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Dragnet, the documented 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 transcribed from official
police files.
From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force
in action.
It was Tuesday, January 9th.
Was rainy and windy in Los Angeles.
We were working the night watch out of homicide detail.
My partner's Ben Romero.
The boss is Thad Brown, chief of detectives.
My name's Friday.
Was 9.27 p.m. when I got to room 42.
Homicide detail.
All right, Joe.
Great night, huh?
Terrible weather.
Just look out there on Spring Street.
Yeah, I know.
I just came in out of it.
Really coming down.
Yeah.
Just like I told you on the phone this afternoon.
What's that?
Every time those sea ghosts flying from the coast, it means rain.
Yeah.
It sure is a fine coat.
I've never been sorry I bought this.
Let me take another look at that, Joe.
Yeah, sure.
Here.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, that's a good one.
English coat, huh?
Yeah.
It's a little heavier over there than we do here.
Seemed to be kind of good in our business.
You remember that Henderson stakeout last month?
Oh, yeah.
Really poured down that thing.
Mm-hmm.
This coat kept me dry as a bone.
The water just seems to roll off of it.
Yeah.
That's a good one.
Here you go.
Thank you.
I'm going to have to hang it up.
Mm-hmm.
Supposed to keep a good coat on a hanger, you know, especially when they're wet.
I'm very sure.
The trouble with mine is it leaks right up here over the shoulders.
Must be through the seams, huh?
Yeah, I guess so.
Same one I've been wearing.
I told you about it before.
You said you were going to get a new one, didn't you?
Yeah, but it's such a good coat.
Otherwise, I'd hate to throw it away.
It's no good if it leaks.
Oh, I guess you're right at that.
Maybe I can get those seams fixed, do you think?
I don't know.
How long you had it?
Seven years.
I'll get it.
Homicide, Friday.
This is 14 on the complaint board.
Take this call.
Right.
Hello?
My name's Leonard Gray.
Yes, sir?
My wife's dead.
She's been killed.
I just went down to the garage, and when I came back, she was dead.
Could you send somebody out here right away?
Yes, sir.
What's that address?
1627 Oxford Place.
27 Oxford Place.
Yes, sir, that's right.
I can't understand that she was all right when I left, and then when I came back, she
was dead.
I can't understand that.
What's that?
I can't understand that she was all right when I left, and then when I came back, she
was dead.
I can't understand that.
We'll be right there, Mr. Gray.
My best friend lives right next door.
Yes, sir?
He says I did it.
1627 Oxford Place was on the east side of the street.
It was an average one-story stucco home.
All the homes on the street were about the same general style and size.
It was a nice neighborhood.
All the grounds appeared to be well kept from what we could see through the heavy rain.
The porch light was burning when we got there.
Inside the house were met by the two officers from Unit 37R who filled us in on the results
of their preliminary investigation.
We asked them to stand by in front of the house.
Then we asked the husband of the murdered woman, Leonard Gray, to show us where the
body was.
Back this way, in the dining room.
Everything just the way you found it, Mr. Gray?
You didn't touch anything?
No, sir, I haven't touched anything.
Right there on the floor.
That's very fast.
Can I wait up there in the living room?
Yes, sir, it's all right.
Ben, would you like to help him?
Yeah.
Just sit right there.
I'll be right with you.
Thank you.
You and your wife live here alone, do you?
It's just two of us, no children.
Ben.
Yeah?
When the clothing's torn, must have put up a struggle, huh?
Yeah, some redness there around the throat.
Strangle?
Yeah, could be.
Deep gash there on the floor, broken vase there on the floor.
You want to call the crime lab?
Yeah, okay.
Mr. Gray, where's your telephone?
Right in the hall out there by the bedroom.
Thank you.
You think you could tell us about it now, Mr. Gray?
Yes, I think so.
Do you have a cigarette?
Yes.
I do.
Thank you.
Mr. Menlo, give me a light.
Thanks.
It's all right.
Now, can you tell me just what happened here tonight?
Earl Anderson, that's my friend.
Lives two houses down.
He and I went out after work.
We usually do once or twice a week just to have a few beers.
I don't know why, I felt pretty good.
I guess I had a couple too many.
Earl said it was late and we better be getting home, so he did.
I had a little too much to drink, so he drove.
I see.
Where were you and your friend drinking?
The bar right across from where we were, Earl Anderson and me.
