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Dragnet, the document a drama of an actual crime.
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 official police
files.
From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force
in action.
Was Monday, October 27th, was cloudy in Los Angeles.
We're working the night watch on a homicide detail.
My partner's Ben Romero.
The boss is Thad Brown, chief of detectives.
My name's Friday.
We were on the way out from central division.
It was 16 minutes past 8 p.m. when we got to South Peoria Street, number 267.
Short and gloomy.
Yeah, it's sultry.
Looks like we're in for some rain.
Yes, sir?
Police officers.
There's Lieutenant Barker here.
Yes, you want to come in?
Thank you.
This is Sergeant Romero.
I'm Sergeant Friday, central homicide.
How are you?
My name's Claude Jimerson.
Lieutenant Barker's in here.
On the phone.
Hi, Captain.
Yeah, Alex.
Romero.
How's it going, Lieutenant?
Not good.
You met Mr. Jimerson?
Oh, sure.
Sit down, gentlemen.
Would you like some coffee?
I can have the wife make some.
No, thank you.
We didn't want to bother the girl's parents any more than we had to.
Jimerson here is one of the neighbors.
He's been nice enough to let us use his phone.
The kid's disappeared about four this afternoon, is that right?
At 345.
Got out a local broadcast on him.
Here's a missing report.
Thank you, sir.
Elma Griswold, age 11, Barbara Sperry, seven-year-old.
You talked to both families?
Yeah.
At 330 this afternoon, Mrs. Griswold sent her daughter to the grocery store down on
Sixth Moor Avenue.
It's about ten blocks from their home.
The Sperry girl, a friend of hers, she went with her.
Anybody at the store remember seeing her?
According to the grocery clerk, they were there about 345.
Mother gave the kids a note.
They bought a loaf of white bread, a half pound of bacon, a dozen oranges.
Yeah.
And I hope nothing's happened to the kids.
We've been neighbors to the Griswolds for years.
Sperry's too.
Did you notice if the little girls were going in the direction of their home?
Yes, they were.
The last time I saw them, they were about a block away, heading straight for home.
Little Sperry girl had a dog with her.
Champ, I think they call him.
He's a collie.
And he's missing too.
That's right, John.
Not a trace of the kids or the dog.
Juvenile officers from 77th Street have been checking the neighborhood for the past three
hours.
Are the girls in the habit of wandering off like this?
Parents say no.
It's the first time.
Mm-hmm.
Well, thanks very much, Mr. Jimerson.
Well, not at all, Sergeant.
Sure you won't have a cup of coffee?
No, no, thanks.
We don't like to bother you, but we may have to check back with you later tonight.
Routine questions.
If I can help out in any way to find those girls, let me know.
Yeah, we'll let you know, Jim.
And thanks again.
Nice fellow.
Most of the neighbors we've talked to have been the same.
Anxious to help.
Some of them are out with our juvenile officers now trying to take a believe in the kids.
You checked the movie theater and the playgrounds in the neighborhood.
Everything, Joe.
Those are some of your men from juvenile, Lieutenant.
Yeah, looks like it.
Yeah, Schwartz and Preston.
Lieutenant?
Yeah, Preston, what you got?
Found the kid's dog, Colley.
Where?
Just above Sanchez Drive up in the hills.
Hope it's no indication.
How do you mean?
Dog's dead.
The Colley dog was taken to a veterinarian on Jefferson Boulevard to be examined for
cause of death.
We put in a call to the office and a special detail of men was assigned to aid in searching
the area where the dog was discovered.
We got out on all points bulletin.
The fathers of the missing girls and a dozen neighbors joined in the search.
With the aid of flashlights, we started from the end of Sanchez Drive and as best we could,
we covered the ground for almost a full mile back into the sunset hills.
10.55 p.m. started to thunder.
The search went on.
The hilly terrain and thick patches of scrub oak didn't make the job any easier.
