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Transcript

Dragnet: The Big Poison (EP4532) · The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio)

• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, I'm
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of Dragnet. I
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: do want to encourage you, if you enjoy the podcast,
• 0:41
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• 0:45
  Speaker 1: is brought to you in part by the financial support
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  Speaker 1: of our listeners. You can support the show on a
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  Speaker 1: one time basis by me in a donation to Adam
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Graham Puelbox one five nine one three. That's Puelbox one
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: five nine thirteen, Boise, Idaho eight three seven one five.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: You can also become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters
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  Speaker 1: for as little lass two dollars per month at Patreon
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: to Great Detectives dot net, and I want to welcome
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  Speaker 1: Kevin as our latest Patreon supporter at the shameless level
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: of four dollars or more per month. Thank you so
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: much for your support, Kevin. And now, from September seventh,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: nineteen fifty, here's the Big Poison.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: The story you are about to hear is true, only
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: the names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: a detective sergeant here assigned a homicide detail. An old
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: couple suddenly disappeared from one of the fashionable neighborhoods in
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: your city. There's no trace of them, not a clue
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: to their whereof foul play is suspected. Your job find them.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: Dragnet the documented drama of an actual crime. For the
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department,
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: you will travel step by step on the side of
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: the law through an actual case, from official police folence,
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: from beginning to end, from crime to punishment. Dragnet is
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: the story of your police force in action.
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: It was Saturday, September thirtieth, was warm in Los Angeles.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: We were working the day shift out a homicide. My
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Captain Blaine Steed. My
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: name is Friday. Was three forty five pm when I
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: got to room sixty seven to eight missing persons.
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: Ali, Jill, Hi, where's al next door? I'll be back
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: in a minute.
• 2:57
  Speaker 6: There's a phone message for you in the book from
• 3:00
  Speaker 6: what is it this time? She didn't say you have
• 3:03
  Speaker 6: been a bad week? Oh what's the matter?
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: Loose? See him? Who our cat.
• 3:10
  Speaker 6: Again?
• 3:11
  Speaker 7: Kittens? I had to let them up by the time
• 3:14
  Speaker 7: I left the house, he was a healthy kid. Yeah,
• 3:18
  Speaker 7: don't know what I'm gonna do with him. Hey, your
• 3:21
  Speaker 7: mother likes cats, doesn't you know? You gave us two
• 3:24
  Speaker 7: from the last letter. We still got him as healthy
• 3:26
  Speaker 7: as their mother. Yeah, never pass up a meal.
• 3:29
  Speaker 8: Hi, Joe Hill, Sorry to keep you away, just getting
• 3:33
  Speaker 8: this report straightened up.
• 3:34
  Speaker 7: Ego, mister and missus Walter Apperson, how long they've been missing?
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: Well, today's the fourth day. They're a notally couple.
• 3:43
  Speaker 8: One of their next door neighbors got a little worried
• 3:45
  Speaker 8: when he didn't see him around the house kevi in
• 3:47
  Speaker 8: yesterday and filed at three sixteen on him.
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: See Clarence Stokely.
• 3:52
  Speaker 6: Is that the neighbor? Yeah, this is here.
• 3:55
  Speaker 8: He lived next to the Apersons for twenty eight years,
• 3:58
  Speaker 8: never knowing whom to take off like that. Checked Abstin's
• 4:01
  Speaker 8: cottage out there, dirty dishes on the kitchen table, not
• 4:04
  Speaker 8: the way an old couple leave the house normally.
• 4:06
  Speaker 6: How about friends and relevants.
• 4:08
  Speaker 8: Miss Stokely called him. None of them seen or heard
• 4:11
  Speaker 8: from the abersence for a week. Checked out two of
• 4:14
  Speaker 8: their three living relatives, cousin of Eagle Rock, and he's
• 4:16
  Speaker 8: no Hamburg.
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: I don't know a thing.
• 4:18
  Speaker 6: I wonder if I could see that man? Yeah, thank you.
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: Well, how about the third roun out team nephew? Is
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: that it Joe?
• 4:24
  Speaker 6: Yeah?
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: Frank Apperson says here he goes to a private college
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: out near Monroevia.
• 4:30
  Speaker 7: I haven't been able to contact the kitties away on
• 4:31
  Speaker 7: a vacation. Possibly a couple might be with him.
• 4:35
  Speaker 8: Not, according to Stokely, says the Appersons seldom spending time
• 4:38
  Speaker 8: away from their home.
• 4:40
  Speaker 6: That's all we've got to go on. Huh, just the
• 4:42
  Speaker 6: neighbor's story. Yeah.
