Latest / The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio) / Dragnet: The Big Blast (EP4768)

Transcript

Dragnet: The Big Blast (EP4768) · The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio)

• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of Dragnant, but first,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: I do want to encourage you, if you're enjoying the podcast,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: to follow us using your favorite podcast software. Today's program
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: is brought to you in part by the financial support
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  Speaker 1: of our listeners, So you can support the show by
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  Speaker 1: mainly a donation to Adam Graham peelbox one, Pop nine
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  Speaker 1: one three, that's Pielbox one, PIP nine thirteen, Boisei altahol
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  Speaker 1: eight three seven one five, and you can also become
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  Speaker 1: one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for his little ass
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  Speaker 1: two dollars per month at Patreon dot Great Detectives dot
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: nip Now. From May seventeenth, nineteen fifty one, here is
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: the Big Blast.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Drag Man is proud to present its Academy Award winning
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: radio program. The story you were about to hear is true,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned the homicide detail. A
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: young mother is murdered in bed while her seven year
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: old son sleeps by side. The killer was vicious and cunning.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: Your job get him.
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: Dragnet the documented drama of an actual crime. For the
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department,
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: you will travel step by step on the side of
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: the law through an actual case, transcribed from official police files,
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: from beginning to end, from crime to punishment. Dragnet is
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: the story of your police force and action.
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: Was Monday, July ninth. It was warm in Los Angeles.
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: We're working the night Watch out of homicide detail. My
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Thad Brown, Chief of Detectives.
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: My name is Friday. Was eleven twenty five PM when
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: we got to five forty three West Bixel.
• 2:54
  Speaker 6: Street, front door.
• 2:57
  Speaker 7: Homicide. That's right, this is Friday Mony client in at
• 3:01
  Speaker 7: sixteen n oh, are you partners? Thomas? He's in with
• 3:03
  Speaker 7: the victims, mother and son. That gets way a sleeping porch.
• 3:05
  Speaker 6: I don't care. What's the story?
• 3:09
  Speaker 7: Really a nasty mess, looks like a shotgun. Victims' faces
• 3:12
  Speaker 7: half gone. What's the name Josephine Stevens, twenty eight years old.
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: What do you got so far? Not much?
• 3:18
  Speaker 7: My mother's in the state of shock. Talk the young
• 3:20
  Speaker 7: boy for a minute.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: Pretty terrible.
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: Here's a sleeping porch, you're god, Yeah.
• 3:30
  Speaker 7: You got a little kid by her side and knocks
• 3:32
  Speaker 7: the prompts out from out of you. What do you
• 3:34
  Speaker 7: got on It seems as Josephine Stevens and her seven
• 3:36
  Speaker 7: year old boy was sleeping in the bed when it happened.
• 3:38
  Speaker 7: I haven't been able to fill it all out yet,
• 3:40
  Speaker 7: but from what the youngster told us, it happened about
• 3:41
  Speaker 7: thirty minutes ago. And see it was his shotgun too,
• 3:44
  Speaker 7: when juju, Yeah, it looks like it. You can see
• 3:47
  Speaker 7: by the head of the bed here, it looks like shotgun.
• 3:48
  Speaker 7: Tellas Yeah, the screen in the door here looks like
• 3:54
  Speaker 7: it was recently torn. Yeah, Thomas and I noticed that too.
• 3:56
  Speaker 7: We made an immediate search the area. It didn't turn
• 3:58
  Speaker 7: up anybody. Backyard, around the side shrubber, he didn't find anything. Yeah,
• 4:02
  Speaker 7: we're careful not to step off under the soft berth
• 4:04
  Speaker 7: anywhere around. Didn't want a chance to strong any prints
• 4:06
  Speaker 7: or anything.
• 4:07
  Speaker 6: That's fine. Did you talk to girl's mother at all? Client?
• 4:09
  Speaker 7: Very little. She's still a sthetical. Doesn't seem to know
• 4:11
  Speaker 7: what she's saying. Couldn't tell us very much. Well, let's
• 4:13
  Speaker 7: step into the next drummer. It was just the way
• 4:17
  Speaker 7: we found it. Nothing out of order, dressed, the drawers
• 4:19
  Speaker 7: are all closed. Room had been proud. It doesn't look
• 4:22
  Speaker 7: like the work of a burger, or probably a burger.
• 4:24
  Speaker 7: Probably wouldn't be carrying a shotgun either, would he. The
• 4:26
  Speaker 7: only thing Thomas and I found were cutting the screen
• 4:29
  Speaker 7: the gate around the side of the house.
• 4:30
  Speaker 6: There's o cram I've been called how mad?
• 4:33
  Speaker 7: Time to do it right now?
• 4:33
  Speaker 6: No one never? Might all take care of it. I
• 4:35
  Speaker 6: want to call in anyway. Do they have a phone
• 4:37
  Speaker 6: here right in the kitchen there on that table? Okay,
• 4:39
  Speaker 6: thank you. I figured we use some help, don't you. Yeah,
• 4:42
  Speaker 6: right there you left, guy, I see it. Thank you.
• 5:03
  Speaker 6: City Hall two six four three, please do six three.
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: This is Friday, j five forty three West. Pixel got
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: a homicide. We're gonna need prints, photographs, a whole deal.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: Jay.
• 5:16
  Speaker 6: Looks like the woman was killed with a shotgun.
• 5:18
  Speaker 8: And let me double check that address, Joe five four
• 5:21
  Speaker 8: three West.
• 5:22
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that's right.
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's Hollywood nine three one nine.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: We'll get right on it, Joe.
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: Thanks, say Jay, could you transfer me to two five
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: to two one, please right.
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: Operator two five one, homicide. Sanchez is Friday.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: What'd you find out there?
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: It's a bad one shotgun killing. I haven't got too
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: much yet. We're gonna have to have some help.
• 5:49
  Speaker 6: Do you need we need somebody to cover the area.
