the last thing we said on our phone call was she said, i love you daddy, and i said, i love you too, baby, and those were the last words i spoke. >> around 10:30, polly opened the door, and that's when there was a man standing in the hall, and he was holding a knife. >> you're convinced he was stalking her. >> absolutely. >> he said, who lives here? polly said, i do, and then he

took polly. >> bring her back. don't hurt her. just bring her back. >> but did a crucial decision back then make all the difference? new revelations and an all new look at a story that terrified the country. >> i hate this part of him. >> he came over to my car. he says, i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i was sightseeing. >> at midnight. >> at midnight. i would say he was panic stricken and i smelled the fear. >> i grabbed him and pulled him close. i said, mark, you need to be strong. >> this was my test, right here, right now. >> it was like a boogie man came in and stole her out of that house. for two weeks, the town of petaluma, virtually everyone who

lives or works here, had been consumed by the kidnapping of 12-year-old polly klaas. >> the polly klaas case really changed everything. >> the case has generated enormous local and national publicity. >> i think it's so important that we find her as soon as possible. >> polly's case was huge because of how it happened, because of where it happened. >> this is a small town coming to grips with the idea that the problems of the world have come to their front door. >> we should tell the story, not only about the case itself, about the crime itself, but the impact. >> polly's legacy is that she changed how the fbi investigates crime. >> 12-year-old polly hannah klaas was in her own bedroom having a slumber party. >> polly klaas was snatched at knifepoint from her bedroom. >> polly's kidnapping was a real wake-up call for a lot of parents that were so lulled into safety. >> the suspect tied and gagged the girls while polly's mother slept in another room. >> how could this have happened

when her mother was right there? how could this have happened? it's your worst nightmare. >> it shocked the country, and it happened here in petaluma. >> what was it like right before the kidnapping happened? >> just like this. a neighborhood community, people walking their kids and their dogs without any concern. it was just a typical american neighborhood. wholesome and robust. >> so, let's start by setting the scene a little bit. tell me a little bit about petaluma. >> well, petaluma is a rather small, rural community that is so all-american -- >> it's morning again in america -- >> it was featured in one of ronald reagan's campaign ads. >> at that time it was a very

rural town, about 50,000 people. it was kind of an all-american town. "american graffiti" had been filmed in petaluma. >> i'll call you later. >> "peggy sue got married" was filmed in petaluma. >> really small-town americana. >> absolutely. absolutely. >> nestled between wine country and san francisco. >> exactly. yeah, 30 miles north of the golden gate bridge, but it's an entirely different world, known for its eggs, known for its agriculture, known for its cattle farms. >> i am annette nelson, and polly was my best friend. we all felt safe in petaluma. everyone seemed to leave the doors unlocked. before cell phones, so we all just kind of left notes for our parents. >> it must feel surreal that it's been 30 years. >> it feels very surreal. i have no idea where any of that time went. i really don't. i can't explain it. >> i'm sure in many ways it feels like yesterday. >> well, it does.

i mean, just having these recurring thoughts that i'm having brings it even closer than yesterday. >> it all began in 1981 when polly was born to marc klaas and eve nichol. >> that was the greatest day of my life. the day that polly was born gave me new meaning in my life. it taught me unconditional love. >> the day you became a dad. >> the day i became a dad, and i was really good at that. >> she was daddy's little girl. >> she was totally daddy's little girl. there's no questioning about that. >> as parents, marc and eve were a great team, but as a married couple? not so much. their marriage was faltering, and by 1984, when polly was just 3, they decided to go their separate ways. >> where my marriage was really a total disaster with eve, our divorce was quite successful. polly, she lived with my ex-wife up in petaluma. >> she adored her dad and saw

him at least once a week. her mother remarried and had a little girl named annie. they shared a room in a very small victorian cottage in petaluma. >> and you co-parented quite well. >> i believe we did, yes. >> i chose that area because i thought it was the most ideal place. >> abc news first spoke with eve nichol back in 1993. >> eve, tell me about polly. >> she is an incredibly sweet and sensitive and charming kid. she's a lovely kid. >> polly was the girl who reminded everyone of someone they loved, whether it was a daughter, or a friend, or a niece. >> polly was new at cherry valley in sixth grade, and she was in my class. and we met on the first day of school and just instantly had a lot of fun together. >> polly was on the cusp between child and adolescent.

she was 12 going on 13. she loved to play the clarinet, and she loved to read. and most of all, she loved acting. >> she's very musical. she loves to play her piano and her clarinet. she's really blossoming in terms of her friends. >> if you look at pictures of her, you'll see. she just sort of shines through the celluloid. >> so on that morning, it was the first friday in october, and polly was really excited because her mother had said she could have a friend sleep over. >> the plan for october 1st was hatched at lunchtime that day. we're all going to ask our parents, and we're going to have so much fun. and then i wasn't able to go that night. i was getting over a cold. >> in the early evening around 6:00 or so, polly and i had our daily conversation. we pretty much talked every day.

she was very excited about her slumber party. yeah, she was having some girlfriends over. the last thing we said on our phone call was she said, "i love you, daddy." and i said, "i love you, too, baby." and those were the last words i spoke. >> the two girls who ended up going to the sleepover were polly's sixth grade classmates, kate mclean and gillian pelham. >> when kate and her mother pulled up in the car, polly and gillian were poised on either side of the porch, like two stone lions. >> typical 12-year-old girls talking about halloween, and they were playing games and getting makeup on, just enjoying the evening, you know? >> since it was a sleepover, annie was going to sleep in her mom's room so that the big girls could kind of have their own privacy. and they were playing around, they were playing a board game. >> it's a friday night, not terribly late. you know, 8:00,

warm october evening. a lot of people are out. >> around 10:30, the girls were sitting or sprawled on the floor playing a board game. polly stood up to go get the sleeping bags from the family room, and she opened the door and that's when there was a man standing in the hall, and he was holding a knife. >> it's impossible to imagine the utter fear and confusion that 12-year-old polly and her friends must have been feeling in those moments. but what happened next would terrify parents across the country and catapult this case into the national spotlight. >> not only were the eyes of the volunteers at the center conducting the search for polly klaas riveted on the screen, eyes across the country were focused on the missing child. >> you just don't think about someone coming into your home. >> 911, petaluma. >> somebody took my daughter. >> the family is asking anyone with any information about this kidnapping to please contact the petaluma police. >> agents had no connection to

anyone who might want to kidnap polly. they were really at a loss for where to even start. >> when you look at the boldness of this kidnapping, that's why this one is so rare. >> fbi agents and police spent today looking for evidence and canvassing the neighborhood. >> it was like a boogieman came in and stole her out of that house. the pandemic may be over, but unfortunately covid-19 isn't going anywhere. in fact, it's still among the top five leading

causes of death in the us, right after heart disease and cancer. and covid-19 related er visits are three times higher than the flu. so stay up-to-date with the latest covid-19 vaccines this fall, just like you do with the flu. because you've got no time for 19. stay up-to-date with the latest covid-19 vaccines. and we're done. hm, what about these? ♪ looks right. [sfx: spilling sound] nooo... nooo... nooo... quick, the quicker picker upper! bounty absorbs spills like a sponge. and bounty is 2x more absorbent so you can use less and get the job done with one. this works. kind of. bounty, the quicker picker upper.

kohl's has outfits and deals for... family picture day... and any fall day... like girls' jeans for $24.99, women's flannels for $27.99 and more. plus, take extra 15% off... and earn kohl's cash... at kohl's. sometimes jonah wrestles with falling asleep... ...so he takes zzzquil. the world's #1 sleep aid brand for a better night sleep. so now, he wakes up feeling like himself.