• 4:43
  Speaker 8: Oh, he says he checked the garage too. Of the
• 4:45
  Speaker 8: absence car's gone. How does that die in? And mister
• 4:48
  Speaker 8: Aberson hasn't driven the car for the last year and
• 4:50
  Speaker 8: a half. He has a nephew or some friend drive
• 4:53
  Speaker 8: whenever he wants to go out. One more thing, they
• 4:56
  Speaker 8: mean something may not?
• 4:57
  Speaker 6: What's that?
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: Missus?
• 4:58
  Speaker 8: Apperson's an invalid, you know, shares a lesson neighborhood in
• 5:01
  Speaker 8: ten years.
• 5:04
  Speaker 6: Four PM.
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: Then and I left the office and drove out to
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: interview the neighbor of the missing couple. After checking at
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: his home, we finally located him at his place of business,
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: A small barber shop.
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: At the corner of fifty fourth Street in Maxford Place
• 5:16
  Speaker 6: the chip.
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: Gold lettering on the window read Jim Dandyton Sorroyl Parlor.
• 5:21
  Speaker 6: Smaller lettering in.
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: The right hand corner of the window read the proprietor,
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: Clarence Stokely except for a man in a white barber's.
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: Smock sitting in the first chair, and the shop was empty.
• 5:34
  Speaker 7: Dear gentlemen, Oh yeah, you Clarence Stoven that's right, police officers,
• 5:38
  Speaker 7: Michter Stokey, I could talk to you about the missing
• 5:40
  Speaker 7: person's report you filed yesterday.
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: Oh yes, God to help you find out anything.
• 5:44
  Speaker 6: Yet you know the Apperts pretty well, do you?
• 5:46
  Speaker 9: Mister Stoker twenty eight years sure worried about Bailer and
• 5:50
  Speaker 9: Kate never known him to do anything like this.
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: Say, I couldn't be of service to you, could I?
• 5:55
  Speaker 7: Well, I just had I heard a good a few
• 5:57
  Speaker 7: days ago. How about you, Joe, like you could stand
• 6:00
  Speaker 7: a trim. We could talk it over while I cut
• 6:03
  Speaker 7: your hair. Don't think we'd be disturbed? Nice to look well? Yeah, okay, final, yeah,
• 6:08
  Speaker 7: I'll take a cat.
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: Thank you, Jair, the.
• 6:16
  Speaker 7: M mister and missus Apperson didn't mention anything about going
• 6:22
  Speaker 7: away on a trip, didn't.
• 6:23
  Speaker 5: They not a word. That's what makes it so strange.
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: You let me fix this around your next year.
• 6:29
  Speaker 9: Oh yeah, play cards with them twice a week usually,
• 6:33
  Speaker 9: Katie Aperson's a fine whisp player.
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: Want me to take some off the sides here, officer?
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: Yeah? Please, not not too much? Though? When did you
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: first notice the Apersons weren't home?
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: Tuesday night? We thought we might go over and play
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: some cards.
• 6:47
  Speaker 9: I see, bet enough off right here, officer, let me see.
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that's fine. I was it. You waited until yesterday
• 6:56
  Speaker 6: to report the Aperson's.
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: Missing wife and I are great friends.
• 6:59
  Speaker 9: Will walk kid is, but it's setting me none of
• 7:02
  Speaker 9: our business if they want to go off for a
• 7:03
  Speaker 9: few days. Besides, he thought if anything was wrong, Buzz
• 7:08
  Speaker 9: would have said something. It was Bud Anderson's neph Bud
• 7:11
  Speaker 9: name is Frank, would ever called him?
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: Buzz?
• 7:14
  Speaker 9: I thought he was away at school place out in
• 7:16
  Speaker 9: near MONROEVI yeah, Stanley College, private school, and then he
• 7:20
  Speaker 9: stays there part of the time.
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: It's usually home early in the week. We were under
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: the impression of his nephew. Buzz was on a vacation
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: that's so.
• 7:30
  Speaker 9: That's the first time I've heard Honey, Walt and Katy
• 7:34
  Speaker 9: would have told us.
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: No, I'm sorry, a little dull head, dumb.
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: You think the nephew might account for the air person's
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: car being missing? I think he might have taken it
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: on his vacation.
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: Possible, I guess, But I think what would have mentioned it?
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: The car was old, but he was particular about it.
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: Maybe sit it out on top of here a little.
• 8:00
  Speaker 6: All right, fine, do you know the nephew at all?
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: Pretty well, nice young fellow.
• 8:07
  Speaker 6: He got along with his aunt and uncle, all right?
• 8:09
  Speaker 5: Did he just indeed?
• 8:11
  Speaker 6: I just loved him both.
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: Do you have any idea where the Appersons might be,
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: mister Stelphan, No, I don't, he does my wife. That's
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: why we call you people.