A lot of the men go there for a beer right after work.
Were there quite a few men from work in there tonight?
Yeah, quite a few.
I wonder if the other officer found the phone all right.
Yeah, sir, I'm sure he did.
Kind of hard to find sometimes.
I would have had it covered with a little curtain.
That's all right, Mr. Gray.
Let's try to take it easy.
You're on your way.
Right.
He was telling me that he and his friend Earl Anderson stopped after work.
They had a couple of beers and then the two of them drove on home.
I see.
Is that right, sir?
Yeah, that's right.
Well, we got home and I was feeling pretty good, so I asked Earl to come on in and have
a little nightcap.
What time was that when you got home?
About half past six.
Earl didn't want to come in because he said Hazel would be upset with me because we were
a little late.
Anyway, I finally talked him into coming in with her.
Was your wife upset?
A little bit, yeah.
She used to be unhappy when I was late because of dinner, but she was never unreasonable.
I didn't make it a habit to stay out unusually late anyhow.
I see.
I think it's terrible.
It's terrible.
When we got in the house, the first thing Hazel asked me was if I'd looked at the car.
Whose car was that?
It was our car, Dodge Sedan 42.
It's parked across the street now.
I wonder if we might check back here a little.
Yeah.
I thought I understood you to say that you felt that you'd had a little too much to drink,
so your friend drove this Earl Anderson?
Yes, but it was his car.
I guess I should have made that a little clearer.
You see, we take turns driving home either his or my car.
We trade off to fight the traffic no matter whose car.
I see.
I wonder if you'd go on, please.
I didn't know what she meant by asking if I'd seen the car.
She said someone had let all the air out of the back tires.
Do you know why anybody would want to do a thing like that?
No, I had no idea who would do that to us.
Hazel said she wanted to use the car tonight.
She had to go to her friend's house to help produce some remodeling or something.
Uh-huh.
She didn't say a word about my being late.
I thought the car had kind of taken her mind off it.
I told her I'd go out and look, see if I couldn't fix it.
Well, did it strike you as being important that you fixed the car right away?
How do you mean?
Well, sir, I was just thinking, I wouldn't want to go out in all that rain unless it
was something pretty important.
Well, I didn't want to either, but I figured all I'd have to do was put a little air in
the tires and then drive it down to the gas station.
I see.
Do you want to go out?
Earl said he'd be willing to give me a hand, so we went out to have a look at the car.
Wanted to look at the tires and I knew we couldn't fix them.
Somebody had cut them with a knife or something.
They were beyond repair.
Do you have any idea who did that?
No, I couldn't figure it out.
I have no enemies that I can think of.
No one that would do a thing like that.
What did you do then?
Earl and I figured that we'd better take the wheels off, take them down to the garage and
buy some new tires.
I borrowed Earl's jack and we took off the wheels.
Uh-huh.
Earl said he'd be glad to take the wheels down and that I'd better go back in the house
with Hazel because she might wonder what we were doing about fixing the car.
I understand.
We talked back and forth for a minute or two and I finally insisted that I go.
Where did your friend, Earl Anderson, go?
To his house.
I dropped him off there.
Where does he live?
Just two houses down the street.
Oh, huh.
After I dropped him off, I went down and picked up two new tires and two tubes and they mounted
them on the wheels for me and I came back.
About what time was it when you got back here to the house, do you remember?
I don't know.
Somewhere around 915, I guess.
Then what did you do?
I was going to put the wheels on but I thought I'd better go back in the house and tell Hazel
I'd have the car fixed in a minute.
Yes.
The minute I walked in the door, I knew something was wrong.
It seemed like I could feel it.
I called to her.
She didn't answer.
I went through the house and when I got to the dining room, she found her.
We'll have to ask you to come downtown with us, sir.
You'll have to give us a complete statement on this.
Is that necessary?
Yes, sir.
I'm afraid it is.
All right.
I wonder if it'd be all right if I called my friend, Earl Anderson, to go down with
me.
I haven't told him about this.
We'll notify him.
This friend of yours, Earl Anderson.
When you spoke with me on the phone, didn't you say something about your best friend saying
that he thought that you killed your wife?
Did I say that?
Yes, sir, you did.
I didn't mean it that way.
How did you mean it?
I've been drinking earlier tonight.
Like I told you, I guess I must have gotten mixed up.
Well, and he didn't say that you killed your wife?
No, no, he didn't.
