Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Dragnet: A .22 Rifle for Christmas (EP1472)

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Dragnet: A .22 Rifle for Christmas (EP1472) · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

0:28
Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
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is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, send it
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to me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at
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delivered to your Kindle and you can try that service out for free for two
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weeks in the Kindle Store. Well, now it's time for today's episode of
1:40
Dragnet. The original airdate is December the twenty second of nineteen forty nine,
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and the title is A twenty two rifle for Christmas Ladies and gentlemen. The
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story you are about to here is true, only the names have been changed
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to protect the innocent. Dragnet. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to
2:19
homicide detail. A small boy is reported missing from his home, his age
2:24
nine years. Foul play is suspected. Your job find him. Dragnets the
2:37
documented drama of an actual crime. For the next thirty minutes, in cooperation
2:42
with the Los Angeles Police Department, he will travel step by step on the
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side of the law through an actual case, from official police files, from
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beginning to end, from crime to punishment. Dragnet is the story of your
2:54
police force in action. Thursday, December twenty second, it was cold in
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Los Angeles. We were working the night watch out on homicide. My partner's
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Ben Romero. The boss is Thad Brown, Chief of Detectives. My name
3:08
is Friday. I was on the way into work and it was three fifty
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five pm when I got to Room forty two Homicide. All right, Jill
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Man, what's doing? Oh pretty boy, how's your mother. I hat
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Cole still hanging on bad cough docs is nothing serious. My kid's got the
3:24
same thing. Let's be some kind of a virus going around. Yeah.
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Is that a new suit you got on? Oh yeah, my figured I
3:31
needed once. Let me see. Oh yeah, that's nice shade of blue.
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Where'd you get it? Quinc East down south? Figure? Look okay,
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uh uh oh yeah that's good. Fait. Did you get all the
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reports on the Webster case? Yeah, yeah, I'll takeing care of Let
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me get it. Homicide Friday. This is Levingston. You don't win thirteen
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Jane got some for you. Yeah, Harry, what's doing? Dirty?
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And I are out here on Corlis Avenue four six five six kind of track
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down year old boy? What's the story? Kids? Missing? Suspicion of
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bold play? How long has he been gone? Back? Two hours?
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It's like a Jaffery homicide. How do you figure Kidd was last scene playing
4:10
in the backyard of his home. Yeah. We checked over the yard,
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find anything, bloodstains, lots of them. They looked new. Ben and
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I left a message for Chief of Detective stat Brown. Then we went over
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to the crime lab, picked up Lieutenant Lee Jones and drove out the Arroyo
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Seco Freeway to Collis Avenue. It was an average neighborhood number forty six.
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Fifty six was a one story green stucco residence situated on the corner of Collis
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Avenue and Harrison Drive. Beyond the backyard was a tractive undeveloped plan covered with
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scrub oaks. Harry Levinson, from a Highland Park juvenile was waiting for us
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in front of the house. Back this way fellas common. Wait, I
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got my back, Okay, who notifies it? The boy was missing?
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Hearing the mother said she went out to do some Christmas shopping about eleven this
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morning, left the boy home, came back by two of this afternoon he
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was gone. What's his name? Johnstone? Kid's name is Stanley, nine
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years old? Was this gate open like this when you got here? Oh?
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Yeah, I haven't touched this thing. Here are the stains over here,
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Lieutenant Jones, along the edge of the walk. See yeah, let
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me see quite a few stains. Looks like it might be blood. I'll
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tie some benzetein on these spots. Here and there we are. See what's
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where's the kid's mother? Now? In the house Darty's talking to her.
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Did you talk to any of the neighbors, people next door, ones on
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this side? They couldn't tell us anything. It is fellas. Yeah,
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these spots like covered with benzantine, They turning blue blood stains, all right.
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Can't say definitely whether it's human or animal blood. You have to go
5:45
back to the lab to run it through. Yeah, biological precipitum test.
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Hand me one of those glass vials from my back. Yeah, hey,
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here you are You think grape? Some of these flakes are for a test.
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Oh yeah, how soon can you tap the blood force? Ling precilim
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tests won't run more than twenty minutes. It'll take three or four hours to
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run a blood grouping golf. That's it. Anything else you want to check?
