Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true.
Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
NBC brings you Dragnet.
You're a detective sergeant.
You're assigned to robbery detail.
There's a potential killer on the loose in your city.
Eighteen women have been beaten and robbed by this man.
The newspapers call him the werewolf.
Your job is to get him.
Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime investigated and solved by the men who
unrelentingly stand watch on the security of your home, your family, and your life.
For the next 30 minutes in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will
travel step by step on the side of the law through an actual case, from beginning to
end, from crime to punishment.
Dragnet is the story of your police force in action.
It was Thursday morning, February 2nd.
It was raining in Los Angeles.
We were working the early morning watch out of robbery detail.
Detectives in Los Angeles work in pairs.
My partner's Ben Romero.
He's a sergeant and so am I.
My name's Friday.
The boss is Ed Backstrand, chief of detectives.
I was on the way back from the teletype room and it was 3 a.m. when I got to room 27A, robbery
detail.
Hi, Ben.
What's up?
Keep your coat on, Joe.
Just had a hot shot call.
Coming, Skipper.
Right behind you.
Let's go, Freddie.
Well, what was it, Ed?
Another woman robbed, almost beaten to death.
Well, how many does that make?
About 18 in six weeks.
Is that right, Skipper?
Yeah, 18 too many.
Come on down these stairs to the garage.
Yeah.
What about that suspect we had, Ed?
You mean Martin?
Yeah.
Had to release him this morning.
But I got a good tail on him, Henderson.
Yeah, we got any reports yet?
Nothing definite to hold him for.
Here's the garage.
Let's hustle it.
Right.
Then if this isn't Martin's job, Skipper, and he's not the right man...
Then we start all over again and we work night and day till we find the right man.
Here's the car.
Let's go.
Ben, you drive.
Yeah, all right.
How do the victims describe this guy, Ed?
Pretty sketchy.
Supposed to be tall, dark, long black hair.
Last woman said he had a face like an animal, something like a dog.
A wolf.
A wolf?
Yeah.
She said, something like a werewolf.
Something like a werewolf.
Well, he almost had to be that, judging from the way he operated.
He was either an animal or a raving maniac.
One thing we were sure of, he was smart and he was dangerous.
For almost two months, he'd foul the streets in a stolen car in the early morning, usually
between 3 and 5 a.m.
And the victims were always lone women, most of them waitresses coming to work or going
home.
He dragged them into the car, robbed them, beat them until they were unconscious, and
then threw the body out into the street.
That's just what we found when we pulled up to the curb near the corner of 8th and Grand.
One cruiser car was already there and so was the ambulance.
About a dozen people were standing around looking at the crumpled figure of a woman
sprawled out on the sidewalk.
Two officers were talking to the only witness, a thin, sallow-faced newsboy.
His story didn't give us much to go on.
Like I was telling these cops or these officers, sir, I was walking up 8th Street on my way
home as usual when I see this blue Chevy sedan pull up down a block there a little way and
dump out the dame's body.
Actually, I don't know what to think.
Did you get a look at the license plate?
Well, no, I didn't.
To tell you the truth, I could hardly keep from...
I was just plain scared.
What did you do after you saw him throw the body out, son?
I just stood there for a minute and the fellow in the car drove right on past me.
Did you get a look at him?
I sure did.
How close were you when he drove past?
Well, couldn't have been more than 8 or 10 feet away.
I was right over there by the street light near the curb.
Would you know this man if you saw him again?
I don't know about his height or his build or his weight, but, mister, his face I'll never forget.
Why do you say that?
It was just like the paper says about him.
Right here on the front page. Here, read it.
See?
Woman says the attacker looked like werewolf.
That's all the newsboy could tell us.
The suspect drove a blue sedan.
He had a face like a werewolf.
We covered the neighborhood for clues and we questioned a dozen people, but we got nowhere.
We took the witnesses' name and address and we drove down a couple of blocks to an all-night gas station.
14-R, ultimate call.
I'm going in here and call the office and see if Henderson's called in on Martin.
We might still have a suspect.
Right, skipper.
Looks as mad as a wet hornet, doesn't it, you?
Yeah.
Did you get a good look at that woman's face when they moved her in the ambulance?
