tech, who was stationed at the roadblock near the entrance of the reservation and he said I think your guy's waiting in line here. So Mike Meese, pat Parks and Mark Mershon leaped into the nearest vehicle and peeled out At the roadblock.
Speaker 1:The red-headed deputy from Mendocino, rusty Noe, was standing beside a gray van, chatting casually through the driver's side window with a man he presumed to be a regular civilian. The driver had black and gray hair to his shoulders, dark eyes, a mustache, no beard. Noe politely explained the reason for the traffic stop. The driver seemed rather curious about what was going on. Noe said that it was a law enforcement procedure, but he didn't have any details, which was true. Having missed the morning briefing, he didn't know anything about the nature of the raid or the suspect.
Speaker 1:Just then a car came tearing in from the reservation and squealed to a stop and two feds and a cop emerged. The red-headed deputy stepped back. As the trio approached the van. Captain Parks drew his gun but kept it in his head pointed down. Merchant was a half step behind him and they asked him are you Richard Allen Davis? And the man said yeah. He stared straight ahead, eyes blank. He kept both hands on the wheel. Parks, still pointing his gun at the ground, opened the van door and Mershon said keep your hands where I can see them. And he looked in the back of the van and saw two or three nieces and nephews. Davis got out of the van and raised his hands and Mies reached out for his handcuffs and he told him you're under arrest.
Speaker 1:Richard Allen Davis was then transported to the Mendocino County jail by Rusty Nome, the redheaded deputy, who was a little upset because he didn't know. You know all the details because he missed that briefing. And now there's this suspect, handcuffed, riding in the back of his patrol car, and he was annoyed that his colleagues had let him stand there, just a few steps from a presumably dangerous man talking to the suspect as if he was to some harmless civilians. When the cops and the fed swooped in, read the guy his rights, they declared he was being arrested for a drunk driving warrant. Knorr found himself as puzzled as the man in cuffs, a SWAT team raid for a DUI. It didn't make any sense. Only after the man was in custody did Rusty Null learn the whole story, and after delivering Davis to Mendocino, to the Mendocino jail, he would never see him again.
Speaker 1:So now they're going to the interview room at Mendocino, which is big enough for like a table and two chairs. And this was a big moment for the investigators, because they have spent two months hunting him down. They have vetted around 60,000 tips. They have investigated 12,000 leads. Now, finally, they're facing the main suspect, and so Mike Meese asked him to take a seat. He introduced the two men who will be asking some questions Larry Taylor, the FBI from Texas, and then Rick Davis and Larry Pelton, and there had been some discussion that morning about who should conduct the interview. It was the start of a relationship that could go sideways at any moment. If you press him too hard and Davis could invoke his Miranda rights, it would bring a questioning to a halt. Approach him too gently, they risk wasting time. Polly was somewhere out there. If she was alive, every minute counted. So the investigative team had decided to send the two Larrys Larry Taylor, who was an FBI expert on kidnappings and he had worked a number of child adoption cases in the Bay Area.
Speaker 1:Detective Larry Pelton had experience interviewing homicide suspects and solving whodunit murder cases. Pelton had the most intimate knowledge of the case and had been present at several of the crime scenes and he would be the one taking the lead. He had not taken any formal interview and interrogation classes, so he wasn't trained to interpret body language or eye movements, shifts in voice tone or other indications of deception. But years of experience have sharpened his instincts and honed his approach. Get a story, true or false, that you can later verify or disprove. The more a suspect talks, the better chance you have of getting pieces of the truth and discovering lies.
Speaker 1:So Pelton and Taylor met with the FBI profiler, mary Ellen O'Toole, because they wanted her opinion on the best approach to use when talking to Davis. Based on Davis's personality and past criminal behavior, his violent crimes and propensity for lying, o'toole advised a confrontational approach. Confrontational approach Pelton knew that could be risky. An upfront accusation can make a suspect clam up and invoke his Miranda rights. But if you get a story, even one filled with lies, at least you have something to work with. There's always some truth mixed in with the lies, and even the lies can be useful.