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Levinson? Anything else? Right here in my handkerchief, empty shell,
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that marker over there by the rose bush, that's where I found it from
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A twenty two. Huh yeah, might tie in, might not market and
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dump it in this end loop with it? Oh yeah, shoe here you
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go. Did you get out a missing broadcasting the boy here? Darty did
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about half hour ago. Here's a description here. Thank you? Mother?
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Know about the blood stains? No, We didn't tell her. She's worried
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enough already and she has no idea what might have happened to her boy.
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No more than we do if you checked all our friends, relatives. We're
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covering the neighborhood. No trace so far. It much to go on.
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Bloodstains, empty cartridge, could mean a hundred things. Any ideas Friday,
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Yeah, just one, and I don't like it. Four thirty pm,
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Thursday, December twenty second, the neighborhood search for nine year old Stanley Johnstone
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continued. Lee Jones went back to the crime lab to start the precipitate test
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in the blood group of Levinson and his partner Dougherty from Highland Juvenal stood by.
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We called Chief a Detective's Thad Brown, and he ordered up a special
7:19
detail to aid in the search for the missing boy. Ben and I questioned
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the boy's mother, Missus Ruth Johnstone, a woman in her early forties.
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She seemed fairly calm under the circumstances, Missus Johnstone, is your boy's stand
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in the habit of wandering off without darn you where he's going? No,
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he's not in the habit of wandering off, but he has done it before.
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When was the last time, Miss Johnstone. You don't have any children,
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do you, Sergeant Friday, No, I'm not married. Well,
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that comes that time in every young boy's life when he feels it it's time
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to leave home to go out on his own. Usually happens somewhere around eight
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to ten. I think, I know what you mean. I've got a
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boy. Well, then you know how it is. My husband and I
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scolded Stanley one day after school. He was quite put out about it.
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He thought, George and I run fair, packed a few of these things
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and left. How long was he gone? Oh, no time at all,
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about two hours. I was worried about him, but my husband's had
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to leave him alone, said, every boy had to go through that stage.
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Well, when you think he's run away from home again this time?
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Yes? I think so. He's been gone about four hours now, and
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I have a funny feeling about it. Did you and his father have some
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misunderstanding with the boy recently? Well, that's just it. We haven't.
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I don't mind telling you now that we're talking about it. I'm I am
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getting worried any place around that he might like to visit, hobby shop playground
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where he might be Yeah, there's some Jensen's Model shop and little Shannon Burrows.
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But I've already called him and he hasn't been seen all day. I
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called all his friends. They have no idea where he is either. We'd
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like a list of all his friends in the places that he was known to
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frequent. All right, I'll give him to you. What do you suppose
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he is? Where's your husband now, Miss Johnstone? Oh, he's at
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work. George works for the city. He's farming. What house is he
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staking there? Help me? Twelve? He's working the eight platoon. He'll
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be home tomorrow morning. I haven't told him that Stanley's gone. Was there
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any chance that the boy might be down at the firehouse with his father?
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No? No, he seldom goes down there anymore. No, I don't
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think he's there. I'm awfully worried. May I call my husband? Certainly?
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I know George would be worried. Stanley's been gone too long. Hello,
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May I speak with Georgia Johnstone? This is missus Johnstone. Thank you.
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I hate to call Georgia his work. Yes, ma'am, does your
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husband known again? Yes? He does. What caliber do you know?
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Well, it's a forty five automatic he got it, George. This is
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rude. George is standing down there with you? By any chance? Oh
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no, I can't find him anywhere. He hasn't been here when I came
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home from my shopping. Are there two policemen here? No, I said,
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there are two policemen here. Oh no, dear, I'll call you
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if we don't find him soon. All right, dear, Yes you too,
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goodbye. I didn't think he'd be with George. I had forty five?
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Is not the only gun in the household? Wait? Yes, why
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are you asking about guns? Has anything happened that you're not telling me about?
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No, ma'am, just routine checking. We'll have to take a look
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at that forty five. Or if you don't mind, maybe I should tell
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you. We do have another gun in the house. But it's all wrapped
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up George butter for Stanley's Christmas present. May we see it please? Yes?
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Will you have to unwrap it? Yes, I'm afraid so I think
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I can reach it. We had to hide it. Good. Here's the
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paper it was wrapped in. Stanley must have found it. It's gone.
