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The Kitty Genovese Murder Scene
Click to enlarge.
Why the Times account of a third attack makes no sense
In the March 27, 1964 article that first broke the story, The New York Times reported an attack on Kitty that is nowhere mentioned in the record of Moseley's subsequent trial. [Footnote A-8] This attack, if it had occurred, would have been number 2 in the sequence - coming just moments after the first attack on Austin Street. Here is what the Times said happened just after Moseley stabbed Kitty for the first time:
"The assailant ... walked down Austin Street toward a white sedan parked a short distance away. Miss Genovese struggled to her feet. ... The killer returned to Miss Genovese now trying to make her way around the side of the building by the parking lot to get to her apartment. The assailant stabbed her again."
[Footnote A-9] I have a problem with this alleged attack apart from the absence of any evidence to support it. If what the Times said is true, then it means that after she had been stabbed twice by Winston Moseley - and after he had walked only a short distance away - Kitty then got up and headed toward Moseley rather than away from him. Here's what I mean:
- The Times says that after the first stabbings, Moseley walked toward a "white sedan". Although the Times does not mention it, that white sedan was his car. [Footnote A-10]
- The Times also says that the car was parked "a short distance away." The undisputed evidence is that Moseley had previously parked it on Austin Street on the other side of the railroad parking lot back in the direction from which he and Kitty had just run. [Footnote A-11]
[View Diagram No. 1]
[View Diagram No. 2]
The distance to Moseley's car would have been about 100 paces. - The Times goes on to say that after walking towards his car, Moseley then went back and stabbed Kitty again as she made her way along the parking lot side of the 2 story Tudor building. To get to that spot, Kitty, like Moseley, would also have had to walk back toward the parking lot. So, for a distance of about 40 feet, she would have been following in Moseley's footsteps.
[View Diagram No. 1]
[View Diagram No. 2] - There is no dispute that Kitty did walk in that direction. However, if Moseley were still there, as the Times reports, I cannot believe that Kitty would have failed to see him. Not only does the Times suggest that he was just a short distance away, but there was testimony at Moseley's trial that after Moseley had fled, and Kitty had gotten up, she "looked around". [Footnote A-12]
View Diagram No. 1
View Diagram No. 2
View Photograph 1
View Photograph 2
If I were Kitty, and I had just been stabbed in the back twice by an attacker who then walked only a short distance away, my first and strongest instinct would be to put as much space between him and me as possible. So, if he headed west, I would make it a point to go east - no matter how much out of my way that might take me. The fact that Kitty walked off in the same direction as Moseley makes sense only if the trial record is correct: i.e., Moseley had by that time run to his car and driven away without attempting another attack on Austin Street.
Times Article Analyzed
Click here to read the March 27, 1964 New York Times article that first broke the story, along with a paragraph by paragraph analysis of why I think the Times got the story wrong.
Disclaimer
Throughout this page, I will cite to various media accounts of the case. I do so only for the factual statements they contain and not because the authors of those accounts agree with the opinions I express here.
In the Public Domain
My thoughts, comments and opinions about this case along with all images created by or for me are dedicated to the public domain. They may be copied and used without credit or compensation to me. I claim no rights in the trial transcript and briefs included here.
This page was created on January 14 2004 and revised on March 13, 2004.
The Murder of Kitty Genovese:
There were 2 attacks not 3
Most people both in and out of the media believe that Kitty was attacked three times. [Footnote A-1] However, the undisputed evidence presented at the killer's trial by the district attorney shows that there were only two attacks, not three. [Footnote A-2] Subsequent accounts in the media have also verified the number of attacks as two [Footnote A-3] - the most recent account being the February 8, 2004 New York Times. [Footnote A-4]
The first attack occurred on Austin Street in front of a 2 story Tudor building directly across from the Mowbray Apartment House where the overwhelming majority of the 38 witnesses lived. The second took place in a vestibule in the rear of the 2 story Tudor building. [Footnote A-5]
View present day photograph by [clicking here].