Speaker 1:So, following his gut, pelton started with a softer approach. So Pelton told him that you know he was being arrested on a probable violation, and it's kind of obvious that they wanted to talk to him about something else also, and Davis asked was this concerning? And Pelton said well, it's, you know it's concerning a number of different things. We can go into that. I'm sure you know your rights. And David's asked for what, though? All I did was violate parole, gotta, do you why? So here, agent Taylor interjected and he said you have to be advised of your rights, and Davis said I've never been interrogated like this before.
Speaker 1:Pelton put fresh batteries in the tape recorder and read Davis's his Miranda rights. Taylor passed him a consent form, a legal agreement to waive them, and Davis signed it. And so Pelton asked him understanding this, do you wish to talk to us? And he said well, I just have one question. He said okay. He said what is all this pertain to? And Pelton said you know you had a beard. You look kind of like the composite. And Davis laughed and said that's why we want to talk to you about the poorly classed kidnapping. And David said yeah, well, it ain't me. It ain't even my type of criminal behavior. I have helped kill people like that.
Speaker 1:And this quick reply told Pelton that Davis knew exactly what this pertained to, and the comment that this wasn't his type of criminal behavior was telling. The only type of criminal behavior publicized in the media was kidnapping. He had kidnapped before. The comments suggested that Davis knew something much worse had happened to Paulie. So Pelton said do you remember where you were on October 1st? That's a Friday night. And he said yeah, I was on a pass. And his response came a little too quickly. Most people can't remember what they did last Tuesday, never mind two months ago. So that meant that he had been thinking about this particular date and he had a story ready.
Speaker 1:And David said that he was living at Turning Point, which is a halfway house in San Mateo. And Pelton asked do you hear about the kidnapping? He said yeah, I'm sure everybody heard about it. He said do you remember when you heard about the kidnapping? And he said Saturday, I think it was the following day, I think it was later. On that day I was watching the news or something. He said where have you been on the past? He said went to go see some people that I knew living in Napa Dude I used to deal weed with a long time ago. I ended up getting stuck on some people's property and the sheriffs had to pull me out of a ditch. Pelton didn't let on that. He knew about the Pithian Road incident. So you were coming back from this guy's house or were you going On a weekend pass from Turning Point? He said he had left San Mateo a little before dark on the Friday of Polly's abduction, 6 or 7 o'clock. This was a fact that Pelton could check with the Turning Point logbook and he could also calculate the distance and drive time to Petaluma 58 miles, which is about an hour and a half without traffic.
Speaker 1:Pelton asked how he got to Pythian Road and Davis said he drove up Highway 101 through San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge and then he drove toward Napa through some little town but couldn't recall the name of it. Town, but couldn't recall the name of it. And he he said I got to the town where they lived. I hit the side roads but couldn't find it, backed out of two places, went then to town, bought a six pack of beer, drank a few, went back up trying to find the right road. And he said what's the name of the friend you were going to see? He said I can say that. He said you don't want to tell us. He said no. He said he knew better than to give up names so the cops would then track them down. So he said where did you go after you got unstuck? And he said back home, back to San Mateo.
Speaker 1:Then, sometime after that, you heard about the kidnapping. What do you think about it? This is Pelton asking this. And he said, well, someone is a sick fuck. And he said what kind of person would do that? And he said, well, I have done enough time. I've done 16 years in prison. I have met enough sick people. So when you got back to turning point, did you see anybody who can vouch for what time you were there? And he said, yeah, a lot of people. He couldn't recall any of the names. And they asked about his family and he said he was close to his sister, darlene, six years younger. His dad had died while Davis was in prison and he had other siblings and a mother and said I've got nothing to do with them.
Speaker 1:And Pelton wanted more details about Friday October 1st. Where did he exit the 101? Where did he buy the beer? At a liquor store, yes, but which one? And he couldn't remember the name. Did you charge things? Charge things so you can verify your story. He said charge, you know. Do you pay cash? He said I just got out of prison in June. How the fuck am I going to get a credit card unless I steal it? He said okay, so you pay cash? That's all I'm asking. And Davis snorted and said yeah. And then Pelton noticed inconsistency in the level of detail Davis claimed to remember. Some details about the night of the kidnapping were quite clear backing out of two places, going into town and buying a six-pack of beer, but not where he bought that beer. That was a fact they could verify, if not with a credit card record, then maybe with surveillance videos.
