Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Dragnet: The Child Killer (EP1502)

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Dragnet: The Child Killer (EP1502) · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

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Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
0:34
is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, email it
0:38
to me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, Follow us on Twitter at
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Radio Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com
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Slash Radio Detectives. Before we do get started, I do want to remind
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you our listeners support campaign continues support dot Great Detectives dot net. A full
1:00
list of available thank you gifts, as well as how to donate, is
1:04
available there. Also be sure and check out my review of the Jade Ogre
1:10
doc Savage book at Great Detectives dot net this weekend. And I should note
1:15
that there was no Dragnet episode aired on January the twenty six, so this
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episode aired two weeks after last week's program on February the second, nineteen fifty.
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And it's unusual in that it's an episode of Dragnet that began with a
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parental advisory read by Jack Webb, and I think that advisory is warranted.
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The story does deal with some disturbing things. There are things that we deal
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with even today in our modern world, perhaps even more than we did back
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in nineteen fifty, which perhaps makes them more disturbing. At any rate.
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This is definitely an episode where parental guidance is recommended and encouraged. So here
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now from February second, nineteen fifty program is the child killer, not your
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children. The subject is of vital importance to you as parents. This is
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the story of a vicious man. The story you're about to hear is true,
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only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Drag Nett.
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You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to Homicide Detail. Two small girls are
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reported missing somewhere between their homes and a neighborhood grocery store. They dropped from
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sight. Your job find them. Drag Net the documented drama of an actual
3:02
crime. Well the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police
3:07
Department, you will travel step by step on the side of the law through
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an actual case from official police files, from beginning to end, from crime
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to punishment. Dragnet is the story of your police force in action. It
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was Monday, October twenty seventh, was cloudy in Los Angeles. We're working
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a night watch out of Homicide Detail. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss's
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Thad Brown, Chief Detectives. My name is Friday. We run our way
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out from Central Division. That was sixteen minutes past eight pm when we got
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to South Peoria Street, number two sixty seven. Short, gloomy, sultry,
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looks like wind for some rain. Yes, sir, police officers,
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is Lieutenant Barker here? Yes, you want to come in? Thank you
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missus, Sergeant Romero. I'm Sergeant Friday, Central Homicide. How are you.
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My name's Jimmerson attended Barker's in here on the phone. Yeah, Alex.
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How's it going to Danna? Good? You met mister Jimison. Oh
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sure, sit down, gentlemen, would you like some coffee? I can
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have the thank you didn't want to bout the girl's parents anymore than we had
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to. Jimmerson here is one of the neighbors. He's been nice enough to
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let us use his phone. The kids disappeared about four this afternoon? Is
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that right now? Three forty five got out a local broadcast on him.
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He's a missing report. Thanks Jim Tell mcgriswold age eleven, Farmers Sperry,
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seven year old. You talked to both families. Yeah, about three thirty
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This afternoon, Missus Grizzswell sent her daughter to the grocery store down on Sycamore
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Avenue. It's about ten blocks from their home. The Sperry girl friend of
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hers. She went with her. Anybody at the story I remember singing.
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According to the grocery clerk, they were there about three forty five. Mother
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gave the kids a note. He bought a loaf of white bread. Havepun
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a baker. Yeah, that's right, sergeant. I hope nothing's happened to
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the kids. We've been neighbors to the Gridzwelds for years. It's Ferry's too.
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Did you notice if the little girls were going in the direction of their
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home? Yes, they were. The last time I saw them. They
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were about a block away, heading straight from home. Little Sperry girl had
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a dog with a champ I think they call him. He's a college and
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he's missing too. That's right, Joe. Not a trace of the kids.
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All the god Juvenile officers from seventy seventh Street have been checking the neighborhood
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for the past three hours. The girls in the habit of wandering off like
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you, parents say, No, it's the first time. Well, thanks
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very much. Mister Jimison, Well not at all, sergeant. Sure you
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won't have a cup of coffee. Oh no, thanks, I don't like
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to boy you, but we may have to check back with you later tonight.
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Routine questions. If I can help out in any way to find those
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girls, let me know. Yeah, we'll let you know. JN.
