In the early hours of March 13, 1964, twenty-eight-year-old Kitty Genovese returned home from work and parked her car in a lot near her Queens apartment, completely unaware that someone was following her. As she approached the door to her apartment building, Kitty’s stalker ran up behind her and stabbed her in the back twice before being scared off by a neighbor who yelled from his window. Wounded, Kitty managed to get to the back of the building, but her attacker soon returned and brutally assaulted her. By the time an ambulance arrived an hour later, it was too late; Kitty Genovese died before she reached the hospital.

Kitty’s murder and the arrest of her killer, Winston Moseley, were quickly overshadowed by what were believed to be the facts of the attack, primarily the widely held belief that at least thirty-eight neighbors had seen the assault or heard Kitty’s cries for help and did nothing. Despite there having been no evidence to support that belief, the narrative quickly became about urban apathy, with the death of a Queens bartender merely a footnote. 

The murder of Kitty Genovese is one of the most notorious violent crimes in modern American history—not because of the details or circumstances of the crime, but because of the legend and mythology that has built up around it.

References

Cook, Kevin. 2014. Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.

Gallo, Marcia M. 2014. "The Parable of Kitty Genovese, the New York Times, and the Erasure of Lesbianism." Journal of the Hisotry of Sexuality 273.

Gansberg, Martin. 1964. "37 who saw murder didn't call the police." New York Times, March 27: 1.

New York Times. 1964. "Queens man seized in death of 2 women." New York Times, March 20: 21.

Pearlman, Jeff. 2004. "'64 murder lives in heart of woman's 'friend'." Chicago Tribune, March 12: 4.

Peltz, Jennifer. 2015. Kitty Genovese Killer Denied Parole in Notorious 1964 Case . November 17. Accessed January 9, 2026. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/kitty-genovese-killer-denied-parole-notorious-1964-stabbing-new-york-city/1274332/.

Roberts, Sam. 2020. "Sophia Farrar dies at 92; belied indifference to Kitty Genovese." New York Times, September 10.

Rosenthal, Abe. 1964. "Apathy is puzzle in queens killing." New York Times, March 28: 21. —. 1964. "Study of the Sickness called apathy." New York Times, May 3: 24.

Simon, Scott. 2016. The Witness' Tells A Different Story About The Kitty Genovese Murder.

 May 28. Accessed January 9, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2016/05/28/479824705/-the-witness-tells-a-different-story-about-the-kitty-genovese-murder.

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)

Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)

Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley

Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally

Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)

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