the reigning family room middle-weight champion. better days start with zzzquil nights. polly klaas is having a sleepover with two friends, kate and gillian, from her sixth grade class. >> that happens millions of times in this country on a

friday and saturday night. it's like apple pie and baseball. >> around 10:30 that night, her mother eve nichol is asleep with polly's younger half-sister annie in another room. >> shortly after i fell asleep, an intruder came into the house, appeared at the door to their room as polly opened it to take the sleeping bags into the front room. he had a large knife. >> initially, kate and gillian thought, is this a prank? >> he said he would hurt them if they made a sound. they didn't. >> he said, don't look at me, lie down on the floor. so they lay down facedown on the floor, like little dolls, one by one. he bound them and gagged them. he used strips of white cloth, and over them, he tied what they could feel to be electrical cord. >> he said he was only there for the money. but it obviously had nothing to

do with money. >> he asked, "who lives here?" polly said, "i do." and then he took polly. he told kate and gillian to count to 1,000, and said that by the time that they had gotten to 1,000, polly would be back. >> they never got to 1,000. >> gillian was a gymnast, and so she was flexible and she was able to get her feet through her arms so that her arms were in front of her. then she used her teeth to untie herself, and then she untied kate. >> and then they wake up your ex-wife? >> the bedrooms were separated by a jack and jill bathroom, one that connected both rooms. >> the girls said, polly's gone. who took her? the fan. what man? so that's when eve called 911. >> 911 petaluma. >> yeah, um -- >> what's the problem? hello? >> yeah, apparently a man broke into our house, and he took my daughter. >> you can tell when you hear it that she's very confused. she had a migraine, and she had gone to bed and taken a sleeping pill.

and so she is surfacing through sleep to wakefulness and realizing this horrific reality that her daughter is gone. >> it was hard to say the words, but i said my daughter has been taken. >> where you're at? >> yes. >> how old is your daughter? >> she's 12 1/2. >> at some point, kate got on the phone, and she told them exactly what happened. >> this guy came in, i thought it was a joke. he had a knife, and -- >> he had a knife? >> yeah. he had a big knife. >> is he a white male? >> yeah. and he has a dark beard, dark dressed. >> about how old? >> i don't know. 30s or 40s, maybe. >> okay, have you ever seen this man before? >> never. >> the first people on the scene were detectives from the petaluma police department. >> they were there minutes later. >> they came in and immediately started attending to the scene. >> it was important that we make the girls feel safe. it was important that we preserve evidence, and it was important that we try to get as much information as we could so we could get it out.

>> we walked through the bedroom scene and saw clothes that were laying on the floor and items of clothing that had been used as bindings for the girls. >> we had nintendo cords that were cut. >> we did photographs, collected them, and processed the scene for fingerprints. >> but there really weren't any signs of burglary or ransacking the house. >> there was no forced entry to the front doors, the back doors, or any of the windows. >> eve's purse was still on the kitchen table. her money was in it. everything was still there, except polly. >> it was like a boogieman came in and stole her out of that house. >> meanwhile, outside, officers start fanning out on the streets to ask if anyone in the neighborhood saw anything suspicious. >> there was a small apartment behind where polly lived, and some folks there had said that they had seen somebody walking around.

>> we had gone to get a pizza and a couple of videos, came home. we're watching the videos, nothing out of the ordinary. >> their front door is wide open, and it's only a few feet from the back porch. and they see, at 10:30, this guy come down the driveway and go up on the back porch and go into the back of the house. >> i didn't think twice about it. sometimes eve had friends over, or there was family. >> others report seeing an unfamiliar man dressed in dark clothing on polly's street, possibly driving a small gray or black vehicle. and at 12:14 a.m., a little over an hour after eve called 911, the petaluma police department issues an alert with some of the details they've learned. >> it went out over what's called an all-points bulletin, an apb or a bolo, to let other agencies know, hey, be on the lookout for this kind of car, this kind of character, whatever. >> when the apb went out, it

said "not for press release," and so it was not broadcast over certain radio channels. >> they didn't want the media to get wind of this kidnapping. it wasn't an error, per se, and it wasn't anyone's fault, but that was a pivotal thing. they decided, if this is a kidnapping, the fbi needs to be involved immediately. >> bringing in the fbi was essential. >> at the time in 1993, my title was senior resident agent in the fbi office in santa rosa. i was named the case agent on the night of the kidnapping. >> when i got a call from eddie freyer from the fbi, he asked me, what do you need? and i said, i need 100 agents right now. and he said, i'll have you 50 by the morning. and true to his word, he did. >> when i look back on the night of the kidnapping and i met sergeant vail bello, i think we all dedicated ourselves. we were going to do what it's gonna take to solve this case. >> but even to an fbi team that has worked every kind of kidnapping case, this one does feel different.

>> when you look at the boldness of this kidnapping -- a parent is home. three girls are having a slumber party. the lights are on. it's 10:30 at night. >> there was no playbook for this. it just didn't happen like this. it defies logic. >> remember, this is 1993, so it's before so many of those other headline grabbing cases like jonbenet ramsey or elizabeth smart or baby sabrina. >> when you do everything you can as a parent to protect your children -- and i'm a very devoted parent and always have been -- you just don't think about someone coming into your home. >> on the night that polly went missing, eve lit a candle and put it in the window of her home. and she would light it every night. >> i think eve wanted to feel hope that her daughter would

return, and that was her way to shine a light, literally, and hope that polly would come back. >> far beyond that light, the very same night polly disappears, a single mom and her daughter have a frightening confrontation on a secluded country road. >> when i pulled up and he came over to my car, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. >> he was disheveled. he had sticks and twigs in his hair. >> and he reeked, just reeked. i smelled fear. w what road to take. those are the people who know to choose allstate. the service road is faster. gps: turn left. not happening. he knows better than any gps. and he'd point you in allstate's direction. go all the way down the road, past the big gray warehouse. gps: take the next exit. you're not from around here, so you don't know the back roads. i don't want to be late for the party. i'm gonna save us five minutes.

some people just know what road to take. gps: you're on the fastest route. those are the people who know safe drivers save 40% with allstate. to give your teeth a dentist clean feeling. start with a round brush head. add power. and you've got oral-b. round cleans better by surrounding each tooth to remove 100% more plaque. for a superior clean. oral-b. brush like a pro. from our never-ending first course, to our tour of italy, at olive garden, “more” is baked into everything we do. because when you have more, you have more to share. more to bond over. and that's a pretty special thing.

travel. there is nothing like it dancing is my passion. but with my moderate-to-severe eczema, it hasn't been easy. now, i'm staying ahead of it. dupixent helps heal your skin from within. so, you can clearer skin and noticeably less itch serious allergic reactions can occur, that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, including blurred vision, joint aches and pains, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. ask your doctor about dupixent

you didn't choose your hairline. hot flashes, the flu, or that thing when your knee just gives out for no reason. you didn't choose your bad back or this. or... that. you didn't choose depression, melanoma, or lactose intolerance. but with kaiser permanente you can choose your doctor who works with other best-in-class specialists to care for all that is you.

polly klaas vanished from her home in petaluma, california, on october 1st, 1993. for the 30th anniversary of her disappearance, kim cross sat down and told the story of the investigation from the inside for her book, "in light of all darkness." >> i am the daughter-in-law of eddie freyer, the fbi case agent in charge of the polly klaas investigation. we do not gather as a family and not talk about polly.

it's like part of our family dna. >> so, is that what inspired the book? >> i realized that i could get access because of my relationship to people who would not talk to another journalist. detectives and fbi agents basically pulled their banker's boxes out of their garages and attics and just said, here you go. >> and one of the police reports details an incident that happened the very night polly disappeared. >> about an hour after polly was reported missing, a couple of deputies responded to a trespassing call on pythian road. this was a woman's driveway in wine country, and the driveway is really, really steep and curved. >> that particular evening, it was a full moon, i remember, and it was cold. >> dana jaffe was a single mother who worked as a chef at

one of sonoma's celebrated restaurants, and she had just come home from working at the restaurant, and she had a 12-year-old little girl. and her babysitter had left. and on the way out of the driveway, she encountered a stranger. and he was in a white pinto, and it was stuck in a ditch on the driveway. >> a very fearsome, scary character, somebody who looked like charles manson, as the babysitter described it. >> and she kind of slowly pulls up, and this guy comes around to her driver's side. >> she had her door locked, but she sort of cracked her window. and he came over and stuck his fingers in the crack of the window and was saying, get out of the car. you need to help me. >> i think she cracked it this far, and she just rolled it right back up and took off. it frightened her.

>> so, she drove out and called you? >> the hair on the back of my neck stood up, and i was aware that we were in a vulnerable situation. >> and you felt vulnerable. >> well, no one had any business being up there at midnight. my daughter joked and picked up the baseball bat and the mace and i said, sure, why not? and we were both dressed and out of the house in probably under two minutes. i mean, i really pushed her. "get dressed now. we need to get out now." >> we got in the car because i knew i could lock my doors, and we headed down the road to see what he was doing. and by the time i got here to the gate and saw his car and saw that he wasn't in it, i became really concerned. >> and she goes down and calls the sheriff's office -- hey, i got a trespasser on my property late at night, doesn't belong there.