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Thanks again. Nice. So most of the neighbors we talked to have been
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the same, anxious to help. Some of them are oved with our juvenile
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officers now trying to dick up a leader on the kids. You check the
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movie theater and the playgrounds in the neighborhood, everything, Joe, there are
6:00
some of young men from juvenal Lieutenant, Yeah, it looks like it.
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Yeah, schwatz In Preston, Yeah, Preston. All you got found the
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kid's dog, Kelly Flare, just about Sancho's drive up in the hills.
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Hope, it's no indication. How do you mean dog's dead? The Collie
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dog was taken to a veterinarian on Jefferson Boulevard to be examined for cause of
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death. We put in a call to the office and a special detail of
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men was assigned to aid in searching the area. Where the dog was discovered.
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We got out on all points bulletin. The fathers of the missing girls
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and a dozen neighbors joined in the search for the aid of flashlights. We
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started from the end of Sanch's drive and as best we could, we covered
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the ground for almost a full mile back into the Sunset hills. Ten fifty
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five pm started to thunder. The search went on. The hilly terrain and
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thick patches of scrub oak didn't make the job any easier. Eleven fifteen pm
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started to rain. Watch your step, joe A rocks are slipper? Yeah,
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I can't figure it. Not a sign? What do you think?
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I don't know? Wait a minute, splash the light over here. Oh
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here see something I thought I did? Yeah, scrap a brown paper?
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Who's this coming? Is that you? And Jefferson? Yeah? What's that
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you got? I found it by down there, just off the path.
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Papers say, look both for bread, a few oranges, pancags of bacon.
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Where'd you find it by? Down there? Mister home Quest and me
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we were heading back for the cars when I saw this bag lying to one
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side of the bush. We'll take it, Jefferson, thanks, Let's call
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me that means if Barbara and Tomo we're up here today, you haven't mentioned
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that to either one of the girls spots. No, I haven't good.
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You're having a hard enough time as it is. Riddy Ben see him for
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a minute. Yeah, excuse us, mister Timson, certainly. Yeah.
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Schwartz and I checked with the veto examined the dog. What did you say?
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Says the dog was beaten to death. We made another attempt to continue
8:05
the search of the Sunset Hills area for the two missing girls, but the
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heavy rain and the darkness made the job impossible. The rain had also destroyed
8:11
the physical evidence at the spot where we had found the grocery bag. We
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went back to Jimmerson's house and called the office again. Another detail of men
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was assigned to be on hand to help in the search when it resumed at
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daylight. Chief of Detectives Thad Brown and Captain Harry Elliott of Homicide were notified
8:26
of late developments. At twenty five minutes past midnight, we started to retrace
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the steps of the two missing girls from the time they left their homes at
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three point thirty the afternoon before. We covered every foot of ground along the
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route which the girls reportedly took on their way to the grocery store. We
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got the grocery clerk out of bed and interviewed him again. We talked with
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two elderly ladies in the neighborhood who said that they had seen the missing children
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between three and four pm the previous afternoon. They could add nothing to what
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Jimmerson had already told us. Three point thirty am was still raining hard.
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We drove back to South Yord Street and sat in the car. The lights
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were still burning in the homes of the missing youngsters, the Griswols and the
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Spurrs. Jemmerson asked us in for coffee again. This time we accepted.
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We went in and sat around the kitchen table. Glenn Chandler and Stendall from
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homicide, Lieutenant Barker Ben and myself. Jemmerson's wife made the coffee. Wasn't
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much talking. You want more coffee? Oh oh yeah, thank you,
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Miss Jimmyson. All right, thank you? You want some more? No,
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thanks, it's fine. You want some more coffee? Sure, Lieutenant
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tiny go ahead. Filled the sugar bowl? Was there amy empty? There
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isn't anymore. You never do things right. I told you to get some
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at the store today. You told me. That's all right, Jimerson,
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use it anyway, all right, Amy, go to bed. She's a
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little upset, not feeling too well. Well. I guess we better be
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going. Jefferson's thanks. No, that's all right, sergeant, she didn't
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mean you. It's this whole thing I guess got everybody on edge. There's
10:18
still a chance that may be all right. Now, do we explain the
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bag of groscas we found back in the hills and the dog. Anybody's hurt,
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those kids will take care of him right here in this neighborhood. Do
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you get what's coming to it? Somebody at your back door? Oh?