In his famous book on the case, A.M. Rosenthal, the Times' Metropolitan Editor, also describes only those two attacks:
"Lurking near the parking lot was a man. Miss Genovese saw him in the shadows, turned and walked toward a police box. The man pursued her, stabbed her. She screamed, "Oh my God, he stabbed me! Please help me! Please help me!
Somebody threw open a window. A man called out, 'Let that girl alone!' Other lights turned on, other windows were raised. The attacker got into a car and drove away. A bus passed.
The attacker drove back, got out, searched out Miss Genovese in the back of an apartment building where she had crawled for safety, stabbed her again, drove away again."
[Footnote A-6] In its June 10, 1964 edition, The New York Times explained the confusion surrounding the number of attacks. It said that initial police reports of 3 attacks were based on the investigators' misinterpretation of a statement given by a witness named Andree Picq. [Footnote A-7]
Click here to read a detailed analysis of the
March 27, 1964 New York Times article that broke the story.
| Footnotes |
Footnote A-1: See, e.g., Martin Gansberg, "37 Who Saw Murder Didn�t Call the Police", The New York Times, p. 1 (March 27, 1964) ("For more than half an hour thirty-eight respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens.")
Footnote A-2: Brief of Queens County District Attorney to the New York State Court of Appeals, pp. 2, 5 - 6. [HTML] [PDF - 368 KB.]
Footnote A-3: See, e.g.:
- Maureen Dowd, "The Night That 38 Stood By as a Life Was Lost", The New York Times, sec. 2, p. B1, cols. 3 - 4 (March 12, 1984) (Times article marking the 20th anniversary of Kitty's death and describing only two attacks - one on Austin Street and the other in a hallway in the rear of the 2 story Tudor building).
- The History Channel, History's Mysteries - Silent Witnesses - The Kitty Genovese Murder, at:
- 03 min. 28 secs. to 4 mins. 48 secs.
- 25 mins. 10 secs. to 27 mins. 15 secs.
Footnote A-4: Jim Rasenberger, "Kitty, 40 Years Later", The New York Times, (Final Ed.) Sect. 14 , p. 1 , col. 2 (Feb. 8, 2004) ("Mr. Moseley tailed Ms. Genovese to Kew Gardens, to the paved lot of the railroad station. When she got out of her car, he followed on foot. Ms. Genovese began to run up Austin Street, but he quickly caught up and stabbed her in the back. As she screamed, he stabbed her again, then twice more. A window opened in the Mowbray and a man's voice called out: 'Leave that girl alone!' Mr. Moseley ... ran off upon hearing it. He moved his car to a more discreet location, changed his hat, then returned. He found Ms. Genovese collapsed in a foyer in the back of her building and finished what he'd begun on Austin Street, stabbing and slashing her repeatedly, then leaving her to die.") Click here to read a copy of the article on the Middlesex County College web site. Close out the window to return here.
Footnote A-5:
- Brief of Queens County District Attorney to the New York State Court of Appeals, pp. 2, 5 - 6. [HTML] [PDF - 368 KB.]
- Seedman & Hellman, Chief!, pp. 106, 112 - 115 (Arthur Fields Books, N.Y. 1974) (Albert A. Seedman was the deputy police inspector who interrogated Moseley. Seedman went on to become Chief of Detectives and later included a chapter on the case in this memoir. Seedman describes only the two attacks - one on Austin Street and another in a rear hallway of the 2 story Tudor building. N.B., Seedman and Hellman used fictitious names for the witnesses).
- Confession of Winston Moseley, Record on Appeal, pp. 527 - 536.. [HTML] [PDF - 217 KB]
- Moseley v. Scully, 908 F.Supp. 1120, 1124 (E.D.N.Y. 1995) aff�d 104 F.3d 356 (2nd Cir.1996) (1995 federal court decision denying Moseley's application for a new trial. The court's written decision, which reviewed the facts surrounding the killing, referred to only 2 attacks - one in front of the 2 story building, the other in a rear hallway).
