The Murder of Kitty Genovese:

Kitty did not scream for half an hour

Although the original March 27, 1964 New York Times article does not say so, it was reported or implied in subsequent press accounts that Kitty screamed continuously throughout all or most of her 30 minute ordeal. [Footnote H-1.] If that were true, then it did not matter whether witnesses saw the stabbings or heard her say she had been stabbed. That kind of screaming would have been an unambiguous signal to the witnesses that Kitty was in desperate trouble. However, the belief that Kitty screamed for anything close to that length of time is mistaken.

The Killer's Interrogation

During his police interrogation, Winston Moseley told the officers what he did immediately after his first attack on Kitty.

"It seemed like I better get the car out of there right away. So I ran back and put it in reverse and backed around the corner of the next block. It was quiet. I didn't hear anybody coming out or doors slamming. I waited ten minutes. It was still quiet."

[Footnote H-2.] So, for 10 minutes after the first attack, the killer heard nothing and it was that very silence which convinced him it was safe to return and continue the attack.

The Seedman Account

Albert A. Seedman was the Deputy Police Inspector who conducted the interrogation of Winston Moseley on the day he was captured. He went on the become Chief of Detectives. According to Seedman, Kitty did not scream during the 12 minutes that elapsed between the end of the first attack on Austin Street and the beginning of the second attack in the rear hallway of the 2 story Tudor building. [Footnote H-3.] Furthermore, Seedman described her one cry in the hallway as "low" and "too weak for a scream". [Footnote H-4.] The New York Daily News called it "just the faintest of cries". [Footnote H-5.] Only a few neighbors heard that final faint cry. [Footnote H-6.] Moseley quickly stabbed Kitty in the throat to silence her. [Footnote H-7.]

What it Means

Kitty's failure to scream after the first attack ended and Moseley had fled is not surprising. She had been stabbed in the back at least twice with a hunting knife. [Footnote H-8.] She was gravely wounded and probably in shock. In any case, when Kitty got up and slowly walked away after the first attack without making any further cry for help - no matter whether she staggered or walked dreamlike [click here] - witnesses must have assumed she was really all right, despite her initial outcry. The fact that the first attack occurred only about 50 feet away from a bar known to have generated a lot of late night rowdiness would have reinforced that assumption. [Footnote H-9.]

An argument can be made that:

1. There is a discernable difference between the loud scream of a woman who is infuriated or carousing and the terrified scream of a woman whose life is in mortal danger. And,
   
   
2. In the case of Kitty Genovese, that difference had to have been apparent to the witnesses.

[Footnote H-10.] Although the argument is a reasonable one, it does not prove the case against the 38 witnesses for a number of reasons.

First, while witnesses who were awake and listening could probably have made that distinction, these witnesses were not awake and listening. It was Kitty's screams that awakened them at 3:20 in the morning. In my experience, people do not always hear or fully comprehend loud noises that waken them from their sleep. For example, we have sworn statements from six witnesses as to what they heard that night. Two of them say they were awakened by the first attack, but never heard any screams. [Footnote H-11.]

Second, anyone on that block who heard Kitty scream would also have heard witness Robert Mozer when he, "hollered" from his seventh floor apartment, "Hey, get out of there" or "What are you doing?"   [Footnote H-12.] In fact, witness Mozer's was likely the last outcry the witnesses would have heard. The killer, Winston Moseley, then ran to his car and drove off, after which Kitty left the scene without making any further outcry or plea for help. So, those witnesses who could not see what was happening would have heard:

• Kitty screaming, then
• One of their neighbors warn someone off, and then
• A car driving off and windows shutting, but no more screams.

Under the circumstances, those witnesses would naturally have assumed that Mozer's warning had solved whatever problem there was.

Third, The New York Times reported that after Moseley fled from the first attack, "Lights went out" - suggesting that the eye witnesses went back to bed. [Footnote H-13.] That fact has to mean that they did not understand what was happening. Human nature being what it is, I have to believe they would have remained glued to their windows if they had known.

Finally, former Chief of Detectives, Albert A. Seedman, suggests that a large number of witnesses watched Kitty leave the scene of the first attack walking in a manner that he described as "dreamlike" and "not staggering". [Footnote H-14.] Even if we accept that Kitty's screams were louder than anything the witnesses ever heard coming from the bar and that the witnesses understood Kitty's outcries to be calls for help, [Footnote H-15.], the fact that Moseley then drove away, and Kitty then left under her own power (whether dreamlike or staggering) without any further calls for help could well have caused them to think that the crisis (and Kitty's need for help) had passed. That may have been bad judgment on the part of the witnesses, but bad judgment is a far less egregious failing than the one they have been accused of.

Back | Cont'd on Next Page

Click here to read a detailed analysis of the March 27, 1964 New York Times article that broke the story.