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See. Here's the gift card and the box of the gun came in rifle
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can I look at that box. Thank you? How about it? Joe
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twenty two caliber. Thursday, December twenty second, five point fifteen pm was
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getting dark. The search for the missing boy continued. We checked the list
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of Stanley Johnstone's friends. None of them or their parents had any idea of
11:18
his whereabouts. We talked with Levinson again. He had been in touch with
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the detail calmbing the neighborhood. They had found nothing. We went down to
11:26
Collis Avenue and tenth Street service station on the corner one Nicklas. Joe,
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No, I got one. You watched with that? Huh? Yeah,
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thank you? Six six seven, please highlay Joe Friday, Yeah, Jolonie
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sending Johnson kidd, No, not yet. How are you coming finish the
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pre human blood? Yeah? Working in the blood group. Now do you
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know what type Johnson boy had? Well, we didn't want to upset his
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mother. Thought we wait a little last thing. We're still in the neighborhood.
12:13
Checked with the family physician. That way you won't disturb. Yeah,
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we figured on there just a minutely. Yeah, man Moss just pulled okay,
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uh, Fad Browns out here now I'll check you lately, hun right,
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goodbye, gentlemen, how's going. Just checked with Lee Jones. Yeah,
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I know it's human blood. What do you think. We talked with
12:33
the boy's mother. Missus Johnston found a gun Mason, Yeah. Caliber is
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the same as the empty case that Levinson found twenty two. You said the
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gun was missing. Yeah. The Johnsons were going to give it to the
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boy as a Christmas present. They had it, hid him and his gone.
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Now any idea who took it and we left the Christmas wrapping behind?
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I think it was the kid twenty two rifle a nine year old boy.
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When are they gonna learn? First? It's car by Canons On the fourth
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of July. He said, you should ordinance, have ordinance for a few
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thousand kids around the country had to lose their eyes, fingers, hands for
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the parents. Gives us their full cooperation to outlaw. I know what you
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mean, Sure you do. You and every other cop in the country became
13:11
the heaviest trying to clamp down on them. It's always the same story.
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This time it's guns for Christmas. I know what you're thinking, but we're
13:18
not sure yet. Less than Friday, there's a city ordinance against giving a
13:20
gun to a kid. You know that. Yes, I know, there's
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a missing boy and a missing gun. There's blood on the ground and an
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empty shell. That's enough for me. I'm going to stay with it.
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Something's got to break, Yeah, I hope it's not the hearts of that
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kid's parents. Oh hi, Chief, I've been looking for you Friday.
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What do you got? He Harry found the gun, new twenty two rifle,
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strong smell of cordite. I'd say it's been recently fired. But you
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find it, Levinson back up there in that scrub boat up behind the Johnston
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house. Missus Johnstone identified it. Buckley took it down the crime lab.
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Thanks, Harry, it's miss Johnston. Okay, I'm pretty sick now.
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Kellby came up with something else. What's that? There's another one missing,
13:56
an eight year old boy. Six thirty pm we talked with Officer Killoby about
14:03
the other missing boy. He told us that his name was Stephen Moreheim,
14:07
eight years old. His family had just moved into the neighborhood, and it
14:11
seemed that no one besides the Moreheim family knew that the boys played together.
14:13
Missus Moreheim told us that Stephen told her that he was going out to play,
14:18
and that he'd be home by six o'clock for dinner. She told us
14:20
that he was an unusually prompt boy and almost never overstayed his playtime. We
14:24
got a description of the Morheim boy and put on a missing broadcast. We
14:28
called the Johnstones family doctor. He told us that Stanley's blood was type old.
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At seven pm, we talked again with Missus john Moreheim. Are you
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sure, Missus Johnstone doesn't know where the boys are? He has no idea,
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Miss Moreheim. It's terrible, It's just awful. I feel there's more
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to this thing, something you're not telling me. There was no use to
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upset you till we know a few things for sure, and you are holding
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back something. I'll please try not to worry Miss Moreheim. There are certain
14:54
questions we'll have to ask, routine questions in any kind of investigation. Is
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there anything else you want to know? Yes, ma'am. What is your
15:01
boys blood type? That's a funny question. Do you think anything's happened to
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him? Have you found him and you're not telling him? Oh, ma'am,
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we haven't found him. We don't think anything's happened to him. It's
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blood type. I think I haven't written down Stevie's baby book. Yes,
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here it is. Oh, thank you. What if I might use your
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phone? Please? Yes, of course it's in the hall. Be right
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back then to six sixty seven please all all right, this is Friday Lee
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there just a minute Joe, Joe speaking checking Backlely. Did you get the
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blood type two missing boys? Yeah? Both boys type old. So the
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stains Joe type O. You are listening to dragnet for the solution to an
16:18
actual case from official police files. Eight pm, Thursday, December twenty second,
16:26
still no sign of either of the missing boys. Chief of Detective stad
16:30
Brown went back to headquarters to direct the search. From there, he dispatched
16:33
another detail of fifty men to aid in the hunt for the missing youngsters.