>> two deputies showed up from the sonoma county sheriff's office. they followed her up the hill to the gate inside which this car was abandoned. and the stranger, the trespasser was sort of standing by his car casually as if he was expecting them to show up. >> at this point, it's been more than 45 minutes since dana's babysitter first encountered him. >> he came over to my car. he says, i'm sorry, i'm sorry. i was sightseeing. >> at midnight. >> at midnight. and he was disheveled, and he reeked, just reeked. i would say he was panic-stricken, and i smelled fear. i just told him, i said, well, these gentlemen behind you are going to take care of this. so i went ahead up to the house. >> two deputies start trying to figure out who he is, what's he doing there. and they're asking basic questions. they get his driver's license. it checks out. >> they pat him down, and they notice his pants are wet. >> he's sweating, you know.

and it's a cool night. it's a cool october evening. >> they notice he got debris in his hair and his clothes are all messed up a little bit. >> he said that he had been crawling around on the ground trying to free his car by putting brush under the tires. they didn't see any brush under the tires. just things weren't adding up. when the babysitter came down, she saw him wearing a sweatshirt and she noticed that it was inside out. and when the deputies saw him, he was wearing a striped polo. >> they search his car. he's got a duffle bag there. and they do a field sobriety test. >> they had no way of checking whether or not he had a record. the only thing they could do is to see if he had a warrant out. that's all they could check, and he didn't. >> at that point in time, there were issues with broadcasting criminal history information over the radio. so they just ran him for wants and warrants, which would be typical. >> it's a friday night. they're getting other calls backing up on their radio, other hot calls. and what they have right now,

as far as they know, is a trespasser. >> at some point when they could not unfree the car, they drove up to dana's house and asked for a rope or a chain. >> they asked me if i wanted to press charges, and i was thinking about it. and they said, well, it'll mean that he has to come back for his car. you know. and it was like, "uh, no. no, just get him out of here. i want him out of here." when they pulled him out, they came back up at the house to drop off the chain. and they said they had followed him down to highway 12 and watched him turn off. and i thanked them for their service, and we went to bed talking about, wow, that was weird. >> this moment, this night will haunt everyone for years to come. >> they were completely unaware that a child had been kidnapped. >> when the two deputies were with this trespasser, that apb went out. it was not broadcast over their radio, and so they did not know.

>> so you have to ask yourself, if they had known, would it have made a difference? >> 24 hours later, we had a call into marc klaas' home. >> it was a girl's voice, and she said, "it's polly." >> and we were just like, oh, my god, we found her. >> there you go, man. it's going to be over in an hour. dupixent helps you du more with less asthma. and can help you breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. dupixent is an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that's not for sudden breathing problems. dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. get help right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. ask your specialist about dupixent. mr. clean magic eraser powers through tough messes.

so it makes it look like i spent hours cleaning, and you know i didn't. it makes my running shoe look like new! it's amazing. it's so good. it makes it look like i have magical powers. magic eraser and sheets make cleaning look easy. i've always been prone to hair thinning. i'm genetically predisposed. i just gave birth. i was under a lot of stress. i started taking nutrafol. we test our formulations with the highest rigor of clinical trials and we're the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement. i noticed it becoming... stronger and thicker. nutrafol has taken me back to the hair i was meant to have. i am back to me. start your hair growth journey at nutrafol.com once in a lifetime is never enough. never enough! ♪ love and happiness ♪ when i wear diamonds, i feel powerful. i feel on top of the world. diamonds! diamonds for all. pandora. lab grown diamonds. where are you going? we have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis.

that's the old me, before i started taking zeposia. is that just one pill? once a day. old me is still catching up with the zeposia me. zeposia can help people with uc achieve and maintain remission. and has been shown to reduce symptoms in as early as 2 weeks. you're hiking the shorter trail today, right? not with zeposia. don't take zeposia if you had a heart attack, chest pain, stroke or mini-stroke, heart failure in the last 6 months, irregular or abnormal heartbeat, if you have untreated sleep apnea, or take maois. zeposia may cause serious side effects including infections that can be life-threatening and cause death, slow heart rate, liver or breathing problems, increased blood pressure, macular edema, swelling and narrowing of the brain's blood vessels, and increased risk of pml -- a rare brain infection that usually leads to death or severe disability. tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to be. looks like zeposia is really working out. you've got that right, old me. ask your doctor about once-daily zeposia.

worst nightmare in petaluma. a child is missing, snatched from her bed last night. >> we used to joke that if you walked out the front door of the police department and you had a bunch of satellite trucks sitting out there, you were having a bad day. it became a reality. >> when i showed up that morning at the police department, they

were there en masse. it was intense. >> the family is asking anyone with any information about this kidnapping to please contact the petaluma police. >> it shook the town to its core, but it also brought them out in great numbers to bring polly home. >> i care. i got grandkids. i can help. >> bill rhodes owned pip printing. and he said, guys, give me a picture. give some information on what you want on a flyer. and he said, i've got 150 people down there. i'll get some flyers made up and we'll wallpaper sonoma county. >> people just start showing up, and he starts giving them stacks of flyers. and kids, and college students, and doctors, and parents are putting them all over town. >> one of these posters is going to work. we don't know which one, but we pray to god it's not the one sitting in a box waiting for a 29-cent stamp. >> people wanted to help in any way they can.

there were impromptu search parties all over town. >> we can form a big line and move along like this, just so we don't miss any, uh, you know, large areas. >> the news report was that if anybody wants to come and volunteer because there's going to be searches, you can come to this print shop. i just literally said, honey, we got to go, and loaded my daughter in the car and we drove down there. >> and she happened to have some skills and she knew how to deal with the media. so, she put her own life and her work aside and started typing up press releases. >> this doesn't happen here. and because i think this doesn't happen here, this is why we're all here. >> someone called "america's most wanted." >> my name is john walsh. i was the host of "america's most wanted" for 25 years. we would always get the first call, because the cops would say, if you come, that big old, white-hot spotlight of "amw" is going to get right there. people are going to go, "this is serious." so, we made it real serious. now we need your help to bring polly klaas home.

>> walsh says that over 25 years, his show has helped recover 61 children who'd been abducted by strangers. >> the power of television and the power of a tv show that's popular. winona ryder was from petaluma. she watched "america's most wanted," and she jumped into action. >> long before she was the mom on "stranger things," winona ryder was the star of '90s classics, like "edward scissorhands." >> somebody said, winona ryder on line four. i was like, okay. so i hit line four and i said, hello, and i didn't hear anything for a minute. and then i started hearing crying. and i said, oh honey, i know this is really hard. and she just finally was able to speak and said, i'm from

petaluma. she looks like me. what can i do? >> she came home with no entourage and showed up in jeans and a t- shirt. >> i'm an actress. tell me what i can do. she did every interview she could. >> my greatest wish right now is to meet her in person and to hug her. >> winona ryder even put $200,000 of her own money up for the reward. >> and she was dating dave pirner, who is the lead singer for soul asylum. by coincidence, soul asylum had just months before released their video for "runaway train." ♪ with a ticket for a runaway train ♪ >> and he decided to make it about missing children. and they had all these kids' faces in this music video that was running on "mtv." ♪ wrong way on a one-way track ♪ keep the media's attention. >> the goal of all this was to keep the media's attention. >> we needed the media to keep the pressure on the cops so the cops would not step away from the case. >> police were working tirelessly, but they needed help, so the fbi sent in their newest innovation, a quick response strike force of

forensic experts known as the evidence response team. >> tony maxwell, one of the ert members, came in, and he started dusting with fluorescent powder. >> annie's mother, eve, brought annie to me, and she says, she wants to help you look for her sister. if you read any forensic science handbook, the first thing they tell you is never let anybody help you with the crime scene work. but you can't say no to a little girl. you can't say no to a sister. she's going to have to live with this the rest of her life. i says, okay, here's the fingerprint tape. when i need some, you pull some off the reel, and you give it to me, and we'll lift some fingerprints. >> the fbi had technology that we didn't have. for example, was the alternate light source. we had never even heard of that. >> we use an alternate light source, we started dusting with this fluorescent powder, which

is 100 times more sensitive than regular fingerprint powder. >> he lifted 48 prints that had been missed. >> we found a partial palm print that appeared to be an adult print. on my log, i wrote the word "bingo." >> it came from an unknown person, so it was sent to the fbi crime lab to wait for a suspect to compare it to. >> investigators did a trap and trace on marc's phone. and there was a call. >> and a little girl called, and she said she was polly and she said that she was with the kidnapper. there you go, man. it's going to be over in an hour. >> we got the trap trace, and it came back to a house in hayward. we quickly called down to our fbi office in hayward. get whoever you have sitting at a desk there, get in some cars, here's the address, and get over there. they busted through the door, got everybody on the floor. it's like a normal family. now they got a house full of fbi

agents with guns drawn. we finally get the story from the young girl that she called impersonating polly, that she was dared by her friends to call. this was a hoax. >> as investigators dig in, they soon start to suspect that polly's sleepover friends may have something to hide. >> these are two 12-year-old girls who had been through an unbelievable trauma, who were being accused of being complicit in their own crime. >> jogging the same questions over in your mind trying to trick you into saying something that's not true. >> i mean, who does that? i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. thanks to skyrizi, i'm on my way with clearer skin. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to.

