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Dragnet: The Big Canaries (EP4924) · The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio)

• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of Dragnet. But first,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: I do want to encourage you, if you're enjoying the podcast,
• 0:48
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• 0:54
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  Speaker 1: SOO by becoming one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for
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  Speaker 1: as little as two dollars per month at Patreon dot
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Great Detectives dot net. Now from December sixth, nineteen fifty one,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: here is the Bake Canaries.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Wow, the story you were about to hear is true.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: The names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: a detective sergeant. You're assigned to homicide detail. A forty
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: year old mother is found murdered in the bedroom of
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: her home. The body bears the marks of a savage
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: attack with a knife. The killer showed no mercy. Your job, get.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: Him Dragnet the documented drama of an actual crime. Well
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: side of the law. Through an actual case transcribed from
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: official police violence, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: Dragnet is the story of your police force and action.
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: It was Tuesday, February eighteen, was cold in Los Angeles.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: We were working the day Watch out of homicide detail.
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Thad Brown, Chief
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: of Detective.
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: My name is Friday.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: There was ten forty three am when we got to
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: Woodview High School the vice Principal's office.
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: Good morning, ma'am. Yes, I'd like to see the vice principal.
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: Police believe her name is Harmon, Miss Harmon, I'm miss Harmon.
• 2:54
  Speaker 6: What us you wanted?
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: Police officers? Man, there's our identification. Oh yeah, this is
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: my partner's sergeant, their own. My name is Friday.
• 3:01
  Speaker 7: I see, how do you do?
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: Well? We'd like to talk to one of your girls students,
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: Miss Harmon, ROBERTA Dixon. I understand she's registered here.
• 3:08
  Speaker 7: ROBERTA Dixon.
• 3:09
  Speaker 6: Oh yes, I believe I know her.
• 3:11
  Speaker 8: Would you mind calling her out of class please?
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: We'd like to talk to her.
• 3:14
  Speaker 7: Well, we generally don't like to do that, officer, not
• 3:17
  Speaker 7: unless it's absolutely necessary.
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: Pretty important, man, We've got a message for the girl.
• 3:21
  Speaker 7: I see he couldn't wait until after school hours.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: I'm afraid not, Miss Harmon. It's about the girl's mother.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: It's pretty serious.
• 3:27
  Speaker 6: Oh was she been taken? Ill?
• 3:28
  Speaker 8: Iset it? No, ma'am, she's been murdered.
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: Sixteen year old ROBERTA.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: Dixon, the daughter of the murdered woman, was called out
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: of her classroom and brought downstairs to the office of
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: Miss Harmon, the girl's vice principal. She was a thin,
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: dark haired girl and sweater and skirt. With the help
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: of Miss Harmon, whom the girl seemed to know fairly well,
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: Ben and I broke the news of her mother's death
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: as gently as we could. At first, the sixteen year
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: old girl seemed to take the shock with some composure,
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: but suddenly she broke down, weeping and became hysterical. When
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: she recovered sophiatiently, the girl agreed to come downtown with
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: us to answer a few routine questions. Miss Harmon agreed
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: to a company or eleven o five am. We checked
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: back in at the office. Ben and I completed the
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: three eleven dead body report while Miss Harmon and the
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: daughter of the murdered woman waited in the adjoining room.
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: What was that time discovered? Joe? You got a note
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: on it there? Yeah, let me look eight fifty five am. Oh,
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: thank you, hi Joe?
• 4:24
  Speaker 9: All right?
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: Oh hi George, how you doing?
• 4:27
  Speaker 9: Ken complain? Got some checking out to day? When if
• 4:28
  Speaker 9: you help me?
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: Well, do I give it a try? Ben? You know
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: George the COVID.
• 4:32
  Speaker 8: Don't you report it from the Daily News?
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: Oh? Yeah, sure, sam Aron, I say.
• 4:36
  Speaker 10: I understand you too, working on that knife murder out
• 4:38
  Speaker 10: on Pico the dead woman I found this morning.
• 4:40
  Speaker 8: Yeah, that's right.
• 4:41
  Speaker 10: A few things I'd like to check with you before
• 4:42
  Speaker 10: I do the story. The victim's name was Florence elenor Dixon.
• 4:46
  Speaker 10: That right, that's right, George. Yeah, A couple more things here,
• 4:48
  Speaker 10: stop me if I got it wrong. The victim was
• 4:51
  Speaker 10: forty years old, divorced, one child, daughter sixteen. Body was
• 4:54
  Speaker 10: discovered nine o'clock this morning by a next door neighbor.
• 4:57
  Speaker 10: You see, your neighbor's name is Esther Fenwick.
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: I think the name is Fenmore. George. Oh, thanks, N
• 5:04
  Speaker 5: M O. R.
