‘Oh my God. He stabbed me. Please help me’: Woman cries out in the night. What 37 neighbors did next shocked the nation

On March 13, 1964, Catherine “Kitty” Genovese finished her shift as manager at Ev’s Eleventh Hour Bar in Hollis, New York.

The 28-year-old woman drove to the Kew Gardens train station and parked her car around 3:30 in the morning. As she walked toward her apartment building at 82-62 Austin Street, a stranger approached her in the cold, dark night.

The man was Winston Moseley, a 29-year-old father of three who worked as a business accounting machine operator. He stabbed Genovese twice as she tried to escape. A neighbor heard the commotion and shouted from his window, telling Moseley to leave the girl alone. The attacker fled to his car, and lights came on in nearby apartments, as per Kansas Report. But the lights soon went off again, and Moseley returned to find his victim.

Genovese had managed to reach the doorway of her apartment building. She called out, “Oh my God. He stabbed me. Please help me,” as she fell to the ground. Moseley caught up with her, stabbed her multiple times, and raped her. A neighbor named Greta Schwartz later ran down to the lobby after receiving a phone call from another neighbor who had called the police. She cradled Kitty in her lap until paramedics arrived, but it was too late.

The story that changed everything

Two weeks after the murder, The New York Times published a front-page article that would spark decades of psychological research. The headline claimed that 37 witnesses had seen or heard the attack but none of them called the police. The story shocked the nation and led to questions about urban apathy and moral decay in American society. In fact, strange incidents at public places have continued to spark widespread concern, showing how society remains vigilant about safety in shared spaces. 

The case inspired social psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latane to conduct groundbreaking experiments in 1968. They wanted to understand why people might not help someone in danger when others are present. Their research led to the discovery of the bystander effect, which shows that individuals are less likely to offer help when other people are around. The phenomenon became known as the Genovese syndrome and appeared in psychology textbooks for decades.

However, later investigations revealed major problems with the original New York Times story. Researchers found that the number of witnesses was greatly exaggerated. Only about a dozen people actually witnessed parts of the attack, and several did try to help. 

Some called the police, while others shouted at the attacker. Many witnesses did not realize they were seeing a murder because the attacks happened in different locations and the final assault occurred in a stairwell where few could see. This reminds me of another incident where even public figures sometimes get harassed.

Winston Moseley was arrested less than a week after the murder on an unrelated burglary charge. During questioning, he confessed to killing Genovese and two other women. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but was found legally sane and convicted of first-degree murder. 

He was sentenced to death, though this was later changed to life in prison. Moseley died in 2016 at age 81 after serving 52 years behind bars. Despite the inaccuracies in the original reporting, the Kitty Genovese case remains one of the most influential events in the history of social psychology.