nothing on my skin means everything! ♪ nothing is everything ♪ ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. ♪ sure there's food at home, but is there a mcdouble with extra pickles, a side of fries and a hi-c at home? don't be ridiculous. ♪ tide is busting laundry's biggest myth... that cold water can't clean. cold water, on those stains? ♪ cold water can't clean tough stains? i'd say that myth is busted. turn to cold, with tide. did we just get hustled? there's no way they were 70. interesting. hm? it's both an electric and a gas car.

yeap. quite the paradox. hmmmm? hmmmm? hmm? hmmmm? so jj's for lunch? the first ever lexus rx plug-in hybrid. electric for short trips... gas for long. it really is both. ♪ it ain't my dad's razor, dad. ay watch it! it's from gillettelabs. this green bar releases trapped hairs from my face... gamechanga! ...while the flexdisc contours to it. so the five blades can get virtually every hair in one stroke. for the ultimate gillette shaving experience. the best a man can get is gillettelabs.

but do they really? do they see that crick in your neck? that ache in your heart? will they see that funny little thing that wasn't there last year? a new bounce in your step?

the way your retinal scan connects to your blood sugar? at kaiser permanente all of us work together to care for all that is you. polly, we love you. we adore you, and we are very confident that we'll see you again very soon. >> marc was very visible before the media. >> bring her back. don't hurt her. just bring her back. >> that caused a lot of people to call in, and say, i hope you guys are taking a look at

marc klaas, because i watched him on the news last night. >> i can't even tell you the strength and the outpouring of love that i get out of this. >> for sure, he's the one that's involved in his own daughter's disappearance. >> marc klaas volunteered to be polygraphed, and i have to say that clinched it for me. he wasn't involved. >> marc was just having a hard time, and was just emotionally done. >> polly klaas' father, marc, was near collapse this morning. >> i was whimpering. i said, i just can't do this anymore. this is too much for me. >> i literally grabbed him and pulled him close and said, marc, you need to be strong for your daughter. >> he said, you see everything all of these people are doing. you see how hard we're working. and you're ready to give up? he said, you can't do that. you've always told her you'll be there for her and she needs you now more than she's ever needed you before in her life.

>> how did that hit you? >> i realized that he was right, and this was my test right here, right now. >> investigators have been focusing on polly's girlfriends, gillian and kate, who'd been through that terrifying kidnap ordeal with her that night. >> they definitely felt it was possible that polly and her girlfriends did this as a prank. >> and there was some discrepancies in the two girls' stories. one saw a yellow bandana. one would say, i was laying here. the other one would say, no, it was there. >> we started to look at those inconsistencies as a possible attempt of deception. and is it possible that the girls know something that they're not telling us? >> now there are experts who are trained in child and adolescent forensic interviewing, but at the time, that didn't exist. so they just reached into their toolkit and brought out the hammer.

>> they were accused of orchestrating polly's disappearance with this theory that polly had run away with a boyfriend and that the girls were complicit in that whole act. >> i remember they threatened the girls to take them to juvenile hall. >> they're just jogging the same questions over in your mind, trying to trick you into saying something that's not true. i mean, it's almost as if someone's saying, you have to lie to me in order for me to leave you alone. >> we went back to the house. we had them walk through the whole crime scene. in a way you're grasping at straws, trying to grab something that can maybe free up some of these memories. >> one key detail stood out. that the girls had been bound with power cords from polly's nintendo. >> what made me feel that this was a real kidnapping was the fact that the nintendo cords were cut. >> he's like, kids aren't going to cut their own cords. they're not going to do that for a prank. >> but there was still some skepticism, and that's when the decision was made to polygraph the girls.

>> gillian passed, but kate's results were inconclusive. the polygrapher noted she was clutching her teddy bear and appeared agitated beforehand, which of course could affect the results. >> there are things that you grew to regret. >> yes. oh, yeah, absolutely. when you get a call from our two primary witnesses, their parents, and said, you can't talk to our kids anymore, that's not handling young witness victims very well. >> investigators soon realized that the girls were innocent. >> if i could say one thing to the girls, i would apologize for the way we treated them initially, and i just hope they know that we were trying to do the right thing for polly. >> in hindsight, we would not do that again. >> we should have handled them more tenderly. everybody handles trauma differently. just because somebody isn't crying and sad and shaking doesn't mean they weren't traumatized. >> polly's two friends had never been happy with the original

sketch of the kidnapper, so police tried something different. >> we learned about this forensic sketch artist who had a technique of getting detailed information from victims like this. >> her name was jeanne boylan, and she was hired by a show on abc to work with gillian and kate. >> please welcome jeanne boylan. >> hello, jeanne. >> my job was to go in and to see if we could not pull out from memory what an eyewitness may have seen. >> what she brought in was just a very calm and reassuring demeanor. >> they've been through a lot. they're 12-year-olds. >> and they had high confidence in her approach that it wasn't going to traumatize the girls anymore. >> more than anything, these girls just needed to speak and they needed to be believed. i spent a total of nine hours on the first day with the two girls. it took a little time because they needed to emote, and i

happen to be a good listener, so i would listen to them. >> how's the new sketch coming along? >> the new sketch is completed and ready to be released as of about 2:30 this morning. >> within minutes of its release the new sketch of the man believed to have kidnapped polly klaas was being printed for distribution. >> it's amazing. it's a face. it's a portrait. we have a definite person we're looking for now. >> a sketch is a sketch. she drew a picture. so when we released that second sketch on our flyers, people now could actually see a person. >> and the fbi was working to come up with a profile for the kidnapper. mary ellen o'toole believed it was likely an experienced criminal, comfortable taking big risks. >> especially a small house with thin walls with a mother who was asleep in the bedroom adjacent to the victim's bedroom. >> she also felt that this was not an impulsive kidnapping. >> this was someone that had likely targeted polly. it's hard to begin to think of anything else other than we're moving down the track of being a sexually motivated crime.

>> and then, ten days in, a promising new lead now may prove her right. >> vallejo p.d. calls and says, friday night, we had a guy break into a house over here. the house is occupied by a woman and her 12-year-old daughter. he had a rape kit with him. >> bindings, blindfolds, duct tape, and we started focusing on him mid-november as possibly being our suspect. >> that was xavier garcia, career criminal. a sex offender. we spent well over 10,000 investigative hours on him. >> but we were never able to make the nexus between his crimes in other cities and the city of petaluma. >> but then a walk in the woods changes everything. >> it was the pivotal moment in this case. >> evidence is uncovered. could this be a clue to finding polly? >> almost made me sick to my stomach. >> the jagged edges lined up like a puzzle.