Well, I know there's been a strain and a pretty bad shock, Mr. Gray, but you told us that
you didn't say anything to Earl Anderson about this.
Now, isn't that right?
I'm so sick and upset.
Is that what I told you?
Yes, sir, you asked me if it'd be all right if you called your friend.
You said you hadn't told him anything about this.
I did.
I called him right after I got home.
I was terrified.
I didn't know what to do.
Then you did mention your wife's death telling.
Yes, sir.
Where you men are questioning me, your tone sounds as if you think I might have done this.
No, sir, we're just trying to get the facts straight right now.
Anybody's a suspect.
I didn't do this.
I swear to God, I didn't kill my wife.
Do you have any idea who might have wanted to kill Mrs. Gray?
No, no one.
Hazel and I didn't have many friends, no enemies that I know of.
I see.
You men have any ideas at all?
Can you tell anything from what you've seen?
We might know a little more after the crime lab checks things over.
As soon as the lab men get here, then you can start on the case.
No, sir, we've already started.
10, 15 p.m., we continued to question Leonard Gray, the husband of the dead woman, Hazel
Gray.
His answers seemed to follow the same general pattern of hazy confusion.
Ben and I weighed the possibilities and cause for his evident confusion.
He admitted that he'd been drinking earlier that evening, the tremendous shock of the
death of his wife, the complete interrogation necessary in the investigation.
All these things could prove to be reason enough for Leonard Gray's apparent confusion.
They could all be possibilities of pretense as well.
We had to be sure.
We asked him about relatives and in-laws.
He told us that his parents were not living, that his wife's mother and father resided
in Los Angeles in the southwest section of the city.
He gave us the address.
He furnished us with a list of his friends and his acquaintances.
He was feeling quite badly, but seemed to want us to continue with the questioning.
From time to time, he would add unimportant bits of his story which he had omitted the
first time through.
Ten seventeen p.m. The crime lab crew arrived and went to work.
Gray's friend Earl Anderson was picked up and brought to the murder house.
Any idea who did this thing?
We're working on it.
There's just one thing I want to make sure of.
Yeah?
You don't suspect Len, do you?
Why do you ask that?
Well, I know how something like this can be.
Len and Hazel are wonderful people, very good friends of mine.
Just wanted to go on a record as being able to vouch for Len.
He wouldn't do a thing like that.
Is that what you wanted to tell her?
Well, yes, sir.
I've known Len for about five years now, going on six.
We worked at the same place.
Just wanted to vouch for him, that's all.
Would you know of anyone who might have a reason to kill Mrs. Gray?
Not a soul in the world.
Hazel was wonderful to everybody.
She didn't have any enemies that I know of.
Such a pretty girl.
We know that you're a close friend of Gray's.
Maybe you'd be able to answer a couple of questions for us.
Any way I can be of help to you.
How did Mr. and Mrs. Gray seem to get along?
I mean, did they have any arguments that you know of?
Well, I really don't think I should go into their personal life in this thing.
You mean you don't want to answer?
No, sir, it's not that.
It just seems that it's really not my place to go into it.
We're going to have to question everybody that Gray's knew, all their friends and acquaintances,
appreciate any help you could give us.
Well, it isn't that I don't want to help.
I know that if I answer, it's going to make Len look bad at the moment.
We're going to have to get all the facts from one source or another.
Well, they used to have some arguments.
I guess you'd find it out from the neighbors anyway.
Were the arguments that bad?
Pretty loud, yes, sir.
I don't mean to imply that Len ever struck Hazel, but she used to get quite put out with
him sometimes.
Why?
How do you know?
Len likes to go out with the boys, you know, booze it up quite a bit.
You used to tell him if she wasn't going to put up with it any longer.
You said he never struck her.
Not that I know of, Sergeant.
Do they have these arguments often?
I don't feel right talking this way about Len behind his back.
Well, I know that as his friend, you want to get this thing cleaned up.
Yes, sir, that's right, I do.
Yes, they used to have quite a few arguments.
Please understand that these differences of theirs may have been loud, but I know Len
would never think of hurting Hazel in any way.
I don't see.
Did you find out who sliced the tires on Len's car?
We're checking on it.
I wonder if that couldn't have some bearing on this.
Possibly.
Anderson, we'd like to have you go back to the time you and Mr. Gregg got home.
Just tell us exactly what happened, would you?
Excuse me for a minute.