11.15 p.m. started to rain.
Watch your step, Joe.
The rocks are slippery.
Yeah.
I can't figure it.
Not a sign.
What do you think?
I don't know.
Wait a minute.
Flashlight over here.
No, here.
See something?
I thought I did.
Yeah.
Scrap of brown paper.
Who's this coming?
Sergeant, is that you?
Jimerson?
Yeah.
What's that you got?
I found it.
Right down there.
Just off the path.
Paper say.
Look.
A loaf of bread, a few oranges, a package of bacon.
Where'd you find it?
Right down there.
Mr. Holm questioned me.
We were heading back for the cars when I saw this bag lying to one side of the bush.
We'll take it, Jimerson.
Thanks.
Let's go, man.
That means that Barbara and Toma were up here today.
You haven't mentioned that to either one of the girls' fathers.
No, I haven't.
Good.
They're having a hard enough time as it is.
Rainey, Ben, see him for a minute?
Yeah.
Excuse us, Mr. Jimerson.
Certainly.
Yeah.
Schwartz and I checked with the vet who examined the dog.
What did he say?
He says the dog was beaten to death.
We made another attempt to continue the search of the Sunset Hills area for the two missing
girls, but the heavy rain and the darkness made the job impossible.
The rain had also destroyed the physical evidence at the spot where we had found the grocery
bag.
We went back to Jimerson's house and called the office again.
Another detail of men was assigned to be on hand to help in the search when it resumed
at daylight.
Chief of Detectives Thad Brown and Captain Harry Elliot of Homicide were notified of
late developments.
At 25 minutes past midnight, we started to retrace the steps of the two missing girls
from the time they left their homes at 3.30 the afternoon before.
We covered every foot of ground along the route which the girls reportedly took on their
way to the grocery store.
We got the grocery clerk out of bed and interviewed him again.
We talked with two elderly ladies in the neighborhood who said that they had seen the missing children
between 3 and 4 p.m. the previous afternoon.
They could add nothing to what Jimerson had already told us.
3.30 a.m. was still raining hard.
We drove back to South Peoria Street and sat in the car.
The lights were still burning in the homes of the missing youngsters, the grizz walls
and the sparrows.
Jimerson asked us in for coffee again.
This time we accepted.
We went in and sat around the kitchen table.
Glenn Chandler and Stendhal from Homicide Lieutenant Barker, Ben and myself.
Jimerson's wife made the coffee.
There wasn't much talking.
You want more coffee?
Hmm?
Oh, oh yeah.
Thank you, Miss Jimerson.
Thank you.
You want some more?
No, thanks.
It's fine.
You want some more coffee?
Is that not fair?
Sure, Lieutenant.
Plenty.
Go ahead.
Okay.
Fill the sugar bowl, will you, Amy?
Empty.
There isn't any more.
You never do things right.
I told you to get some at the store today.
You told me?
Yeah, that's all right, Jimerson.
Never use it anyway.
Thanks.
Never do anything right.
All right, Amy.
Go to bed.
She's a little upset.
Not feeling too well.
Well, I guess we'd better be going, Jimerson.
Thanks.
No, that's all right, Sergeant.
She didn't mean you.
It's this whole thing, I guess.
It's got everybody on edge.
There's still a chance they may be all right.
How do we explain the bag of groceries we found back in the hills and the dog?
Anybody's hurt those kids, we'll take care of him.
Right here in this neighborhood, you'll get what's coming to him.
Somebody at your back door?
Oh, yes.
I'll be right back.
I've got a raise.
Oh, okay.
You can go to the back door.
Oh, yes.
I'll bring..
Sergeant Friday here?
Yes.
He's here.
Come on in.
Hey Sergeant,
Hi Tom,
Hi,
What you got?
Mr. Griswold, Joe.
I'd like to have you come over and talk to him.
Figures will make his wife feel better, all broken up.
Sure.
Come on, man.
