The Big Odd

Friday - The Dragnet Podcast · Oct 13, 2026 · 27m

Originally Aired: December 1, 1953

Dragnet #224, "The Big Odd," Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Frank Smith investigate a brutal truck hijacking that leaves driver Russell Gilmore beaten and hospitalized. The case is part of a larger pattern—14 loaded trucks have been stolen by an organized gang operating in Los Angeles. Friday and Smith visit Gilmore at County Hospital Ward 419, where the victim, still recovering from his ordeal, recounts his terrifying experience. Two armed men were waiting in his cab when he returned from a coffee break, forced him to drive to an alley, then locked him in…