Speaker 1:Pelton looked for a way to establish some logical link to Petaluma. He said do you have any friends in Petaluma? He said all my friends are in prison. He said so. Do you know anybody in Petaluma? He said my mother. He said your mother lives in Petaluma. He said yeah, but I have no contact with her. He said my mother? I said your mother lives in Petaluma. He said yeah, but I have no contact with her. I said what's her name? He said not for me, you're not going to get it. I had nothing to do with the bitch when she divorced my father in 62, she never had contact with us again.
Speaker 1:So they asked him when did you shave off your beard? Your parole officer showed us a picture and you had a beard. He said about three weeks ago. I shaved it A month ago, three weeks, two weeks. He said I'm sure you saw a picture of the suspect on the polyclass kidnapper Kidnapping. What do you think? Do you look similar? And he said not me.
Speaker 1:A few people at the program said something. Dude named Brad makes some statement towards me, doesn't matter what. He said Fuck him up, I just shine it off. And so they tried to keep talking. I said something about you, look like. And he said yeah, yeah, yeah, he's the only one that's ever said anything. But I said okay, any reason why you could think anybody may say you anything?
Speaker 1:Petaluma said okay, any reason why you could think anybody may say you were in Petaluma? And he said did they say that I was in Petaluma? He said well, they thought they saw you in Petaluma that night. He said I wasn't in Petaluma. You can check with the sheriffs. They're the ones that pulled me out of that ditch. So was there anybody else with you that night? He said no, they searched the car because they said it was marijuana country. Do you know what time that was? He said between 10, 11, somewhere around there. Said do you have a watch? Say no, I don't like watches. They remind me of handcuffs. I can't wear a watch.
Speaker 1:They have his rap sheet and they knew that he had been charged with kidnapping, robbery, assault. He started to get agitated when they pressed him on his whereabouts and he said I mean you want every fucking movement, so we got to make sure you were not involved. Want every fucking movement, so we got to make sure you were not involved. Said I know in here and here I wasn't involved. Said okay. Said I told you before I helped kill dudes like that. Said you what? Said I told you before I helped kill dudes like that in the joint, I helped fuck up a lot of people. So you're saying because of kidnapping a little girl, you mean Say yeah, it's sick fucking crime, rape, whatever you want to call it. I think it's a coward's crime, you know? Say they have not said, and you know one thing was that they have not, until this point they have said anything about rape. Also, no mention of rape have ever appeared in the press. When the suspect volunteers details that only the offender could know, of course that's a red flag.
Speaker 1:So now Special Agent Larry Taylor steps in looming, losing his patience, and he said I think really it's time we start talking a little straight. I'm going to start from square one and if I'm wrong you correct me. He said okay. He said you didn't have a pass on October 1st. He said yeah, I did. He said no, no, you didn't. I got a copy of your files. He said I thought I did. He said you didn't tell the deputies that you arrived looking for a friend. You told the deputies you were out sightseeing. He said no. He said I got the report right here. He said I don't remember telling them that. He said well, they didn't make it up. He said well, I'm saying I didn't remember telling them that. He said okay, it was time to tip his hand and show Davis a bit of what they knew, so that he would realize they could catch him in a lie. So he said I just want to lay a few things out and then we can go from there.
Speaker 1:The lady coming down the hill saw you in the dark sweatshirt and when the deputies got there you were wearing a button-down striped shirt. He said yeah, yellow and white. And Detective Pelton jumped in and said what did you do with the sweatshirt? He said I didn't have, unless that's it, the charcoal color one that I got. It's the only sweatshirt I got. And Pelton said that's all you got now, maybe what do you have? Then he said that's all I had.
Speaker 1:I said what happens when you drink? And this is Taylor asking this. And David said what happens when I drink? He said yeah, what happens to you when you drink? He said get a lightweight Buzz. He said okay, I mean personality-wise, you go for Mr Nice Guy, go over, lay in the car, go to sleep. Do you become a fighter? What do you do? He said no, I wouldn't fight, only fight if I drink whiskey or something like that, drink beer, whatever. Just kick back.
