It was time for lunch at Petaluma Junior High and three girls talked excitedly about a slumber party at the home of Polly Klaas.
Putting on makeup. Games. Staying up late.What began with innocent giggling turned into a small town's nightmare when Polly was snatched from her bedroom by a knife-wielding intruder while her friends watched in horror and her mother slept nearby.
Her body was found two months later after an agonizing search. Last week, Richard Allen Davis sat expressionless during his preliminary hearing, listening to testimony supporting nine charges against him, including kidnapping and murder. He was ordered Friday to stand trial.
"When he took our child, he cast a shadow over our lives and it's never going to leave us," said B.J. Klaas, Polly's grandmother.
Among 25 witnesses at the hearing were Polly's two slumber party guests, forensic experts and law officers, including Sgt. Michael Meese. He went over Davis' 10 1/2-hour confession, revealing with other witnesses details that had never been heard in public:
On a warm evening last October, waiting for Kate McLean, 12-year-old Polly donned Mickey Mouse ears for her party, while early guest Gillian Pelham wore a hat with antlers.
Kate arrived and the friends went into Polly's room, experimented with makeup and later began a board game, "Perfect Match."
Polly got up to leave the bedroom for a moment and a bearded man dressed in dark clothes and carrying a knife forced his way in. The girls were ordered to lie face down on the floor and were told they would have their throats slit if they yelled.
Their hands were tied with cloth and cord, including some cut from the controls of a video game. They were gagged and their heads were covered with pillow cases. The intruder asked who lived at the home. When Polly answered, he took her.
"Polly began to cry and Kate was getting upset," Gillian testified at the hearing. "He said for me and Kate to count to 1,000 and after we did that, Polly would be back with us."
Davis said his memory of events at Polly's home about 40 miles north of San Francisco was "hazy and fuzzy" because he had been drinking beer and smoking marijuana.
Driving around the Sonoma Valley with the girl, trying to plan his next move, the ex-con on parole told police he decided against releasing her, according to testimony.
" `It's just knowing that letting her go, I'd be going back to the joint,' " Meese read from the confession.
Some time after 11 p.m., Davis' car got stuck on a remote private road.
Two deputy sheriffs answering a trespassing call helped him free his car and ordered him off the property. Meese said Davis told police that Polly, wearing a white miniskirt, pink top and a red and white flannel nightgown, was alive and sitting on a nearby hillside at that time.
He returned about 30 minutes later to get her, Meese said. Davis, according to the confession, said he was "lucky" to find that remote spot again, adding: "I guess it wasn't lucky for her."
Authorities were criticized because the two deputies were not advised that a kidnapping had taken place, although Petaluma police were already working on it.
On the hillside, police found Davis' sweatshirt, a pair of girl's red tights knotted at the knees, two strips of packing tape and an unrolled condom. Davis denied sexually abusing Polly.
Polly was driven to a desolate road near Cloverdale, about 75 miles northwest of San Francisco.
Davis said he got a piece of cloth, Meese testified.
"The only thing I could think of was to cover my tracks. . . . I figured, well, I got to do something," Meese read from the confession. "I was standing behind her. She didn't know what hit her. . . . Then I got another piece of cord, cinched it up, just to make sure."
Davis was arrested Nov. 30. Polly's remains were found Dec. 4 in a shallow grave, covered with leaves and a piece of plywood.
And why Polly?
"I don't know, no idea," according to the confession.