>> i said, "you better get down here." this could be it. known as a passionate artist. known for loving the outdoors. known for getting everyone together. no one wants to be known for cancer, but a treatment can be. keytruda is known to treat cancer. fda-approved for 16 types of cancer, including certain early-stage cancers. one of those cancers is triple-negative breast cancer. keytruda may be used with chemotherapy medicines as treatment before surgery and then continued alone after surgery when you have early-stage breast cancer and are at high risk of it coming back. keytruda can cause your immune system to attack healthy parts of your body during or after treatment.

this may be severe and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you have cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, diarrhea, severe stomach pain, severe nausea or vomiting, headache, light sensitivity, eye problems, irregular heartbeat, extreme tiredness, constipation, dizziness or fainting, changes in appetite, thirst, or urine, confusion, memory problems, muscle pain or weakness, fever, rash, itching, or flushing. there may be other side effects. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including immune system problems, if you've had or plan to have an organ or stem cell transplant, received chest radiation, or have a nervous system problem. keytruda is an immunotherapy and is also being studied in hundreds of clinical trials, exploring ways to treat even more types of cancer. it's tru. keytruda from merck. see all the types of cancer keytruda is known for at keytruda.com, and ask your doctor if keytruda could be right for you. the long-lasting scent of gain flings made it smell like dave was in his happy place... ...the massage chair at the mall. but...he wasn't.

gain flings with oxi boost and febreze. finally, my shade looks like my skin. c3. c12. true match foundation by l'oreal paris. now formulated with up to 6 pigments, for our most precise match 99% found their true match. true match by l'oreal paris. we're all worth it. tony, jimmy john's wraps are here to stay. curse you chicken caesar! and jalapeño ranch. and jalepeño ranch! and new tuscan italian! get a grip, stevie. that's right. jimmy john's wraps are here to stay. kohl's has outfits and deals for... jimmy john's wraps family picture day... and any fall day... like girls' jeans for $24.99, women's flannels for $27.99 and more. plus, take extra 15% off... and earn kohl's cash... at kohl's. travis, did you know you can get this season's covid-19 shot when you get your flu shot? huh. two things at once. two things at once! ♪

two things at once. i'll have the... ...two things at once, please. now back to two things at once. ♪ two things at once. that's not two things at once. moooom! travis? ask about getting this season's covid-19 shot when getting your flu shot.

polly's case was huge. there's just no question about it. it was huge because of how it happened. it was huge because of where it happened. >> a lot of print, a lot of news media, and the frenzy was national. >> what did you find? >> there was a pair of little girls' tights that were red. >> how did it dawn on you that these dots connected to polly?

>> a brand-new book now bringing every detail of the polly klaas case together for the first time. >> i kept telling the cops, it's a repeat offender. it's a repeat offender with a rap sheet this long. >> you better get down here. this could be it. >> do you know where she is now? >> i just exploded. >> describe that explosion for me. >> i had to be held down. >> richard allen davis should be spinning on a spit in hell right now. >> i felt like she called to me. that she led me there. >> is she alive? >> it's a parent's worst nightmare. in petaluma.

>> a middle aged man slipped into this home and abducted 12-year-old polly klaas at knifepoint. >> if you are the man who has polly, please just let somebody know that she's okay. >> hundreds of volunteers comb the area for clues. >> i really miss her. i'm so worried. >> days and weeks go by, and some of it is a blur. >> volunteers and police say they will leave no stone unturned in the search for polly klaas. >> we all prayed a lot. you always have hope. >> we will never stop. we will never close until we have accomplished our mission and we get my little girl back. >> did you take a day off in those few months? >> oh, no. we put everything into this case. i mean everything. >> we had worked pretty hard, and it was discouraging not to have a solid lead. and then came the find on the 27th. >> dana jaffe was a woman that lived miles away. two months after the kidnapping, she discovers a scene on her mountain property.

>> a girlfriend had come up for a hike, and we went for a walk along the trails. >> what did you find? >> i found a man's sweatshirt. it was turned inside out and laid out with the arms extended. there was a pair of little girl's tights that were red. and there was a piece of white cloth, quite long, that had been knotted in several places. we found a condom that was used. >> and at that point, did you think -- >> i thought this is maybe a crime scene. >> she called the sheriff's office. and it's a nothing call. it's kids having a party up on the hillside, is what typically this stuff is. >> still, police come out to investigate. and then larry pelton is sent in to take a look. his attention is quickly drawn to the strips of knotted fabric. >> almost made me sick to my stomach when i saw it because i knew immediately that that is exactly the same stuff that i

collected from polly's bedroom that were used on the other girls to tie them up. >> i get on the phone. larry says, you better get down here. this could be it. the hair on the back of my neck went up. >> the question now is, who left all this here? dana jaffe tells an officer that she had an encounter with that intimidating stranger nearby just two months earlier. >> i realized that that was where the car had been parked. and i told him, i said, you know what? there was a trespasser on the property. >> and then he pulled the calls for service for that night and he found that there was indeed an encounter. >> finally they have the name of a suspect -- richard allen davis. there were striking similarities in his appearance to the sketch that had been done by jeanne boylan. >> the characteristics were all there -- the coarse hair, the width to the face, the bags around the eyes, the lines on the forehead. >> i got the full rap sheet. it had everything you would

think an offender would have on his record for somebody for a crime like that. he'd only been out for about six months from his previous kidnapping charge and then committed our crime. >> in 1994, abc's sam donaldson spoke to three of davis' previous victims. >> selina varich says davis and a woman companion told her if she didn't withdraw $6,000 from her bank, they would hunt up her father and daughter and kill them. >> he hit me in the head with his gun, and he hit me in the head about five times. he was laughing. he was smiling. >> marge freeman was beaten by davis in her bedroom. >> i woke up with this man standing over me beating me with a poker. 30 sutures were required to close the lacerations on my scalp. >> frances mays says davis forced her into a car at knifepoint and tried to rape her. >> i grabbed the knife by the blade, and i hung on, and he was trying to take it away from me. i unlocked the door and i ran out. >> davis later pled guilty to

kidnapping, and prosecutors dropped the other charges. >> what he inflicted on the victims was indicative of someone that really had no empathy or remorse, basically the traits of a psychopath. >> they are pretty sure they have their man, but still they need forensic proof. so the evidence is rushed to the fbi crime lab in d.c. >> the shards of cloth found on dana jaffe's property matched conclusively the shards of cloth that were found in polly's bedroom. >> their jagged edges lined up like a puzzle. >> and when the fingerprint examiner called me, he goes, i have an identical palm print from her bedroom that was collected by the fbi the night of the kidnapping to richard allen davis. i tell people i spent 30 years in the bureau and that was my best day. >> but there is no time to waste. even as investigators work to track down davis, they quickly move to search dana jaffe's

property for polly. it must have been the full force of federal -- >> it was. >> state, local law enforcement. >> yeah. >> we felt very certain that she was there. >> they throw everything they have into a desperate search but come up empty. no human remains have been found. >> i feel like i brought her home. i felt like she called to me, that she led me there. >> still, investigators haven't found polly. but they are about to move in on richard allen davis. >> we got our warrants ready. they had s.w.a.t. teams ready. >> they have three s.w.a.t. teams. they have snipers. they've got surveillance, the whole nine yards. >> petaluma police say they have significant new information in the polly klaas kidnapping case. knowing where you came from, it gives you a sense of “this is who i am”. oh my goodness... wow, look at all those! you get hungry for more and then you're just like,

“wow, i'm learning about my family.” yeah, yep. which one, what'd you find? lorraine banks, look, county of macomb, michigan? look at grandma... hey grandma! unbelievable. everybody deserves to know who they are and where they came from. ohhh...cool. this whole journey has been such a huge gift for our family. ♪ ready to feel what it's like? when you can du more with less asthma. it's possible with dupixent. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma. and can help improve lung function for better breathing in as little as two weeks. dupixent helps prevent asthma attacks... and can even reduce or eliminate oral steroids. are you in? dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. get help right away if you have rash, chest pain,

worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. who knows what you can do when you du more with less asthma. ask your asthma specialist about dupixent. ♪ you have all the ingredients for this in your fridge but ask yourself this... of all the times you've made it at home... has it ever tasted like our mcmuffin? ♪ba da ba ba ba.♪ -what even is this? -don't touch my things. gross. janice, when you bundle your home or renters with your auto, has it ever tasted like our mcmuffin? progressive provides 24/7 protection for almost everything you own. -but do you really need... -my weighted hoop? it's for my snatched waist. that's my dog chaise lounger. foot treadmill. that's my tuesday chalice. purse that says purse. hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber. i can't live without oxygen. solid gold coffee machine. -lake making kit. -really?