We'll be over to Griswold's, Lieutenant.
All right.
Thank you for the coffee, Jimerson.
Not at all.
If you get a chance, tell Griswold how sorry everybody is.
We'll help all we can.
Sure.
Bad night.
Yeah.
Did you check by the Sperry's house, Tom?
Mm-hmm.
Mother's trying to get a little sleep.
Father's still sitting up.
There he is, by the window.
Yeah.
Uh, this is the Griswold home.
Go ahead, Tom.
Yeah.
They're gonna ask questions.
What are we gonna tell them?
I don't know.
They could be all right.
Kids do funny things sometimes.
Maybe, but they don't murder their pet dog.
Like a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer,
the police officer comes to realize that
there's only so much that can be learned from his books.
Time and experience make up the rest.
The police manual contains no stock answers
for the grieving wife who was just lost.
The police officer is a man of his word.
No answers for the grieving wife who was just lost a husband in an auto accident.
No firm but polite reply to the belligerent motorist handed a traffic tag.
No words of reassurance for distraught parents of missing girls, ages 11 and 7.
Whether it's trapping criminals or comforting parents,
you find the right answer the hard way.
There isn't any other way.
We sat and talked with the Griswolds for a full hour.
We didn't tell them about the dog or the bag of groceries.
Until the fate of the two little girls was definitely decided,
giving them the information would serve no purpose except to add to their worries.
Five minutes passed 5 a.m.
Almost a full hour until daylight was still raining.
George, maybe the officers would like some breakfast before they leave.
No, thank you kindly, Miss Griswold. We had some sandwiches about an hour ago.
Sure I can fix you something. It's no trouble.
No, sir, thanks anyway. Thanks.
Terrible night. Rain.
Now Helen, just a little while longer. We'll find the girls.
It'll be daylight soon.
Miss Griswold, some of your neighbors tell us that there were two strangers here in the neighborhood this afternoon.
Yes, but that was earlier. Mrs. Nelson next door and I were talking about it.
One was a gardener looking for work. The other one was selling books.
What time were they around, ma'am?
Books sales on the zero about noon, the gardener about two o'clock.
How is your daughter about strangers? Does she make friends easily?
No, not at all. Thelma's very careful about that.
She'd never go with a stranger, I'm sure of it.
Why do you ask that question, Sergeant? Have you found out something?
No, sir, no, we haven't. It's just a routine check, that's all.
I can't understand it.
The girls. Out in all this rain something must have happened, I know.
Now Helen, you've been doing fine. Don't let down now.
Joe, Chief Brown's car just pulled up outside.
Thanks, sir. Ben?
Yeah.
Thank you very much, Mr. Griswold, Miss Griswold.
Well, thank you, gentlemen. Here, let me show you the door.
We'll meet at the end of Sanchez Drive, Mr. Griswold, about six a.m.
It should be light enough by then.
Oh, all right. Oh, Sergeant, there is a chance, isn't there?
The girls are all right.
There's a good chance. You try not to worry. Come on, Ben, practice.
Hmm.
Tom, you want to check with Barker again and see if any of his men have a line on the two men here in the neighborhood yet?
Right.
If you want us, we'll be in Thad Brown's car.
All right, Sergeant. What time you got, Joe?
Oh, twenty to six. It's getting light now.
Yeah. Let's get out of this ring.
Gentlemen, you look a little wet.
I could stand a dry pair of shoes.
Still no trays of the kids?
You heard about the dog in the bag of groceries.
Yeah. Nothing else since then?
No. It'll be light in a couple of minutes and we can start searching the hills again.
I ordered up another detail of men to help there. Parked up on Sanchez Drive. Captain Elliott's with them.
Good. I can use all the help we can get. That's rough terrain. There's a lot of ground to cover up there.
You should talk to everybody in the neighborhood.
Yeah. Parents too.
They help you much?