Speaker 1:And Detective Pelton asked do you ever black out? He said no, a long time ago, that's when I stopped drinking whiskey. He said do you know if you ever blacked out the last couple months? He said I didn't drink no whiskey. I told myself that when I got out. He said so you wouldn't black out on beer or anything like that. If you got bombed, he said no, I'll probably have to drink a whole lot of beer to black out. So Pelton said well, I don't know, some people are different. Do something they normally wouldn't do. He said I haven't blacked out yet drinking beer. So what about getting so drunk that you will end up doing something you would not normally do? He said no, not even.
Speaker 1:And Agent Taylor leaned in to make a point. He said you're telling me, then, anything you did you would have been aware of. And David said hell yeah. He said okay, and this was important because a statement against which future statements could be called out as inconsistent. So Taylor said well, what I'm telling you is we think you took poly class, and you know I'm not sitting here telling you that simply because I think I can just go around telling you that I got reasons because of what we have found, and we are talking about physical evidence.
Speaker 1:And Pelton added trace evidence. You heard about trace evidence, little minute hairs and fibers. And David said uh-huh. He said I'll tell you At this point. I'm not asking you whether you did it. We are comfortable that you did it. The only thing I care about is why. I just want you to tell me why. And David said I can't. He said why. He said I ain't done nothing to be answering no why.
Speaker 1:And Pelton said you have a child. And David said not that I know of. Maybe I've been told I have one, but I have never seen him. He said little boy or a girl. And David said they're 12 years old now. He said a boy or a girl. And he said yeah.
Speaker 1:And Pelton said I understand you were not close, I guess because you were in prison a lot. Do you have some kind of relationship with them earlier? He said never even saw them, okay. And he said mother married someone who wanted a legitimate name. I wasn't willing to do that. So my father go through all of his divorces, fuck all that, says your sister.
Speaker 1:How many kids do they have? He said four. So you're pretty close to them. Do you love them? He said oh, yeah. He said they're good kids. He said yeah. Well, he said they're kids.
Speaker 1:Pelton said but your sister loves them, right? He said uh-huh. He said your brother-in-law loves them. He said sure. He said how do you think they would feel if one of them was missing? He said real bad. And Pelton said real bad. So they would want to know what happened one way or another, right? He said yeah, so they probably feel really sick not knowing what's happening to them, right? Not knowing why somebody did something to them.
Speaker 1:And David said well, yeah, asking me why I couldn't? He said because we told you why. And then David looked at Pelton and he said well then book me and let's get a lawyer and let's go for it. Man, you know, he said we're just trying to talk to you. And David said book me and let's shit or get off the pod, let's go for it. And Pelton said so is that what you want to do, or do you want to talk and try to tell us what's going on? And David said you were asking a lot of these different questions in the beginning. I don't mind telling you ask a lot of stupid questions. He said we do. He said now it's getting to the point. You tell me. You know I did it. You want to know why. You got a little evidence. You guys feel that much that I did. Do do it, hey, then this shit will get off the pot.
Speaker 1:And here agent Taylor stepped in and said it's going to happen. And David said well, let's go for it. That's the end, the end. And Pelton said you don't want to talk, no more. And David said get real, you think I should. And Pelton said that's up to you. And David said fuck.
Speaker 1:And agent Taylor said like I said what we want to know is why. And then Pelton said because this is our opportunity to get it from you. And David said I can tell you something I don't know. And Pelton answered him back and said so, we can tell the parents why. That's why we're asking you this stuff. And David said well, I can't answer the question. Get real, I ain't done it. How can I answer it? And so Pelton said okay, you know nothing about it. And David said hell, no, I didn't kidnap that little fucking broad man. Get real, the lie would come back to haunt him, that statement that I didn't kidnap that little fucking brat. And so they keep asking him.
