By Marc Klaas

"I have answered enough to hang myself, throw myself in the f****** gas chamber. ...I ain't gonna deny it. I deserve it." Richard Allen Davis to Sgt. Mike Meese (Dec. 6, 1993)

Of all the players involved in this crime, three are particularly significant; Polly the victim, Davis the killer and Meese the cop.

Two weeks after Polly's kidnapping Petaluma Police Sergeant and chief investigator Mike Meese put his arm around my shoulder, looked deep into my eyes and said, "I'll get her for you Marc. I'll find her and I'll bring her home." I did not believe the big, balding cop. However, as he repeated the promise over the next several weeks, his confidence propped my waning spirit.

After the arrest numerous cops and agents visited the killer's cell in the Mendocino County jail and handed him their business cards. When Mike Meese first encountered Davis in the fingerprint room at the County jail, he did not volunteer a card. Instead Meese told the killer to have the Sheriff's deputies call if he wanted to talk. About one and a half hours later the killer contacted Meese and requested an interview.

Davis told Meese, "All those other dudes I talked to, everyone wants to throw their cards at me, you ever want to talk, you know. F*** you, like I'd f****** talk to you. Everybody wants to get in on the limelight."

Meese replied, "I don't want the limelight. Let's get this little girl buried and put her family together and do what we can to put you back together and..."

"Can't put me back together. Just gotta see what the f*** jumps," responded the killer.

Sgt. Meese prepared for this extraordinary interview by reviewing the available information on the case and speaking with Detective Larry Pelton, the first officer to interrogate the killer. He chose to be non-confrontational and low key in his approach. He wanted the killer to provide a resume of events on the evening of the crime. He allowed the killer to control the conversation. Mike was self effacing, calling himself "just a dumb old detective here." He asked the killer about his work and complimented his skills. Meese constantly referred to the killer as "Rick, bud and buddy." He told Davis "I'm gonna be straight up with you okay? It's like I told you, I can't make any promises."

Between 3:38pm and Midnight Davis confessed to kidnapping and murdering Polly, and admitted that he did not deserve to live. More importantly, Polly was home and Mike Meese had kept his promise.