WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:12.560 The story you are about to hear is true. 00:12.560 --> 00:16.600 The names have been changed to protect the innocent. 00:16.600 --> 00:25.160 You're a detective sergeant. 00:25.160 --> 00:26.960 You're assigned a homicide detail. 00:26.960 --> 00:32.200 An attractive blonde secretary is found beaten to death in a downtown office building. 00:32.200 --> 00:33.840 You've only one lead to start with. 00:33.840 --> 00:37.280 A length of steel pipe wrapped in heavy paper. 00:37.280 --> 00:39.320 There's no trace of the killer. 00:39.320 --> 00:40.760 Your job? 00:40.760 --> 00:51.760 Get him. 00:51.760 --> 00:52.920 Dragnet. 00:52.920 --> 00:55.560 The documented drama of an actual crime. 00:55.560 --> 00:59.920 For the next 30 minutes in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will 00:59.920 --> 01:04.440 travel step by step on the side of the law through an actual case transcribed from official 01:04.440 --> 01:06.020 police files. 01:06.020 --> 01:11.180 From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force 01:11.180 --> 01:17.280 in action. 01:17.280 --> 01:18.720 It was Wednesday, September 28th. 01:18.720 --> 01:20.480 It was hot in Los Angeles. 01:20.480 --> 01:22.760 We were working the night watch out of homicide detail. 01:22.760 --> 01:25.740 My partner is Ben Romero, the boss is Thad Brown, chief of detectives. 01:25.740 --> 01:26.740 My name is Friday. 01:26.740 --> 01:31.760 I was on the way back from the crime lab and it was 11 48 p.m. when I got to room 42. 01:31.760 --> 01:32.760 Homicide. 01:32.760 --> 01:33.760 Romero? 01:33.760 --> 01:34.760 Ben? 01:34.760 --> 01:35.760 Hey Romero? 01:35.760 --> 01:36.760 Not here. 01:36.760 --> 01:37.760 You Friday? 01:37.760 --> 01:40.760 Oh yeah, Lopey, how are you? 01:40.760 --> 01:42.640 You seen Romero around the last half hour? 01:42.640 --> 01:43.640 I was supposed to meet him here. 01:43.640 --> 01:44.640 He's come and gone. 01:44.640 --> 01:45.640 Still around the building though. 01:45.640 --> 01:46.640 Got a call. 01:46.640 --> 01:47.640 What was it about, do you know? 01:47.640 --> 01:49.560 Yeah, I was on that killing tonight. 01:49.560 --> 01:52.320 Call came from one of the cruiser cars checking the neighborhood down where it happened. 01:52.320 --> 01:53.320 Did they find something? 01:53.320 --> 01:56.880 Picked up a guy about three blocks in the murder scene acting suspicious. 01:56.880 --> 01:58.960 Men in the cruiser car figured maybe you'd want to talk to him. 01:58.960 --> 02:00.240 They're bringing the man in now? 02:00.240 --> 02:01.240 Yeah. 02:01.240 --> 02:03.560 You know where we're checking with the crime lab? 02:03.560 --> 02:06.480 Yeah, there's not much. 02:06.480 --> 02:08.120 Murder weapons about all we got so far. 02:08.120 --> 02:10.920 It's a piece of pipe with heavy manila paper wrapped around it. 02:10.920 --> 02:11.920 Uh huh. 02:11.920 --> 02:12.920 Light and prints do any good? 02:12.920 --> 02:14.240 Yeah, they lifted a lot of fingerprints. 02:14.240 --> 02:15.240 They all belong to the victim. 02:15.240 --> 02:16.240 None of them are foreign. 02:16.240 --> 02:18.280 Hey, you got a toothpick Joe? 02:18.280 --> 02:19.280 That corn on the covener. 02:19.280 --> 02:20.280 No, I haven't. 02:20.280 --> 02:22.720 Why don't you try the top drawer over there in Mike Peña's desk? 02:22.720 --> 02:23.720 He usually has some. 02:23.720 --> 02:24.720 Oh, yes. 02:24.720 --> 02:25.720 Thanks. 02:25.720 --> 02:29.120 I understand there wasn't much to look at, the killing I mean. 02:29.120 --> 02:30.400 It was a pretty vicious thing. 02:30.400 --> 02:31.800 The girl took a terrible beating. 02:31.800 --> 02:33.680 Oh, who found the body? 02:33.680 --> 02:35.000 One of the scrub women in the building. 02:35.000 --> 02:38.120 There was an office up on the ninth floor, import-export company. 