Hell. Sure does like to mess them up.
I don't know how we're going to get them, Ben, but we better do it fast. Next time it'll probably be murder.
Well, here comes the skipper, Joe.
Uh-oh. Doesn't look good.
What is it, Ed?
Just talked to Henderson.
He tailed Martin to a bar in Long Beach.
He hasn't been out of his sight for two minutes since yesterday. Martin's clear.
And we're right back where we started.
Yeah, with one more half-dead woman in the hospital.
Well, how about that stone and cars, skipper?
Wait a minute, wait a minute. Get that radio up.
Okay.
Code 3, ambulance dispatched.
Attention, all units on Grand Avenue between Venice and Washington.
A woman victim of robbery and attack. Code 3, ambulance detached.
Code 3, red light and siren. Come on, Friday, let's roll.
Oh, we couldn't be sure, but it sounded like another one.
Six minutes later we were there.
Same story. Werewolf.
The next day the chief ordered the number of cruiser cars doubled in the central district.
This was for the early morning watch with plain clothesmen to back them up.
Then the newspapers played it vague and in two days the story was on the front page of every paper in town.
Maybe that should have made the werewolf lay low, but it didn't.
Because at four o'clock that morning while Ben and I were patrolling with the other cars he got his twentieth victim.
Attention, all units. Whittier between Soto and Matthews.
A woman victim of 211 and attack. Code 3, ambulance dispatched.
Here's a report on that blue sedan he used the other night, Joe.
Found it out on Anaheim Telegraph Road.
Any luck with it?
Not one fingerprint we can use.
Anything else?
Nothing.
Well, how about the auto theft details?
Same old story, Joe. He steals a car, use it once and then drops it. Never leaves a thing behind.
That's great. We're sure moving fast.
How about that big guy you picked out of the line up this morning?
Oh, I checked his alibi. It's perfect.
Now we haven't got even half a clue.
Yeah. Well, come on, let's check with Eddie. He's instructing the police women on a plan for tonight.
All right. Now you've heard the reports, you understand how the suspect operates and what you're to do.
Remember, all of you forget you were ever police women. Change the way you walk.
The way you carry yourselves. That's the part you're playing, all right?
And be careful and don't take any chances. All right, Freddie.
Okay, Ed. Now, just to make sure you look the part, we're spotting each one of you at different restaurants and coffee shops throughout the central district.
From seven o'clock tonight until daylight tomorrow, each one of you is going to be a waitress. You got that?
Yeah.
Okay, Ben, you want to give them their assignments?
Okay, Joe. Now here's the way it lines up.
Marge Kissel at the Top Hat Cafe. That's on 9th Street between Alpharad and Westlake.
Okay.
And Katie Wells, Joe's Coffee House, Brooklyn Soto.
Right.
Pat Fieldon at the All Night Steakhouse on Fegarore Street between Florida and Denver.
No, the trick of using decoys to lure criminals into a trap wasn't exactly new, but, well, it was just one of the old tricks that we figured might land the werewolf behind bars.
At seven that night, Ben and I made the rounds and found each of the police women on her job as a waitress.
Well, the overall plan was simple. The girls were to leave the different restaurants between 3 and 5 a.m. that morning and pretend they were walking home.
We mapped different courses for each one of them to throw out as much bait as possible and yet not to make it look suspicious.
Each police woman from the time she left the restaurant and stepped out into the deserted streets would be pretty much on her own.
We had officers planned it all along the way at designated intervals, but a big element of chance and danger was still there.
All we could do was cross our fingers and hope.
How much more time, Joe?
Let me see. She's doing two minutes.
Yeah. Waiting gets on your nerves.
That'll won't be long.
This corner doorway's a pretty good look, houseboy.
Yeah. Wait a minute. Listen.
Who is it, Joe? Can you see?
Get back.
What is it?
Wait a minute. It's Marge Kissel. There's a man following her.
A big guy.
If it's the werewolf, where's his car?
I don't know. Maybe he changed his plans. Get back. Here they come.
Get a look at him, Joe.
Oh, pretty good. Not too suspicious. Might be coincidence.
I got a pretty good lead. Come on, let's go.
