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The Kitty Genovese Murder Scene
Click to enlarge.
The photographer is standing at the approximate location of the first attack looking back in the direction from which Kitty ran. In the distance is the West Virginia apartment House (today called the "Austin Arms"). Trial witness, Samuel Koshkin, and his wife had a 6th floor apartment there. Koshkin's windows faced Austin Street and not the site of the first attack which Koshkin could not see. However, he did see Moseley run back to his car immediately afterward. The Long Island Railroad Station parking lot is to the left.
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 January 18, 2004.
The Murder of Kitty Genovese:
Only one witness is known to have heard Kitty say she had been stabbed
When first attacked, Kitty screamed that she had been stabbed. [Footnote G-1.] That fact has been accurately reported in the press - leaving readers to assume that all of the witnesses heard her say that. However, only 1 of the 5 trial witnesses heard those words. [Footnote G-2.] If anyone else heard them, they have never been identified. There is no doubt that when Kitty screamed, witnesses heard her voice. However, that does not necessarily mean that they understood her words since it was those very outcries that had awakened them at 3:20 AM in the middle of a very cold winter night. According to the July 25, 1995 edition of The New York Times:
"... several residents who were alive at the time of the attack maintained yesterday that the screams were not that easy to hear ... ."
[Footnote G-3.]
In my experience, it can be difficult to make out the words of people speaking or shouting outside on a city street through closed windows, even though their voices might be clearly audible. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that the acoustics of Austin Street would have added to that difficulty. After Kitty had been stabbed for the first time and fell to the ground, one witness opened his seventh floor window and called down to Moseley to leave her alone. [Footnote G-4.] Moseley, who was fully awake at the time, heard the man, but could not make out what he said. [Footnote G-5.]
If there was difficulty in being understood from an open window by someone wide awake, there would have been even greater difficulty in being understood through closed windows by people who were sleeping or just being awakened - and we know that the witnesses had their windows closed to protect against the cold night air. [Footnote G-6.] Further evidence of the difficulty in hearing Kitty's words can be found in the affidavit of surviving witness, Michael Hoffman, who writes:
"Since my Austin Street window was only open about a half an inch (it was very cold that night), I could not make out what was being said, or by whom. I opened that window more and could still not make out what was being said. "
Click here to read a detailed analysis of the March 27, 1964 New York Times article that broke the story.
| Footnotes |
Footnote G-1: 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 p. 68 to read this book on another web site. Close out window to return here.
Footnote G-2: Trial Testimony of Irene Frost, Record on Appeal pp. 63 - 64. [HTML] [PDF - 99 KB]
Footnote G-3: Joe Sexton, "A Request Revives Passions in the Kitty Genovese Case", The New York Times, p. B4 (July 25, 1995).
Footnote G-4:
- Martin Gansberg, "37 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police", The New York Times,, p. 38, col. 1 (March 27, 1964) ("From one of the upper windows in the apartment house, a man called down: 'Let that girl alone!'")
- Seedman & Hellman, Chief!, p. 113 (Arthur Fields Books, N.Y. 1974) (N.B. Seedman uses fictitious names for the witnesses. He refers to witness, Robert Mozer, by the name of Milton Hatch.).
- Trial Testimony of Robert Mozer, Record on Appeal pp. 57, 58. [HTML] [PDF - 57 KB]
Footnote G-5: Seedman & Hellman, Chief!, p. 129 (Arthur Fields Books, N.Y. 1974) (Quoting from the interrogation of Winston Moseley in which Moseley said, "Then I heard someone shout down from a window. I looked up but I couldn't quite understand what he was saying.")
Footnote G-6:
- Martin Gansberg, "37 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police", The New York Times,, p. 38, col. 1 (March 27, 1964) (Reporting that, "Windows slid open ... ." and "Windows were opened again ... .")
- Martin Gansberg, "Yes, Witnesses Report; Neighbors Have Doubts", The New York Times, p. 35, col. 2 (March 12, 1965) ("... it was bitterly cold" on the night Kitty was killed.)
- Douglas Martin, "About New York - Kitty Genovese: Would New York Still Turn Away?", The New York Times, p. 29, col. 1 (March 11, 1989) (That night was "... one of the coldest March days on record ... .")
- John Melia, "Stigma remains from Genovese case", The New York Daily News, col. 3 (Queens Edition) (Month and day not known, 1984). [PDF - 231 KB] ("In reconstructing the crime, you have to remember that it was 3:30 on a winter morning, a time when most people are in bed asleep and windows are closed, a time when people are not easily roused.")
Footnote G-7: Affidavit of Michael Hoffman, para. 3 (July 15, 2003). [HTML] [PDF - 251 KB]