• 8:20
  Speaker 9: You don't mean to be Badinskis, but we're worried, maybe
• 8:24
  Speaker 9: just a little more off the top officer.
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: No, it's fine, it's okay. You have no idea where
• 8:29
  Speaker 6: we might find the nephew, Buzz not.
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: If he's away on vacation. Might check with the school.
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: Buzz might have gone off with a couple of his friends.
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: There's something to dampen that down.
• 8:40
  Speaker 9: Yeah, fine, Yeah, that porch lighted theirs burning for three
• 8:49
  Speaker 9: nights in three days.
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: It really kicks up the old electric bill.
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: Maybe the Appersons may have overlooked it.
• 8:55
  Speaker 9: Maybe all right, sir, it's a good looking haircut, if
• 9:01
  Speaker 9: I say so myself.
• 9:03
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it's fine.
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: Here you go, thank you. Oh, here's our card, mister Stokely.
• 9:12
  Speaker 6: We'll be checking will you? Bye bye? Can I borrow
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: your comb? Barber never combs your hair right, that's not
• 9:25
  Speaker 6: gonna help you. Huh.
• 9:27
  Speaker 7: It's the way you cut it, the what you mean?
• 9:29
  Speaker 7: He put the part on the other side.
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: After we left Clarence Stokely's barber shop, we drove out
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: to the Apperson home on fifty fourth Street, just below
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: Seaboard Avenue. We checked the house from top to bottom.
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: The closets and the bedrooms were well stocked with clothes.
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: None of the luggage seemed to be missing. In the basement,
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: back on one of the covered shelves, we found a
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: bottle of cyanide.
• 9:53
  Speaker 6: It was half filled. In the kitchen we found dirty
• 9:56
  Speaker 6: dishes still lying on the table. We put in a
• 9:58
  Speaker 6: call to right Pinker at the crime and he came out.
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: And took sample scrapings from each of the three plates
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: and specimens from each of the half filled cups of
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: coffee on the table. He also took along the bottle
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: of cyanide to examine it for fingerprints.
• 10:10
  Speaker 6: Ben and I called the record bureau just.
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: As a matter of routine and asked for any making
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: warrants on the nephew, Frank buzz Afersen. R and I
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: called back with the information that Frank Apperson had been
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: arrested for grand theft auto six weeks before his trial
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: was pending. We checked back with the barber, Clarence.
• 10:25
  Speaker 6: Stokely, he knew nothing about the trouble. The next morning, Sunday,
• 10:29
  Speaker 6: with the help of school authorities at.
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: Stanley College near Monrovia, we got in touch with the
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: parents of two of buzz Aperson's friends. They told us,
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: as far as they knew, Apperson was on a camping
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: trip with their sons. They were expected back in the
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: next day around noontime. From one of the boarding students
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: at Stanley College, we got the name of buzz Averson's girlfriend,
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: of missus, Norma Louise Bernard.
• 10:48
  Speaker 6: She lived in San Marino. Sunday night, we drove out
• 10:51
  Speaker 6: to interview her.
• 10:53
  Speaker 10: I don't know what I can tell you, Sergeant Buzzy's
• 10:55
  Speaker 10: on a camping trip with two of the fellas from school.
• 10:57
  Speaker 10: That's all I know.
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: When did he leave? Do you know me?
• 11:00
  Speaker 10: Last Monday morning? They left from school, said they'd be
• 11:02
  Speaker 10: gone for a week. They're coming back tomorrow.
• 11:05
  Speaker 6: You know Buzz Afferson pretty well?
• 11:07
  Speaker 10: Yes, I do, as well as anyone.
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: I guess what?
• 11:09
  Speaker 10: Is he?
• 11:09
  Speaker 6: Just a casual date?
• 11:11
  Speaker 10: Old Buzzy and I've been going steady for almost a
• 11:13
  Speaker 10: year now.
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: I see how old are you?
• 11:15
  Speaker 10: I'm nineteen.
• 11:17
  Speaker 6: Have you ever met the Afersons? His aunt and his.
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: Uncle just once?
• 11:20
  Speaker 10: They're awfully sweet?
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: How did Buzz get along with him? Do you know?
• 11:23
  Speaker 6: Well?
• 11:23
  Speaker 10: Fine? I guess the only argument Buzz ever told me
• 11:26
  Speaker 10: about was a month ago he wanted more allowance and
• 11:29
  Speaker 10: his uncle said no.
• 11:30
  Speaker 6: Was Buzz ever in any trouble to your annollige, Miss Vernin.
• 11:34
  Speaker 10: I don't think I know what you mean? What kind
• 11:35
  Speaker 10: of trouble?