• 5:06
  Speaker 9: I understand you haven't got much to go on. No murder, weapons,
• 5:08
  Speaker 9: no other leads.
• 5:09
  Speaker 8: No, not much of anything so far. We just started
• 5:11
  Speaker 8: on this thing.
• 5:12
  Speaker 9: How about the husband of the dead woman, you get
• 5:13
  Speaker 9: anything there?
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: Well, he divorced Missus Dixon two years ago. There's no
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: line on him yet.
• 5:17
  Speaker 8: We're still checking him out. They might have some word
• 5:19
  Speaker 8: later on the day for.
• 5:21
  Speaker 9: Any other possible suspects of mine or do you want
• 5:23
  Speaker 9: to say?
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: Oh, I don't think so. It's still wide open.
• 5:25
  Speaker 9: How about them on if I've been established yet?
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: Could have been one of a dozen things. We're gonna
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: have to do some digging before we can say definitely.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: Doesn't look like it was a robbery motive. That's about
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: all we can tell you for sure.
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: George.
• 5:37
  Speaker 10: So, I was over at the morgue when they brought
• 5:38
  Speaker 10: the buddy, and it's the worst I've seen a long time. Brutal,
• 5:41
  Speaker 10: it's pretty bad. I suppose there's nothing from the crime
• 5:43
  Speaker 10: light yet.
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: No, I think they just got back from the house
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: a few minutes ago. If you want to drop by
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: later on this afternoon, we might have something new for you.
• 5:51
  Speaker 9: Okay, thanks?
• 5:52
  Speaker 10: Oh say, I say you're bringing the girl in a
• 5:54
  Speaker 10: few minutes ago, victim's daughter.
• 5:56
  Speaker 9: I like to get a couple of pictures of it.
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: Well, how about making a little later, huh, George. Kids
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: still set pretty much of a shock for you.
• 6:01
  Speaker 9: Mother, Storkay, I'll be waiting out in the hall with
• 6:02
  Speaker 9: a photographer. Oh can you give me a call? I
• 6:04
  Speaker 9: just a couple of shots. You won't take it, you
• 6:06
  Speaker 9: bet you?
• 6:06
  Speaker 8: George will call it.
• 6:07
  Speaker 9: Okay?
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: You about finishing that report, man? Yeah, old don I
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: guess we better talk to the girl. Huh yeah? All right?
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: The mark say when they're going to force the body
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: sometime today. We got to have the results first thing
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: tomorrow morning, Miss Harmon.
• 6:27
  Speaker 7: I think she's a lot better than outsigeant Roberta. The
• 6:31
  Speaker 7: officers would like to talk to you a few minutes
• 6:33
  Speaker 7: if you feel up to it.
• 6:34
  Speaker 6: All right, who killed my mother? Have you found out?
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: Not ched Roberta. And we think you might be able
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: to help her.
• 6:40
  Speaker 6: So it's so hard to believe. I just saw her
• 6:42
  Speaker 6: this morning. She was all right?
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: Then, well you try to take it easier. Roberta will
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: make it as brief as possible. Now, you and your
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: mother are the only people living at your house.
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: No one else, No me and my mother.
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: That's so.
• 6:52
  Speaker 6: My father used to live with us, he doesn't anymore.
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: And how long has it been since your father left.
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: I'm not sure. About five years. I think he and
• 6:59
  Speaker 6: Mamma didn't get along. I got divorced.
• 7:01
  Speaker 5: Do you see your father told her anymore? I mean,
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: does he ever come to your house to busy?
• 7:05
  Speaker 6: He did once, it was about a year ago. I
• 7:07
  Speaker 6: think wasn't much good, and my mother argued all the
• 7:10
  Speaker 6: time he was there, and he left. He hasn't been
• 7:13
  Speaker 6: back since.
• 7:14
  Speaker 8: Has he been in contact at all with your mother?
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: You know? Does he write her letters, call her on
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: the phone.
• 7:19
  Speaker 6: The last time was when he came to her house.
• 7:21
  Speaker 6: I haven't heard anything about him since. I don't even
• 7:24
  Speaker 6: know where he is. I don't care. I guess I
• 7:27
  Speaker 6: hardly even knew him.
• 7:28
  Speaker 8: Have you think about this carefully now, Roberta.
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: Did your mother have any close friends who used to
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: come to the house quite a bit?
• 7:34
  Speaker 6: Yes, two or three women friends are hers at work?
• 7:37
  Speaker 8: Any men friends.
• 7:39
  Speaker 6: Mom didn't have any men friends. She didn't like him.
• 7:42
  Speaker 6: She said they were all no good. She used to
• 7:44
  Speaker 6: tell me that all the time.