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: We don't know what we got, yeh. Talk to the witnesses, neighbors,
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: cover the parked cars. Will you sent out a broadcast
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: for us allowed all units to be able to lookout
• 5:58
  Speaker 5: for a person or persons with shot down in their possession.
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: At least four crews. Could you get them right right away? No,
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: I'll fill them in when they get here.
• 6:08
  Speaker 7: Thanks a lot, Sanchez, Everything okay, yeah, Plan says we
• 6:17
  Speaker 7: could talk to the youngster.
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: You don't think it do any good to talk to mother.
• 6:20
  Speaker 7: She's still in bad shape matters. You'll be all right
• 6:22
  Speaker 7: in a little while. But I think you just waste
• 6:23
  Speaker 7: your time right now. I forgot something once. I forgot
• 6:26
  Speaker 7: to call the corner. I'll take care of him for what.
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: Would you take the boy in the front part of
• 6:29
  Speaker 6: the house for us? Sure?
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: Fine, then if you'll just call Sanches down in Homicide downtown,
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: He'll notify the corner for us, right, Thanks.
• 6:34
  Speaker 6: Lin, Joemy, want to see something to break your heart?
• 6:38
  Speaker 7: What's There's some blood on the floor there leading from
• 6:41
  Speaker 7: the sleeping porch to this bedroom here.
• 6:43
  Speaker 6: Yeah, looked like small footprints.
• 6:46
  Speaker 7: Huh.
• 6:46
  Speaker 6: They are a little boy. Now let's go in the
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: front line. This is a boy seven years old names Charles. Right, thanks, Conny,
• 6:58
  Speaker 6: I'll make that call for you right away.
• 6:59
  Speaker 9: Friday, you know, son, what happened to my mommy?
• 7:04
  Speaker 6: I'm sorry? You better take it.
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: Joe, Yeah, come over here to me, son, Charles. Is
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: that your name, Charlie, Well, my name is Joe Charlie. Yes, sir,
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: mister Joe, Well, it's Joe Friday.
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: Son.
• 7:21
  Speaker 9: Mister Freddy, are you a policeman.
• 7:23
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that's right, Charlie. Now that other man in the
• 7:25
  Speaker 6: uniform officer Climb.
• 7:27
  Speaker 9: Yes, sir.
• 7:27
  Speaker 6: He said you might be able to tell us what
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: happened here. Do you feel like talking about it? Son?
• 7:32
  Speaker 9: Mister Freddy, do you know what happened to my mommy?
• 7:35
  Speaker 6: Well, that's what we're trying to find out. Son. We'd
• 7:37
  Speaker 6: just like to ask a few questions.
• 7:39
  Speaker 9: She's hurt bad, isn't she? Did she talk to you?
• 7:44
  Speaker 9: She wouldn't talk to me, Groundling, Those other policemen wouldn't
• 7:46
  Speaker 9: let me stay in there.
• 7:47
  Speaker 6: Well, can you tell us what happened here?
• 7:49
  Speaker 9: You want me to tell you like I told the
• 7:51
  Speaker 9: other policeman, if you would please, I wish you'd let
• 7:54
  Speaker 9: me go in and see Mommy. She could tell you
• 7:56
  Speaker 9: a lot better than I can.
• 7:58
  Speaker 6: Well, she's hurt, kind of bad son, which just thought
• 8:00
  Speaker 6: that maybe you'd tell us.
• 8:02
  Speaker 9: Well, we were sleeping in the bed on the back porch.
• 8:05
  Speaker 9: We just got to bed, and Mommy was reading me
• 8:07
  Speaker 9: a story. And then I heard this man at the
• 8:09
  Speaker 9: screen door.
• 8:10
  Speaker 6: Did you see the man, Charlie.
• 8:12
  Speaker 9: No, I didn't. Mommy wouldn't let me.
• 8:14
  Speaker 6: Well, how do you mean, sir? How do you know
• 8:15
  Speaker 6: it was a man? Then?
• 8:16
  Speaker 9: Uh, somebody was cutting the screen at the door, and
• 8:18
  Speaker 9: I thought it.
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: Was a man, but you're not sure he didn't see him?
• 8:21
  Speaker 9: No, sir, I didn't see anybody.
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: It was dark outside when you heard somebody cutting the screen, though,
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: Is that right?
• 8:28
  Speaker 9: Yes, sir? And then Mommy sat up in bed. I
• 8:30
  Speaker 9: started to sit up too, but she wouldn't let me.
• 8:33
  Speaker 9: She pushed me back down and said keep down.
• 8:36
  Speaker 6: Can you remember exactly what she said, Charlie?
• 8:39
  Speaker 9: She said, just to keep down, That's all she said.
• 8:42
  Speaker 6: Well, let what happened? I heard this.
• 8:44
  Speaker 9: Big gun and Mommy fell down in the bed again.
• 8:47
  Speaker 9: I could tell she was cut. I could see her
• 8:49
  Speaker 9: blood all over. I tried to talk to her, but
• 8:52
  Speaker 9: she wouldn't talk to me, So then I went to
• 8:55
  Speaker 9: get grandma.
• 8:56
  Speaker 6: Nah, after you heard the gun, did you hear anything else?
• 8:58
  Speaker 9: Alright, don't know what you mean.
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: Well, did you hear anybody running outside the house anything
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: like that?
• 9:03
  Speaker 9: I don't remember, and I don't think. So I got
• 9:06
  Speaker 9: up and went into grandma's room, and I was awful scared.
• 9:09
  Speaker 9: I don't know why Mommy wouldn't talk to me. She
• 9:12
  Speaker 9: always used to when I was scared or not.
• 9:14
  Speaker 6: Can you think of anything else that you might be
• 9:16
  Speaker 6: able to tell her son?
• 9:17
  Speaker 7: No?
• 9:18
  Speaker 6: Soon.
• 9:19
  Speaker 9: I just don't know why anybody would hurt my mommy.
• 9:22
  Speaker 9: She's so good, she never hurts anybody.
• 9:24
  Speaker 6: Where's your father Charlie?
• 9:26
  Speaker 9: And I don't know where he is. They don't live
• 9:28
  Speaker 9: together anymore.
