Gerald Friend
Gerald Arthur Friend (born 24 November 1937) is an American kidnapper and rapist serving two consecutive 75-year sentences. The Nirvana song "Polly" is inspired by one of his crimes.
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In July 1960 Friend picked up two hitchhikers, a 12-year-old girl and her brother. He forced the boy out of the car and drove the girl to Mount Rainier National Park, where he beat her, raped her and cut her hair off. She escaped by jumping in the river and was eventually picked up by another motorist. Friend was found hiding in a field several days later and drew a .22 pistol, but only succeeded in being shot and arrested. He was convicted of rape and torture and sentenced to 75 years in prison.
After multiple escape attempts, Friend was paroled in 1980 after 20 years. In July 1987 he picked up a 14-year-old hitchhiker, abducted her at knifepoint and took her back to his mobile home. He kept her tied to a pulley hanging from the ceiling of his mobile home, where he raped and tortured her multiple times. The girl eventually escaped and Friend was arrested one day later after being stopped on a traffic violation. He was convicted of kidnapping and rape and sentenced to 75 years and ordered to serve the remainder of his original sentence.
Friend is a suspect in the unsolved murders of two girls in Tacoma in 1987, and was a suspect in the case of the Green River Killer before Gary Ridgway was identified.