1973 Death Re-Examined; Woman Died While With Klaas Suspect

San Mateo County sheriff’s deputies are re-examining the 1973 death of a high school student, which was originally ruled a suicide, because she was last seen alive by the man charged with abducting and killing Polly Klaas.

Marlene Voris, 18, died of a shotgun blast to the head in her La Honda home during a party that was attended by Richard Allen Davis, the suspect in the Klaas case.

Davis grew up in La Honda and was a classmate of Voris. He told psychiatrists in 1986 that Voris had been his girlfriend and killed herself in front of him. He said he often heard Voris’ voice in his head and it sometimes told him to assault women.

“There’s no way that was a suicide,” said Ruth Baron, whose son was a classmate of Voris. “Marlene had just received a commission in the Navy that she had applied for. She had a party that night to celebrate and say goodby to her friends.”