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: Do you have any relatives we can contact?
• 7:48
  Speaker 6: I don't know about my father's side. My mother has
• 7:51
  Speaker 6: a brother and sister in West Virginia. Dresses at home.
• 7:56
  Speaker 6: What am I gonna do? Why would anybody kill my mother?
• 7:58
  Speaker 8: You try to take it easy, ROBERTA. Thing's gonna work out,
• 8:00
  Speaker 8: all right.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: Look, now, do you think you can give us a
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: list of most of the people your mother knew friends
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: around the neighborhood, the people she knew at her work.
• 8:08
  Speaker 6: Yes, I think so. Most of them are in her
• 8:11
  Speaker 6: dress book. I think I know where it is.
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: All right?
• 8:13
  Speaker 8: Fine?
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: Just before you left for school this morning, ROBERTA, was
• 8:16
  Speaker 5: there anyone in the hospit beside you and your mother?
• 8:18
  Speaker 6: No? Just the two of us.
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: Was your mother expecting anyone?
• 8:21
  Speaker 6: Not that I know?
• 8:23
  Speaker 8: Your mother was all right?
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: Was she? That didn't seem to be anything bothering her?
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: She acted all right to me, just like any other morning.
• 8:29
  Speaker 6: We got up at four to seven. I got dressed,
• 8:32
  Speaker 6: and I took a shower, I fixed breakfast, We ate,
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: and then I left for school.
• 8:35
  Speaker 8: How about what time was that, Roberta?
• 8:37
  Speaker 6: Well before eight through the usual time. I have my
• 8:39
  Speaker 6: first class nine o'clock. When I left, Mama, she was
• 8:42
  Speaker 6: just finishing her breakfast. I said, goodbye. Who was the
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: last time? Is saart? Can we talk after a while? Please?
• 8:51
  Speaker 6: Maybe I'll feel better. I can't talk?
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: Oh sure, that's all right, would you like to rest here?
• 8:58
  Speaker 6: I don't know why I'm crying, do it? I don't
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: care anyway, No reason to cry.
• 9:04
  Speaker 8: You better get some rest, youngster.
• 9:05
  Speaker 6: Oh reason doesn't make sense crying about mamma.
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: Hush.
• 9:09
  Speaker 6: I'm not sorry, I'm glad she's dead.
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: Early that afternoon, after she'd rested sufficiently and recovered herself,
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: we had another interview with Roberta Dixon, the teenage daughter
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: of the murdered woman, Miss Harmon.
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: The vice principal went back.
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: To the school and a policewoman was called in to
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: be present during the interrogation. Again, she insisted that she
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: wasn't at all sorry that her mother was dead. She
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: said that privately she didn't have any love for either
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: one of her parents, least of all her mother. She
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: told the usual story of a broken home, a father
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: who showed little interest in his daughter or providing a
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: good home for a strict, overbearing mother who apparently made
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: no effort to understand the girl. We continued to interview
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: Roberta Dixon, but outside of what she'd already told us,
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: she showed no further knowledge of the murdered Pending action
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: by the court, we had the girl placed in the
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: custody of the juvenile authorities. Three to ten PM, Ben
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: and I drove back to the murder house on south
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: peak of Boulevard, where we met police reporter George d.
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: Covin.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: Together with Brian and Ortiz, we continued our preliminary investigation.
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: We rechecked the immediate area of the Dixon home and
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: talked again with the neighbors. We failed to come up
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: with anything new. Four twenty five PM, along with the
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: reporter George d. Covin, Ben and I went back to
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: the murder house.
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: Well, I don't know.
• 10:27
  Speaker 9: It doesn't seem to jide at that time of morning.
• 10:29
  Speaker 9: It's possible, though, what's that joy prowler might have been here?
• 10:32
  Speaker 9: Do you think so?
• 10:33
  Speaker 8: No, we've already run that down.
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we checked communications.
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: There's no recent complaints about anybody prowling the neighborhood. We
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: talked to the neighbors too, no indication of it, no
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: sign anybody tried to break in here.
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: Either, got me. I can't figure and Dick's moment short
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: kept to herself, lived here eleven years and we can't
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: dig up more than half a dozen neighbors who are
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: running new yeah.
• 10:52
  Speaker 9: Business with her daughter too at cheer stacks up pretty strange.
• 10:56
  Speaker 9: Didn't the crime lab crew find anything this morning?
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: Joe?
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: No, nothing, great jacket, a pair of shoes with a
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: few stains on them. Took them in to run a
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: benzitin test. That's about the size of it.
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: Sure a slow start. Yeah, I expect a little more
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: from the neighbors. I die. You know, it'd be different
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: if the thing happened in the middle of the night.