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Yes, a Stargant Friday here? Yes, sergeant, all right, Tom,
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all right? What he got? Mister Griswald, Joe, she'd like
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to have you come over and talk to him, so you will make his
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wife feel better. All broken up? Sure, come on, Ben,
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we'll be over to Griswalls with Tenant. Right. Thank you for the Covide
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games, not at all. If you get a chance to tell Griswold I'm
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sorry. Everybody is will help all we can. Sure I'm bad and I
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yeah, did you checked by the Sperry's house. Tom mm hm, Well
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they're trying to get little sleep. The father's still sitting up there, he
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is by the windows. Yeah. Uh, this is the grizzly home.
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Go ahead time. Yeah, they're gonna ask questions. What are we gonna
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tell them? I don't know. They could be all right. Kids do
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funny things sometimes maybe, but they don't murder their pet dog. Like a
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doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer, the police officer comes to realize
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that there's only so much that can be learned from his books. Time and
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experience make up the rest. The police manual contains no stock answers for the
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grieving wife who has just lost a husband in an auto accident. No firm
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but polite reply to the belligerent motorist and at a traffic tag. No words
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of reassurance for distruct parents of missing girls ages eleven and seven. Whether it's
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trapping criminals or comforting parents, You'll find the right answer the hard way.
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There is any other way. We sat and talked with the Griswolds for a
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full hour. We didn't tell them about the dog or the bagg of groceries.
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Until the fate of the two little girls was definitely decided. We figured
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giving them the information would serve no purpose except to add to their worries.
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Five minutes past five am, almost a full hour until daylight was still raining.
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George, maybe the officers would like some breakfast, No, thank you,
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kind of, miss Grisly. We had some sandwiches about an argo.
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Sure, I can't fix your sings, No trouble, no sir, thanks
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anyway, the terrible night rain and now Helen. Just just a little while
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longer, we'll find the girls. It'll be daylight soon, missus Griswold.
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Some of your neighbors tell us that there were two strangers here in the neighborhood
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this afternoon. Yes, but that was earlier. This is Nelson next door
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and I were talking about. One was a gardener looking for work. The
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other one was selling books. What time were they around? Man books?
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He doesn't feel about noon, the gardener about two o'clock. How is your
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daughter about strangers? Does she make friends easily? Not at all? Almost
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very careful about that. Shed never go with a stranger. I'm sure we
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do. You ask that question you found out something, No, no,
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we haven't. It's just a routine check, that's all. I understand,
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girls, I don't know. Let's range. Something must have happened. I
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know I haven't been doing fine. Don't let that now. Your froze car
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just pulled it outside. Thanks to Ben. Thank you very much, mister
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Griswold, Miss thank you, gentlemen. I here, let me show you
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the don We'll meet at the end of Sanch's drive, mister Griswold about six
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am, and should be light enough by then. All right, Oh,
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Shagan, there is a chance, isn't The girls are all right, there's
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a good chance. You try not to worry. Come on, Ben fresh
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Tom. You want to check with Barker again and see if any of his
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men have a line on the two men here in the Neighborhoodgain right, you
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want us, We'll be in Fad Browns car. What time you got,
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Jill, twenty to six? It's getting light. Yeah, let's get out
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of this rain. Don'tally look a little wet. I could stand a dry
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pair of shoes. Still no traice of the kids. You heard about the
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dog in the bag of grocers? Yeah, nothing else, sensors. No,
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There'll be light in a couple of minutes and we can start searching the
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hills. Again. I watered up another detail of men to help their park
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up on scent. Just drive Captain Unnians with them. Good. You can
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use all the help we can get. That's rough terrain. There's a lot
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of ground to cover up here. Because you talk to everybody in the neighborhood.
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Yeah, parents too, they help you much well. He told us
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there were two strangers in the neighborhood before the girls disappeared, were having him
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checked out. Griswold thinks the kids would be safe on that count, says
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his daughter's afraid of strangers, never goes near him. How man charity to
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cover the hills last night for a mile? Did you say they were starting
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from Sanchi's drive straight back into the brush. He wasn't too thorough. Not
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enough man, not enough. Lie, You've got plenty both right now.
