The Witness

Go on through the right.

Here we are.

If you don't mind,

I'm gonna check out

sort of sight lines here.

Sure.

I was 16 when my sister

Kitty was murdered

in New York City.

In an instant she was gone.

No one understood me

like Kitty.

Two weeks ago today

twenty minutes after 3:00

in the morning

it was a dark night.

Kitty Genovese, 28 years old,

drove her car

into this parking lot

at the Kew Gardens Station

of the Long Island Railroad as

she had been doing for a year.

She stopped, saw a man

against the wall

she didn't quite make it

halfway down the block

before the killer

drove a knife into her.

I heard the screaming, and I went to,

uh, the bedroom window

and I saw some girl

on her knees

and she was screaming,

"Help, help."

Just exactly what was it

you heard?

"Save me, save me."

Didn't this frighten you

or shock you?

No.

Fifteen years ago, a young

woman was stabbed to death

in front of a Queens,

New York apartment

half a block from her home.

Tomorrow marks

what many people regard

as one of the most

shameful anniversaries

in New York City history.

Fifty years ago, her murder

led to the adoption

of the 911 system.

Police discovered

that more than 30 people

had witnessed her attack

and no one had picked up

the phone to call the police.

Lights came on

in the apartment building

a window opened, the attacker

got nervous and left

but not a single person

came to the rescue

no one even called

the police at a time

when the average response time

was 2 minutes.

So the man came back

and stabbed her again.

It sent a chilling message

suggesting that we were

each of us,

not simply endangered..

...but fundamentally alone.

Two weeks after

my sister Kitty's funeral

the "New York Times" published

a front-page story.

It barely mentioned

her killer.

Instead it focused

on Kitty's neighbors

and practically blamed

38 of them for her death.

"The Times" story

was seen as proof

that New York City

was uncaring

that America was

falling apart.

And my sister's been

the symbol

of bystander apathy

for decades.

The girl no one cared about.

But recently "The Times"

published a new article.

It challenged the accuracy

of its original report.

And others now claim

the story of 38 witnesses

is more myth than fact.

What did the witnesses

actually see or hear?

Were there really 38?

Why didn't they try

to help my sister?

For years, I avoided

the details of that night

because they were just

too painful

but it's worse

not knowing the truth.

Mr. Skoller?

- Bill?

- Yeah.

- Hi.

- How you doing?

Alright. How are you?

Charlie Skoller.

- Bill Genovese.

- How are you, Bill?

Nice to meet you.

Going around here

is anxiety provoking.

Are you sure

you wanna do this?

This has to be

very difficult for you.

No, I absolutely

I absolutely wanna do it.

It's interesting. When you

drive back here it's...

You know, when you're out

on Queens Boulevard there

it seems so,

for me anyway, city-ish.

Here now you're in this really

nice neighborhood.

This block is

all residential

one-family homes.

Pull into this parking lot.

Because that's where

your sister pulled her car

into this lane.

And this is where

Winston Moseley caught up to her

and struck the first blows

to her back.

Many of your sister's

neighbors

really heard everything that was going on,

heard the screams

knew that an attack

was taking place

and knew

that it was a violent attack.

It wasn't that your sister

was just screaming and screaming

she was yelling, "Help, help,

I'm being stabbed."

That was not just screams alone.

And Joseph Fink was seated

in the lobby of the Mowbray.

He was the night

elevator operator

and he saw the entire

first attack take place

from beginning to end..

...and he knew exactly

what was happening.

And instead of doing anything,

he got on the elevator

went downstairs,

went to his apartment

and went to sleep.

Now, as she was being attacked

in this hallway

Karl Ross looked down

and he saw

that second attack take place.

And he went to the telephone

called his girlfriend.

She said, "Don't get involved."

It just kills me to think

that when he first looked down

he could have ended it

right there by doing something.

He could have yelled down, "I'm

calling the police." And that...

Yes. Or, "The police

are on their way."

How much time do you think,

if you can remember

from the first attack

to when he finds her again?

I would say about a half

an hour, possibly 40 minutes.

Long enough for somebody

to have called the police

and for the police

to have arrived

and probably to save

your sister's life.

Turns out,

I'm not the first

to look for these witnesses.

We traced Karl Ross

to this pet store

but we found that he'd sold it.

The new people here kindly

agreed to contact him for us

but Karl Ross remains silent.

Mr. Koshkin, I wanted

to ask you one more time

if you would speak to us?

20/20 had no luck

interviewing witnesses

in 1979.

If I was going

to have more success

Charlie Skoller suggested

that I start

with the trial transcript.

My family couldn't bear

to go to the trial in 1964

so I never heard the testimony

of the witnesses.

Only 5 of the 38 witnesses

were called to take the stand.

Samuel Koshkin, Robert Mozer

Sophie Farrar, Andree Picq

Irene Frost.

I heard a shriek.

I got outta bed,

went to the window

and I saw a man and a woman

standing across the street

by the bookstore.

I looked at them for a minute.

Nothin' happened,

so I got back to bed.

The second time she screamed

"Please, help me, God.

Please help me.

I've been stabbed."

I went to the window,

and as I got there

she was kneeling down

on the sidewalk

and he was running

up the street.

Did you know

Irene Frost at all?

She worked

for your grandfather.

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

I know the name well.

My grandfather didn't know much

about running the business

and apparently

I... Irene stole

several $100,000 from him

so her name

doesn't sit too favorably

in the Hirsch family.

Now, do you know

if she's alive

or dead at this point?

Oh, she's long dead.

I saw this girl

at the bookstore kneeling

and this fellow had her down

bending over her.

And I hollered,

"Hey, get out of there."

And he jumped up and ran.

He ran like a scared rabbit.

I never saw anybody

take off as quick.

I heard the voice upstairs.

Suddenly, the neighbor's

screaming something

and the man ran away

very fast, near the bus stop.

The poor girl get up slowly..

...and she screamed, "Help!"

And walking slowly

toward the drugstore

and up towards

the back street.

I was still at the window

scared, kind of frozen.

And a few minutes

after that man came back

walking normally

as if nothing happened.

And then he went down

to the train station

and then he came out again

and left in the back

and I could not see anything..

...but I heard

the last 2 screams.

"Help, help."

Hi,

is this the Michael Farrar from Kew Gardens?

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