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: According to the daughter, it must have happened at least
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: after eight point thirty this morning. Now, if the killer
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: got in the house after that, you'd think somebody on
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: the block would have noticed it.
• 11:21
  Speaker 8: Neighbors close by on either side.
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: How about checking out in the yard and back. I
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: didn't get too good a look around this morning. There
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: was nothing more to cover in here. Crime may have
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: been all over.
• 11:32
  Speaker 10: And how about where this missus Dixon worked, Joe, anybody
• 11:35
  Speaker 10: tag base there?
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Tommy Bryan did hotel down on South Grand. She
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: worked in the linen room. A couple of people she
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: knew there. They couldn't tell him anything.
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: How about some of her other friends? No, nothing yet,
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: We're still checking. Go ahead, Joey, all right, it's a
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: big backyard, kept it nice, didn't I?
• 11:55
  Speaker 8: You want to check alongside here, Ben with the house.
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: I'll give the back of the yard a look. Yeah, okay,
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: good size garage. Huh.
• 12:03
  Speaker 9: Pretty hard to find him like that anymore.
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: Pretty good sized lot too. He's sure must have worked
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: at keeping it up. There's not a weed on the place,
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: is here? Yeah?
• 12:12
  Speaker 9: More you can say for the neighbors.
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: I have a look, George. Down here, huh, flowerbed here?
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: Two little mounds of dirt? You see him?
• 12:21
  Speaker 6: Oh?
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, the ground looks like it's been recently turned. When
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: you say fairly recent what what that's supposed to mean? Yeah,
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: small wooden crosses pressed down in each one of the mounds.
• 12:35
  Speaker 9: Where looks like a couple of small graves, doesn't it.
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: You want to reach me that stick over there? George?
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: Oh here you go, thank you. I have a look here,
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: all right, nothing on mind? How are you? What's it?
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: And we're not sure ourselves? Wait a minute? Uh huh?
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: What is it? Wait a minute? All right? There you
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: are a bird, the canary? How about that hasn't been buried? Long?
• 13:08
  Speaker 8: Look here at the breast.
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: What do you think a night could be?
• 13:13
  Speaker 8: Sharp instrument of some kind.
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: Just a minute, I'm gonna try this other mounder. Wait
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: a minute, Joe, Yeah it's another one. Yeah, a canary,
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: same thing, Look at the breast. Neither one's been buried
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: for more in a few days. Anyway.
• 13:32
  Speaker 9: The Dixon's raise canaries, you know.
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 13:34
  Speaker 8: I don't think so.
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: Surrey doesn't make any sense to me. They didn't want
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: the bird, you'd think they'd give them away. Why go
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: slaughter them like there? Yeah, well it works both ways.
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: Deep wounds in the chest, some kind of sharp weapon. Yeah.
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: The Dixon woman, she died the same way.
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: Four thirty five pm. We took the two canaries, wrapped
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: them in paper, and brought them downtown to Lieutenant Lee
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: Jones at the crime labed to be processed. He was
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: still running tests on a stained jacket and pair of
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: shoes which had been found in the house among the
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: dead woman's personal effects. Five point fifteen pm we checked
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: by the office and then we drove over to Juvenile
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: Hall to see ROBERTA.
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: Dixon. Apparently she was in a much better frame of mind.
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: I talked to miss Harmon this afternoon, our vice principal.
• 14:21
  Speaker 6: She wants me to come and stay with her for
• 14:23
  Speaker 6: a while. Hope she can arrange it at you'll.
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: Be nice moving back at your house this afternoon, ROBERTA.
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: We found himself something with doctor asked you, but what's that?
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: Do you keep any pets in your house? I mean
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: either you or your mother?
• 14:34
  Speaker 6: Well, no, not usually.
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: Why how do you mean not usually?
• 14:37
  Speaker 6: Well, we didn't up until a week ago. Mama didn't
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: like him, she didn't want him around. Then I got
• 14:43
  Speaker 6: these two canaries. I bought him with my own money.
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: I work after.
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: School, you know, I see.
• 14:47
  Speaker 6: I bought a cage for him too. My mother was
• 14:49
  Speaker 6: mad when I brought him home. She didn't like any
• 14:52
  Speaker 6: kind of animals, kept preaching at me. She finally made
• 14:55
  Speaker 6: me get rid of him, and I do that with Brett.
• 14:57
  Speaker 11: I got a knife and I killed him.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: February eighteenth, the Dixon girl was released to the custody
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: of Miss Harmon, pending action for the juvenile court.
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: Nine pm.
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: Ben and I double checked with Lieutenant Lee Jones at
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: the crime lab. He showed us the school jacket and
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: a pair of shoes which had been found in a
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: closet in the home of the murdered woman, missus Florence Dixon.