• 9:29
  Speaker 6: Now, how long has it been since you saw your
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: father's son?
• 9:32
  Speaker 9: Just last Sunday? It was yesterday. I guess I see
• 9:35
  Speaker 9: him every Sunday.
• 9:37
  Speaker 6: Well, do you have any idea who might wanna hurt
• 9:39
  Speaker 6: your mother?
• 9:40
  Speaker 9: No soon, nobody al right?
• 9:44
  Speaker 6: What do you think ben.
• 9:46
  Speaker 7: Cheer any Yes, sir? Did your mother and father seem
• 9:50
  Speaker 7: to argue with one another very.
• 9:52
  Speaker 9: Much before we moved here to Grandma's house. They used
• 9:55
  Speaker 9: to argue all the time, and that's when we lived
• 9:57
  Speaker 9: in the apartment.
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: Is that why you moved?
• 10:01
  Speaker 9: Yes, sir, that's partly it. Mama had to work and
• 10:04
  Speaker 9: she didn't want to leave me alone here, so we
• 10:07
  Speaker 9: moved over to Grandma's house.
• 10:10
  Speaker 6: Do you think your father would ever hurt your mother?
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: Did he ever say anything about ever hurting.
• 10:15
  Speaker 9: My Daddy was always so good to me. He used
• 10:17
  Speaker 9: to buy me all kinds of things, and I don't
• 10:20
  Speaker 9: think he was ever mean to anybody.
• 10:22
  Speaker 7: See. Do you remember your mother ever saying she was
• 10:25
  Speaker 7: afraid of anybody?
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: Mm?
• 10:26
  Speaker 9: Mot sir. She was never afraid of anybody.
• 10:30
  Speaker 6: How do you know that? Son?
• 10:32
  Speaker 9: She and Grandma used to always tell me that I'm
• 10:34
  Speaker 9: the man of the family. As long as I'm around,
• 10:36
  Speaker 9: they're not scared of anybody.
• 10:38
  Speaker 6: Oh huh, I see.
• 10:39
  Speaker 9: But when you talk to Mamma, you wouldn't tell her,
• 10:41
  Speaker 9: will you gotta wa So she always says that big
• 10:45
  Speaker 9: men don't cry about things. When Grandma came out on
• 10:48
  Speaker 9: the porch, she started to cry, and she took me
• 10:50
  Speaker 9: into her and she cried some more. I guess I
• 10:53
  Speaker 9: cried a lot too. When you talk to mommy, you
• 10:56
  Speaker 9: won't tell her that way.
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: You no know me.
• 10:58
  Speaker 9: What I never really known is that right the big
• 11:03
  Speaker 9: manment of a cry.
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: Yes, sir, they cry.
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: Eleven forty five pm, the crime lab men arrived and
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: went to work. They found three shotgun pellets embedded in
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: the wall to the right and above.
• 11:22
  Speaker 7: The head of the victim's bed. Two additional lead pellets.
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: Were removed from the bedstead above the pillow on the
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: right side of Josephine Stephen's bed. This fact, in conjunction
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: with the position of the hole ripped in the screen door,
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: proved that the victim was sitting up in bed at
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: the time.
• 11:36
  Speaker 6: Of the shooting.
• 11:37
  Speaker 7: This fact two showed why the seven year old boy lived.
• 11:40
  Speaker 6: And his mother died.
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: Further investigations showed that the fatal shot was fired from
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: outside through the hole in the screen door. The search
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: of the surrounding area failed to yield the murder weapon
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: or any additional physical evidence. The neighbors were all checked.
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: They could add nothing to what we already knew. The
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: few who had heard the blast from the shotgun thought
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: of was backfire from a passing car. Units in the
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: area of the murder picked up fourteen possible suspects on
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: the street and in the neighborhood at the time of
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: the killing. They were all checked out and cleared of
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: any connection.
• 12:10
  Speaker 6: With the crime.
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: Josephine Stephens's mother, Missus James Edwards, was in a near
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: state of collapse, but she managed to give us a statement.
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: Her story corroborated that of seven year old Charles Stevens.
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: Supplemental broadcasts and an all points bulletin were put out
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: to try and locate the killer. Ben and I drove
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: over to fifteen forty three East Workman Street to check
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: out the husband of the murdered woman.
• 12:35
  Speaker 6: No, this is it, huh yeah, whitehouse. Eh, all right,
• 12:39
  Speaker 6: let's go car parking driveway.
• 12:47
  Speaker 7: Yea hoods warm. Car's been used recently. Yeah, you got
• 12:53
  Speaker 7: your flash line here?
• 12:55
  Speaker 6: All right. Car's registered to Keith Stephen. Come on, White's
• 13:05
  Speaker 6: are on inside? Uh? Yes, mister Keith Stephens. Yes, that's right.
• 13:19
  Speaker 6: Leaves officers like dope. Do you wanna come in? Yes? Sir,
• 13:21
  Speaker 6: thank you. That's trouble. Officer.
• 13:26
  Speaker 7: Well, when's the last time you saw your wife? Stephen's why?
• 13:30
  Speaker 7: Well when did you see her last?
• 13:31
  Speaker 8: Well?
• 13:31
  Speaker 7: I was over there Sunday yesterday. I always go over
• 13:34
  Speaker 7: every Sunday to visit my little boy, Charlie. My wife
• 13:37
  Speaker 7: and I are separated. That's what we agreed on. And
• 13:39
  Speaker 7: that's the last time that you saw.
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: Yes, it is.
• 13:41
  Speaker 7: Why I'm sorry to have to tell you this. My
• 13:44
  Speaker 7: wife is dead. Once that, I'm sorry for kidding. She
• 13:50
  Speaker 7: was all right yesterday. It must be some mistake, he
• 13:52
  Speaker 7: th sert prenant Josephine Stevens. You sure, five forty three
• 13:58
  Speaker 7: West Baxel Street. I gotta sit down.
• 14:04
  Speaker 6: What happened? He was shot? Oh? I can't believe this,
• 14:09
  Speaker 6: but we're working on it now.
