A neighbor’s shout drove Kitty Genovese’s attacker away during the early hours of Friday, March 13, 1964. When he returned, the wounded 28-year-old had reached a vestibule at the rear of her apartment building in Kew Gardens, Queens. He attacked her again.
On March 27, 1964, The New York Times published the account that would define the case for decades: 38 witnesses had watched or heard the attacks over half an hour without intervening or even calling police. Later investigations substantially revised that witness story.
Genovese, a bar manager, had been driving home from work around 3 a.m. Winston Moseley, 29, followed her and stabbed her on the street after she parked near home. Her cries brought Robert Mozer to his window, where he shouted at Moseley to leave her alone.
Moseley fled before returning to find her. During the second attack, he stabbed her again, sexually assaulted her and robbed her.
Another neighbor, Sophia Farrar, went to Genovese’s side and stayed until help arrived. Genovese was alive when police reached her. She died on the way to the hospital.
The Times account helped inspire psychologists Bibb Latané and John Darley’s research into the bystander effect, which examines how the presence of other people can make someone less likely to help in an emergency as responsibility feels shared.
Local historian Joseph De May Jr., psychologist Rachel Manning and colleagues, and author Kevin Cook were among those whose work challenged the original story. There’d been 2 attacks, and no single witness had seen the entire sequence.
Many who heard the screams thought they were hearing a drunken argument or a lovers’ quarrel. Some neighbors said they’d called police. Mozer’s intervention and Farrar’s presence also contradicted the account of universal inaction.
Moseley was arrested days later during an unrelated burglary and confessed to killing Genovese. He was convicted of murder and remained in prison until his death in 2016.