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: Apparently the clothing belonged to the daughter, Roberta. There were
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: several dark stains on each of the articles. They'd been
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: checked thoroughly, first a Benzandeine test to determine if they
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: were blood stains, then a biological precipitent test to classify
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: them further. There wasn't any doubt in Lee's mind that
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: the stains were recent, that they were made by human blood,
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: the same blood type as that of the murdered woman.
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: It was a little hard to believe, but the evidence
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: on hand pointed only one prime suspect, sixteen year old
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: Robert Dixon. Early the following morning, we checked back in
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: at the office. Ben went across the street to see
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: if the coroner's autopsy report was ready. Eight o five am.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: I checked by communications. They had a report on the
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: tracer we'd gotten out on the murder victim's husband, the
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: Charles Dixon.
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: I picked it up and headed back for the office,
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: worning Joe, Well, Hi, George, you got the message I
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: left for you. I put it on your desk over
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: the press room. Yeah, I got it. Thanks.
• 16:27
  Speaker 9: I was looked this morning. Anything new?
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: Well, this here an answer on that tracer. We got
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: out on missus Dixon's husband. He's been living up north
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: for the past year San Francisco.
• 16:35
  Speaker 9: That's so he's still up there.
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: No, not, According to this he died six months ago
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: heart attack.
• 16:41
  Speaker 9: What do you figure?
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: Well, there's not much choice, Joe, Oh hi, do you
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: autopsy report? Corner just got it out.
• 16:47
  Speaker 8: What's the word?
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: It doesn't jibe with this story. We got the Corner
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: places at time of death close to seven thirty am yesterday.
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: Of course, a desk what we figured chess boom, kind
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: of a sharp weapon. There's something else. According to the girls,
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: he had breakfast with their mother before she left for school.
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: Corner says Miss Dixon hadn't eaten for at least twelve
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: hours before she died.
• 17:05
  Speaker 9: What was that time of death?
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: Ben, seven thirty am? No later?
• 17:08
  Speaker 8: Oh, yes, we better move on it.
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: Yeah, what's the angle?
• 17:11
  Speaker 8: Well, the daughter, she says she didn't leave the house
• 17:13
  Speaker 8: until eight thirty.
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: Along with the policewoman, Ben and I drove out to
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: the home of the high school vice principal, Miss Harmon,
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: where the suspect, ROBERTA. Dixon, was staying. There was no
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: one there. We checked at the high school. Miss Harmon
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: told us that she'd brought Roberta to school that morning.
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: She thought that if the girl attended classes, it had
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: helped keep her mind off her troubles. Miss Harmon checked
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: the classroom the Dixon girl was supposed to be in,
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: but she wasn't there. Her teachers were contacted. None of
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: them had seen her that morning nine forty am. We
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: drove over to the Dixon home. We found Roberta in
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: the back bedroom. She was sitting calmly at a sewing machine,
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: stitching ruffles on a dress. In one corner of the room,
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: there was an empty bird cage.
• 17:57
  Speaker 6: I'm pretty busy right now. I've got this sewing to do.
• 17:59
  Speaker 6: What you want to talk to me about?
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: We've got a few more questions for your bert It's
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: about your mother.
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: She's dead, isn't she Do we have to talk about it?
• 18:05
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I'm afraid we do.
• 18:06
  Speaker 6: Why do we just told me she was dead? There's
• 18:08
  Speaker 6: no sense in talking about dead people anyway. I've got
• 18:11
  Speaker 6: this sewing to do. I have to get finished. There
• 18:19
  Speaker 6: isn't that pretty? These ruffles go all the way around
• 18:21
  Speaker 6: the bottom of the skirt here, like this beautiful color brown?
• 18:26
  Speaker 6: You like it?
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: You want to tell us. What happened, Roberta, yesterday morning?
• 18:30
  Speaker 6: Yesterday? I already told you, didn't I we.
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: Don't think you were telling the truth. You want to
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: go over it again for it.
• 18:35
  Speaker 6: I've got this sewing to do. You can see that,
• 18:36
  Speaker 6: can't you. Three more rows of ruffles go on right here?
• 18:44
  Speaker 6: I have to get it finished. Takes time in them.
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: I think you better let the sewing go. Roberta, Oh no.
• 18:50
  Speaker 6: I couldn't do that. I have to get finished.
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: I'm afraid this is a little more important. I think
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: you realize that I went over.
• 18:56
  Speaker 6: The whole thing for you already. I told you everything
• 18:58
  Speaker 6: wasn't the truth.
• 18:59
  Speaker 11: You know that.
• 19:00
  Speaker 6: Why do you say that? What do you expect me
• 19:02
  Speaker 6: to say? You think I lied, don't you? That's stupid.