Footnote H-1:

• Edward Weiland, "Austin Street Can't Forget an Unheeded Cry in the Night", The Long Island Press, p. 5, col. 3 (March 28, 1964) ("A reporter points out that the attack on Kitty Genovese was a long and agonizing half hour of terror ... and she cried repeatedly for help.").
  
  
• Loudon Wainwright, "View From Here - The Dying Girl That No One Helped", Life Magazine, p. 21, col. 1 (April 10, 1964) ("During that bloody [half hour] according to an extraordinary account published in the New York Times, Kitty screamed and cried repeatedly for help.").
  
  
• Martin Gansberg, "Lindsay, Recalling the Genovese Murder, Deploes Apathy", The New York Times, p. 35, col. 2 (Oct. 13, 1965) ("[Republican Mayoral Candidate, John V. Lindsay] reminded a milling throng [on] Austin Street that the 28 year old bar manager cried out for help many times during the 35 minutes she was attacked ... .") (Bracketed text is mine).
  
  
• A. M. Rosenthal, "On My Mind - The 39th Witness", The New York Times, p. A31, col. 1 (Feb. 12, 1987) ("And while she screamed her young life out on Austin Street, 38 people, by police count, heard her.").
  
  

Footnote H-2:   Seedman & Hellman, Chief!, p. 129 (Arthur Fields Books, N.Y. 1974).

Footnote H-3:

• Seedman & Hellman, Chief!, pp. 106,114, 126 - 133 (last para.) (Arthur Fields Books, N.Y. 1974) (In describing the second attack, Seedman writes, "It had been twelve minutes since the last scream. As the man pushed the door open, only a few neighbors could hear a low cry, too weak for a scream, as the door closed behind him.").
  
  
• Affidavit of Michael Hoffman, paras. 5, 6 (July 15, 2003). [HTML] [PDF - 251 KB] (Saying that after the first attack, "I heard what I thought was crying or moaning loudly, a female voice, like she was hurt, but I could not make out any words. ... During that time we heard her make faint moaning sounds, but we never heard her scream, cry out or say anything.")

Footnote H-4:   Seedman & Hellman, Chief!, p. 114 (last para.) (Arthur Fields Books, N.Y. 1974) (N.B. Seedman uses fictitious names for the witnesses).

Footnote H-5:   Joseph McNamara, "A Justice Story - The scream no one answered", The New York Daily News, col. 1 (Jan. 8, 1964)

Footnote H-6:   Seedman & Hellman, Chief!, p. 114 (last para.) (Arthur Fields Books, N.Y. 1974) (N.B. Seedman uses fictitious names for the witnesses).

Footnote H-7:

• Direct Examination of Winston Moseley, Record on Appeal, p. 236. [HTML]   [PDF - 227 KB]
  
  
• Confession of Winston Moseley, Record on Appeal pp. 528, 532. [HTML] [PDF - 217 KB]
  
  
• Brief of the Queens District Attorney to the New York State Court of Appeals, p. 2. [HTML] [PDF - 368 KB]

Footnote H-8:

• Direct Examination of Winston Moseley, Record on Appeal, p. 236. [HTML]   [PDF - 227 KB]
  
  
• Confession of Winston Moseley, Record on Appeal pp. 528, 532. [HTML] [PDF - 217 KB]
  
  
• Brief of the Queens District Attorney to the New York State Court of Appeals, p. 2. [HTML] [PDF - 368 KB]

Footnote H-9:

• Edward Weiland,  "Austin Street Can't Forget an Unheeded Cry in the Night", The Long Island Press, p. 5 (March 28, 1964) ("[Austin Street residents] tell of many angry cries in the night, of lovers' quarrels, of drunken brawls along the street, of noisy teenagers. . . . "You get used to it after a while," a businessman says. "You get conditioned. So when you hear a cry, you figure it's just another drunk or a teenager raising hell. How can you pick one noise out of a hundred and know this time it's murder?") (Bracketed text is mine.)
  
  
• John Melia, "Stigma from Genovese case remains", The New York Daily News, [Queens Edition], col. 3 (Month and day not known, 1984). [PDF Format - 230 KB] ("It must be pointed out that there are several bars in the neighborhood, and that late-night and early-morning noise are part of the scenery.")
  
  
• Genovese Horror Lingers", Newsday, p. 17 (March 11, 1984) ("Miss Hartmann says that the street outside her [Mowbray] apartment has always been noisy after midnight with people leaving the area bars. She said that in the early morning hours of March 13, 1964 the running and screams she heard didn't sound any different than usual. . . . 'So many, many times in the night I heard screaming.'")
  