Well, they told us there were two strangers in the neighborhood before the girls disappeared. We're having them checked out.
Yeah.
Griswold thinks the kids would be safe on that count. Says his daughter's afraid of strangers. Never goes near them.
How much area did you cover in the hills last night?
About a four mile, wouldn't you say, Ben? Starting from Sanchez Drive, straight back into the brush.
It wasn't too thorough. Not enough men, not enough light.
You got plenty of both right now.
Ten minutes past 6 a.m. Tuesday, October 28th. The search of the Sunset Hills area was resumed.
150 officers spread out over a two square mile area with orders to probe every foot of ground.
With them were almost 50 volunteers from the neighborhood.
The rain settled to a cold, steady downpour. The mud was ankle deep.
8.30 a.m. No sign of the missing youngsters. 10.30, still no sign. Search went on.
A neighborhood restaurant owner sent out five gallon jugs of hot coffee for members of the searching party.
After six continuous hours combing the hills, still no results.
Chief Brown, Ben, and I went to the car for a cup of coffee and a cigarette.
It's got me beat. Those kids wanted off. They had to come in this direction.
Well, they couldn't have headed toward town. Somebody would have noticed them, sure.
Yeah. No leads at all on that APB you sent out?
Two. They both fizzled.
The youngsters up in those hills someplace. Gotta be.
You two ready?
Yeah. Let's go.
Sure doesn't fake it. Two square miles. We've been over it twice.
Go over it again. Find them.
Film of Griswold, age 11. Barbara Sperry, age 7. Tuesday, October 28th, 2 p.m. They were still missing.
Another detail of men from Metropolitan Division were dispatched to aid in the hunt.
The daily newspapers played the story across the front page.
Wire services bulletin'd the news across the country. Radio newscasters covered the story at the scene.
On South Peoria Street, the two mothers sat in their homes and waited.
The search went on. It stopped raining.
Did you cover that patch of underbrush over there, Joe?
Yeah. Watch it.
Yeah. Yeah. It's hard.
Oh, yeah. Let's swing up this way.
All right.
Anything?
No, nothing.
All right, come on.
Almost 2.30.
Yeah. Too much coffee. Sour stomach.
Yeah, or stomach.
Me too. You got a cigarette on my mouth.
Oh, here. Thanks.
Ryan 8! Romero! Come on down!
Rustin! What do you got? What is it?
They found him! They found the kid!
Come on.
Watch it, Ben. Bad spot here.
Yeah, it's slippery.
Come on.
Thelma Griswold had brown hair and brown eyes.
About four feet six inches tall.
She had a bunch of wildflowers in her hands.
Barbara Sperry had blonde hair and blue eyes.
She held a bunch of wildflowers, too.
Friday?
Chief.
Who found them?
Jemerson, some of the neighbors.
Oh.
Dear God.
Preston. Yes, sir?
Get something to cover him up.
Yes, sir.
Come on.
Yeah.
I've been a cop 32 years and never seen anything like that.
I hope I never do again.
Must have been a maniac. Had to be.
The lowest kind. Depraved.
Anybody call the crime lab?
Yeah, the area's been cleared.
Family's been notified?
Not yet. I'll have to tell them.
Do you want to come along?
No, that wouldn't be any good.
Two lives. What can you say?
Whoever did it ran up a big bill.
They're gonna pay it.
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Five minutes after the bodies were discovered, the hunt for the psychopathic killer was underway.
Lee Jones and his crew from the crime lab arrived and took pictures of everything that could possibly have a bearing on the crime.
Physical evidence was hard to find.
The heavy rain had destroyed any possible chance there might have been of finding footprints.
When the crew from the crime lab was finished, the coroner arrived and took the bodies to the county morgue for autopsy.
An immediate roundup of all known sexual psychopaths in the area was ordered.
They were taken into homicide for questioning.
So were the people from the South Peoria Street neighborhood whom we had talked with previously.
The questioning went on all through the night.