• 11:36
  Speaker 6: I mean? Was he ever in any trouble at the
• 11:38
  Speaker 6: college or with the law on anyway?
• 11:39
  Speaker 10: Oh, you mean that car Buzz took about two months ago? Yeah,
• 11:44
  Speaker 10: we were supposed to go to this school dance and
• 11:46
  Speaker 10: Buzz didn't have a car. I guess he was ashamed.
• 11:49
  Speaker 10: He said he knew the fella he bowed the car from.
• 11:51
  Speaker 10: But the day after the dance the cops came.
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: How did his uncle react to that? Well, there was a.
• 11:55
  Speaker 10: Terrible row, Buzz said, I really shouldn't be telling you.
• 11:59
  Speaker 10: Budd May's promise.
• 12:01
  Speaker 6: How were feelings between the boy and his uncle before
• 12:04
  Speaker 6: he left on the trip that he mentioned anything to
• 12:05
  Speaker 6: you about that?
• 12:06
  Speaker 10: Well, we had a date last Sunday night. I asked
• 12:10
  Speaker 10: him how things were at home. He didn't seem to
• 12:11
  Speaker 10: want to talk about it.
• 12:13
  Speaker 6: The last time you saw him was Monday morning?
• 12:15
  Speaker 10: All right, yes, just before he left on the camping trip.
• 12:17
  Speaker 6: Were you're sure he went on that trip?
• 12:19
  Speaker 10: Well, of course, I'm sure. How do you mean, he said, No,
• 12:22
  Speaker 10: matter who asked you, I went on a camping trip,
• 12:24
  Speaker 10: he said, a couple of times.
• 12:25
  Speaker 6: Do you offer any explanation?
• 12:27
  Speaker 11: No?
• 12:27
  Speaker 10: But I knew everything was all right?
• 12:29
  Speaker 6: Oh? Was that so? How I could tell?
• 12:31
  Speaker 10: Wade kissed me.
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: The next morning Monday? Then and I checked with missing persons.
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: There was no additional information on the missing couple. We
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: phoned the barber, Clarence Stokely. He had seen or heard
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: nothing further of mister and missus. Apperson went down to
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: the bank where the Aversens had their account. With the
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: help of the manager, we found that three checks had
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: been passed on the Aperson checking account since the previous Wednesday,
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: a full day after the missing couple had been last seen.
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: One check was for one hundred dollars and two for
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: fifty dollars each. All of them had been cast in
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: Los Angeles and all bore the signature Walter Apperson. After
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: examination was found each signature had been carefully forged.
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: Ten forty five Am went back to the office.
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: Are you too going somelers?
• 13:17
  Speaker 12: Oh?
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: Hi, Ray now just coming?
• 13:19
  Speaker 6: He finished checking it stuff as a crime man.
• 13:21
  Speaker 12: Yeah, I was passing over this way. I thought i'd
• 13:24
  Speaker 12: drop off a re portfolio. Got it right here?
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: How to go?
• 13:27
  Speaker 12: Finger Prints on that bottle of cynode letton Prince gotta make.
• 13:31
  Speaker 12: Here's the name on it, Frank was Aperson.
• 13:35
  Speaker 6: You look over those dirty dishes we found.
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: In the Aperson house, checked them through nothing.
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: How about the samples you took from those cups?
• 13:41
  Speaker 12: Iever drank? That cuffee is in trouble, it's loaded. Yeah enough,
• 13:45
  Speaker 12: sign I had to kill a horse.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: You are listening to Dragnet, the case history of a
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: police investigation presented in the public interest.
• 14:09
  Speaker 6: Monday, one PM.
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: We obtained a specimen of Frank buzz Aferson's signature and
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: we had Don Myers and Handwriting check it out against
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: the signatures on.
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: The three checks.
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: Both styles of handwriting matched in every detail. At one
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: thirty PM, the parents of buzz Aferson's two friends called
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: to tell us that their sons were back from their
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: camping trip. We checked the Aperson home. The nephew wasn't there.
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: We drove out to see his two friends. Under questioning,
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: one of them finally broke and admitted that buzz Aperson
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: had not gone with him on the camping trip. In
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: the process of questioning the boys, one of them told
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: us that he had been with a suspect two days
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: before the trip when he purchased some medicine at the
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: campus drug store.
• 14:46
  Speaker 6: We went to the drug store and checked the prescription book.
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: It showed Frank buzz Aferson had purchased and signed for
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: a bottle of cyanide two days before the disappearance of his.
• 14:53
  Speaker 6: Aunt and uncle. Ben and I drove back to the
• 14:56
  Speaker 6: Aperson house. When we arrived the officers on stakeout had
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: the boy and co. No.
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: I'm sorry, officers, I wish I could help you out.
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: But well, maybe it's not as bad as you think.