• 14:10
  Speaker 7: Somebody shot her while she was in bed. I just
• 14:13
  Speaker 7: saw yesterday. How did it happen? Was it an accident?
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: Sir?
• 14:17
  Speaker 7: Somebody killed her? How about little Charlie? He sleeps with
• 14:19
  Speaker 7: his mother's Charlie. All right, Yes, he's fine. He wasn't
• 14:22
  Speaker 7: hurt at all. It was a small miracle that he
• 14:24
  Speaker 7: came out of it. But apparently his safety was the
• 14:26
  Speaker 7: last thing your wife thought of before she was killed.
• 14:28
  Speaker 7: It's just terrible. I still can't believe what you're saying
• 14:31
  Speaker 7: is true. Who in the world to do a thing
• 14:34
  Speaker 7: like this? We want to know that too. We need
• 14:36
  Speaker 7: your help. Where's my boy? I better go right over
• 14:38
  Speaker 7: and see my boy. He's in good hands with his grandmother.
• 14:41
  Speaker 7: We just want to ask you a few questions and
• 14:43
  Speaker 7: then you can go right over and see him.
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: All right, you gotta get whoever did this terrible thing? Yes, sir,
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: I'm gonna try. How is it that you happened to
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: be up this late at night?
• 14:52
  Speaker 7: I just got home from work. I work a swing
• 14:54
  Speaker 7: shift a giveness. That's the steel mill doll in Alameda. Yes,
• 14:58
  Speaker 7: that's right. Did you work today?
• 15:00
  Speaker 6: Yes? I told you I just this minute got in
• 15:02
  Speaker 6: swing shift. Yeah.
• 15:03
  Speaker 7: What hours would that be? Four to twelve? Did you
• 15:06
  Speaker 7: work the full shift today?
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: I did?
• 15:09
  Speaker 7: You don't think I would have done this thing? And
• 15:11
  Speaker 7: we have to check everybody. Is there somebody out of
• 15:14
  Speaker 7: the plant that can verify the fact that you were
• 15:16
  Speaker 7: out there during the entire shift today? Yes, my lead
• 15:19
  Speaker 7: man and I always punch my time card in and out.
• 15:22
  Speaker 7: How do you get to work?
• 15:24
  Speaker 6: I drive my car's right outside there Blueeshddy you own
• 15:27
  Speaker 6: any firearms? No? I don't you ever owned any?
• 15:30
  Speaker 7: No, I'll never have. Didn't want a gun around with
• 15:33
  Speaker 7: a boy. Might do you live here alone?
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: No? Since the wife and I split up, I lived
• 15:37
  Speaker 6: with another fella here. Where's eating? That is out somewhere?
• 15:41
  Speaker 6: Usually a home? When I get here? Do you have
• 15:42
  Speaker 6: any idea where he might be? Does he go out? Much?
• 15:45
  Speaker 7: Goes out quite a bit. He's going with some girl.
• 15:47
  Speaker 7: Might be able to move here or something like that.
• 15:49
  Speaker 7: Does he know your wife well?
• 15:51
  Speaker 6: Not too well? No.
• 15:52
  Speaker 7: I think I took him over to the house one Sunday.
• 15:54
  Speaker 7: He met my son, Charlie and my wife. Try to
• 15:58
  Speaker 7: take it easy, mister Stephens. Sorry, it's kind of hard
• 16:02
  Speaker 7: to take. Yes, And we understand this man that you
• 16:06
  Speaker 7: live with here. What's his name, Carl Wallers? What'd you
• 16:10
  Speaker 7: know in the problem? He advertised in the papers? He
• 16:12
  Speaker 7: said he wanted somebody to share a small house with him.
• 16:16
  Speaker 7: I answered the ad and we seemed to hit it
• 16:18
  Speaker 7: right off from the start. He's okay, what do you
• 16:20
  Speaker 7: know about it? I know enough to know he's all right.
• 16:23
  Speaker 7: I wouldn't want to get him mixed up in this well.
• 16:25
  Speaker 6: Has this Waller's ever been in trouble? Has he ever
• 16:27
  Speaker 6: been arrested? Not that I know of. He's a good
• 16:30
  Speaker 6: guy by an army record. Have you ever been arrested?
• 16:34
  Speaker 7: No, sir, I never have any kind of an arrest,
• 16:37
  Speaker 7: misdemean or anything. You've never you never been in jail
• 16:39
  Speaker 7: for any reason?
• 16:40
  Speaker 6: No, sir.
• 16:40
  Speaker 7: Never have I had traffic tickets. But I've never been
• 16:44
  Speaker 7: in jail for any reason. I always paid my fines, never.
• 16:46
  Speaker 6: Had any trouble. Have you any ideas who might want
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: to do a thing like that? No, no one. How
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: did it happen? Did they break in the house?
• 16:54
  Speaker 7: I mean, I wasn't burglar or anything like that. Somebody
• 16:56
  Speaker 7: just wanted to do away? If you wire, you can
• 16:59
  Speaker 7: think of anybody might do a thing like is it nail?
• 17:02
  Speaker 7: You know we've been separated for a while. Maybe she
• 17:04
  Speaker 7: took up with someone to do something like this.
• 17:06
  Speaker 6: I wouldn't know. I can't think of anybody I know
• 17:09
  Speaker 6: that to do this.
• 17:10
  Speaker 7: I see she and I had had our ups and downs.
• 17:13
  Speaker 7: It we wouldn't be apart. We argued time and again
• 17:16
  Speaker 7: over the custody of Charlie, but nothing serious. I can't
• 17:19
  Speaker 7: tell you What a shock is this to me?
• 17:22
  Speaker 6: You say that you don't know a gun. Do you
• 17:23
  Speaker 6: know of any of your friends or hers that might No,
• 17:26
  Speaker 6: I can't think of anybody. Well, this fellow Carl Wallace,
• 17:30
  Speaker 6: what can you tell us about him? Now? Please? He's
• 17:33
  Speaker 6: all right. He certainly had nothing to do with this, But.