Together with a half a dozen officers from homicide detail, we narrowed down the field.
Wednesday, October 29th, 7 a.m. We checked in with Chief of Detective Stad Brown.
Gentlemen, you must be tired.
Got a few hours of sleep last night. We could use a few more.
Sorry, we have to keep moving on this.
Did you see the papers this morning?
Yeah, they're like everybody else crying too late.
Someday people are going to learn you don't fool with these degenerates.
You take precautions or you get the consequences. There's no in-between.
There's usual talk going around town. It's supposed to be all our fault letting the psychos run loose.
We don't make the laws, we enforce them. Until we get something to work with, laws with teeth in them, these atrocities are going to go on.
Nobody seems to care. We pick them up, they serve a few days, pay a fine and they waltz out of here. Nobody cares.
Sure, pity them, don't cure them. Nature played a trick on them. Feel sorry for them until they kill a kid.
It's not a firm law to cover them as they are. We have to wait until they murder somebody.
We've got a better law for mad dogs. We don't let them run loose until they bite somebody.
Those two little girls ought to prove something. How are the parents making out?
What you might expect. Shock hysterics. Excuse me.
Brown speaking. Who? Send him in.
Chandler, they finished questioning that bunch we brought in yesterday.
Hello Chief. Glenn, Joe.
How many possibles Glenn?
None. Four we had left established airtight alibis. We checked the registrations, gave them their releases.
Where does that leave us?
We start from scratch.
I don't think so Chief.
You got a hunch?
A little better than that Joe. I'm sold. What do you mean?
You said the parents told you the little girls were afraid of strangers, wouldn't go near them.
That's right.
They got the same reactions from some of the neighbors we talked to the day before yesterday.
Yeah.
Now we find out that all the known psychos in the area are clear, perfect alibis.
Well, and you figured the killer couldn't have been a stranger to the little girls.
That's right. There were only two strangers in the whole neighborhood the day the girls disappeared.
The gardener and the salesman. Both of them have been checked and cleared.
Mm-hmm.
As far as we know the little girls wouldn't have gone that far up in the hills alone with their own accord
and they wouldn't have gone with the strangers. They had to be lured there and by someone they knew.
Any ideas?
Could have been one of the neighbors.
No, we checked every possible out there Glenn. We questioned them a half a dozen times.
So have I. There's one that might fit.
Who's that?
Claude Jimerson.
Glenn Chandler had been a veteran homicide officer before Ben or I joined the department.
He was tall, quiet, and reserved. He had a good reason for everything he did, for everything he thought.
The three of us sat down and tried to put the pieces together.
Number one, Chandler uncovered a point that Ben and I had missed completely.
Jimerson and his wife were not close friends of either the Sperry family or the Griswolds.
For a near stranger he showed an extraordinary interest in the welfare of the children after they disappeared.
Number two, Ben and I discovered that Jimerson's wife had an eight-year-old boy by a previous marriage.
The child did not live with them.
Mrs. Jimerson told Chandler that her husband had been cruel to the boy. She refused to elaborate.
Number three, Jimerson was the last person to see the children alive.
Number four, the bodies of the children had been well hidden in the underbrush. Jimerson found them.
Number five, Jimerson had bent over backwards to make friends with the investigating officers right from the start.
As any veteran officer can tell you, that's not the usual attitude.
At 8.30 a.m., Chandler, Ben, and I left the office.
We spent the day digging back 15 years into Jimerson's life.
We got back to the office just after midnight.
Thursday, October 30th, 10 a.m., we checked in.
Okay, Joe, all ready.
Thanks. Come on, Ben.
Yeah.
Good morning, Mr. Jimerson.
Oh, how are you, Sergeant? Glad to see you.
Sit down. Sorry to bother you again.
Not at all. Glad to help.
Anything new turn up?
Did you kill those two little girls?
That's a funny thing to ask. Of course not. You know that.
