Of course they did:
1) They read the Washington Post.
2) It said so.
3) The story was thus deemed Gospel and rewritten by a team of crack journalists who changed at least ten words to make it look original. :)
38 NYers watched from their windows as Kitty Genovese died and no one called the police.
That was the lie told by the NY Times and repeated by media around the nation.
The more things change the more they remain the same.