Stay back in the shadows.
Joe.
So where'd the guy go to? I lost him.
A little coffee shop up on the next corner. See? Take a look.
Oh, yeah, yeah. He's opening the door.
He's turning on the latch. Looks like a false alarm, Joe.
Well, let's check him anyway.
Well, I didn't think we'd be that lucky on the first try, and we weren't.
We asked the man a few questions, and it didn't take him long to show us he wasn't our man.
He owned the coffee shop.
So Ben and I went back and took up our posts again and waited for the next decoy.
We covered that ten-block course six times that morning, back and forth, following the bait.
But it was almost as if the guy could sense a trap.
Not once did we get a nibble.
By the time our last decoy finished the route, it was almost daylight.
Joe, I never was so glad to see that sun come up in my whole life.
My feet feel like they're puffing right up out of my shoes.
Yeah, me too.
Come on, let's get over to the car and check on the other squad out in Boyle Heights.
Oh, hit the radio, will you, Ben?
Yeah.
Joe, there must be some easier job on the force than this.
Yeah, you and me both.
Now let's see what happens to the others, huh?
80K to unit 104K, come in.
104K to unit 80K, go ahead.
104K, this is Friday.
You doing any good out there?
This is Miller, I'll call Curtis.
Stand by.
80K to 104K, Roger.
What do you think, Joe? Maybe a buy?
I don't know.
This guy seems to work like a mind reader.
Well, he can't win all of them.
104K to unit 80K, this is Curtis, go ahead.
This is Friday, Al.
How'd you do out there? Any luck?
Just checked in the last gal, Joe.
Eddie Welch, not assigned.
Okay, Al, have the men check in.
80K clear, KGPL.
Okay, let's go, Ben.
When we finally got back to the office that morning,
both Ben and I were ready for some sleep,
but it didn't look like we were gonna get it.
We just about finished going through the overnight reports
for some kind of a lead when the phone rang.
Robbery Friday.
Hi, Joe, this is Wilkerson, auto theft.
Hi, Wilkie, you got something for us?
Not much, Joe, but it might work into something.
Just got a report in on a pair of stolen license plates.
Oh?
Yeah, I'm not much of a hawk show,
but I figure there's just a chance
it might be you a werewolf boy.
How come?
I don't know, maybe just a hunch.
After 13 years in this business,
you get to know thieves pretty well.
Sometimes you got to even think like them.
Okay, Wilkie, thanks.
We'll check by in a couple of minutes.
All right, Joe.
What do you have to say?
A pair of license plates stolen last night.
Wilkie's got a hunch it could have been our man.
That might be an angle, Joe.
If that werewolf guy had hang on to one car long enough,
we'd have a chance at him.
Well, he's too smart for that.
I don't know, Joe.
Sooner or later, he's gonna make a mistake.
Yeah.
Come on, let's check with Wilkie.
Well, we checked with Wilkerson.
We got the best piece of news we'd had in days.
On the average, 95% of stolen cars
are recovered or located within 24 hours.
In the remaining 5%,
Wilkerson, by a simple process of elimination,
narrowed down the number of cars
the suspect might be driving.
Wilkie figured six cars.
There they are.
Now, I'll bet you if you picked up your man tonight,
he'd be in one of these cars.
Let me see, huh?
Two-door black sedan, yellow convertible,
another sedan, green, blue coupe, black coupe,
and a gray convertible.
Well, that's good work, Wilkie.
At least we got something to look for now.
Yeah, you're right, Joe.
Now, Wilkie, you got the numbers
of those stolen plates you're talking about?
Yeah, right here, Ben.
They're already on the hot sheet.
Good. Keep us posted, huh?
As usual, Ben.
See you later, Wilkie.
That's a good break, Ben.
Something to keep us busy tonight.
Tonight? What do you mean?
We're setting another trap.
Same thing as last night.
Same police women, same everything.
Well, only this time let's hope he steps into it.
You know, Joe, this werewolf character's getting me mad.
That night, we followed in our own footsteps.
We planted the police women decoys
in three separate districts,
and a few minutes before 3 a.m.,
our squad of men took up their positions.