• 17:35
  Speaker 7: We just want to be sure to check everybody out.
• 17:37
  Speaker 7: If you can tell us, it may save him some embarrassment. Well,
• 17:39
  Speaker 7: I realize you have to be sure, but please believe
• 17:41
  Speaker 7: me he's all right. You say he doesn't know your
• 17:44
  Speaker 7: wife at all? No, just at one meeting. You're sure
• 17:47
  Speaker 7: he couldn't have had any part and absolutely sure. What
• 17:50
  Speaker 7: kind of a fellow is he?
• 17:51
  Speaker 6: Oh? Average guy, I guess.
• 17:53
  Speaker 7: Likes to swim, plays a little golf, always wants me
• 17:56
  Speaker 7: to go out camping or hunting with him.
• 17:58
  Speaker 6: Do you ever go with him?
• 18:00
  Speaker 7: No? I ha him so far. He wants to go
• 18:01
  Speaker 7: on weekends and I like to see my son on Sundays.
• 18:04
  Speaker 7: Like I said, what does he hunt? You know, he's
• 18:06
  Speaker 7: not much of a hunter, really, He just likes to
• 18:08
  Speaker 7: go out for ducks.
• 18:09
  Speaker 6: Once in a while.
• 18:10
  Speaker 7: Does he keep his equipment here? No, he doesn't know
• 18:12
  Speaker 7: what his father's house. Does he hum for anything besides death? No,
• 18:15
  Speaker 7: I'm positive about that. He's always saying how he never
• 18:18
  Speaker 7: could shoot a deer, says he gets a buck fever.
• 18:21
  Speaker 6: Can't say I blame him.
• 18:22
  Speaker 7: You ever tell you what kind of a gun he had? No,
• 18:25
  Speaker 7: not that I recall. I still think he had a
• 18:28
  Speaker 7: part in this. We didn't say that what's his duck
• 18:31
  Speaker 7: hunting got to do with it? But when you hunt ducks,
• 18:33
  Speaker 7: he use a shotdown.
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: You are listening to dragnet authentic cases from official police files.
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: Tuesday morning, July tenth am, we continued to question Keith
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: Stephens about the murder of his wife. He could add
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: very little to what he had already told us. We
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: made a thorough search of his house and garage. We
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: searched his car. We found nothing that would incriminate him
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: in any way. One point thirty seven am, Carl Waters,
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: the man whom Keith Stevens lived with, returned home. We
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: retraced his steps for the night of July ninth. All
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: his time was accurately accounted for. We talked with his father.
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: We were told that the shotgun had not been used
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: for about ten months since last duck season. We looked
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: at the gun and noticed that it was covered with
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: lint and had not been recently fired. We talked to
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: the plant foreman at Gibney Steel Mill. He verified the
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: fact that Keith Stevens worked his full shift on July
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: ninth and did not leave his job until twelve midnight.
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: At this point, both men were clear of any complicity
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: in the murder of Josephine Stephens. Tuesday, July tenth, eight
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: a m. We made the usual routine check of R
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: and I of the four people involved in the case
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: so far, Josephine Stephens, the murdered woman, her mother, Missus
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: James Edwards, her husband Keith Stevens, and his friend Carl Waters.
• 20:05
  Speaker 6: Here it is Joe. One package. Nothing on Josephine Stevens,
• 20:08
  Speaker 6: Ormus Edwards. I'm sorry.
• 20:10
  Speaker 7: Carl Walters is clean. He kind of makes a liar
• 20:13
  Speaker 7: out of her husband, Keith Stevens. It's his package, you know,
• 20:16
  Speaker 7: he forgot. Let's see Keith Stevens. Here's the arrest report.
• 20:22
  Speaker 7: One only let's see it's forty one twenty seven eight.
• 20:24
  Speaker 7: He had picked up from drunk George. He didn't forget Joe.
• 20:27
  Speaker 7: This was on June seventh last. You know, let me
• 20:29
  Speaker 7: look at that, Officer steven Let's see above. Suspect was
• 20:34
  Speaker 7: picked up in the company of co defendant Michael Duff.
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: Booking Numbaredo two to three. Both suspects were drunken, disorderly
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: a time of rest. Their condition was such they were
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: unable to care for themselves. No, he didn't forget.
• 20:45
  Speaker 6: He'm marry yes, pull this package forth? Will you please?
• 20:48
  Speaker 6: Booking number eight O two three. Give us a mug
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: if he's got one on.
• 20:52
  Speaker 9: Where was that a rest date?
• 20:54
  Speaker 6: June seven fifty one. Thank you. That's an outside chance
• 20:58
  Speaker 6: he lied once. Maybe a lie, but he suppose he
• 21:01
  Speaker 6: was trying to prove by not telling us about this.
• 21:03
  Speaker 6: Oh here you are. Oh thank you, Maria. That's a
• 21:08
  Speaker 6: little bigger package.
• 21:09
  Speaker 7: Uh yeah, look he's our card. He's done time in Quinton. Yeah,
• 21:14
  Speaker 7: nineteen thirty three grand theft auto did four and a
• 21:17
  Speaker 7: half years, paroled out in thirty seven.
• 21:21
  Speaker 6: Here he is back in again. I'm suspicion of robbery
• 21:23
  Speaker 6: nineteen forty.
• 21:24
  Speaker 7: Six, charge released, picked up again, suspicion of robbery released again.
• 21:28
  Speaker 7: Michael Lewis DA alias Mickey daff Stevens is moving in
• 21:33
  Speaker 7: pretty fast company.
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: Yeah, look here this is the guy. All right, here's
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: that last drunk arrest. See that we saw in Stevens
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: June seven? Yeah, is there muggard Joe.
• 21:41
  Speaker 6: Let's see. Well there's this one on the two eleven
• 21:43
  Speaker 6: arrest in forty seven.
• 21:44
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I see that when he's pretty old, though it's
• 21:46
  Speaker 7: a little woarn and hard to see.