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Ten minutes past six am, Tuesday, October twenty eight, the search of
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the Sunset Hills area was resumed. One hundred and fifty officers spread out over
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a two square mile area with orders to probe every foot of ground. With
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them were almost fifty volunteers from the neighborhood. The rain settled with a cold,
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steady downpour. The mud was ankle deep. Eight thirty am, no
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sign of the missing youngsters. Ten thirty still no sign. The search went
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on. A neighborhood restaurant owner sent out five gallon jugs of hot coffee for
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members of the searching party. After six continuous hours combing the hill, still
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no results. Chief Brown, Ben and I went to the car for a
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cup of coffee and a cigarette. Got me beat. Those kids wanted off.
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They had to come in this direction. Well they couldn't have headed toward
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town. Somebody would have noticed them. Sure, yeah, no, leads
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it all on that APV. You said out too. They both fizzled.
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Youngster's up those hills someplace gotta be you two ready? Yeah, that's good.
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Sure doesn't figure two square miles. We've been over twice, and go
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over it again. Find them fell mcgriswold, age eleven, Barbara Sperry,
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aged seven. Tuesday October twenty eighth to two pm they were still missing.
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Another detail of men from Metropolitan Division were dispatched to eight in the hunt.
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The daily newspapers played the story across the front page. Wire services bulletined the
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news across the country. Radio newscasters covered the story at the scene on South
17:06
Peoria Street. The two mothers sat in their homes and waited as the search
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went on and stopped ringing. Did you cover that fat? You hundred brush
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over there? Joe? Yeah, watch it? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
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Tard Yeah, let's swing up this way? All right? Anything?
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Oh? Nothing? All right? Come on almost two thirty? Yeah,
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too much coffee? Sours down? You too? You've got a cigarette?
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I'm out. Oh here, Friday from Rusting, What do you got?
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What is it? Watch a ben bad spot here? Yeah, it's slippery.
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Thel mc griswold had brown hair and brown eyes, about four feet six
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inches tall. She had a bunch of wildflowers in her hands. Barbara Sperry
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had blonde hair and blue eyes. She held a bunch of wildflowers too.
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Friday. She who found them? Jemmerson? Some of the neighbors. Wow,
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dear good Preston, Yes, sir, get something coverable, yes,
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sir? Come on, yeah, been a cup thirty two years. I've
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never seen anything like that. I hope I never do again. Must have
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been a mania, had to be the lowest kind and depraved. Anybody called
18:47
the crime lab. Yeah, the area has been cleared. Family has been
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notified. Not yet. I'll have to tell them. Do you want to
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come along? Well, that wouldn't be any good. Two lives. What
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can you say? Whoever did it ran up a big bill. They're going
19:00
to pay it. You are listening to drag met authentic stories of your police
19:15
force and action. Five minutes after the bodies were discovered, the hunt for
19:25
the psychopathic killer was underway. Lee Jones and his crew from the crime lab
19:29
arrived and took pictures of everything that could possibly have a bearing on the crime.
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Physical evidence was hard to find. The heavy rain had destroyed any possible
19:37
chance there might have been a finding footprints. When the crew from the crime
19:40
lab was finished, the coroner arrived and took the bodies to the County Morde
19:42
for autopsy. An immediate round up of all known sexual psychopaths in the area
19:48
was ordered. They were taken into homicide for questioning, so were the people
19:52
from the South Peoria Street neighborhood whom we had talked with previously. The questioning
19:56
went on all through the night. Together with a half a dozen officers from
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Homicide Detail, we narrowed down the field. Wednesday, October twenty ninth,
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seven am, we checked in with cheap. The detectives that brown must be
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sorry, got a few hours to leaved last night. Use a few more.
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Sorry. We have to keep moving on this. You see the papers
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this morning. Yeah, they're like everybody else, crying too late. Someday
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people are gonna learn. You don't fool with these degenerates. You chake precautions
20:21
or you get the consequences. There's no in between. There's usual talk going
20:25
around town, supposed to be all our fault, letting the psychos run loose.
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We don't make the laws. We enforce them till we got something to
20:30
work with, laws with teeth in them. These are truscities, are going
20:33
to go on. Nobody seems to care. We pick them up, they
20:34
serve a few days, pay a fine on they worlds out of here.
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Nobody cares. It's sure. Pity them, don't cure them. Nature played
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a trick on them. Feel sorry for them until they kill a kid.