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: When did you last see your aunt and uncle Monday
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: before I left on the camping trip. Is there in
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: the habit of going off like this other? Oh? Sure,
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: Aunt Kate and Uncle Walter have friends all over. They
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: go on trips all the time. That's so how do
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: they get there? They drive, both of them. They've been
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: driving for years.
• 15:22
  Speaker 6: We talk to your uncle's friend, mister Stokely next door.
• 15:26
  Speaker 6: He says, your aunt and uncle I haven't been driving
• 15:27
  Speaker 6: for at least a year and a half.
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: Stokely the barber. He's one of the neighborhood cranks. Sergeant,
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: Anybody around here can tell you that mind's everybody's business
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: but his own. You don't seem too worried about your
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: aunt and Klin think they're all right. Well, we'd have
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: heard by now if they weren't, don't you think, sir,
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: They probably took off on a trip that's just about
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: the size of it.
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: I think now about this trip of yours, sir, Well,
• 15:51
  Speaker 6: this camping trip that you just come from, Oh, a.
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: Couple fellas from school. We went camping up by Big
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: Bear for a week. Pretty good fishing for September. Ever
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: been up there? Yeah, of you for sure. I just
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: said that's why we've been camping. So I'm a little thirsty.
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: There's a couple of bottles of ale in the refrigerator.
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: Care for a bottle?
• 16:11
  Speaker 6: No?
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: Would you mind if I had one? Sure could use it.
• 16:15
  Speaker 6: No, you go right ahead when you talk.
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: In the kitchen places in kind of a mess, so
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: I'll have to go in and clean it up. Is
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: your rent usually leave in a hurry like that?
• 16:24
  Speaker 6: Not?
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: Usually? No dishes all over the place. She probably figured
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: she'd wait till she got back to clean up. Aunt
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: Kate does things like that once in a while. That's her. Yeah,
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: she's like that sometimes. Well happy days?
• 16:45
  Speaker 6: Yeah, okay, buzz. You want to tell us where are they?
• 16:54
  Speaker 6: Your rent and uncle? What happened?
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: See? I don't think I know what you're talking about.
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: What's the trouble?
• 16:59
  Speaker 7: Come on, you know what the trouble is. Let's have
• 17:01
  Speaker 7: a straight story. I'm gonna save a lot of time, sir.
• 17:04
  Speaker 7: We can draw it out as long as you lie.
• 17:07
  Speaker 7: It'd be a lot easier if you co operate.
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: Look, I don't know what you're thinking, sergeant, but whatever
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: it is, I don't understand you. What are you getting at.
• 17:14
  Speaker 6: Something's happened to your aunt and uncle. We're pretty sure
• 17:16
  Speaker 6: you know what it is.
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: Well, how could I I've been away in this camping trip.
• 17:19
  Speaker 6: You've been away, but not on a camping trip, sir.
• 17:21
  Speaker 7: We've checked you out from the day you came to
• 17:23
  Speaker 7: live with your aunt and uncle. Boy, you're gonna make
• 17:26
  Speaker 7: us spell out the whole record.
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: Boy, but I've been away. I just got back. I
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: don't know what's happened.
• 17:31
  Speaker 6: We found a bottle of cyanide in the basement cupboard.
• 17:33
  Speaker 6: Your fingerprints are all over it.
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: Well, sure that figures. We use it for bug poison
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: in the garden. I take care of the garden. I
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: use it all the time, use it in coffee, sir.
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: The police chemist checked what was left in two of
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: the cups that were on the table. There cyanide in
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: both of them. And have to kill six people. Hell, look, boy,
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: we've talked to your neighbors, your teachers, your girlfriend Norma,
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: and those two pals you were supposed to go camping with.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: Now we can drag all of them out if we
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: have to. They're gonna make a liar out of you, Sir.
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: I think you got it the first time.
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: There couldn't be any cyanide in those cups. Why should
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: there be?
• 18:03
  Speaker 10: What you think?
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: You didn't tell us that, But I can't. I don't
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: know anything about this. I haven't any idea what you're
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: talking about.
• 18:09
  Speaker 6: It?
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: Is this some kind of a gag? You know better
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: than men?
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: How about those checks buzz, sir, the ones you forged
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: your uncle's signature on.
• 18:17
  Speaker 6: You need the money?
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: That man.
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: I didn't forge any checks. I was away on a
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: camping trip. David Willie were with me. They can tell
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: you he got in.
• 18:24
  Speaker 6: A row with your uncle, maybe about that stolen cars,
• 18:27
  Speaker 6: that how it happened.
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: He'd had nothing to do with it. I want to
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: see Norma. I want to talk to David Willie. They'll
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: tell you.