16:37
Eight thirty pm was getting colder. The citrus growers were warned to expect to
16:41
freeze. We went up the block to see missus Johnstone. Her husband had
16:45
quit work early and returned home. We talked with him. He could tell
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us nothing more than we already knew. We still had not informed either of
16:52
the families about the blood stains and the empty cartridge casing which had been discovered
16:56
in the backyard of the Johnstone home was more than possible that they had a
17:00
right to know about our findings, but Ben and I felt that there was
17:03
no cause to add to the distress of the two families at this time.
17:08
If the two missing boys were found alive and well, then the bloodstains and
17:11
the cartridge case would be of no concern to the relieved parents. At eight
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forty pm, Ben and I left the Johnstone house and went to the home
17:18
of mister and missus John Moreheim. And there's Moreheim. You said your husband
17:22
worked at a market. Yes, he telephoned about fifteen minutes ago and said
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he was closing up right away. He'll be here any minutes. I wonder
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wish Stevie would call her come home so cold out tonight. All he had
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on was a thin cotton jacket. Please turn out to worry. We're doing
17:40
everything we can. It's going to be all right, Stevee. It's father's
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such a sensitive man, and the boy are so close. I know he's
17:47
terribly upset. Well, you're sure there's no place you might have forgotten,
17:51
someplace where the boy might be. No, no place, nonth happened to
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the boy, just killed him? No you yeah, I'll get it this
18:00
morning. Joe, Hi, Harry, that john Stone kid. He's been
18:07
fought. Oh he's home, Sergeant, he's come home. Thank god,
18:21
he's all right. Where's no? No, he didn't. His clothes were
18:26
all dirty, and he's acting strange. I've never seen him like this.
18:30
Well, he just came in the front door and said hello, mom,
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and then he sat down a chair and stared at the floor. Talk to
18:36
his father? Me if I talked to him, I asked him about the
18:40
little more him boyd He wouldn't tell me a thing. Where is he now
18:44
in the living room? Looks all right? Yes, son, son,
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this is a police officer. He wants to talk to you. Don't be
19:02
afraid, dear. He only wants to ask us some questions. Son,
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you see Sergeant Stanley, Come on, look at me, son. Hit
19:15
your head up, youngster, Come on, no, that's better. I
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had your mother pretty worried. You know. Then you want to tell us
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where you've been. I wish you'd try to get him to eat a little
19:26
something. Do you hear that? Son? Want something? Deep? Stanley?
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There's another little boy up this tee who hasn't come home. Do you
19:34
know where he is? His father and mother are worried about him too,
19:38
just like your folks were. You've got to help us find him. Son.
19:42
I I killed him. I killed Steve with the twenty two. We
19:49
were only plate but I killed him. How do you know you killed him?
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Maybe he's only hurt, isn't that it? No, he's dead.
20:00
I know he's dead. The gun went off. We forgot. We put
20:03
bullets in there. Where is he, Stanley? I shouldn't. I was
20:08
scared. I didn't want anybody to find him. Where did you hide him?
20:12
Son? In a chief upon the hill? I didn't mean it.
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It was my pal. You want to show us where, yes, I'll
20:22
show you. Please don't send me to jail. Nine to fifteen pm,
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Thursday December twenty second, nine year old Stanley Johnstone led the way up the
20:34
hill behind the backyard of his home. He showed us the wagon, he
20:37
moved the body, and his father came along with us. About fifty feet
20:41
from the crest of the hill, a boy pointed to a thicket of scrub
20:44
oak. There we found a small cave holding the body of Stephen Moreheim.
20:48
There was a single bullet wound in his chest, just below his heart.
20:52
He was dead. We covered the body, Stanley, Stanley, how did
20:56
it happen? I knew my folks were going to give me the gun Christmas.