-can progressive cover that too? -yes, but -- -hi it's janice. i'll take 5. is my voice on tv right now? you can't leave without cuddles. but, you also can't leave covered in hair. with bounce pet, you can cuddle and brush that hair off. bounce. it's the sheet. somedays, i cover up because of my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now i feel free to bare my skin, thanks to skyrizi. ♪(uplifting music)♪ ♪nothing is everything♪ i'm celebrating my clearer skin... my way. with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. in another study, most people had 90% clearer skin, even at 5 years. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have

an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. thanks to clearer skin with skyrizi - this is my moment. there's nothing on my skin and that means everything! ♪nothing is everything♪ now's the time. ask your doctor about skyrizi, the #1 dermatologist-prescribed biologic in psoriasis. learn how abbvie could help you save.

after the discovery on dana jaffe's property, investigators now know who they're looking for -- richard allen davis. they just need to find him. >> we had found out where he was staying, at the coyote valley indian reservation just north of ukiah. >> we developed information that he was staying at his relative's house. >> we had s.w.a.t. teams ready. we had evidence recovery team ready. >> we went and staged on a hill overlooking the area where we thought davis was housed. >> i was in charge of our s.w.a.t. team at the time. my team secured part of the area. >> we needed perimeter control. we hadn't established that. so, i said, hey, we've got to put some guys on the perimeter here. >> so we hit the house. >> three s.w.a.t. teams simultaneously hit.

>> so, there's that moment of silence and i'm getting a little nervous because the moment is more than a minute or so. and finally, it comes over the radio, "he's not there." i almost like screamed, what do you mean? >> he wasn't there. >> but then we got a radio call from one of the deputies who had been on perimeter control, and he said he thought he may have our suspect. there we encountered richard allen davis in his van. >> he shaved his beard off, which made it harder to identify him. >> i actually unholstered my weapon and kept it to my side, but thought this guy could be armed and dangerous. he certainly was dangerous. i asked him to step out of the car, keeping his hands in plain view. and as i had holstered up, then i handed him off to mike meese, who handcuffed him, and then we put him back in that deputy's car.

>> we seized his pinto. we shipped it down here to petaluma for our evidence folks to go through it. >> we knew we wanted to talk to him, but we didn't want to alert him immediately, or other people in the area immediately, that he was being arrested for potentially kidnapping polly klaas. >> after davis' arrest, i was actually the first person to interview davis. i felt a little bit sick to my stomach -- butterflies, worrying about doing it right. i did not want to screw up this case. i needed to get a story. no matter what that story is, i need a story before he invokes his miranda rights. davis' story initially is that he had nothing to do with it. >> he's arrogant, almost cocky in his denials of being involved. >> in my mind, he's been

thinking about this the whole time and coming up with an alibi. during the interview, richard allen davis made comments that he's killed people like that, referring to child molesters and murderers. he's killed people like that in prison. but we had never talked about anything about possibly sexual assault of polly. >> it's like a tv scenario where the witness says something and the police say, hey, how did you know that? >> he was starting to get angry at the time because of our questioning line had changed, and he wasn't feeling as comfortable. so we got at least a little more interview out of him before he decided that he wasn't going to talk any longer without an attorney. >> do you remember first hearing about richard allen davis? >> they showed me a polaroid

picture -- eve and i, a polaroid picture of richard allen davis. and they said, this is the guy. we know it's the guy. they asked me, do you know him? and i said, i've never seen this guy. i don't know who this guy is. and neither of us had ever seen him. >> in petaluma, california, police say they now have a prime suspect in the kidnapping of 12-year-old polly klaas. >> the man who has been arrested for parole violations, who may be connected to the polly klaas kidnapping, is richard allen davis of san francisco. he is 39-years-old. >> a lot of print, a lot of news media. the frenzy was national. >> richard davis is what you would call a career criminal. >> davis' rap sheet for san mateo county alone dates back 20 years to when he was 19 years old. >> and i kept telling the cops, it's a repeat offender with a rap sheet this long. and it was. richard allen davis should have never been out. >> people in law enforcement who i've discussed this with were stunned to realize that we

routinely let people -- these types of revolving-door career criminals out long before their time is served. >> he was not closely monitored, and so the system's failures were that there were opportunities to take him off the street. >> it turns out davis has had contact with law enforcement twice after polly's abduction. there was that encounter with police on dana jaffe's property, and he was arrested for d.u.i. 18 days after polly went missing. >> richard allen davis will be transported down here to be looked at by the two little girls who witnessed polly's kidnapping. >> kate and gillian are asked to come in to see if they can pick davis out of a suspect lineup. >> we had a process of making the different suspects read from a script, basically, some of the stuff that was said to the girls in the bedroom that night, just so they could hear their voices also. >> but neither kate nor gillian

could positively identify davis in that lineup. >> the girls only saw him for a couple of seconds. it was a stretch that they would actually pull him out of a lineup two months later. >> at the time i was deciding on the charges. i started out first by saying, can we prove this without polly klaas' body being recovered? >> while law enforcement is deciding exactly how to proceed with richard allen davis, they get a surprising message from the man himself. >> the jail said, yeah, davis wants to talk to you. and so they put richard allen davis on the phone. >> and what he tells them changes the course of this investigation. >> she alive? can we go get her?

i have moderate to severe crohn's disease. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are looking up ♪ ♪ i've got symptom relief ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's means everything to me. ♪ ♪ ♪ control is everything to me. ♪ feel significant symptom relief with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements at 4 weeks. skyrizi is the first and only il-23 inhibitor for crohn's that can deliver both clinical remission and endoscopic improvement. the majority of people on skyrizi achieved long lasting remission at 1 year. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. liver problems may occur in crohn's disease.

ask your gastroenterologist how you can take control of your crohn's with skyrizi. ♪ ♪ control is everything to me. ♪ learn how abbvie could help you save. ♪ ♪ wake up, gotta go! c'mon, c'mon. -gracie, c'mon. let's go! guys, c'mon! mom, c'mon! mia! [ engine revving ] ♪ ♪ my favorite color is... because, it's like a family thing! [ engine revving ] ♪ ♪ made it! mom! leave running behind, behind. the new turbocharged volkswagen atlas. does life beautifully. my clothes look fresh but i need them to smell fresh, too. that's why i add downy unstopables to my wash. now i'll be smelling fresh all day long. still fresh. still fresh, you nasty little goblins!

still fresh! still? still. still here. still fresh! get 6 times longer-lasting freshness, plus odor protection. this back-to-school season, downy and tide are giving back with $1.5 million dollars in scholarships. enter to win. from our never-ending first course, to our tour of italy, at olive garden, “more” is baked into everything we do. because when you have more, you have more to share. more to bond over. and that's a pretty special thing. kayaking is my thing. running is awesome. but her moderate to severe eczema would make her skin so uncomfortable. now i'm staying ahead of it. dupixent helps heal your skin from within. so, they can have clearer skin and less itch.

serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. ask your doctor about dupixent. richard davis was arrested for investigation of parole

violations. he's not been charged with kidnapping. >> a gentleman down in san mateo county, he's reading the paper, big paper -- davis' palm print discovered in polly's bedroom. >> he goes, i know that guy. he came to work for me after he got released out of prison about five months ago. >> he jumps in his car, and he books it up to mendocino county jail. >> they put him into the glassed-in, you know, little room, visitor room with a phone. >> he pointed to his palm and mouthed the words, they found your print. >> davis gets up and walks away, has a jailer get him on the phone and says, hey, i want to talk to you guys now. >> like i said, i ain't going to try nothing. >> yeah, i didn't figure. let me get this thing back here. >> i was in the room outside the interview room where i could watch on a tv screen the actual interview taking place, and listening to it to get information and take notes that

might help us in locating polly. >> here you go, buddy. now one thing i can't vouch for -- i can't vouch for the character of -- no, i know it's hot, i've had this coffee before. it's hot. >> there's one thing about that interview to me that is so striking. if you didn't know who was who, if you didn't know, that's an fbi agent, that's a homicide detective, and that's the offender -- they were like three friends sitting around the table discussing this case as though they were all equals. >> you need some more coffee? >> do you want a cup of coffee? back then, people smoked. hey, can i get you a cigarette? so you want them to feel engaged with you. you want them to feel like an equal, because then they're going to contribute more. >> with davis now comfortable, investigators get right to the crucial question. >> first thing, let's get first

things. is she alive? can we go get her? >> no. >> she's not, is she? >> she's not life. >> his story was, he was in petaluma to visit his mother and he couldn't get a hold of her. >> why don't you tell me what happened that night? >> so, i was parked downtown, there was some park along some main street. so i went over to 7-eleven, got a quart of beer, went back. sitting in the park. had my car parked around the corner. >> which car did you have? >> i had the pinto. >> he says he gets a beer. he smokes a pcp cigarette. >> things kind of got fuzzy after that. >> what do you remember about going in? >> just going in through a window. >> which window did you go in? >> it was a front window there. >> there was no forced entry to the front doors, the back doors, or appearance that anybody had

come in or out of any of the windows. >> i guess i went in and told them all to lie down or whatever. and, uh -- >> where were they? >> they were in the bedroom, i guess. there was three of them in there, i guess. >> okay. >> i sat down with a number of investigators and had kind of a director's cut where we watched the confession tape together. and they said, see that body language? this is how we interpret that. see how he suddenly can't remember any detail once he goes into polly's house? he's trying to distance himself from the crime. >> he's trying to get away from the idea it was premeditated. >> the next thing i basically remember is driving down the road and i had her in the front seat.