• 19:06
  Speaker 6: I haven't got any reason to lie.
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: Did you kill her, Roberta?
• 19:09
  Speaker 8: What did you kill your mother?
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: I told you everything already. That's just the way it was.
• 19:15
  Speaker 6: Mom and I got up and had breakfast and I
• 19:17
  Speaker 6: went to school. It's all. I don't have any reason
• 19:19
  Speaker 6: to lie. Oh excuse me? Hello, Well hi, fran Yeah,
• 19:29
  Speaker 6: I'm working on it now. It's gonna be beautiful.
• 19:32
  Speaker 10: What.
• 19:33
  Speaker 6: Oh no, that's all right? Sure, Well thanks. Yeah, I'm
• 19:37
  Speaker 6: all right. M M. Look, can you call me back later? Yeah,
• 19:44
  Speaker 6: I'll be here, Okay, honey, Bye, I'm sorry. Officer's my
• 19:48
  Speaker 6: girlfriend friend. He's a good friend of mine. She can
• 19:51
  Speaker 6: vouch for me. She'll tell you I'm not a liar.
• 19:54
  Speaker 8: Do you want a pair of brown and white satell oxfords, Roberta?
• 19:58
  Speaker 6: No?
• 19:58
  Speaker 8: Why how about a school jacket green plaid?
• 20:01
  Speaker 6: No, I don't like green. Brown's my favorite color.
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: The green plaid jacket was fine in the house here.
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: It was stuffed back in the hall closet. It had
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: your name stancel on it.
• 20:10
  Speaker 6: Oh yeah, that old thing. I don't even wear it anymore.
• 20:15
  Speaker 11: Look at that.
• 20:16
  Speaker 6: It won't be pretty when I get finished.
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: That jacket to yours, Roberta. They found bloodstains on it.
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: On the shoes too, Noberta.
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: I already told you the shoes aren't mine, the jacket is.
• 20:28
  Speaker 6: Why do you keep calling me a liar? Can't you
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: believe me for once? It isn't bad enough the way
• 20:33
  Speaker 6: things are now.
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: The last time we talked to you, you said you
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: left the house at eight thirty yesterday morning.
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: Is that right?
• 20:40
  Speaker 6: Yes, it was around eight thirty.
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: Well, we got the report on your mother this morning, ROBERTA.
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: The corner says she died at seven thirty.
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: No waiter, that's stupid. How could he tell anyway?
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: He can tell?
• 20:50
  Speaker 6: He's a liar?
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: Something else, Roberta. You told the shoe and your mother
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: got up and you had breakfast together.
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: Yeah, we had breakfast together. Why are you picking on it?
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: You couldn't. I had breakfast together. At the time she died.
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: Your mother hadn't eaten anything for twelve hours.
• 21:04
  Speaker 6: I guess you're gonna say they can tell that too.
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: That's right. You want to tell us what really happened. Now,
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: Now tell us the truth, Roberta, it's going to work
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: out a lot easier.
• 21:21
  Speaker 6: These are some of the toys I had when I
• 21:23
  Speaker 6: was little. I saved almost all of them. My best
• 21:30
  Speaker 6: doll had a lot of dolls. I loved them. I
• 21:33
  Speaker 6: guess I still do. I love them more than her.
• 21:37
  Speaker 8: You mean your mother.
• 21:38
  Speaker 6: I wasn't fooling. I don't care if she's dead. She
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: didn't mean anything to me. She never did mean anything.
• 21:46
  Speaker 6: These are more my dolls here. I dressed them all myself,
• 21:50
  Speaker 6: every one of them.
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: What was the matter, Roberta, between you and your mother?
• 21:53
  Speaker 6: I mean, I don't know. I guess she just didn't
• 21:57
  Speaker 6: mean anything. Not like anybody else's mother. She didn't mean
• 22:00
  Speaker 6: anything at all, same as my father. You're in the
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: same house. That's all. Nobody cared for anybody else, anything
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: but fighting, fighting, or just not saying anything at all.
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: I'm glad she's dead.
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: You killed her.
• 22:15
  Speaker 8: Is that what you want to say.
• 22:19
  Speaker 6: Here's a little piano I had. I got one Christmas.
• 22:23
  Speaker 6: I think, look still play.
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: You want to tell us from the beginning.
• 22:40
  Speaker 6: It took a long time. I had thought about it
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: a lot.
• 22:44
  Speaker 12: Week ago.
• 22:45
  Speaker 11: I made up my mind, it's time to kill her.
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: She was getting worse. I couldn't do anything.
• 22:54
  Speaker 12: I was always wrong, couldn't go out, couldn't do this,
• 22:58
  Speaker 12: I couldn't do that. She started the same way. Yesterday morning.