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It's not a firm law to cover them as they are, but to wait
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till they murder somebody. We got a better law for mad dogs. We
20:48
don't let them run loose till they bite somebody. Those two little girls have
20:52
to prove something, how are the parents making now, which you might expect
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shocked hysterically excuse me, go on speaking, Oh, center man Chandler.
21:03
They finished questioning that bunch we brought in yesterday, Oh jeef man, Joe,
21:08
how many possibles, Glenn? None? Before we had left, established
21:12
airtight alibis and checked their registrations, gave no releases. Where does that leave
21:17
us start from scratch? I don't think so, Chief, You got a
21:19
hunch a little better than that, Joe, I'm sold. What do you
21:22
mean you said the parents told you the little girls were afraid of strangers,
21:26
wouldn't go near them. They got the same reactions from some of the neighbors
21:30
we talked two day before yesterday. Yeah, now we find out that all
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their own psychos in the area are clear, perfect alibis. When you figured
21:37
the killer couldn't have been a stranger to the little girls, that's right.
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There were only two strangers in the whole neighborhood the day of the girls disappeared
21:44
in the gardener and the salesman, and both of them had been checked and
21:47
cleared. As far as we know, the little girls wouldn't have gone that
21:49
far up on the hills alone. Of their own accord, and they wouldn't
21:52
have gone with the strangers. They had to be lured there and by someone
21:56
they knew. Any ideas could have been one of the neighbors checked every possible
22:00
out there. Glenn. We questioned him a half a dozen times, So
22:03
why there's one that might fit? Who's that called Jemmerson. Glenn Chandler had
22:11
been a veteran homicide officer before Ben or I joined the department. He was
22:15
tall, quiet and reserved. He had a good reason for everything he did,
22:18
for everything he thought. The three of us sat down and tried to
22:22
put the pieces together. Number one, Chandler uncovered a point that Ben and
22:25
I had missed completely. Jimmerson and his wife were not close friends of either
22:29
the Sperry family or the Griswolls. For a near stranger, he showed an
22:32
extraordinary interest in the welfare of the children after they disappeared. Number two,
22:37
Ben and I discovered that Jemmerson's wife had an eight year old boy by a
22:40
previous marriage. The child did not live with them. Missus Jimmerson told Chandler
22:45
that her husband had been cruel to the boy. She refused to elaborate.
22:48
Number three Jemmerson was the last person to see the children alive. Number four.
22:52
The bodies of the children had been well hidden in the underbrush. Jemmerson
22:56
found them. Number five. Jemmerson had been over backwards to make friends with
23:00
the investigating officers right from the start, because any veteran officer can tell you
23:03
that's not the usual attitude. At eight thirty am, Chandler, Ben and
23:07
I left the office. We spent the day digging back fifteen years into Jimmerson's
23:11
life. We got back to the office just after midnight Thursday, October thirty,
23:15
at ten am. We checked in. Okay, J're already thanks,
23:21
Come on, Ben, Yeah, good morning, mister Jimmerson. Oh how
23:33
are you, sergeant. Glad to see you down, Sorry buddy again,
23:36
hot at all. Glad to help anything new turn up. Would you kill
23:41
those two little girls? That's a funny thing to ask, of course,
23:44
not you know that. We ask everybody the same thing. Hope you're not
23:45
offended. Oh you kind of surprised me. I didn't know. Did you
23:49
kill those little girl? I don't understand. I told you no, of
23:52
course, not just start question routine. Did you kill him? Now?
23:57
Look, sergeant, how many times? Do I have to tell you?
24:00
No? Sorry? You don't have any children, do you? No?
24:03
We don't know step children. No. Why before you moved out to Southeyoria
24:07
Street, you and the wife lived out in West LA, didn't you.
24:11
Kilton Avenue? Oh yes, how'd you know? You recall them Mary Gibbs
24:15
out there Gibbs, No, six year old girl you were charged with molestinger.
24:21
That was back in nineteen forty four. They were crazy. They never
24:22
proved it before. Kilton there knew you lived in Santa Mona on Tenth Street.
24:27
Never. Yes, it was an eight year old girl, Donna Hanra.
24:32
That kid lied too. She asked me to fix her doll buggy.
24:34
I never went near her. What about your stepson, Why isn't he living
24:37
with you? Why did your wife send him to live with her sister?