21:00
I knew where it was, and I got it. There was a
21:03
box of bullets with it. Were you pointing the gun at Stephen? No,
21:07
sir, No, sir, I wasn't. It was Steve's trying to
21:11
play with it. I was chasing him. He tripped over the stump there
21:17
in our backyard and fell. The gun hit him in the stomach and it
21:22
went off. Why do you think you killed him? If you're telling us
21:26
the truth, I'm telling the truth, honest, that's the truth. I
21:30
believe you said. But why do you think you killed him? It was
21:33
my gun. Steve would still be alive if I didn't go and get it.
21:38
I should have waited till Christmas. It's all my fault. Where have
21:44
you been all this time in the cave with Steve? What were you doing
21:48
in there? Son? I was praying. I was praying for God to
21:53
make him alive again. After a thorough investigation, Ben and I were convinced
22:02
that the shooting of Stephen Moreheim was accidental. Lieutenant Lee Jones finding substantiated the
22:07
Johnstone Boys story even to the smallest detail. We put in a call to
22:11
the coroner's office and acquitted him with the facts. He designated a local mortuary
22:15
to handle the body pending on autopsy, and granted us permission to remove the
22:18
body to the Morheim home. Missus Moreheim collapsed. The family doctor was called
22:23
Ben and I sat in the living room to wait for John Moreheim, the
22:26
dead boy's father, Edith Edith, mister Moreheim, Yes, you the police,
22:37
Yes, sir? Where's Edith? Where's my wife? How's my boy
22:41
come home? Have you found him? Yes, sir? Where is he?
22:48
See Stevie? Where Steve? He's hurt, isn't he? Yes,
22:56
sir? Oh, where is he? I want to see him. He's
23:00
bad, mister Morheim. Where is he? I want to see him.
23:03
He's in his room? How bad? Pretty bad? Yes, he's dead.
23:19
All right? If I go in, if you want to, will
23:23
you go with me? Sure? Don't make it any harder on yourself,
23:32
mister Moreheim. I want to see my boy. Listen to me, sir.
23:51
We've got you a lot of nice things, but Christmas, ned I
23:57
got you a street new curs for the training with the search really works,
24:11
So you you guess that. Twitch your butt and do it a little boy
24:18
track. You can have a bigger, big up. You know that,
24:37
a new baseball. But you something, But I got it for you that
24:49
cowboy an said you wanted that? Got to come on, Joe. It
25:17
was an accident. It was playing with Johnstone boy up the street, playing
25:22
with a gun. He went off like this. The other boy's name Stanley
25:32
Johnstone. It was an accident. Tomorrow, where are you going? I
25:38
want to see that. But we had no idea what the dead boy's father
25:45
had in mind. We didn't feel that we should try to restrain him.
25:48
We went along with him up the street to the Johnstone home. Hi,
25:59
Steepe's where's your boy? I'm sorry, where's your boy? He's right here?
26:07
Won't you come in? That's all right, missus Chanston. You you're
26:17
the boy that was with Stevie. Yes, sir, what's your name?
26:25
Stanley? Stanley? I know it wasn't your fault, Stanley. I wouldn't
26:33
if you'd do something for me. Yes, sir. I've got a lot
26:40
of nice presents for Stevie. I know he wants you to have them.
26:48
I want to give them to you Christmas Eve. Mom, I think that
26:57
would be a fine idea. Come on, Ben, what does it all
27:14
prove? Joe? You don't give a kid a gun for Christmas? The
27:25
story you have just heard was true, only the names were changed to protect
27:30
the innocent. On December twenty fourth, nineteen forty eight, a coroner's inquest
27:36
was held in the County Morgue City and County of Los Angeles, State of
27:38
California. In a moment the results of that inquest. At the coroner's inquest,
27:52
it was officially recorded that Stephen Morheim's death was the result of an accident.