• 21:48
  Speaker 6: Check that last arrest report and the drunk charge.
• 21:51
  Speaker 7: Me.
• 21:51
  Speaker 6: We got one of those auto photo strips out to
• 21:53
  Speaker 6: do it, hope. So yeah, here we are. Let's see. Yeah,
• 21:59
  Speaker 6: it was all my photos a good mubs. Yeah.
• 22:02
  Speaker 7: What address did he give on that last arrest? Fifty
• 22:05
  Speaker 7: two thirty four West Main No, all these other addresses
• 22:11
  Speaker 7: are just transient hotels at Main Street addressed the most
• 22:14
  Speaker 7: recent looks like the best bet. This is probably why
• 22:16
  Speaker 7: Stephens lying about being arrested. You, let's see if he
• 22:19
  Speaker 7: lied about anything else.
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: We drove over to fifty two to thirty four West
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: Main Street was a small two story rooming house. We
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: checked with the landlady and she told us that she
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: had a man registered under the name of Michael Duff
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: in room twenty. She told us that he had just
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: walked out a few minutes before we arrived, saying he
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: was going down to the corner to buy a newspaper.
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: We identified ourselves and stated that we'd wait in his
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: room for him. We asked her not to tell him.
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: She went upstairs with us and unlocked the door to
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: room twenty.
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: We made a.
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: Thorough search of his place was a two room apartment.
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: I searched the living room and Ben went over to
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: the kitchen.
• 22:54
  Speaker 6: Yoh, come here, yeah.
• 22:58
  Speaker 7: Look, Kim, look, come up under the sink here cradled
• 23:01
  Speaker 7: in the goose neck of the drain.
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 23:04
  Speaker 7: Shotgun, yeah, yes, a minute. It spends fired recently, you know,
• 23:14
  Speaker 7: and this much fits in. We just don't found him
• 23:17
  Speaker 7: in the pocket of one of his coats in the
• 23:18
  Speaker 7: closet there twelve gage shotgun shows where'd you find him
• 23:20
  Speaker 7: in the pocket of a dress suit? Or it doesn't fit?
• 23:22
  Speaker 7: Doesn't not unless he's the best dressed hunter in town.
• 23:26
  Speaker 7: Sounds like he's bad. Yeah, get your hand out of
• 23:30
  Speaker 7: that pocket. Please offer what's going on? Keep your hands
• 23:34
  Speaker 7: out and open. Standstill here, Joe, you want to take this?
• 23:38
  Speaker 6: Yeah? What are you doing carrying your gun? Duff? Anything wrong?
• 23:41
  Speaker 6: You know better than that what they tell you when
• 23:43
  Speaker 6: they paroled you. It was a long time ago. They
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: haven't changed the rules.
• 23:47
  Speaker 7: What you're doing here in the first place, Going over
• 23:49
  Speaker 7: there and sit down, all right, that's what you want,
• 23:52
  Speaker 7: that's what we want.
• 23:53
  Speaker 6: Well right now, do you want to tell us about it?
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: About the gun? About both of them? Shotgun here on
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: the table and this one I got in my hand.
• 24:02
  Speaker 8: We've found that old shotgun.
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: They found it.
• 24:05
  Speaker 8: I haven't used that old thing for years, just kept
• 24:07
  Speaker 8: it as a keepsake.
• 24:08
  Speaker 7: Haven't fired it for a long time. Don't even have
• 24:10
  Speaker 7: any shells for it anymore, except these two. I don't
• 24:13
  Speaker 7: know where those came from. Look, if you're an next convict,
• 24:16
  Speaker 7: we find two guns in your posession. Now, let's don't
• 24:18
  Speaker 7: play games. Tell us about it. I haven't got anything
• 24:21
  Speaker 7: to tell you.
• 24:21
  Speaker 6: I would if I did. I just had a long
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: talk with Keith Stevens. What he had to say. Never
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: mind what he had to say, Let's hear your side
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: of it.
• 24:27
  Speaker 8: You wouldn't try to kid me, would you.
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: Now you listen, fella, we just came from a house
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: over on Bixel Street. There's a woman lying in bed
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: over there that took a blast from a sort off shotgun.
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: If you own a shotgun, it's been recently fired. You lied,
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: He said you hadn't fired it. He said you didn't
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: have any.
• 24:39
  Speaker 7: Shells for it. Well, here they are now. Look they fit,
• 24:43
  Speaker 7: don't they like? A good look at it? Mister, there's
• 24:45
  Speaker 7: only one thing missing. Who pulled the trigger thanks to
• 24:48
  Speaker 7: having down? It's Steven's teddy.
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: We'll ask the questions. Now, come on, all right, I
• 24:56
  Speaker 6: did it, but I did it for Stevens.
• 24:58
  Speaker 8: Tell me you give me a thousand dollars if kill
• 25:00
  Speaker 8: his wife for him. I haven't been paid yet. I'm
• 25:03
  Speaker 8: still waiting to get paid off.
• 25:04
  Speaker 6: You won't have to wait any longer.
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: We took Michael Duff downtown together with a murder weapon
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: and gave us a full confection, stating that Keith Stevens
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: had offered to pay him a thousand dollars for the
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: murder of his wife. He said that he and Stevens
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: had planned it together.
• 25:20
  Speaker 7: One thirty pm, Tuesday, July tenth, we drove out to
• 25:23
  Speaker 7: pick up Keith Stevens.
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: What else could I do? Is that how you justified
• 25:27
  Speaker 6: the murder of your wife? It was her fault. She
• 25:29
  Speaker 6: had just tried to be reasonable. This never would have happened.
• 25:32
  Speaker 7: People settle these kind of problems every day, and they
• 25:34
  Speaker 7: don't use a shotgun. You wouldn't understand unless you got
• 25:36
  Speaker 7: a son. You'd never really understand why I did it.
• 25:38
  Speaker 7: I haven't got a son. I don't understand, and you
• 25:40
  Speaker 7: don't love him like I do. Couldn't stand I thought
• 25:43
  Speaker 7: of never seeing him, having her take him away from me.