and i got turned off some road. >> davis tells investigators about the moment he got stuck in the ditch at dana jaffe's property on pythian road. >> she was still alive and everything. you know? i was trying to figure out what the [ bleep ] i was going to do at that point. and the car got stuck. i had her get out of the car, had her sit up on the embankment. i tried to get the car out, couldn't get it out. a lady came down. >> where was she when the lady came down? >> she was up sitting up on the embankment. >> had she been alive on that hillside, i don't have any doubt she would've made some noise. i don't have any doubt. >> davis then tells the investigators that once he left dana jaffe's property, he went to a gas station where he claims polly asked to use the bathroom. >> i was out of the car.

>> mm-hmm. >> and -- >> what? >> that's when i strangled her when she was coming back to the car to get back in. >> strangled her? >> yeah. >> what'd you use to strangle her? >> piece of cloth. >> that's davis' story of the night, but investigators say they believe there's far more to it than what he's admitted to. >> what i thought was supported by the evidence was that davis had singled out polly klaas to kidnap her maybe up to two months beforehand. and i feel very strongly that he knew where she lived by the night of the crime. >> he stalked her. he prepared for the kidnapping. he went into the bedroom. he specifically wanted the girl that lived there. >> and investigators believe there is a very specific reason he ended up stuck on dana jaffe's property. >> he finds himself driving, looking for some way to get around santa rosa. i think maybe he thought pythian

road was the way to get around the city and not get caught with a body in the car. >> if somebody is being transported in the car and you don't want that person to be seen, the floorboard is going to be the spot for them. >> my theory of the case is he killed her on the side of the hill. because she was bound and gagged. and all these things had been untied and found up on the hillside. >> after the babysitter went down, he could have went up on the hill, assaulted polly, and killed her at that time. >> he never confessed to sexually assaulting her. did i believe he didn't? no. >> in prison, it's a big difference between being a murderer versus someone that sexually assaulted a little girl and then murdered her. in my opinion, he did not want to admit to that. >> i know i'm a piece of [ bleep ]

>> this is hard though, and i understand that. and i appreciate you being man enough to own up to what happened. >> richard allen davis should be spinning on a spit in hell right now. that's how i feel about that. >> feel better getting that off your chest? >> no. >> investigators now had davis' story. they just didn't know how much of it was actually true, and they still didn't have polly. >> my focus then was to get closure for the parents by finding her body. >> so, would davis answer the one question that everyone wanted to know? >> do you know where she is now? can you tell me? i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. thanks to skyrizi i'm playing with clearer skin. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses.

serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. with skyrizi, nothing on my skin means everything! ♪ nothing is everything ♪ ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. kohl's has outfits and deals for... ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. family picture day... and any fall day... like girls' jeans for $24.99, women's flannels for $27.99 and more. plus, take extra 15% off... and earn kohl's cash... at kohl's. try killing bugs the worry-free way. not the other way. zevo traps use light to attract and trap flying insects with no odor and no mess. they work continuously, so you don't have to. zevo. people-friendly. bug-deadly. rated m for mature ♪ generals gather in their masses ♪ ♪ just like witches at black masses ♪

[asgard voiceover] the chaos is coming, guardian. i dare you to defy it. (hard rock music) ♪ heyyyy-eeee ♪ you can't leave without cuddles. but, you also can't leave covered in hair. with bounce pet, you can cuddle and brush that hair off. bounce. it's the sheet. ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ non-drowsy claritin-d. knocks out your worst allergy symptoms including nasal congestion. without knocking you out. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. claritin-d.

you didn't choose your hairline. hot flashes, the flu, or that thing when your knee just gives out for no reason. you didn't choose your bad back or this. or... that. you didn't choose depression, melanoma, or lactose intolerance. but with kaiser permanente you can choose your doctor who works with other best-in-class specialists to care for all that is you.

richard allen davis is sitting in an interrogation room. he's admitted to being the person responsible for polly klaas' abduction and murder, but to ensure this is going to hold up in court, investigators know they need to locate polly's remains. >> can you tell me about where she is? >> she's outside cloverdale. right outside cloverdale. >> cloverdale is an odd place for something like this. from petaluma, it's a straight drive up 101. >> how far off the road is she? >> half mile, quarter mile, something like that. >> is she where somebody could walk up and find her? >> yeah, i'm surprised nobody did it yet.

i'll show you. >> and so they put him in the car, and then they drove to cloverdale. >> dave alford, sargent al bellow. the three of us got in a car and headed up north, and we met at cloverdale. >> i had mixed feelings. i don't trust suspects, and i don't trust information until i can verify it. >> did you cover her up? >> yeah. >> what'd you cover her up with? >> piece of plywood. >> when dave alford and i walked out there and found the board and lifted it up, and you know there's a body there, but i mean it was advanced decomposition. >> you got richard allen davis who is sitting there leaning up against a car, smoking a cigarette like he doesn't have a care in the world. in the darkness is laying

polly klaas. you have to suppress the rage that kind of builds up in you. >> i started to kind of reach for my shoulder holster, and thought i'd just put him down. i'll just say he reached for somebody's gun and we had to shoot him. and eddie kind of caught my eye. >> i had to put my hand on his that was going for his gun. >> what a horrible place for such a beautiful girl to be put. >> you know, i was convinced it was polly klaas, so i called down and said, yeah, tell the parents we found polly klaas. >> it was that moment. it was, again, eve and i being called into the police station, and they didn't have to tell us anything, christ. we walked in and there were tears in their eyes.

you know? there were tears in their eyes. and i'll never forget this -- i remember that that eve started crying. the cops were crying, and i didn't cry, but we said, we need to tell our families. so, i made a phone call, and i said, you know, it's over. they -- she's dead. >> we are here to announce tonight that polly klaas is dead. >> marjorie barling was one of the thousands who volunteered in the search for polly. >> petaluma is an innocent town, and we don't have that innocence anymore. >> and for the first time in two months, we went home, and it was there that i understood and realized and just exploded. >> describe that explosion for me. >> i started screaming. i had to be held down because i probably was on the verge of trashing my condo. >> it was really difficult.

it's just the pain. it just poured out. the pain just poured out. and i was like, thank god our family was with us, thank god. >> what did you see in your husband's eyes in those moments? >> pain. it was pain. >> on the night polly went missing, eve lit a candle and put it in her window and said it would burn until polly was found. and then on the night that her body was discovered, it was extinguished. >> we were at my birthday party, on my birthday, and gillian's aunt said, you need to bring annette to gillian's house. the whole way i was saying to my mom, she probably wants to see us before she does a news conference. sorry.

then i remember hearing kate and gillian crying inside the house. >> and i was going around thanking my friends for being out there in the sun, long hours, just to guard the crime scene. a friend of mine, he just looked at me, and before i could say anything, he said, "i'm sorry, eddie." >> i'm happy to welcome the world to our parish church where tonight we continue to remember polly. >> a massive turnout. there were people that weren't able to get into the church. so many people in petaluma were invested in that whole case. >> we sat in the front row.

linda ron stadt performed. >> "somewhere out there" was polly's very favorite song. ♪ somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight ♪ >> we were all sitting together, all of polly's friends. her family was nearby. it was just deeply sad that we wouldn't -- be able to make any more memories together. >> after the outpouring of grief, the story wasn't over. now the people of petaluma wanted justice for polly klaas. and the trial ahead would, once again, transfix and shock the entire country. >> it was my opportunity to look him in the eye and say what i felt and what i believed. >> this is the beginning of the end for richard allen davis. he was 10 feet away from me, so i took my shot.