We ask everybody the same thing. Hope you're not offended.
Oh, you kind of surprised me. I didn't know.
Did you kill those little girls?
I don't understand. I told you no. Of course not.
It's a stock question. Routine. Did you kill them?
Now look, Sergeant, how many times do I have to tell you no?
Sorry. You don't have any children, do you?
No, we don't.
No stepchildren?
No. Why?
Before you moved out to South Fioria Street, you and your wife lived out in West L.A., didn't you?
Kelton Avenue?
Oh, yes. How'd you know?
You recall a Mary Gibbs out there?
Gibbs? No.
Six-year-old girl. You were charged with molesting her. That was back in 1944.
They were crazy. They never proved it.
Before Kelton Avenue, you lived in Santa Monica on 10th Street. Is that right?
Yes. It was an eight-year-old girl. Donna Honrath.
That kid lied, too. She asked me to fix her doll buggy. I never went near her.
What about your stepson? Why isn't he living with you? Why did your wife send him to live with her sister?
Amy's crazy. I never harmed the boy. We didn't get along, that's all. He got on my nerves.
You've had four jobs in the past five years. What were they?
I don't know what you're talking about.
You were a janitor at a grammar school down the south end of town, then a gardener at a children's playground,
then you were a shoe salesman, children's shoes, then you worked at another grammar school.
What does all this mean, anyway? What are you getting at? Have you ever been in jail?
Once. Six months. There was some trouble.
What kind of trouble?
I didn't know what I was doing. I was drinking. I didn't mean to bother the kid.
Well?
That's all, Jimerson. Routine question. You can go now.
Oh, thanks. I hope you haven't got the wrong idea about me. I like children, that's all.
Sure. Thanks for coming in.
Not at all, Sergeant Any. Thing I can do to help.
Well, goodbye.
Say, Jimerson, I almost forgot. There is one thing.
Oh?
Since you're the one who found the little girls, we'll have to have you identify the bodies.
It won't take long. Morgue's just across the street, up the block.
Well, I'd like to help you, but I got an appointment.
All you have to do is look at him. It won't take you long. Come on, let's go.
I'd like to help, Sergeant, but I don't take these things when I get sick.
We'll make it right. Not this way.
It's raining again.
I'm sorry, Sergeant. I don't think I'd better go.
Just identify him. That's all. It won't take a minute.
Maybe if we had a drink before we went in, you can have one after.
Watch it. There's heavy traffic.
Yeah, lights, Jims. We'll have to wait.
I need a drink. I can't go in that place without a drink.
You'll be all right.
Okay, let's go.
Morgue's up the block.
Let's go. Morgue's up this way.
I can't look at him. I get sick. Don't make me.
Nothing to it. You'll see.
Here we are. We went down the driveway. It's a shortcut.
This way.
Hi, Joe. Can I help you?
You see those little girls? Thelma Griswold, Barbara Sperry?
Oh, yeah. This way.
Please.
Right here, Joe.
Yeah, Thelma Griswold.
Uncover.
Jimerson?
Yeah.
Thelma.
This one?
Barbara.
The little one.
You killed him, didn't you?
The dog jumped at me.
She started to yell.
Put my hand over her mouth.
Then the other kid.
I hit them.
Too hard.
They cried.
Joe?
That's all.
All right. Huh?
Let's go.
It wasn't my fault.
I like kids.
They didn't understand me.
Neither do I, mister. Come on.
The story you have just heard was true.
Only the names were changed to protect the innocent.
On March 18th, trial was held in Superior Court, Department 87,
City and County of Los Angeles, State of California,
and a moment the results of that trial.
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Claude Willis Jimerson was tried and convicted of murder in the first degree.
On April 23rd at 10 a.m., he was executed in the lethal gas chamber at the State Penitentiary.
You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files.
Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the Office of Chief of Police, W.A. Wharton.
You're tuned for the stars on NBC.