Sure.
Friday, see you in a minute.
Right, Harris.
I'll be right back.
Okay.
We're just about through.
It's all photod, lifted some prints.
Karner's ready to take the body, okay?
Yeah, it's all right.
Get anything besides the prints?
Yeah, a small piece of blue cloth, white button attached.
Looks like it was ripped off his shirt.
Where'd they find it?
Near the body.
I'm going to see you fellas back at the office, huh?
Yeah, okay, Harris, thank you.
I was just telling your partner, Sergeant, while you were out of the room.
Yes, sir.
In this kind of a case, if it turns out to be murder, you have to know the whereabouts
of everyone concerned, don't you?
Yeah, we do.
I suppose Lem told you about his going down to get the tires fixed on his car.
Yeah, he did.
Did he tell you that I was at home during that time?
Were you?
Yeah, I was.
I don't mean to try to tell you your business or anything like that, but isn't that the
sort of information you have to have?
Yeah, that's right.
Is there anything else you'd like to know?
Yes, sir.
Who killed Hazel Gray?
You are listening to Dragnet.
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10.30 PM Tuesday, January 9th.
Leonard Gray, the husband of the murdered woman and Earl Anderson, his friend, were
taken downtown to homicide for further investigation.
Complete statements were taken from both men.
We checked them through R&I, no record on either one.
We had all prowlers and burglary calls in the vicinity of the murder house rechecked.
Units working the area where the murder had occurred had picked up two possible suspects
loitering in the neighborhood, but they were eliminated almost immediately.
All of the neighbors, friends, and relatives of Mr. and Ms. Gray were contacted and questioned.
No leads.
All their stories tallied almost exactly with that of Earl Anderson.
The Grays had been known to argue, quite frequently.
The arguments were loud, but no one could say that they ever showed any physical violence
toward one another.
Was the opinion of the relatives and in-laws that Leonard Gray drank too much?
Earl Anderson, his friend, was checked and found to be a completely reliable man.
We talked with the repairman at the garage where Gray had his tires exchanged.
His story was correct in every detail.
Earl Anderson's wife was checked.
She vouched for the Grays as well as her husband.
Ben and I talked with Captain Steed for an hour, 1.45 a.m.
Well, Skipper seems to feel like I do about it.
Yeah, my husband Gray, huh?
Sure looks that way, doesn't it?
We've been over that story three times with him and we get three different versions.
Yeah, I know.
It's completely sober now.
He should be able to tell a straight story.
I don't know, Joe.
Yeah, well, I'm not completely satisfied.
As far as that goes, the captain isn't either.
You heard him.
I'll admit Gray looks bad right now.
What are you saying?
I don't know.
I'm gonna.
All right.
Homicide Romero.
Yeah, Edwin.
No, Joe's right here.
You want to talk with him?
Oh, fine, yeah.
Yeah, go ahead.
Oh, yeah.
Okay, thanks, Bob.
George, a juvenile.
Yeah?
Picked up a couple of kids.
They confessed to slashing the Grays' tires.
Well, it clears that up.
Didn't seem to figure it anyway.
Did it to you?
No.
Somebody did it to draw Gray out of the house.
I don't know.
They said they'd draw Gray out of the house.
Well, it's cutting it pretty thin, isn't it?
Yeah.
What's the time?
10 minutes to two.
Guess I better call Leighton Prince and see what they got.
Okay.
Did Edward say that they were gonna hold those juveniles for us?
Yeah, I said they were bringing them down here for interrogation.
Okay.
Well, hi.
Hi, Mac.
Romero.
Yeah.
Uh-huh, good.
Yeah, right, thanks.
Yeah.
You got something?
What'd he say?
One of the prints they left out there is a palm print.
McGloffin says it'll work for elimination.
Something else.
Yeah.
The print was pressed in spots of blood.
The killer of Hazel Gray had left behind him a clue to his identity about which there could
be no mistake, his palm print.
The prints of the dead woman, Hazel Gray, were checked and eliminated.
They weren't hers.
2.40 a.m. Leonard Gray and his friend Earl Anderson were taken down and fingerprinted.
Their palm prints were also taken.
Both men were returned to the interrogation room.
Sergeant, why do we have to be fingerprinted?
Just routine.
Just like I was telling you, Sergeant, righty?
What's that?
Len and I have been suspects all along, haven't we?
Well, it's just a matter of elimination.
