Suspect’s Palm Print Found in Klaas Home : Kidnaping: Evidence discovered in bedroom on night of girl’s abduction shows parolee was there, FBI says. Richard Allen Davis could be charged next week.

The FBI announced Friday that a palm print found in the bedroom of 12-year-old Polly Klaas matches that of Richard Allen Davis, the burly parolee who is the prime suspect in her abduction two months ago.

Special Agent Jim R. Freeman said tests on the print--collected immediately after a knife-wielding man abducted Polly during a slumber party--show that Davis was “in the room the night of the kidnaping.”

“That forensic evidence--plus other evidence collected over the weeks of this investigation--will be presented to the district attorney of Sonoma County for prosecution for kidnaping,” Freeman said. Davis could be charged in the case early next week, he said.

Meanwhile, the hunt for the missing seventh-grader with wavy brown hair continued on two fronts. One team of searchers combed the Coyote Valley Indian Reservation in Ukiah, where Davis was arrested Tuesday.

But the bulk of the effort centered on the wooded, hilly Oakmont area east of Santa Rosa where Davis was detained by two Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies about an hour after Polly’s mother dialed 911 to report her daughter’s abduction.

The FBI said Friday that at least one witness has identified Davis as the knife-wielding man who abducted Polly the night of Oct. 1. Her mother and sister were sleeping in a nearby room.

FBI spokesman Rick Smith denied reports in two Bay Area newspapers that the two girls who were with Polly the night she was kidnaped identified Davis in a jailhouse lineup this week.

As they have since Davis was arrested Tuesday, authorities said their case against the twice-convicted kidnaper--who was paroled in June--is strong.

“The evidence we have is pretty conclusive at this time,” Petaluma Police Capt. Patrick Parks said. “We feel that we have our suspect in this case.”

Davis, 39, remains in a Mendocino County Jail in Ukiah, where he is serving 30 days for an unrelated drunk-driving violation.

Shortly after the kidnaping, a woman who saw Davis on her rural property summoned deputies to the Oakmont area. They questioned Davis, searched his 1979 white Ford Pinto and ran a warrants check. But they did not hear the sheriff’s radio bulletin about the kidnaping and, finding no outstanding violations, they helped pull Davis’ car out of a ditch and let him go.

On Sunday, physical evidence said to be linked to Polly was found a few feet from where Davis’ Pinto became stuck. Law enforcement sources said the evidence included strands of the girl’s hair along with blood and Davis’ sweat shirt.

On Friday, more than 50 searchers--many crawling on their hands and knees through the brush--scoured a 3-square-mile area targeted by police. The teams were aided by tracking dogs and aircraft equipped with infrared radar that can penetrate the dense foliage at the site.

Despite the exhaustive effort, Petaluma Police Sgt. Mike Kerns said no new evidence had been turned up. Today, he said, more than 200 searchers from throughout the Bay Area will join the effort, including divers who will search reservoirs and water tanks.

As police continue their work, Polly’s relatives said the timing of events now known to have occurred the night of her abduction has given them hope. The kidnaping occurred shortly after 10:35 p.m. It was reported to Petaluma police at 11:03 p.m. The deputies encountered Davis in the remote field at 12:08 a.m.--at a location about a 45-minute drive from Polly’s home.

The short time between the abduction and the deputies’ arrival has allowed relatives to speculate that Davis handed Polly over to an accomplice--and that she might still be alive.

“I’m getting a lot of hope from this,” said Joe Klaas, Polly’s grandfather. “I’m looking at the best possible scenario.”

His son, Polly’s father, said: “I think they can search in the field for as long as they want and they’re not going to find Polly.”

Asked if Davis had acted alone, Freeman said: “We think that’s probably true but . . . we wouldn’t want to speculate any further. We’ve always tried to keep an open mind.”

Davis, who grew up in the mountain town of La Honda south of San Francisco, was arrested during an FBI raid on a home where he was staying on the Coyote Valley Indian Reservation.

Brown-haired and heavily tattooed, Davis first got in trouble with the law as a teen-ager and has a long criminal record, including convictions for burglary and two kidnapings. At one point, he joined the Army but was discharged because he fought with other soldiers, court records show.

During his years in state prison, Davis was frequently examined by psychiatrists, who described him as a loner. He told one he was moved by inner voices that sometimes told him to commit crimes, and according to records he told another he felt a “glowing” and release of tension after committing a crime.