Footnote A-6: A. M. Rosenthal, Thirty-Eight Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Case., Part 2, pp. 68 - 69 (Berkeley : Univ. of Calif. Press 1999). Click here and scroll down to pp. 68 - 69 to read this book on another web site. Close out window to return here.
Footnote A-7:
Here is exactly what the Times reported:
"One curious discrepancy in the case attracted interest outside the court. On March 25 detectives of the 102d Squad, Richmond hill, Queens, in recounting the assault on Miss Genovese for a newspaper reporter, described three separate attacks, not two as depicted in the present court record.
Miss Picq's testimony that she 'heard two last screams for help' after Miss Genovese had rounded the corner of the parking lot suggested the possibility that a stabbing also took place there.
At the time the detectives said that witnesses had seen attacks in front of the bookstore on Austin Street, opposite No. 82-67; near the drugstore at the Long Island Rail Road parking lot, and, finally, inside the doorway at 82-62 Austin Street, four doors from where Miss Genovese lived.
Detectives described, in March, the elapsed time of the attacks at 32 minutes and said that the killer had returned to the murder scene three times."
David Anderson, "4 Kew Gardens Residents Testify To Seeing Woman Slain on Street", The New York Times, p. 50, cols. 2 - 3 (June 10, 1964). (Notwithstanding the headline, nothing in the Times article suggested that anyone saw Kitty killed on the street.) As Andree Picq's trial testimony makes clear, the outcries she was referring to were those Kitty made when Moseley began his second attack in that hallway in the rear of the 2 story Tudor building. See, Trial Testimony of Andree Picq, Record on Appeal p. 62. [HTML] [PDF - 57 KB]
Footnote A-8:
- David Anderson, "4 Kew Gardens Residents Testify To Seeing Woman Slain on Street", The New York Times, p. 50, cols. 2 - 3 (June 10, 1964). (Notwithstanding the headline, nothing in the Times article suggested that anyone saw Kitty killed on the street.) ("One curious discrepancy in the case attracted interest outside the court. On March 25 detectives of the 102d Squad, Richmond hill, Queens, in recounting the assault on Miss Genovese for a newspaper reporter, described three separate attacks, not two as depicted in the present court record.").
- Martin Gansberg, "Yes, Witnesses Report; Neighbors Have Doubts", The New York Times, p. 37, col. 4 (March 12, 1965) ("... at the trial the police testified about two attacks only.").
Footnote A-9: Martin Gansberg, "37 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police", The New York Times, p. 38, col. 1 (March 27, 1964).
Footnote A-10:
- Seedman & Hellman, Chief!, pp. 112, 124 (Arthur Fields Books, N.Y. 1974) (Moseley drove a "small white car" later identified as a white 1960 Corvair").
- Confession of Winston Moseley, Record on Appeal p. 531. [HTML] [PDF - 217 KB] (Saying he drove a white 1960 Corvair).
- Trial Testimony of Samuel Koshkin, Record on Appeal p. 69. [HTML] [PDF - 126 KB] (Saw Moseley drive away in a "light colored compact")
Footnote A-11:
- Seedman & Hellman, Chief!, p. 113 (Arthur Fields Books, N.Y. 1974) (Moseley "parked under the trees on the other side of the railroad station").
- Direct Examination of Winston Moseley, Record on Appeal p. 235. [HTML] [PDF - 227 KB] (Saying he parked at the bus stop).
- Trial Testimony of Samuel Koshkin, Record on Appeal pp. 68 - 69. [HTML] [PDF - 126 KB] (Testifying that he saw Moseley run to a light colored compact car parked under his window facing Austin Street on the other side of the Long Island Railroad parking lot.)
Footnote A-12: Trial Testimony of Robert Mozer, Record on Appeal p. 59. [HTML] [PDF - 57 KB] ("She got up, stood up, and kind of looked around like that and just started walking off. ")
