At 2:30am on the 13th of March, 1964, 28-year-old Kitty Genovese closed the bar she managed in New York City and started her trip home.

At 3:15am, She parked her car about 30 metres from the front door of her apartment building, down a side street.

She was unaware that she had caught the interest of a 29-year-old man, Winston Moseley, who followed her home in his car. He parked nearby.

As Kitty walked towards her front door, she realised she was being followed and started running. Moseley ran after her and attacked her from behind. Kitty screamed and screamed, but no one came to her aid or even called the police.

She died 45 minutes later, on her way to the hospital. Her murder was one of 636 in New York that year.

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A week later, a reporter from the New York Times met with the Police Commissioner. The Commissioner told the reporter about a murder he just couldn’t understand—Kitty’s murder.

A significant 37 people had heard Kitty’s cries for help, but no one helped her.

The reporter published an article with the headline, “37 who saw murder didn’t call the police. Apathy at stabbing of Queens woman shocks inspector.” It caused outrage. How could those 37 people do nothing?

Research following Kitty’s murder led to the discovery of behavioural phenomena like the bystander effect. It is claimed her murder also contributed to the introduction of the 911 system, which came into place four years later.