• 25:46
  Speaker 7: And that's the way you want us to put it down.
• 25:48
  Speaker 7: But you didn't want your child taken away from you,
• 25:49
  Speaker 7: so you.
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: Killed his mother.
• 25:50
  Speaker 7: Not exactly, she was going to take him away. She
• 25:52
  Speaker 7: wanted him to forget all about me. She wanted him
• 25:54
  Speaker 7: off for herself. Did your wife tell you only?
• 25:57
  Speaker 6: No, of course, not any fool could see that's what
• 25:59
  Speaker 6: she had in mind.
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: You mean, just because of some argument that you and
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: your wife had. You just assumed always to be.
• 26:04
  Speaker 6: So sure, and she'd never give me a break with Charlie.
• 26:07
  Speaker 7: Isn't that what always happened? And you never asked her
• 26:09
  Speaker 7: how she felt.
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: Never thought that you could stand on your legal rights,
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: never knew that what you're trying to make us believe
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: seldom happens unless there's a good reason for it.
• 26:16
  Speaker 6: Wasn't gonna let her take my son away from me.
• 26:18
  Speaker 6: Nobody could do that. Yes, so you're right, you lost
• 26:20
  Speaker 6: him yourself.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: The story you have just heard was true, only the
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: names were changed to protect the innocent.
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: On October fifteenth, trial was held in Superior Court, Department
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: eighty four, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California.
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: In a moment the results of that trial, Keith Edward
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: Stevens was convicted of murder in the first degree and
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: received a life sentence. He is now serving his time
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: in the state penitentiary. Michael Lewis Duff was convicted of
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: first degree murder and received the death sentence. He was
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: executed in the lethal guest chamber at the State Penitentiary.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Dragnett wishes to thank Sheriff Brian Clemens of the Parish
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: of East Baton Rouge, State of Louisiana for the appointment
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: of Sergeant Joe Friday and Sergeant Ben Romero is honorary
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Deputy Sheriff's our sincere thanks to Sheriff Clements.
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: You have just heard Dragnet a series of authentic cases
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: from official files. Technical advice comes from the Office of
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: Chief of Police W. H. Parker, Los Angeles Police.
• 27:32
  Speaker 7: Department, Stay tuned for Congress by next over most NBC.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Stations welcome back. Well, this was such a heartbreaking crime.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: The interview with the child, and you know, and he
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: just really felt as he didn't fully understand what had happened.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: That scene where they were questioning him was beautifully done.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: It was heartbreaking, and it was horrific to think that
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: a father would put his own son through that because
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: of a desire to maintain custody. And of course you
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: can take issue with the degree to which Friday was
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: essentially like ay, it never happens that a court takes
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: away access to a parent, or cut or any visitation
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: to a parent unjustly. I think a lot of us
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: know people where that happened. But regardless, that hadn't happened yet,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: and even if it did end up happening, that would
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: be a horrible thing to put your child through. I
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: do find myself wondering if the father might have gotten
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: away with it, if he had just owned up to
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: the drunk charge. What really got them suspicious and kind
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: of looking at that package more critically was the fact
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: that he lied about it. It's possible that if he
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: had just told them, well, yeah, I did have this
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: drunk charge a month ago. They would have just said, well, yeah,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: that confirms that and not looked into it too much
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: more deeply. Probably the one thing I thought was legally
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: dicey was the search of the shooter's apartment. They didn't
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: have a warrant and the land lady couldn't legally let
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: them into his apartment. If you were calling the episode
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: The Big Little Jesus, which actually aired after this, but
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: we tend to play it around Christmas time, Joe Friday
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: declined a chance to search Claude Stroop's apartment, saying it
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: mattered that Troop wasn't there and hadn't given his consent.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: In some ways, this may reflect that the stories that
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: were told in Dragnet ought necessarily particularly recent in every case,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: so you might be dealing with an older case when
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: some constitutional protections were not so vigorously enforced by the court.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: At the same time, it may also reflect an evolution
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: in how the LAPD wanted themselves portrayed. I also say
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: this episode had a few interesting features. For one thing,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: the plant the father worked at was named after radio
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: announcer how Gibney. More weird is the fact that at
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: the beginning of the episode, you have Fatima saying that
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Dragnet was an Academy Award winning program. How even in
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one, an Academy Award meant an oscar at
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: this point in nineteen fifty one, Dragnet wasn't even a
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: TV show. Radio programs don't get Academy Awards. The weirdest
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: thing I don't think I even noticed on listening to
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: this a couple times before, was that a sheriff in
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Louisiana named Joe Friday and Ben Romero honorary deputy duties,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: not Jack Webb and Barton Yarborough. They named their characters
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: as deputies. I mean, police departments still do that with celebrities.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: They'll let someone be an honorary deputy if they play
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: an action hero or policeman, like you might have made
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Chuck Norris an honorary deputy back in the day, but
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: they made the characters honorary deputies. That bean like naming
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: Cordel Walker an honorary deputy. It's just such an odd thing,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: you know, And we say that people take fiction too
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: seriously to day, but that was nineteen fifty one. I
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: did a newspaper article search and I couldn't find any
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: explanation for why that was done or but at any rate,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: that's the level of pop culturesonsation. Dragnet was in nineteen
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: fifty one listener comments and feedback now and we start
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: out on Spotify where we have a couple of comments
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: regarding scene and Dino riots. I anticipated you bring up
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: that educational parody Mathnet was on Square one. Packing Calculators.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Don't forget James Earl Jones was on it. I loved it, well,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: thanks so much, and yes, Packing Calculators. I don't think
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: that they made a big deal of after the first
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: few episodes, but I did watch the first episode and
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: they had a little bit of a scene where before
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: they went out, they did a quick thraw with the
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: calculators in the pockets as if they were gods. It
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: was hilarious. I don't think that that up forever. They
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: did as the show went on, kind of turned down
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: the cheese factor slightly. You know, they still had jokes,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: but the cases.