27:56
Stanley Johnstone, age nine, was absolved if any legal responsibility for his
28:00
friend's death. You have just heard drag Nets, a new series of authentic
28:08
cases from official files. Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the Office of Acting
28:14
Chief of Police W. A. Wharton, Los Angeles Police Department. Dragnet
28:18
honors Hennepin County, Minneapolis, State of Minnesota, and the men of the
28:22
Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, another of America's great law enforcement agencies. One of
28:27
these men Sheriff Ed Ryan veteran police officer and department administrator who dedicates his life
28:33
to making yours more secure. A Fatima Cigarettes, the best of all along
28:41
cigarettes has brought you Dragnet. Portion transcribed from Los Angeles. Be sure to
28:45
hear songs by Martin Downey tonight don NBC Welcome Back. I'm going to discuss
28:57
this episode in two parts. The first is as an episode itself, and
29:03
the second is as a Christmas episode. I have to say that coming at
29:08
this several years since I have listened to it, I have a deeper appreciation
29:14
for this one. I think this is a very solidly told story. There's
29:18
a very good building of emotional tension throughout the entire story, and there's also
29:23
this aspect perhaps of a different kind of the policemen really hoping against hope.
29:30
I think, particularly when they were talking about why they were keeping information from
29:36
the parents. You know that found this blood. It's human blood, but
29:41
no need to alarm the parents. It could all just turn out to be
29:45
fine. And even when Friday was questioning Stanley Johnstone, you know, he's
29:49
all right, isn't he That's what it is, son, isn't it?
29:52
But he wasn't. And then William Johnstone as the father of the other boy
29:59
a little confusing. I know turns into really good performance. I've said it
30:03
before of violence on Dragnet. For far too many programs, both radio and
30:10
television, violence is really no big deal. It's part of the show.
30:15
It's something you expect. It doesn't excite you. It's just the backdrop of
30:21
what happens week in and week out drag Net. When it portrays violence,
30:26
it makes it significant because it isn't something that we see on screen or hear
30:33
on radio every week. And I felt the same thing with emotion. The
30:37
stereotype and the picture of Dragnet is of people very calmly reading a dialogue,
30:45
and certainly off television over teleprompter, that was true, and even over radio
30:52
you didn't tend to have hysteria or overreaction. You had things a little bit
30:57
more low key, so it felt a lot more realistic. But the reality
31:02
is there are times when emotion just becomes overwhelming, and you get it here
31:07
as a very powerful moment with the father of the slain boy. Because you
31:12
don't have people having emotional breakdowns every week on drag that it really does stand
31:18
out. There's a lot of realism, I think, and how they did
31:22
it, particularly with Friday trying to comfort or just perhaps even calm down the
31:30
grieving father, and Romero basically stopping because it was natural was what needed to
31:40
be not and it was actually quite healthy. The one thing that I have
31:44
heard some complaints from reviewers of the TV show and also maybe the radio show,
31:49
but of the TV episode is they really don't get this end where he
31:56
runs down the street to the boy's house to give him his son's presence.
32:08
And I think that in some ways it speaks to the tope of me and
32:15
the father was because he had been dealt this huge blow in the loss of
32:20
his son, and then he thought of his son's friend who just had this
32:23
huge burden on him now of what happened, and the guilt over something that
32:30
had happened. That Johnstone boy didn't really understand what he was doing, and
32:36
it was that comfort and that desire to let him know it would be okay,
32:40
even in the midst of overwhelming reef. And that is a very powerful
32:46
moment it's hard for us to relate to in our twenty first century world.