The same police women went to their waitress jobs
in the same restaurants,
and Ben and I and the rest of the men
stood in darkened doorways
or empty filling stations.
Whatever cover we could find.
And we waited and waited.
What time is it, Joe?
Let me look.
Half past four.
Thank you.
Any sign, Joe?
No, nothing yet.
Come on, stay in the shadows.
That's the way it went all through the early morning.
Same plan over and over again until daylight.
Ben and I had to check in at the station,
go over the late stolen car reports with Wilkie,
catch a few hours sleep at home,
and then come back and do it all over again.
The next night, the next morning,
the night after that, and the morning after that.
Five days later, Ben and I were ready to call it quits.
I'll admit it, Joe, I can't figure it.
The guy's either psychic
or else he can smell a cop a mile away.
Yeah, well, at least we got that stolen car angle left.
You check with Wilkie yet this morning?
I'll give him a call now.
All right.
Auto theft, Wilkerson.
This is Ben, Wilkie.
Got anything for us this morning?
Yeah, I was just gonna call you.
You fellas ought to let me solve your cases for you.
Why? What'd you get?
The boys picked up three of those six stolen cars
since late yesterday.
Great. Now what does that leave us with?
I hear the three still missing.
Yeah.
Four, X-ray, 763.
Yeah.
Five, six, young, 342.
Mm-hmm.
Six, one, Robert, 385.
Yeah.
Got those?
Yeah, thank you, Wilkie.
I'll check you later.
Good news?
Remember those six missing cars?
Yeah.
Wilkie says the boys found three of them
since late yesterday.
Here's what's still out.
The blue coupe, the yellow convertible
and the gray convertible.
Yeah.
Well, this feels like the right track for a change, Ben.
Blighty, Romero, got a minute?
Sure thing, skipper. Come on, Joe.
What do you got, Ed?
Woman up in Hollywood just called in with this.
She said she walked down to the corner from her house last night
to mail a letter.
On the way back, a guy pulled up in the car
and tried to drag her inside.
Any description?
Big, heavy, set, dark, same thing.
Well, how'd you get away from them, skipper?
She said she started running as soon as he made a motion toward her.
When he saw her on up the steps of her house,
he jumped back in the car and took off.
Well, how come she didn't call in before this?
She hasn't got her phone.
She's ready to leave the house again until this morning.
Sounds good, chief. You got her address there?
Yeah, yeah.
Mrs. Tom Burdick, 1237 Wilcox,
apartment 10.
Come on, Ben. This might be what we're looking for.
Who is it? Who's there?
Sergeant Friday, ma'am. Police.
Oh, just a moment.
I'm Sergeant Romero, Miss Burdick.
This is my partner, Sergeant Friday.
We come out to check on your call about that little trouble last night.
Oh, well, I don't know if I'm going to be much help to you.
I was so frightened about all I could do was just run.
Well, could you add anything to the man's description, Miss Burdick?
I mean, other than what you told the chief on the phone?
Well, no. Honestly, I don't think I can.
All I saw was this tall, dark man jumping out of his car and starting for me.
He had a heavy build and seemed to me, well, a large head,
with lots of long, black hair.
Oh, hmm.
Miss Burdick, would you recognize this man if you ever saw him again?
Well, I think I might.
He was such an unusually big man, almost frightened me to death.
Well, just one more question, Miss Burdick.
Could you describe the car this man was driving when he approached you?
His car? Why, yes.
It was a gray convertible.
Miss Burdick, are you sure of that?
Yes, I'm sure of it. A gray convertible.
Thank you, Miss Burdick. That's all we wanted to know.
Sometimes when you're on a case, you can chase yourself around in circles for weeks
trying to fit together just two little pieces of a yard-long jigsaw puzzle.
And a lot of the time, you find the answer where you least expect it.
But once you get that feeling you're after the right man in the right way,
there's nothing that can shake you.
When Ben and I got back to headquarters, we went straight to the chief's office
with a story, and we had him stake out the gray convertible.
In other words, if any detective or officer spotted the car,
he reported it back to us, but he stayed away from it.
We figured that there probably weren't more than two of the victims
who could take the witness stand and identify the man who robbed and beat them.
Not with a smart defense lawyer, anyway.