• 23:07
  Speaker 12: I got the knife from the kitchen. I went in
• 23:10
  Speaker 12: and she was sitting on the bed putting her stockings on.
• 23:15
  Speaker 12: I don't think she knew what happened. Didn't take long.
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: Were you having an argument with her? Said west Gardener.
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: We argued every morning. I got so tired of it.
• 23:29
  Speaker 6: She had an awful voice. Finally made up my mind,
• 23:35
  Speaker 6: planned it all out. I even practiced it. You know
• 23:39
  Speaker 6: the two canaries I had? Yeah, I didn't buy them
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: because I wanted them got to be cute, though, felt
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: bad about killing them.
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: Why'd you kill him?
• 23:52
  Speaker 8: Roberta?
• 23:54
  Speaker 6: Practice decided to use a knife. I'm sure I knew
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: how to do it, though, So I got the canaries
• 24:05
  Speaker 6: one day after school. I killed him. Gave me more confidence.
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: I knew I could do it after that. Poor little things. Yes,
• 24:16
  Speaker 6: I shouldn't have killed them, went knife.
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: You killed your mother with, Roberta. You want to show
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: us where it is?
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: All right, I'll show you. I don't think you ever
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: could have found it. It's up in the attic, special
• 24:28
  Speaker 6: place I hide things. Say would you like some coffee
• 24:34
  Speaker 6: or coke or something?
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: No, one more thing? Why'd you leave school this morning?
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: I mean going off without telling anybody.
• 24:39
  Speaker 6: I wanted to come back here. I felt like it.
• 24:43
  Speaker 6: I wanted to come back to my room. It's the
• 24:48
  Speaker 6: only place I really liked to be. I've lived in
• 24:52
  Speaker 6: this house all my life, and this has always been
• 24:56
  Speaker 6: my room.
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: I had.
• 25:02
  Speaker 6: My dolls. Everything's here, everything, I have my books, Oh,
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: my dolls.
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think we better be going, Roberta.
• 25:14
  Speaker 8: We'll have to take you downtown.
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: Yes, all right, I'll get my coat, then I'll show
• 25:28
  Speaker 6: you where the knife is. Officers, could I ask you
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: one favorite? It probably sounds silly, will help a lot though.
• 25:41
  Speaker 6: This doll here, could I take it with me? Just
• 25:46
  Speaker 6: this one? Make me feel a lot better? Please? Do
• 25:51
  Speaker 6: you think I could?
• 25:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 25:53
  Speaker 8: Sure, bring it along.
• 25:54
  Speaker 6: If you're like, thank you, you probably think I don't
• 25:59
  Speaker 6: care for any thing but my dolls. There's one thing though,
• 26:03
  Speaker 6: I want to tell you.
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: What's that?
• 26:07
  Speaker 6: I'm sorry now, I really am. I shouldn't have done it.
• 26:12
  Speaker 6: I know it was wrong. You do, Yes, I'm sorry.
• 26:16
  Speaker 6: I killed the canaries.
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: The story you have just heard was true.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: The names were changed to protect the innocent.
• 26:31
  Speaker 13: On May sixth, the hearing was held in Juvenile Court,
• 26:34
  Speaker 13: Department thirty eighth, City and County of Los Angeles, State
• 26:36
  Speaker 13: of California. In a moment the results of that hearing.
• 26:48
  Speaker 13: At the hearing in Juvenile Court, ROBERTA. Evelyn Dixon was
• 26:51
  Speaker 13: found unfit to be handled as a juvenile and was
• 26:54
  Speaker 13: certified to Superior Court as an adult. There, she was
• 26:57
  Speaker 13: found to be criminally insane by three Sekaiah interists appointed
• 27:00
  Speaker 13: by the state. She is now confined to a state
• 27:03
  Speaker 13: mental institution where she is undergoing treatment. You have just
• 27:15
  Speaker 13: heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files.
• 27:20
  Speaker 13: Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police W. H. Parker,
• 27:23
  Speaker 13: Los Angeles Police Department. Bartney Yarborough is Sergeant venro Merrow.
• 27:28
  Speaker 13: Also heard was Joyce McCluskey. Script by Jim Mosy, music
• 27:32
  Speaker 13: by Walter Schumann.
• 27:34
  Speaker 14: Hell give me speaking, counter Spy Fights, International Intrigue.
• 27:49
  Speaker 15: Next on NBC, Welcome Back.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: A great episode, and I think it illustrates how Dragnet's
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: often emotional understatement can be quite powerful. Now, obviously we
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: hear a lot of shows on this podcast that dial
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: it up to eleven, but when Roberta was talking honestly
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: before the midpoint where she stated she killed the canaries,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: that was chilling. And of course if there was any
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: doubt as to what happened, you know, they had to
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: do the whole investigation.