24:41
Amy's crazy. I never harmed the boy. We didn't get along. That's
24:44
all I got on my nerves. You had four jobs in the past five
24:48
years. What were they? I don't know what you're talking about. You're
24:52
a janitor at a grammar school down the south end of town, then a
24:56
gardener at a children's playground. Then you were a shoe salesman children choose.
25:00
Then you worked at another grammar school. What does all this mean? Anyway?
25:03
What are you getting at? Have you ever been in jail? On
25:08
six months? There was some trouble. What kind of trouble. I didn't
25:11
know what I was doing. I was drinking. I didn't mean to bother
25:15
the kid. Well, that's all, Jefferson, routine question. You can
25:19
go now. Oh thanks, I hope you haven't got the wrong idea about
25:23
me. I like children, that's all sure, Thanks for coming in,
25:26
not at all such in anything I can do to help. Well, goodbye,
25:32
say Jimmerson. I almost forgot. There is one thing all, since
25:37
you're the one who found the little girls, will have to have you identify
25:38
the bodies. It won't take long more. Just across the street, up
25:42
the blood. Well, I'd like to help you, but I got an
25:45
appointment. All you have to do is look at them. We'll take you
25:47
long. Come on, let's go. I'd like to help Sargeant, but
25:51
I don't take these things while I get sick. We'll make it say not
25:55
this way, raining again. I'm sorry, Sajian. I don't think I
26:03
better go. Just identify him, it's all, won't take a minute.
26:08
Maybe if we had to drink before we went in, you can have one
26:11
after and watch it as heavy tramp. You know. Ltsans will have to
26:15
wait. I need to drink. I can't go in that place to start
26:19
a drink. He'll be all right, Okay, let's go. Morg's up
26:26
this way. I can't look at him. I get sick. Don't make
26:30
me nothing to it. You'll see. Here we are. We went down
26:36
the driveway. It's a short cut this way. Hi, Joe, gonna
26:48
help you. Yeah, Archie, those little girls fell. M Griswold,
26:53
Barbara Sperry, Oh yeah, this way, please right here, Joe,
27:04
Yeah, Elmo Griswell, recover Jemson. Yeah, jump kah. That's one
27:27
Barbra another one. You killed him, didn't you. Dog jumped at me.
27:38
She started to yell. Put my hand over her mouth. Then the
27:45
other kid. I hit them too hard. Hey, crime, Joe,
27:56
that's all all right. Huh, let's go. It wasn't my fault.
28:07
I like kids. I didn't understand. You need to do any mister.
28:12
Come on. The story you have just heard was true, only the names
28:26
were changed to protect the innocent. On March eighteenth, trial was held in
28:30
Superior Court, Department eighty seven, City in County of Los Angeles, State
28:33
of California, in a moment the results of that trial. Claude Willis Jimmerson
28:42
was tried and convicted of murder in the first degree. On April twenty third,
28:47
at ten am, he was executed in the lethal gas chamber of the
28:48
State Penitentiary. You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from
28:53
official files. Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the Office of Chief of Police.
28:57
W. A. Wharton, Your Tune for the Stars on NBC Welcome
29:15
Back. The first time I played this episode, I was so affected by
29:22
it that the next week I actually played a Dragnet parody that Bob Hope did
29:29
on his program. I won't be doing that this time. Do have five
29:33
other programs, but this episode really hit me the first time, and it
29:41
hit me again today as I was listening to it. And it did not
29:47
make my list of the twenty five best Dragnet episodes, which says more about
29:52
how great a series Dragnet is than it does about this particular episode. This
29:57
episode is just perfectly constructed, and it was dealing with an issue that you
30:06
just didn't talk about really in nineteen fifty, particularly not to the degree that
30:14
we do today, And there was a sensitivity in how it was handled.
30:22
I love the tone of that parental warning, so you weren't dealing with a
30:26
story that was being sensationalized. And the way that it was told and the
30:32
discovery of the bodies was handled, I thought was moving and very brilliant.
30:41
I think modern day filmmakers and producers ten more to go towards shock value of
30:49
showing us things, and I guess if you were doing it over radio,
30:53
some very graphic descriptions of what was seen. However, the reaction actions of
31:00
the officers, of Ben Romero and of the captain talking about how he had
31:07
been on the force for thirty two years and had never seen anything like it,
31:12
and led up to the commercial break with Friday's remark about them running up
31:18
a big will, just the captain's resolute line they're going to pay it.