• 18:32
  Speaker 6: How about the man at the campus drugs, Sir, when
• 18:35
  Speaker 6: you bought the cyanide from? He won't talk to him too.
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: Look are you two fellas kidding me? This must be
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: some kind of a gag. Is it?
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: Your aunt and uncle are missing? There's evidence of foul
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: PLAYE dow does that sound like a joke.
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: How should I know where they are? I wasn't there.
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: I want to talk to Norma. I want to see
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: Davin Willie. They'll tell you. Why don't we drive over
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: and see him?
• 18:55
  Speaker 6: Now? Sorry? With us, I won't get your coat.
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: Sure, Alma is a girl. I'm engaged to Dadan Willie.
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: Are my best friends? You know everything about me? Couple
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: real nice guys and so sure.
• 19:12
  Speaker 6: That's cooling.
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Davian Willy been all through school with me, thinking about.
• 19:17
  Speaker 6: You for me. Yeah.
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: Sure you can take their word too.
• 19:21
  Speaker 6: We will. Five point fifty pm, we left the Avererson house,
• 19:27
  Speaker 6: dove across.
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: Town and headed over the Arroyo Seco toward the home
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: of the suspect's friend, Dave Killer for six thirty three pm,
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: which ak a right turn off the freeway, headed south
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: for another mile, and finally pulled up in front of
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: the Killer for home.
• 19:39
  Speaker 6: Buzz Afferson's friend Dave met us at the front door.
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: What's it all about anyway, Buss? What's the pitch? Well,
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: that's what I want to know. Look, is this some
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: kind of a gag you guys cooked up on me?
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: We were on the trip, buzz I don't know anything
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: about any gag. What's all this about your aunt and knuckle?
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: I don't know that's what these officers want to find out.
• 20:00
  Speaker 7: I'd like to have you tell us again. Dave, was
• 20:02
  Speaker 7: Buzz here with you on that gaming drip?
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: Sure, that's why we came over. I'll tell him about it,
• 20:07
  Speaker 5: you know.
• 20:09
  Speaker 6: All right? Let's have it, Dave? Was he with you
• 20:12
  Speaker 6: on that trip?
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: These officers aren't kidding Buzz. They want the truth. Well
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: tell him I was with you and Willie. We went
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: to Big Bear.
• 20:20
  Speaker 13: You're looking for your aunt and nuncle. I'm not gonna
• 20:23
  Speaker 13: lie now. You didn't go to Big Bear with us?
• 20:27
  Speaker 6: All right? Dave? Thanks?
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: Well, he's lying. Officers who put you up to this stunt?
• 20:33
  Speaker 6: Dave?
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: They'll throw you in the jug for a gag like this?
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: Who's behind it?
• 20:36
  Speaker 13: You're the guy who said it was a gag? He
• 20:39
  Speaker 13: told us to tell everybody Rubbert the Big Bear was
• 20:41
  Speaker 13: Willy and me? How about leveling? What's it about? He's lying?
• 20:47
  Speaker 13: What's it about?
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: You've got nothing to hide?
• 20:51
  Speaker 10: Have you?
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: He's lying? You can tell that, can't you. Let's go
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: talk to Willie. He'll tell you the truth. Joe, all right,
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: thank you, Dave. That's all all right, sergeant. Sure, there
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: isn't anything I can do.
• 21:05
  Speaker 6: Oh thanks, just the same, Good night.
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: Okay Knife. Anybody could tell he was lying, isn't that right? Sergeant?
• 21:15
  Speaker 6: Well he's your friend was Why do you say that?
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: Well? He was just plain lying, that's all. Couldn't you tell?
• 21:22
  Speaker 6: No? I couldn't. How about you?
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: Ben? Mean, why would he lie? Boy? He told us
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: he was your pail. Some kind of a stupid gag.
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: They're pulling a gang in the fraternity. I belong to.
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: Dave's one of them. They've done it before. I don't
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: know why they're lying, but they are.
• 21:40
  Speaker 6: Where's your friend? Will he live?
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: Sir?
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: You said he wanted to drive over and have us
• 21:44
  Speaker 6: talk to Willie?
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: Oh? Yeah, where does he live? Look? Would you mind
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: very much? How's that? I got a terrible headache? Would
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: you mind very much? Just driving around a while, like
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: to clear my head a little and figure this thing out?
• 22:01
  Speaker 6: All right? Once you roll down the window there, buzz.
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: Okay, Yeah, yeah it feels good. Sure it's hot out tonight. Yeah.
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: Uh been a pretty long summer, hasn't it?
• 22:24
  Speaker 6: Yeah? It has? Say?