So there was only one way to catch this suspect. Red-handed.
Here they are, Joe.
Both sets of license numbers for that gray convertible.
Here are the original, and here are the numbers on the stolen plates.
Good. Everybody got a hot sheet?
From the chief all the way down to the gen.
Fine. Now let's get together with Ed, huh?
Hot shot, Joe. Grab it.
I got it.
On the corner of California and Oakwood, a woman badly beaten.
On the corner of California and Oakwood, a woman badly...
Come on, Ben, another one.
But Joe, it's broad daylight.
Yeah. Doesn't figure, does it? Come on.
That vacant lot over, Joe.
Two plain clothesmen and uniformed officers were keeping the crowd back.
An ambulance was drawn up by the curb, but it was empty.
When we got down to the rear of the lot, we found out why.
They were waiting for the coroner.
The woman was young, not much more than 30.
Her body was half sprawled across the muddy ground, and her face was turned upward.
It had been badly beaten.
They figured it happened last night, and they were waiting for the coroner.
The woman was turned upward. It had been badly beaten.
They figured it happened last night, Sergeant.
Have the fingerprint men been notified? Yeah.
How about the crime lab? Just called them.
That's good. Now let's keep everybody out of the area till they get here.
All right, Sergeant. Who found the body?
One of the kids in the neighborhood. Owen was dead when he found her.
Did she live around here? About a half mile away.
I hear she's got three kids. Or she had three kids.
You've seen enough, Ben?
Let's get on back to headquarters.
All the way back to headquarters, Ben and I planned our next move.
And by the time we got to Ed Backstrand's office, we knew exactly what had to be done.
When we told him about the werewolf murder, he didn't say a thing for a minute.
He just stared across the room at the calendar on the wall.
Then he brought his hand down hard against the desk.
Friday, Romero, I'm only going to say this once, so get it straight.
That guy's pulled his last job in this city.
He's through robbing and beating women, and he's through with murder.
I've given you time to track him down, and now I want him in.
No stalls, no excuses. I want him.
I don't care how many men you use, and I don't care how you get him, but get him.
That's all.
Ben and I worked all that afternoon right through dinner, up until 8 o'clock.
By that time, the overall plan was down on paper and already in action.
It was one of the biggest things we'd ever tackled, and well, we didn't know if it was going to work.
We only knew it had to work.
We had a squad of 65 cars to stretch out over 40 square miles of the city in one big dragnet.
The blockade itself would be stationary most of the time, and we had to get the rest of the people to come.
We'd have to get the rest of the time, and working inside it would be two cars, 14 policewomen as decoys,
with two plainclothesmen assigned to watch each policewoman.
If and when the werewolf was sighted in the gray convertible,
we'd automatically take over the police radio for the whole city,
and Backstrand would direct the chase from headquarters.
A little after 8, we had coffee and hamburgers, and we went to Ben's for a few hours.
Ben tucked his kid in bed as usual, and then he laid down for a nap.
I talked to his wife until I dozed off in the chair.
At 11.30, she woke us up. I combed my hair, put on my coat.
Cops' wives are like everybody else's. They worry.
When we met at headquarters, we did some last-minute checking on details with Backstrand for about a half an hour,
and then we were all ready to go.
By five minutes past two, half the dragnet crew pulled out of the police garage and scattered over the city to their places.
By 2.35, the other half pulled out, and a few minutes later, Ben and I followed.
At three minutes to three that morning, Backstrand took over communications and checked every car in the operation.
It was a good start. Every man in his right place by the right time.
The trap was set. All we needed now was to find our suspect, the werewolf, inside.
Control 4 to unit 80K. Control 4 to unit 80K.
80K to Control 4. Go ahead.
This is Backstrand. Standing by.
80K. Roger. Clear. KGPL.
Okay, Ben. Now let's go find him.
I've got a hunch, Joe. Let's try the Wilshire District first.
Sounds all right to me. Let's go.
For the first hour and a half, we raked the Wilshire District back and forth. Not a sign.
Then about 38 minutes past four, we headed back for the downtown area and parked in an alley where we could double check on one of our police women decoys.