Speaker 1:You talk about rape and things like that. We never mentioned something about that. We mentioned kidnapping of poly class. Nobody said anything about sexual assault of a little girl and he said I just told you I didn't snatch the little girl. Pelton said I know, but earlier you said those people are sick. He said yeah, he said they're rapists. And he said rapists, child molesters. They got ex-cops in there and you know ex-chips, you know California Highway Patrol. He said I have done enough time. I have been a lot of sick motherfuckers. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:And Agent Taylor said I'll give you this much from reading your reports. I don't know what you found out. I would say you're right. That's the reason I'm asking you about the alcohol, because in reading the report, it doesn't seem that you would do something like that unless there was something taking you completely out of your personality, completely out of your personality. And he said you know, there ain't no way, whatever you're saying that I might have gotten so drunk. If I was so drunk when the cops pulled me out of that ditch, why didn't they take me to jail? Pilgrim said yeah, right, I didn't. I don't know, I don't, I don't know. He said well, he said before that or later than that, we don't know, I don't know. He said well, he said before that or later than that, we don't know. And David said well, I told you I ain't got no watch, I just know a round figure. But as far as these questions are going, give me a lawyer and let's go down the road. And Pelton said so you want a lawyer, you don't want to talk anymore. And David said hey, it's over and done. Now, like I said, shit or get off the pot, let's go by asking for a lawyer and asking to end the interview. Davis had invoked his Miranda rights. The cops and feds could not legally ask him any more questions about the crime. He was handcuffed and taken back to his cell in the Minocino jail. The sheriff moved him to a medical isolation unit where the lights stay on 24 hours and Davis could be monitored. Suicide watch. We'll be right back. So now it's December 1st 1993.
Speaker 1:And the Latin pump print from Polly's bunk bed had been sitting in the FBI lab for two months, useless, without a suspect and his palm. It was one of the 48 Latin prints missed in the initial dusting found with Tony Maxwell's red wax powder and alternate light source. In the fingerprint log it was entry A-6, the one next to which he scribbled the word bingo. It was a question print as opposed to a known print belonging to the victim or some other individual with reason to be in her room. The Q samples, as they were called in the lab, were quickly matched with case samples from Polly and her family and friends and eliminated as evidence All but one, the palm print.
Speaker 1:It was too big to belong to a child and its location was suggestive pressed into one of the wooden slats supporting the upper rail of the bunk bed, as if some adult had momentarily leaned against it. For balance. As specimens go, it wasn't the cleanest. It was only a partial impression of a pump. Its wharves and ridge lines were smudged in spots or interrupted by gaps between the wooden frame and two cylindrical dowels that held it together. Viewed out of context, the print might appear more like a Rorschach test than part of the human hand.
Speaker 1:The FBI had a strict policy of not accepting any evidence that had been processed by another agency. So the latest print, along with any other evidence that needed examination by the FBI lab, would have been logged into evidence by the Petaluma PD but sent directly to the FBI lab. This palm print was now in the hands of Michael J Smith, a fingerprint specialist in the Latin fingerprint section of the FBI lab in Washington DC. It had been hand-delivered on November 8 by ERT member David Alford, who flew in from San Francisco with the first batch of evidence collected from Polly's house. An automatic fingerprint identification system was under development, but it wouldn't be operational until 1999. Ifas would become the world's largest digital collection of fingerprint images and criminal histories. It would include footprints, palm prints, photographs and other biometric data from not only criminals who had been booked and arrested, but also law-abiding citizens fingerprinted for employment, security or other reasons.
Speaker 1:Until then, it was the job of people like Michael J Smith to visually compare inked and Latin prints from fingers, palms, feet and even lips feet and even lips hoping to find a match among the 200 million or so recorded imprints in the FBI's National Crime Information Center in West Virginia. Before AFIS was up to investigators on a given case to identify a list of candidates to consider as possible suspects. Once they have suspects, finding the fingerprints required called calling every agency that might have them in some foul cabinet. That's what Detective Andy Massanti had to do during his full workout on Richard Allen Davis. Those fingerprints were then sent to a trained specialist like Smith and if there were no fingerprints records to be found for a candidate, that person was located and asked to come in to have the fingerprints and palm prints rolled. If this person refused a court order or subpoena that would compel cooperation. Now, when Davis was pulled over in Modesto for the broken taillight on March 21, 1985, he was arrested on a warrant for the kidnapping of Selena Baric and booked in Dead Stanislaus County Jail. The fingerprint card was dated March 22, 1985, which probably meant he was booked after midnight. Kidnapping was a serious offense, so they had rolled his palms as well as his digits and those prints had been tucked in a file for eight years until Andy Massanti's late-night call on November 28, 1993.