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: I guess maybe we ought to forget about going over
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: to Willie's place. He strings along with the rest. He'd
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: probably lie too, he said, you wanted to want to
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: just have a cok with him? Yeah, but I've been
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: thinking about it. He'd only lie. It'd be better if
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: we drove over to see Norma. That's the girl I'm
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: engaged to.
• 22:43
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that's what we understand.
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: If anybody can give you a straight story, Norma can.
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: She doesn't live far straight down the road here in
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: the San Marino.
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: Yeah, we know.
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: Oh, sure would appreciate it if you drive over there. Okay,
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: Norma can straighten this thing out. Swell girl, we're going
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: to get married as soon as we can.
• 23:01
  Speaker 6: Oh.
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: Yeah, she saw me leave on that trip to Big Bear.
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: She won't lie to you. Sure. Wish my aunt and
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: uncle had left a note where they were going.
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: All this trouble, you might have finally had a couple
• 23:19
  Speaker 6: of things for you. Buzz.
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: How what do you mean when a police officer picked
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: somebody up, he's got a good reason for it.
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: Yeah, but Dave was lying, Sergeant. You know that.
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: It's a lot more on what Dave had to say.
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: You've done something wrong.
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: We don't know what exactly, but We've got an idea
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: and we're gonna find out.
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: You can't prove anything. I got that cyanide for the garden.
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: We used around the house for different things.
• 23:39
  Speaker 6: You don't use it in coffee cups. What happened? Boy?
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: Where's your aunt and uncle?
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: Next? Turn for normous house? Up by the signal, turn left?
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, come on, buzz you know what happened. You're gonna
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: have to face it sooner or later. If it's not tonight,
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: then tomorrow morning or tomorrow night or the night after.
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: I don't know what happened.
• 23:56
  Speaker 6: The facts say you do, and they're not going to disappear. Now.
• 23:59
  Speaker 6: You made the problem. It's going to stick out in
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: front of you ill you find an answer. How about it?
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: Normal? No, what to do? Way till I talk to normal?
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: Why don't you stand up and face it? Boy? Getting
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: your girl mixed up? And this isn't gonna help.
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: She'll know what to do.
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: Can she finds your aunt and uncle? Can't she? How
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: about the three checks? How about them? Can she explain
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: those signatures that you forged? Maybe those fingerprints in the
• 24:26
  Speaker 6: cyanide bottle? Can she help you out there?
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: Oh?
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: Look, Buzz, I believe you you love the girl if
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: you want to mixed up in all this.
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: Where we are Joe.
• 24:38
  Speaker 6: Okay, that's the right house, isn't it.
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's Normo's house.
• 24:48
  Speaker 6: All right, what's it gonna be? Do we win?
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: She cries?
• 24:53
  Speaker 14: She only cried. Norma thinks he'll love to me. Yeah,
• 24:58
  Speaker 14: she's a swell girl. I don't want to have to
• 25:00
  Speaker 14: tell her she don't cried. Yeah, I killed my half
• 25:05
  Speaker 14: and uncle.
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: Eight pm.
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: Buzz Avererson directed us to drive to San Pedro, to
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: the west basin of the Los Angeles Harbor.
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: We got out of the car and followed him to
• 25:17
  Speaker 6: the end of one of the piers. He told us
• 25:19
  Speaker 6: the story and we put in a call to the office.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: Within half an hour, fireboat and a barge were on
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: the scene, and a diver was sent down into the
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: water a few yards from the.
• 25:28
  Speaker 6: Edge of the pier. We stood by and watched buzz Afferson.
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: Ben and I.
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: I put quite a bit of sign I had in
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: the coffee. I had to be sure I ge managed
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: to get both of them in the car. I waited
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: till way after dark, and then I dragged him out,
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: drove down to the end of the pier right here
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: put the car in low. He went over right where
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: the diver went down, just at this end of the barge.
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: All right, there was lines up there. You've got to
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: stand back and yeah, watch it.
• 26:08
  Speaker 6: Okay, so let's go.
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: But yeah, my aunt only one thing missing, boy, sir?
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: The reason why'd you do it?
• 26:26
  Speaker 15: I'm not sure anymore? Stolen cart, trouble. I guess my
• 26:31
  Speaker 15: trial was coming up. All I have of trouble. I
• 26:35
  Speaker 15: didn't want my aunt and uncle to go through all that.
• 26:38
  Speaker 6: I mean, that's why you killed him, I think so.
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: I didn't want him to be ashamed of me. That
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: must sound funny.
• 26:46
  Speaker 6: Nobody's gonna believe it.
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: I suppose I don't. Yeah, would make any difference.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: The story you have just heard is true, only the
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: names were changed to protect the innocent.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: On December fifteenth, trial was held in Superior Court, Department
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: ninety two, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: In a moment the results of that trial.