♪ vicks vapostick provides soothing, non-medicated vicks vapors. [exhales] easy to apply for the whole family. vicks vapostick and try vaposhower for steamy vicks vapors.

your hairline. or that thing where your knee just gives out for no reason. but... you can choose your doctor who will care for all the things you didn't choose. kaiser permanente for all that is you.

you may remember the murder of polly klaas. the man accused in her death goes on trial next month. >> the reason this case took almost three years to get to trial is not unusual in a capital case. >> i was amazed by how many people had actually physically had gotten out searching for polly klaas. >> i was convinced there's no way we could get a fair trial in sonoma county. >> they renewed their motion to change venue. and i said, i agree. and so the judge said, okay, santa clara. >> and at the same there was another high-profile case heading to trial in california. >> this came right on the heels of the o.j. simpson trial. >> if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. >> it seemed like that everything that could go wrong with a case went wrong.

>> not guilty of the crime of murder. >> the trial was a disaster. there will be no repeat of the o.j. case here. it just made me work harder. >> while most people here in petaluma say they're glad the trial is underway, what they say they'd like even more is to put all of this behind them for good. >> what was it like to watch richard allen davis walk into that courtroom every day? >> well, just being in that close proximity to that monster was kind of unbelievable. it's the devil that destroys your life. that's what he is. he's the devil that destroyed our life. >> we figured out that it would be in mr. davis' best interest not to plead guilty. in this particular case, there was robbery, burglary, kidnapping, attempted lewd act on a child were four special circumstances. the jury had to find one or more of those special circumstances true for it to become eligible for the death penalty.

>> perhaps the most compelling story today was told by 14-year-old gillian pelham. she and another girl were with polly for a sleepover the night davis allegedly snatched her from her home. >> kate and gillian, they were allowed to have one adult of their choosing go up to the stand with them, and they both chose jeanne boylan. >> jeanne's an incredibly talented and compassionate woman, and there's a lot of love in jeanne's heart. and i think she was able to quickly convey that to both of the girls. >> i became extremely close, especially with the girls. i felt like i wanted to continue to be there in the event they needed me again. >> i think they liked her because she believed them. she was just quiet support. >> i just remember sitting on the witness stand with them and having them grip my hand and getting through that with each of the girls.

>> after nearly a month and a half of the trial, the case finally went to the jury. they deliberated for more than 20 hours before returning a verdict. >> we the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant, richard allen davis, guilty. >> davis was found guilty, and the jury determined those four special circumstances to be true. >> at the end of the guilt phase, he turned towards me and he looked at me, and he flipped both middle fingers up. i always thought that was an opportunity for people to see into his soul. the other incident happened after the penalty phase. >> mr. davis, do you have any comment you would like to make at this time on the report or the recommendation? >> judge hastings allowed the killer to make a statement. >> i would also like to state for the record that the main

reason i know i did not attempt any lewd act that night was because of a statement that the young girl made to me when i was walking her up the embankment. just don't do me like my daddy. i have to pay my dues. >> when that happened, my mother, who was sitting one person over from me, i thought she would die, i really did. he was 10 feet away from me, so i took my shot. i got nowhere. i was completely surrounded by bailiffs within a moment. >> he made those statements to marc klaas just to be malicious and hurtful to a father who just lost his daughter. if that doesn't tell you he deserves the maximum penalty, i don't know what does. >> it is the order of this court that you shall suffer the death

penalty, said penalty to be inflicted within the walls of san quentin, california. >> we found polly and we solved the case. that's some gratification. not a lot, but some. >> what made this case even more difficult is that it resulted in the passage of the three strikes law. >> california enacted a three strikes sentencing law. it sets mandatory punishments, including 25 years to life for any 3-time felony offender. >> it basically says if you commit your third violent felony, you are going to go to prison without the possibility of parole. you get three chances. >> there was such a sense of public outrage of how could this person, a repeat offender, have been let out to kidnap polly? so that was used to rally support for the three-strikes laws and get them passed. >> three strikes was about enhancement.

criminals were leaving california because they didn't want to be faced with being accountable for their own activities. >> everyone felt a connection to her. >> and over the last three decades, those connections have multiplied into something truly extraordinary. it's a pretty nice legacy. ♪ generals gather in their masses ♪ ♪ just like witches at black masses ♪ [asgard voiceover] the chaos is coming, guardian. i dare you to defy it. (hard rock music)

♪ heyyyy-eeee ♪ the right age for neutrogena® retinol? that's whenever you want it to be. it has derm-proven retinol that targets vital cell turnover, evens skin tone, and smooths fine lines. with visible results in just one week. neutrogena® retinol kohl's has outfits and deals for... family picture day... and any fall day... like girls' jeans for $24.99, women's flannels for $27.99 and more. plus, take extra 15% off... and earn kohl's cash... at kohl's. fridays... fry days.... it's almost like whoever named the best day of the week was trying to tell us to celebrate it with fries. free fries friday at mcdonald's. ♪ba da ba ba ba♪ oh, hello! hi! do you know that every load of laundry could be worth as much as $300? really? and your clothes just keep getting more damaged the more times you wash them. downy protects fibers, doing more than detergent alone. see?

this one looks brand new. saves me money? i'm starting to like downy. downy saves loads. if your moderate to severe crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms are stopping you in your tracks... choose stelara® from the start... and move toward relief after the first dose... with injections every two months. stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. pres, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition, may be possible. some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. feel unstoppable. ask your doctor how lasting remission can start with stelara®. janssen can help you explore cost support options. once in a lifetime is never enough. never enough! ♪ love and happiness ♪ when i wear diamonds, i feel powerful. i feel on top of the world. diamonds!

diamonds for all. pandora. lab grown diamonds. eve kept a candle burning in the window until polly was recovered. >> detective pat parks was so moved by the case that he wrote a poem for polly. >> we raced the darkness of the night. your face our only guiding light. we knew your love by a mother's candle, by a father's anguish, too tough to handle.

we assured ourselves that faith alone would be enough to bring you home. when you died, your love by millions multiplied. as we race the darkness of the night, your face remains our guiding light. we will run the race and endure each mile encouraged by your enchanting smile. so, that's the case in a few words. >> her body was found out in that field in cloverdale. i live here in sonoma county. i drive by going one place or another. every time i do go by, i stop by there. it's my way to kind of honor that hallowed ground. every time i go by there, there's a new addition to this area.

a new cross, a ribbon tied in the tree quite often, teddy bears, jewelry spread out, and rocks. people place rocks. and people will paint a message on there remembering some other missing child, usually a date, could be a birthdate or a date missing, some notation about that case. >> everyone felt a connection to her. when i see candles and rocks with things on it, i appreciate that she touched so many people. >> polly's case changed america. she changed childhood in america, but she also changed how the fbi investigates crime. so many of the procedures, technologies, protocols for

kidnapping that were used and tested and proven in her case are now used today to improve how we not only find missing kids, but investigate crime. >> quite simply, my dream is to save a child, and that the next family that has this kind of tragedy, that it'll have a happy outcome. i love children, and if anything i can do can help protect them, then i think polly would be real proud of me. >> if you were to look back on those 30 years now, what do you think is the lasting legacy? >> i think the legislation. i think the attention that we brought to the case, and i think that our very active, proactive work in search and rescue. i think of the work that we've done. those are the lasting elements

of her legacy. >> it's a pretty nice legacy. >> oh, i think her legacy is strong, i do. but still, i mean, you know -- i'd trade it for a hug. he would trade it all for one more hug. richard allen davis, the man convict of murdering polly klaas remains on death row in prison. in 2019 gavin newsom issued an executive order declaring a moratorium on executions in that state. that is our program for tonight. thanks for watching. i'm david muir. for all of us here at "20/20" and abc news, good night.

vanishes and his body is found. four days later. but the case goes cold. now, dna giving investigators the break that they need. good evening. thanks for joining us. i'm dan ashley. six year old jeremy stoner was assaulted and strangled. a suspect was arrested but later cleared and jeremy's murder went unsolved until this week. abc's seven news reporter tara campbell with how police finally cracked the case and what we know about the suspect. >> footage from more than three decades ago. abc seven news there for the funeral of