Speaker 1:After the palm print from Stanislaus County was spat out of the fax in Petaluma on November 29, someone must have grabbed it and quickly dispatched it to the FBI lab in DC. It isn't clear how the pump ring was transmitted or transported. No one involved in the investigation can remember this detail. After nearly three decades it is questionable whether a fax of a fax would have been crisp enough for a conclusive lab comparison. So the next day, november 30th, an FBI agent quickly contacted the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office to request original inked prints. How those arrived at the FBI lab is also a mystery. Fedex wasn't commonly used at the time by the Bureau for Transporting Sensitive Documents. So for expedited shipping, an agent would often drive to the nearest airport and hand deliver a package to a commercial pilot who would sign off on the chain of custody. When the flight landed, there would be another FBI agent waiting at the gate to receive the package. This may have been how the records traveled. One run above first class. However, it got there. The inked pump print from Stanislaus County arrived in the FBI lab on Wednesday December 3rd.
Speaker 1:This was a critical moment in the case. If the ink print matched the latent print found on Polly's bunk bed, it would be the first piece of physical evidence linking Davis to Polly's bedroom. To begin the examination, smith had the latent print from Polly's bunk bed photograph because it was lifted with fluorescent powder, which produced an image of light ridge lines on a dark background flat ridge lines on a dark background. Smith had the image reversed so that ridge lines would appear dark on light like an inked print. Using a four-power magnifier, he compared the two images side by side. He was looking for what is called points of identity, poi places where the race-rich lines merged and divided. This arrangement is unique to every human in the world. In establishing a match, smith had to consider the number of points of identity in each print and, as he described, the similarity of those ridges and the unit relationship of these characteristics to each other. So, imagining the prints as two topographical maps, would the peaks and valleys, rivers and ridgelines be positioned in the same places? How many points of identity are required to conclude a match? And the answer is no. There's no set number that is required by law. Now, in his comparison of the latent print lifted from Pauli's bed and the inked print taken from Davis in 1985, smith found 11 points of identity. More inked palm prints would be taken from Davis in custody, but for now this was sufficient to confidently conclude that Richard Allen Davis had been present in the bedroom of Paulie Klass.
Speaker 1:On December 1st 1993, the FBI announced the news internally, three time zones and nearly 3,000 miles away in Petaluma, asac. Mark Mershon was pulling into the parking lot of the command center when someone told him to call the FBI lab. And that's when he learned the good news. And Mershon exclaimed you mean, mean, the latent is a match with Davis. And he said actually, mark. We use the term match for comparing physical evidence, the fabric from the ligatures, for instance, was a match For fingerprints. We use the term ident when there is a positive identification. Eddie Fryer was in the Mendocino Command Center when he got the call and Smith said Eddie, it's close, but I can get enough identifying points. He said what do you mean? He said I'm calling it, it's ident. Freya felt butterflies in his stomach because now the pieces were falling into place. They still didn't have Polly, but they had what they needed to build which was a solid case against her abductor Eyewitness testimony, physical evidence linking to two crime scenes now hard proof that Davis had been present in Pauly's bedroom.
Speaker 1:It was now up to the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office to decide if evidence was sufficient to file charges, transforming Davis from a suspect into a subject, one significant step closer to an arrest. Freya stood up in the command center and cleared his throat and he quoted attention to everybody. He said I just got confirmation from our laboratory that we have matched the palm print from the bedroom to Davis. We can place him in the bedroom. The room that was so quiet you could hear a pin drop erupted with shouts and cheers. Papers flew into the air. The detective, dennis Nowicki, tackle Friar, gave him a bear hug and squeezed the air out of his lungs. Thank you for listening to the Murder Book. Have a great week.