Anybody involved in any way has to be checked out.
Didn't the fellow down at the garage verify Len's story?
Yes, sir, he did.
It's the truth.
I wouldn't lie at a time like this.
I don't believe that anybody thinks you're lying, Len.
It's just they have to be sure.
That's right.
Again.
Interrogation room.
This is Romero.
Oh, yeah, right.
Okay, right away.
Crime lab joke.
Finger says he and Jones would like to see one of us right away.
All right, you want to go?
Yeah, I'll be right back.
Okay.
Sergeant, was there really any specific reason for us being fingerprinted?
Well, we already told you, it's just routine.
Wouldn't it be perfectly in line to find Len's fingerprints around his own house?
Well, yes, it would.
Yours could be there, too, Earl.
Yeah, I was going to say that.
I'm over at their house a great deal of the time.
Yeah, we know you mentioned that.
Makes you feel kind of funny getting fingerprinted.
It doesn't make any difference what I have to go through if you can find who did this thing.
I feel the same way, Len.
Think you're any closer to knowing who did it?
Well, possibly.
You men have had a little time to think this over.
Do either of you have anything to add to your story, maybe some small detail you may have overlooked?
I've been thinking about it all night.
I can't think of anything I haven't already told you.
Mm-hmm.
You, Mr. Anderson?
Hmm?
Is there anything that you might have forgotten to tell us?
Sorry, I was just thinking.
Yes, sir?
There couldn't have been anyone Hazel knew, could there, Len?
How do you mean?
Well, somebody maybe from her past, somebody she might not have told you about.
I don't see how that could be possible.
You people checked your father and mother, didn't you?
Yes, sir, we did.
Well, that eliminates that possibility.
Haven't you found any way at all to tell them who it was that killed Hazel?
Yeah, we have.
Well, I think that Len here is entitled to know.
I'd be glad to leave the room if you want to talk to him alone.
No, sir, that's not necessary.
When we work it out, you'll both be told about it.
If there's something definite, you'd tell me, wouldn't you?
I think Earl's right.
I'm entitled to know.
Well, sir, we're assigned to the investigation, Mr. Gray,
and we're doing everything that we can to get to the bottom of it.
Sergeant Len and I think you men know a great deal more than you've been telling them.
His wife was a victim.
It's his right to know how the investigation's going, isn't it?
Well, I told you before, whatever he should know, we'll tell him.
Anything that we withhold from him is done for a good reason.
Joe, want to take a look at this?
Yeah, thanks.
Here you are.
Here's your report on it.
Oh, thank you.
That shirt belonged to either of you men?
It's not mine.
No, why? What's it mean?
I get it.
Terrogation Room, Friday.
Yeti.
Right, thank you.
What about that shirt, Sergeant? What's it mean?
This button here, a little piece of cloth attached, found by the body.
You notice the front of the shirt here, button ripped off?
See how it matches?
Yeah, it's not my shirt.
It was found in your house.
I never saw it before. It's not mine.
The palm print was.
What?
The print of your palm.
Blood stains on it. It was found near the body.
What are you talking about, Earl? What's he mean?
I killed Hazel.
What?
I killed Hazel.
Why?
Because I loved her.
I think I loved her more than you did.
You don't kill someone because you love them.
You do if you love them enough.
You ready to give us a statement, Anderson?
Yeah, I'll tell you.
I can't believe all this.
I'm going to kill you.
All right, Gray, hold it.
I can't believe it. My best friend.
I wasn't your best friend.
The story you have just heard was true.
Only the names were changed to protect the innocent.
On April 4th, trial was held in Superior Court, Department 89,
City and County of Los Angeles, State of California.
In a moment, the results of that trial.
And now here is our star, Jack Webb.
Thank you.
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The
Earl Taylor Anderson was tried and convicted of murder in the first degree.
He was executed in the lethal gas chamber at the State Penitentiary, San Quentin, California.
At home and overseas, in camps, hospitals, and military installations, and in battle areas,
Red Cross personnel work for the welfare, recreation, and morale of those who defend the nation.
Today, Red Cross is expanding these services
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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.H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.
Our thanks to Quick Magazine for this week's salute to Dragnet's Jack Webb.
Fatima cigarettes, best of all long. Cigarettes has brought you Dragnet.
Portions transcribed from Los Angeles.
Here a gold smuggling case on Counterspy, next over most NBC stations.