• 33:12
  Speaker 10: Were a little more involved.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: And it was slightly more grounded, but never totally lost
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: that edge, at least during the period I was watching it,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: which was the Kate Monday era as opposed to the
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: Pat Tuesday era, And yes, James Earl Jones was in it,
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: and in one of those nods to Dragnet, his character
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: was named Fad Green, which was a nod to Thad Brown,
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: who was a character in the fifties radio show in
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: the very first nineteen fifties TV episodes, So the people
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: who wrote Dragnet were I mean, who wrote Mathnet were
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: definitely huge Dragnet fans. They also had weird Ali Gank
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: making appearance a dramatic well it's dramatic is a weird
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: al on Mathnet gets during that run. So a really
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: fun show and then Chameleon of Central Police Headquarters. Right
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Square one TV was underrated, Mathnet was awesome, totally agreat.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: I think that Mathnet was fantastic insomuch that it, you know,
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: essentially consumed Square one. It got to the point, you know,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: when it started out, the Mathnet was like, you know,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: it was a six minute sketch in this twenty five
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: minute programming block, and then it got to the point
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: where it was a twenty minute daily sketch in this
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: twenty five minute programming block. And really there was an
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: incredible amount of creativity, and a square one had just
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: this wide variety of different ongoing sketches. You had one
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: sketch they were doing with math Man video game sketch.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: They had another animated sort of good guy cartoon, kind
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: of like a modern Dudley Do Ride, except not exactly
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: a Mounty but similar style. And then you had music
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: videos and all of these ongoing parodies really in this
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: very sketch comedy educational format to teach kids about math.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: And to an extent, you had that for younger kids
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: with things like Sesame Street. Yeah, and I enjoyed so
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: much of it. They even did they did a music
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: video love ballad called eight percent of My Heart. It's hilarious.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: Don't sing it to your girlfriend unless you want to
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: lose her. But so many great sketches. Some parody the
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: Honeymooner is kind of the assumption that a lot of
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: the kids of the era, as opposed to today, where
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: the existence of anything before the child was born is
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: kind of a revelation. Back then, watching the old programs
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: was just kind of something that it add So it
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: really was a very very good program particularly for its time,
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: very innovative. It's probably harder for more modern audiences to
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: appreciate because it is very nineteen eighties in its perspective
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: and set up, so a lot of the references get missed.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: But it was definitely it was a classic production that
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: really deserves more credit for all that it did to
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: entertain anteach kids about. Then we have a comment from
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: Betsy regarding the episode the big speech, Joe's mother is
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: too much, No wonder he never got married? Who could
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: come close to mom? Well, I don't know if you
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: are the first person to suggest that Joe's lack of
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: getting married was a result of his mom, But I
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: disagree at least slightly. For one thing, Joe's mom actually
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: moves away. It's something that's handled in a very low
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: key way.
• 37:37
  Speaker 6: Uh you know.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: It's at the start of an episode and Joe's asking, oh,
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: how how was your mother's move and he and Joe
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: says that, oh, his mom's doing fine, that she moved
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: I believe to Washington State, and that is the last
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: time she has ever even mentioned on the series. Now,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: in terms of the production, it was because this was understood.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: It was not an element that they were going to
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: carry on on television. There was not going to be
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Peggy Weber playing Joe Friday's mother in heavy makeup. No,
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: that was not what they were going to do. Now
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: in universe, you might even offer the explanation that his
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: mother might have agreed with Betsy in her way. I
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: get okay, I'm here and he's not getting on with
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: his life. If I move and I go back and
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: live with relatives, he will get on with his life
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: and he will find a nice girl and settle down
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: and get married, which obviously didn't happen, because the big
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: problem with Joe Friday in that regards is that he
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: was married to the job, and of course he became
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: an icon of law enforcement, and this sort of symbol
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: unless a person that you could seriously imagine getting married
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: or that you would want to see getting married, because
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: he was not so much a man as an icon
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: as a symbol. Now, I suppose you could come up
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: with a rationale for why Joe was who he was
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: or became the man he became, particularly as you get
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: into the sixties TV series, But we don't know a
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: ton about his backstory. We don't know much about what
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: his home life was like. I guess that once all
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: legal hurdles are cleared and Joe Friday is in the
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: public domain. Some creative comic book artists or writer can
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: write like a Joe Friday Year one novel, which I
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: will most likely write off as nonsense. But yeah, I don't.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: I think it's as simple as his mom. But thank
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: you so much. Appreciate the comment, Betsy. And now it's
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day. And
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: I want to go ahead and thank Martin, Patreon supporter
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: since March of twenty twenty four, currently supporting the podcast
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: at the Master Detective level of fifteen dollars or more
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: per month. Thanks so much for your support, Martin, and
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: that will do it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast,
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: please follow us using your favorite podcast software, and be
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: sure if you're watching on YouTube to lock the video,
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the channel, and mark the notification bell, all
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: those great things that help YouTube channels to grow. We
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: will be back next Thursday with another episode of Dragnet,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: but join us back here tomorrow for yours truly, Johnny Dollarware.
• 40:50
  Speaker 10: Yeah, it wouldn't be the first time a timid soul
• 40:53
  Speaker 10: had finally filled his oats run off with company money,
• 40:56
  Speaker 10: and usually that type was hard to find. The methodical
• 40:59
  Speaker 10: mind always plan things well, including a getaway item four
• 41:04
  Speaker 10: eighty cents taxi to a car rental agency item five
• 41:08
  Speaker 10: fifty bucks deposit, and I drove to Elmer Cockerley's home
• 41:11
  Speaker 10: a few blocks off Wilkins Avenue, west of town. I
• 41:14
  Speaker 10: wondered why the old fellow had done it. Sometimes the
• 41:17
  Speaker 10: why can be the best clue is to wait to
• 41:19
  Speaker 10: hunt for a man you know something. A good part
• 41:24
  Speaker 10: of the why became very clear when the door of
• 41:27
  Speaker 10: Elmer's house was open.
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: Send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot NT,
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives from
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: Boise Ataho. This is your host, Adam graham Son and
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: all