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: And now here is our star, Jack Webb, thank you.
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: To successfully prosecute a criminal suspect, the working detective gathers
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: all available physical evidence in the crime lab. This evidence
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: is carefully selected in screened to determine its worth.
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: Frank buzz Apperson was tried and convicted of murder in
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: the first degree and sentenced to life imprisonment. He is
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: now serving his term in the state penitentiary.
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: You have just heard.
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: advice for Dragnet comes from the Office of Chief of
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: Police W. H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.
• 27:53
  Speaker 6: Coming up, Duffies Tavern, be sure to hear theodre Gil
• 27:55
  Speaker 6: Sunday on NBC.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome Back. This is a case where the killer has
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: some cleverness but thinks he is far more clever than
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: he really is. He left so many holes and made
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: so many mistakes, yet somehow he imagined he's going to
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: pull the wool over the police's eyes and talk his
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: way out of it. This episode had me wondering what
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: else he might have gotten away with that made him
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: think that he could pull this. As it became more
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: and more apparent that the police had him dead to rights,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: it finally took Friday cutting through his nonsense to point
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: out that someone he actually cared about would get hurt
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: if he continued in this. To get the guy to
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: see Sam Well now we turn to listener comments and feedback,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: and we have a comment on YouTube regarding the Big Chance.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: It's actually posted regarding the first time we played the
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Big Chance back during season six. Nevertheless, it's still applicable.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Deliah writes, one of my favorite Dragnet episodes. I love
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: when there's a good fight between them and the bad guys.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: I can really picture the fight or what I think
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: it looks like. Then I realize it's radio and what
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: it would have looked like. Thanks for all you do well,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: thanks so much, Deliah and I would agree that this
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: was a solid fight scene, and Dragnet fight scenes are
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: usually really good because they don't happen all the time.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Most of the time, they're relatively short and not over indulgent.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: I think the only exception to that would be in
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: the nineteen fifty four movie That one went on a
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: good while and it ended up with Friday and Smith
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: both being bloody messes at the end of it, which
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: does happen in police work but not typically on Dragnet.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: I remember being shot by Frank Smith, being in this
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: really bloody fight, and I was like, wait, Frank Smith.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Frank Smith wouldn't do that cuddle a polite, friendly Frank Smith.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: But that is realism. The friendliest well trained police officer
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: you can find has to be ready at a moment's
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: notice to engage in hand to hand combat when called upon.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: And what dragging that portrays is that ninety nine percent
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: of the time plus that's not something that they're going
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: to engage in, but when called upon to do so,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: they are ready to do so. Well, now it is
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day, and
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: I want to go ahead and thank Kilva, who's been
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: one of our Patreon supporters since December twenty twenty three,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: currently supporting the podcast at the shamous level of four
• 30:52
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• 30:54
  Speaker 1: support and that will do it for today. If you're
• 30:57
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• 31:00
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• 31:04
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• 31:07
  Speaker 1: and mark the notification bell. We will be back next
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Saturday with another episode of Dragnet. Tomorrow on our Great
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Detectives feed, we will be cross posting the first of
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: our two amazing World of Radio Fall specials, and also
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: this weekend watch public Domain Video Theater. We'll have an
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: episode of Racket Squad for you and your regular Great
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: Detectives of Old Time radio lineup resumes on Monday with
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: the adventures of the falcon Wear.
• 31:38
  Speaker 11: Victor Mike Wearing. Please Mike, Well, how about you, bright eye.
• 31:44
  Speaker 6: I'm busy, but.
• 31:45
  Speaker 11: I thought you might be interested in this flash. It
• 31:47
  Speaker 11: just came over the teletype.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: I'll read it to you.
• 31:50
  Speaker 11: Paul McKenzie and Wayne Thompson broke out of jail tonight
• 31:53
  Speaker 11: at nine thirty. May be headed for New York. These
• 31:57
  Speaker 11: men are dangerous. Use caution and apprehending. So doesn't it
• 32:01
  Speaker 11: mean anything to you?
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: Good?
• 32:03
  Speaker 11: I think so. Remember the Wibber hold up a few
• 32:07
  Speaker 11: years back. You represented the insurance company.
• 32:10
  Speaker 5: Oh yeah, Attendsey was the boy.
• 32:13
  Speaker 6: We grabbed me.
• 32:13
  Speaker 11: As I recall, he was kind of peeved at you.
• 32:16
  Speaker 11: Didn't he make a couple of threats.
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: I was just blowing off steam.
• 32:19
  Speaker 11: Well, I'm glad you feel that way. Frankly, I don't.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Send your comments to Box thirteen at Greatdetectives dot net.
• 32:31
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• 32:35
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• 32:40
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• 32:44
  Speaker 1: Off