31:23
Just a perfect exit to the commercial. And you also hear the police really
31:30
express their frustration with the laws and what they perceive as unfair criticism or somehow
31:37
not stopping this when they're dealing with laws that won't address problems and prosecutors who
31:45
won't take these issues seriously, and the frustration there. You can really feel
31:51
it and relate to it. And of course, as I was listening to
31:53
it, I was thinking, how much of this is still a pluck even
32:00
to our modern society. I think we do have increased awareness and less turning
32:07
a blind eye to the whole situation, but we still do see these cases
32:15
where these sort of repeat offenders commit these painis acc and it's really quite chilling,
32:22
so that I think makes it really striking. The other thing I did
32:28
like about this episode, not related to the offense at all, was the
32:31
detective who put them on the right trail and the description that Friday gave.
32:37
It's just such a great idea, and it brings home the point that even
32:44
though our focus is on these two guys, that we're dealing with a police
32:50
force. I think once you get into the nineteen sixties, series becomes much
32:54
more a show that's almost exclusive civilly on the leads in terms of sources of
33:01
ideas. Of course, at this point Jack Webb was still twenty nine and
33:07
Joe Friday probably the same age. By the time you get into the nineteen
33:12
sixties, they're pretty much the oldest people there, so that dynamic doesn't end
33:17
up working out as much. Now, I will say that some people,
33:22
when they do put the titles on this, and I don't know if this
33:25
was originally the title, but it's titled Claude Jimerson child Killer. I hate
33:32
titles that totally spoil the mystery of the episode. As it is, the
33:37
child Killer reveals something we don't not help halfway through the story organically, though
33:44
we have a hint of it from the intro. J Emmerson is an interesting
33:50
character in that the first time I heard it, he was the last person
33:54
I really suspected. And also the fact that as evil as he was,
34:01
the way he reacted in the morgue and how that led to his confession is
34:07
a point that I think is used to bolster the idea of the mad dog
34:13
analogy, and that a big part of the blame dragging that places in a
34:19
system that didn't stop him or he went this far. So a fascinating episode
34:25
of very chilling and very emotionally difficult to listen to it times. All right,
34:31
Well, now we turn to listener comments and feedback and Brian comments regarding
34:43
the big Man Part one. I have to admit, when I heard that
34:46
Joe Friday was going undercover, I thought, fat chance this episode won't be
34:52
that good. Who would believe that stiff Joe Friday as a drug dealer.
34:58
I think it was William Conra playing at Bad Guys that said you don't talk
35:01
much, to which Friday said you talked too much. After that, soon
35:06
I knew it was going to be a decent episode, and he can't wait
35:09
for part two. Neither can Bobby Lee. I think that it's important to
35:16
remember a lot of the perception of Web and his limits as an actor comes
35:27
from people's perception of the nineteen sixties show. I think, particularly the people
35:34
who first listened to this wouldn't have that feeling that he couldn't play a bad
35:43
guy or heavy or couldn't go undercover. He had been in Patnovac for Hire
35:51
about six months before that episode, so he could definitely be seen, particularly
35:59
in the radio audience. You'd heard him on Pat Novak slipping comfortably into being
36:06
undercover as a drug dealer, and believable that, in fact he continued to
36:10
play heavies in movies as late as nineteen fifty one, when he appeared in
36:17
Appointment with Death as Joe Regis and Harry Morgan also appeared in that particular film.
36:24
By the time Pete Kelly's Blues came out, he really was top cast
36:30
as a Sergeant Friday, which can really be a challenge when your role in
36:37
Pete Kelly's Blues is as a speakeasy cornetist. But at any rate, thanks
36:43
so much for the comments, Brian. All Right, Well, like I
36:46
said, today's episode, very serious and powerful. Well done, but as
36:54
I said, very serious and while it's not intentional. Tomorrow we have an
37:00
another listener support special and our fifteen hundredth episode special which will be a definite
37:07
change of pace, so you'll want to be sure and listen to that and
37:09
then join us back here on Saturday for another episode of Dragnet. In the
37:15
meantime, send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net. UH,
37:22
follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives. UH, be sure and support
37:27
our listener support campaign support dot Great Detectives dot net. But from Boise,
37:31
Idaho, this is your host, Adam Grahamson and off