32:52
I was thinking as I was listening to it that today told tragedy would end
32:58
up as a big, long wrongful death lawsuit Now, when this episode was
33:04
broadcast, it was the source of some controversy with some protest race, in
33:10
particular by the NRA, and I do think probably most of the issue for
33:16
the NRA stemmed from Joe Friday's closing line about a gun being a lousy gift
33:23
for a kid for Christmas, when culturally Christmas is or Birthdays would often be
33:29
when people were introduced to God, and usually not in the unsafe circumstances in
33:36
this episode, and in some ways the NRA's opposition or concerns with this drove
33:43
Jack Web to actually rerun the episode or to redo it for several seasons on
33:49
Dragnet. When it did come to television, the TERRA took a very different
33:52
approach, using the episode and obtaining it to teach a lesson in in a
34:00
gun safety and however you feel about current or past gun debates, and we're
34:07
not going to get into that on this show, the way the Stones handled
34:12
the gun was certainly very unsafe, and how whether you agreed with Sergeant Friday
34:19
or not about the appropriateness of a gun as a gift, it's not hard
34:23
to feel that this family handled it in the worst possible way. Now,
34:29
onto it as a Christmas special. I have to say that I'm really thankful
34:34
that The Big Little Jesus displaced this as the recognized favorite Christmas special. It's
34:43
not really something that would become a beloved classic. To put it mildly well,
34:50
I could see The Big Little Jesus and it has been aired year after
34:57
year on a lot of channels that have rerun. It's hard to imagine people
35:01
saying, come in, come in, let look you, We're watching the
35:05
Dragnet Christmas Special. You're just in time to see the Johnstone Boy break down
35:10
in tears. In many ways, this episode calls to mind some other Dragnet
35:16
episodes which were set at Christmas time but never aired at Christmas. Among those,
35:22
work The Big Present, The Big Missing, and The Big Hands are
35:28
among quite a few. The reason I think that this was originally aired was
35:34
the same reason that Dragnet did the episode The Big Trio right before the fourth
35:39
of July, a driving weekend. The Big Trio was three shortcases that chronicled
35:47
the dangers of reckless driving before the July fourth weekend, which is one of
35:53
the worst traffic accident days of the year, and the thought of twenty two
36:00
rifle for Christmas seemed to be to discourage parents from doing something that would lead
36:07
to tragedy. But if it's getting a gun for Christmas or not taking proper
36:13
precautions, December twenty second is kind of late in the game, so to
36:16
may it probably would have made more sense a couple of weeks earlier. Ultimately,
36:22
Richard Breen, when he was brought on to write the nineteen fifty four
36:25
Dragnet movie, expressed his feelings about it that is not appropriate for the fastest
36:31
time of Christmas, and certainly he wrote a story that is something more that
36:37
people are in the mood to watch and listen to around the holidays. And
36:43
indeed, there's very little Christmasy about the episode, even in the build up,
36:47
and at the time of this episode, they hadn't quite mastered a technique
36:52
that I noticed quite a bit in those in the mid fifties where an episode
36:59
that would be very heavy and dramatic would be preceded by conversation between Friday and
37:07
his partner that was so light, funny, relaxing, charming that when this
37:13
really heavy case hit, it hits you like a ton of bricks. In
37:17
this case, Friday and Romero aren't even talking about Christmas before the episode,
37:23
which definitely makes it fit more into the mold of those other Christmas Time episodes
37:30
that didn't air around Christmas. Overall, this is still a very thought provoking
37:37
episode, which, despite a slow start, really does pack an emotional punch
37:43
and certainly invite a law of analysis, or if it doesn't actually invite it,
37:50
I spent nine minutes analyzing it anyway. Now we turn to listener comments
37:53
and feedback, and we have one regarding the departure of Raymond Berth as chief
38:00
of detectives at Backstrands. David opines kind of sad to see Raymond Burr go,
38:07
though it was a bit weird listening to him and Web on this show
38:12
in such proximity to pant No Back for Hire. Every time Chief Backstrand showed
38:16
up, I expected to try to pin the crime on Friday, and I
38:22
imagine there were probably a few listeners in nineteen forty nine who might have had
38:28
the same reaction hearing those two familiar voices, And that was part of the
38:35
reason why we re ran pant Noback for Hire right before Dragon. In fact,
38:39
the main reason, though I think the actual departure had to do with
38:44
a different direction for the show as well as for Raymond Burr's career. There
38:49
was definitely an amicable parting. As I said, we'll see Raymond Burr in
38:54
the first episode of Dragnet, will play probably next month. On Finally,
39:00
we have another question from Aaron who says, maybe I overlooked it, but
39:07
how about Gangbusters. I know it doesn't have a consistent lead, but it's
39:10
definitely a good detective show. Well. I agree that Gangbusters is a good
39:15
show and a true classic, really enjoyable, but it's more a documentary crime
39:22
story. A lot of episodes it really is about the criminal and about them
39:31
being brought to justice with this very strong crime doesn't pay and it shows their
39:38
success, their brutality and all the negative traits to have and how it leads
39:46
to their utter downfall with the detectives not even really being a characters and Gangbusters
39:55
is great, just doesn't really fit in with my vision for the show.
40:00
But thanks so much for the congestion, Aaron, I really do appreciate it.
40:02
We will be back on Monday with the Saint and then join us again
40:08
next Saturday for Dragnet. In the meantime sendor commons to Box thirteen at great
40:14
Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and become one
40:19
of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com. Slash Radio Detectives from Boiseadah,
40:24
This is your host, Adam Graham's son and Off