  
• Kostya Kennedy, "Kitty Genovese: 30 Years Later", The Queens Tribune, p. 14 (March 17, 1994) ("The stabbing occurred in front of a bar known to produce loud conflicts on weekend nights, often between friends or lovers.")
  
  
• Joe Sexton, "A Request Revives Passions in the Kitty Genovese Case", The New York Times, p. B4 (July 25, 1995) ("'The media never took into consideration the noise from the bar, that we had a different clientele then - women yelling at their husbands' said Tony Corrado, who in 1964 owned a furniture shop on the block of Austin Street where the killing occurred.")
  
  
• Howard Girsky, "Kitty Genovese Killer Seeks Freedom - Controversy Still Haunts 37-Year-Old Murder Case", The Queens Courier (Dec. 21 - 26, 2001) ("Tragically, the bar was shuttered early because a new bartender was on duty. He had closed the bar before midnight because there had been fighting among patrons, a common occurrence that neighbors constantly complained about.") To read an online version of this article, click on the following link and then scroll to the bottom of the page. Close out the window to return here. Click here.

Footnote H-10:   See, e.g., Jim Rasenberger, "Kitty, 40 Years Later", The New York Times, (Final Ed.) Sect. 14 , p. 1 , col. 2 (Feb. 8, 2004) ("But [one of the Assistant District Attorneys who prosecuted Moseley] is far less willing ... to forgive the neighbors. Even if not all saw the crime, Mr. Skoller is convinced they heard it. 'I believe that many people heard the screams,' he said. 'It could have been more than 38. And anyone that heard the screams had to know there was a vicious crime taking place. There's no doubt in my mind about that.'). Click here to read a copy of the article on the Fordham University web site. Close out the window to return here.

Footnote H-11:

• Trial Testimony of Robert Mozer, Record on Appeal p. 57. [HTML] [PDF - 57 KB] ("I heard a girl saying, 'Help me, help me.' It wasn't a scream. It wasn't a cry. It was more just like a talk like, 'Help me, help me'.")
  
  
• Affidavit of Michael Hoffman, para. 4 (July 15, 2003). [HTML] [PDF - 251 KB] ("The night Kitty was killed, I was awakened in the middle of the night by a commotion outside. What woke me up was yelling - not screams - but yelling voices (both male and female).").

Footnote H-12:   See, e.g.,

• Trial Testimony of Robert Mozer, Record on Appeal pp. 57, 58. [HTML] [PDF - 57 KB] ("I hollered, 'Hey, get out of there"' or 'What are you doing?' And he jumped up and run." ).
  
  
• Martin Gansberg, "37 Who Saw Murder Didn�t Call the Police", The New York Times, p. 1 (March 27, 1964) ("From one of the upper windows in the apartment house, a man called down: "Let that girl alone!"")
  
  
• A. M. Rosenthal, Thirty-Eight Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Case., Part 2, p. 68 (Berkeley : Univ. of Calif. Press 1999) ("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."). Click here and scroll down to p. 68 to read this book on another web site. Close out window to return here.
  
  
• Brief of Queens County District Attorney to the New York State Court of Appeals, pp. 2, 3, and 6. [HTML] [PDF - 368 KB.]
  
  

Footnote H-13:   Martin Gansberg, "37 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police", The New York Times, p. 38, col. 1 (March 27, 1964)

Footnote H-14:   Seedman & Hellman, Chief!, p. 113 (last para.) (Arthur Fields Books, N.Y. 1974) ("In front of the card shop now, Kitty was being watched by others besides the [Mozers]. Some were in the same seven-story [sic] building, some were in the sixteen apartments over the stores, some were in the apartment house on the far side of the railroad parking lot. So many eyes were on Kitty as she lay under the yellow street lamp that she might have been spotlighted on a stage. ... Alone on the street now, though followed by eyes all around, Kitty got up. ... Kitty walked slowly back past the card shop, the liquor store [sic], the dry cleaner, and turned the corner toward the back of the stores. As Kitty left her line of sight, [Mrs. Mozer] noticed that the girl was not stggering. If anything, her step was almost dreamlike.") (N.B. Seedman uses fictitious names for the witnesses. In the preceding quote, I have substituted the real name.).

Footnote H-15:

• Loudon Wainwright, "The View From Here: The Dying Girl That No One Helped", Life Magazine, p. 21, col. 2 (April 10, 1964) ("[M]ost understood her cry for help.").
  
  
• Trial Testimony of Robert Mozer, Record on Appeal p. 57. [HTML] [PDF - 57 KB] (I heard a girl saying, "Help me, help me." It wasn't a scream. It wasn't a cry. It was more just like a talk like, "Help me, help me.").
  
  
• Trial Testimony of Andree Picq, Record on Appeal p. 60. [HTML] [PDF - 57 KB] ("I heard the scream, 'Help, help,' three times.").

Back | Cont'd on Next Page