• 28:40
  Speaker 15: But I pretty much knew who did it at that point.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: And again, the sort of calm way she talks about
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: it is really I think part of the strength of
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: the episode and what makes it so realistic and suddenly disturbing.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: And I think the facts of the case reflect a
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: situation where you had an angry teenage girl who didn't
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: know what she was doing or have a really strong
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: insight into what the police figure out, which led to
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: her making mistakes that she got caught in. All right, well,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: listener comments and feedback, and we're going over to Spotify,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: where we have a comment from Vicky, who writes the
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: police only knew about the wife's disappearance because the husband
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: called them, But yet the husband was the guilty party.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Perhaps he wanted to be caught. Great episode. Well, Becky,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: I didn't think he wanted to be caught. I think
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: in that case, the fact is that his wife was
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: not around, and if he had at no point reported it,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: somebody was going to notice that she was missing, and
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: the question would be, okay, doctor, why did you never
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: report your wife was missing?
• 30:06
  Speaker 6: Oh?
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: He couldn't remove the mystery, but he could relocate the
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: mystery to the other side of the city. Yeah, she
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: went to New York and I don't know what happened
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: to her. And he thought he'd been very clever, but
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: of course he was amateur and made some mistakes along
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: the way. All right, Well, now it's time to thank
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: our Patreon supporter of the day. Thank you to Joe,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Patreon supporter since April twenty nineteen, currently supporting the podcast
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: at the Master Detective level of fifteen dollars more per month.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your support, Joe.
• 30:39
  Speaker 15: That will do it for today.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: favorite podcast software and be sure to rate and review
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: the podcast wherever you download it from. We'll be back
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: next Thursday with another episode of Dragnet. But join us
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: back here tomorrow for yours truly. Johnny dollarware, you were here.
• 31:01
  Speaker 16: To see missus Ballen.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: That's right, I'm Johnny Dollar.
• 31:03
  Speaker 16: I'm Hal Winters, her nephew.
• 31:05
  Speaker 5: Hi.
• 31:06
  Speaker 16: Say tell me something, yes, about this little statue that's missing?
• 31:10
  Speaker 16: You mean that little chunk of pot metal that's disappeared.
• 31:13
  Speaker 5: Oh is that what it is?
• 31:14
  Speaker 6: Oh?
• 31:14
  Speaker 16: Yes, just a piece of junk. But a couple of
• 31:16
  Speaker 16: months ago at Dora decided it looked like her grandfather
• 31:19
  Speaker 16: when he was a general back in the Civil War.
• 31:21
  Speaker 5: Oh why does she value it so highly?
• 31:24
  Speaker 16: I expect the general was the only Ballon who had
• 31:26
  Speaker 16: guts enough to do anything on his own. What do
• 31:29
  Speaker 16: you mean, I mean instead of just living off the
• 31:31
  Speaker 16: family shipping fortune.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: So when she.
• 31:33
  Speaker 16: Suddenly decided the statue looked like the General, Johnny Dollar,
• 31:39
  Speaker 16: did you.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: Say that's right?
• 31:42
  Speaker 16: The insurance investigated, Yes, Well, now why should she bother
• 31:48
  Speaker 16: you with it? I don't know, truly, mister Dollar.
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: It's not worth it.
• 31:52
  Speaker 16: If I were you, i'd forget it. And now, if
• 31:54
  Speaker 16: you'll excuse me, i'd better see if the morning mail
• 31:56
  Speaker 16: has arrived?
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: Helu Just when.
• 31:58
  Speaker 16: Did the statue disappear? Where kind of discovered it missing
• 32:02
  Speaker 16: from the reception room yesterday morning? Now, if you'll pardon me.
• 32:05
  Speaker 13: Was the house broken into?
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Possibly?
• 32:07
  Speaker 16: But there was no sign of it.
• 32:08
  Speaker 5: How about guests?
• 32:09
  Speaker 16: No, we haven't had guests for a week or more.
• 32:11
  Speaker 16: How many servants are there, mister Dollar? Perhaps there's something
• 32:16
  Speaker 16: i'd better tell you about that statue, the statue.
• 32:19
  Speaker 5: Of the General.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: I tell you, mister Dolla. You are mister Dollar, aren't you?
• 32:24
  Speaker 16: Yes, ma'am, I tell you that if you don't find
• 32:27
  Speaker 16: out who's stole it and get it back, I'll can
• 32:29
  Speaker 16: celevery bit of my insurance.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: Send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot NAT.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives and check us
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great detectives from Boise, Idaho.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham, Sogn and all