Here comes one of the girls now, Joe. Pat Field. Bet her feet are almost as tired as mine.
You see anything else, Ben?
Nothing. Quiet as a church.
No, no, wait a minute.
The car just turned a corner. Heading up in the same direction she is.
Joe, Joe, it's slowing down. Wait a minute.
It's pulling up beside her.
It's a gray convertible. It's him, Joe. Come on.
Ben, get down. He sees it. He's got a gun.
You all right here?
Yeah, look at that guy take off. 80K to Control 4. 80K to Control 4.
We've spotted the suspect. He's driving a gray Ford convertible. License 6-1-ROBERT-385.
Suspect's headed east on Olympic from Alameda. Driving without lights, suspect is armed.
He had a fast car and he knew how to drive it. We almost lost him twice.
Two minutes after we sighted him, Backstrand took over full radio control.
Control 4 to Unit 80K, your location.
80K to Control 4. We're traveling at a high rate of speed headed east on Olympic crossing Soto Street.
Control 4 to all units, stand by.
Units 11A, 12 and 13R close in on the intersections at Olympic and Lina.
Units 41, 42, 45 and 104K move on on the next four crossings east to left.
To the north and south, Units 105, K14, A17, R43T. Lock all main arteries.
In the next half hour, the 65 cars in the drag net had pulled in like a noose around a five-mile area.
Ben and I hoped it was just a matter of time.
Unit 80K to Control 4. Control 4 to 80K, go ahead.
He's headed north on Fresno Street, crossing Whittier Boulevard.
Attention all units, 80K now pursuing suspect north on Fresno from Whittier Boulevard.
Units 15, 105, K11R and 18A block off the intersection on Fresno and 4.
Hey Ben, up there ahead, what's he trying to do now? Look, he's turning around.
Yeah, yeah, and he's coming right forth. Watch it Joe, look out!
Pretty close, 80K to Control 4.
Control 4 to 80K, go ahead.
Exchanging shots with suspect, watch it Ben, here he comes again.
Sure likes to use that gun, doesn't he? Sure does.
Hey Joe, look, he's turning east. He's running for Hollenbeck Park.
Yeah, 80K to Control 4. Control 4, go ahead.
Suspect just drove up over Curb and into Hollenbeck Park.
Control 4 to all units, Control 4 to all units, converge on Hollenbeck Park.
Suspect is in the walkies on, use caution, Code 3.
There he is Ben, watch it.
Looks like a nice baseball game with all these headlamps.
Yeah, come on, let's get him.
Never say die, huh Joe? Joe, can you get a shot at him?
Don't shoot, don't shoot, I'll give up, don't shoot.
Ben, step out on the open and get your hands in the air.
Alright, alright, I give up, but don't shoot.
You're a brave killer. Yeah, come on.
Alright, get your hands in the air, come on, higher.
Joe, look out, he's got a knife. I got him.
Joe, those women were right. He does look like a werewolf.
Yeah, you got your handcuffs.
Yeah.
Okay, got a cigarette?
I've been out for an hour, middle place across the street, maybe we can get some there.
Okay, there's the crew from the 41R.
Hey fellas, take him into robbery, will you?
Okay, brother.
I think there's a vending machine in there.
Uh huh.
Say, you got some chains for the cigarette machine, mister?
I think so.
Say, who was that guy all them cops were after over in the park a little while ago?
I picked up the werewolf. Been reading the papers.
Yeah. You a fellow of the cops?
Yeah.
Sure made it easy for you, didn't he?
All you cops had to do was surround the little fella in the park.
Nothing to it, huh?
Yeah, that's right, mister. Nothing to it.
The story you have just heard was true.
Only the names were changed to protect the innocent.
Walter Barton, known as the werewolf, was tried and convicted,
and is now serving a full life sentence at the state penitentiary.
This has been Dragnet, the third in a new series of authentic cases from official files.
Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the office of C.B. Horrell,
Chief of Police, Los Angeles Police Department.
Tonight's program is dedicated to Sergeant Mario Victor Diro of the Los Angeles Police Department,
who on the morning of January 1st, 1943, gave his life so that yours might be more secure.
Dragnet came to you from Los Angeles.
This is NBC, the national broadcasting company.