02:38.120 --> 02:39.120 Victim was the secretary there. 02:39.120 --> 02:40.120 She was a pretty girl. 02:40.120 --> 02:41.120 Mm hmm. 02:41.120 --> 02:42.120 She dead long? 02:42.120 --> 02:43.560 Must have happened around seven o'clock tonight. 02:43.560 --> 02:44.560 That's my figure. 02:44.560 --> 02:45.560 It's just a guess. 02:45.560 --> 02:46.560 What's the girl's name? 02:46.560 --> 02:47.560 Been identified yet? 02:47.560 --> 02:49.560 Yeah, Adele Pryor. 02:49.560 --> 02:50.560 Her boss is out of town. 02:50.560 --> 02:52.160 She was working in the office alone. 02:52.160 --> 02:55.440 There was no one suspicious seen entering or leaving the office around the time of the 02:55.440 --> 02:56.440 murder. 02:56.440 --> 02:57.440 There's no one we know of anyway. 02:57.440 --> 02:58.440 Mm hmm. 02:58.440 --> 02:59.440 Yeah, it's gonna take a lot of checking. 02:59.440 --> 03:00.440 Yeah. 03:00.440 --> 03:02.000 Any idea what the motive could have been? 03:02.000 --> 03:03.000 Well, it wasn't robbery. 03:03.000 --> 03:05.080 They didn't keep any cash in the office. 03:05.080 --> 03:08.080 As far as we know, the girl wasn't carrying much money. 03:08.080 --> 03:10.600 We'll start making the rounds in the morning, checking with her friends, see what we can 03:10.600 --> 03:11.600 pick up. 03:11.600 --> 03:12.600 Mm hmm. 03:12.600 --> 03:13.600 Joe Friday, you're out? 03:13.600 --> 03:14.600 Yeah, I'm right here, back here, Ben. 03:14.600 --> 03:15.600 Oh. 03:15.600 --> 03:16.600 Oh, hi, Joe. 03:16.600 --> 03:17.600 Hi. 03:17.600 --> 03:18.600 Hi. 03:18.600 --> 03:19.600 Well, I'll be brief you about it, Joe. 03:19.600 --> 03:22.360 Yeah, a cruiser car picked up a suspicious looking guy near the murder scene. 03:22.360 --> 03:23.360 Is that about the size of it? 03:23.360 --> 03:24.360 Little more than that. 03:24.360 --> 03:27.480 They found the man beating his head against a brick wall in the back alley about two blocks 03:27.480 --> 03:29.320 from the office building where we found the body. 03:29.320 --> 03:30.320 Mm hmm. 03:30.320 --> 03:33.640 Guy had been drinking heavily and when they picked him up, he was pretty far gone. 03:33.640 --> 03:38.000 Kept mumbling something about how he didn't deserve to live, how he's a murderer, killer, 03:38.000 --> 03:39.000 not too coherent. 03:39.000 --> 03:40.000 Mm hmm. 03:40.000 --> 03:41.000 They asked him about the dead girl, Adele Pryor. 03:41.000 --> 03:43.240 Yeah, but the stuff he said didn't make much sense. 03:43.240 --> 03:44.800 He sobered up a little since he picked him up. 03:44.800 --> 03:47.400 We might as well see what we can get out of him before we book him in, huh? 03:47.400 --> 03:48.840 Got him in the interrogation room now. 03:48.840 --> 03:50.960 Okay, give it a try anyway. 03:50.960 --> 03:52.680 Any calls come in, you know where to find us, Lopey. 03:52.680 --> 03:53.680 Yeah, sure, right, Joe. 03:53.680 --> 03:54.680 Thanks a lot. 03:54.680 --> 03:58.320 Did you check with the crime lab, Joe? 03:58.320 --> 04:00.520 Yeah, about all we're sure of is the murder weapon. 04:00.520 --> 04:02.680 No prints, no other physical evidence. 04:02.680 --> 04:03.680 Maybe it won't matter. 04:03.680 --> 04:05.720 Got half an idea we might have the killer now. 04:05.720 --> 04:06.720 The guy they picked up? 04:06.720 --> 04:07.720 How'd he figure it out? 04:07.720 --> 04:08.720 Just a hunch. 04:08.720 --> 04:09.720 I don't think he's as drunk as he pretends. 04:09.720 --> 04:12.840 Well, we're going to have to place him a lot closer to the murder scene than two blocks 04:12.840 --> 04:13.840 away. 04:13.840 --> 04:14.840 You can't prove a thing the way it stands. 04:14.840 --> 04:16.520 I was downstairs when they brought the man in. 04:16.520 --> 04:18.920 I talked to him while they were bringing up the interrogation room. 04:18.920 --> 04:19.920 Yeah. 04:19.920 --> 04:20.920 Told me he knows a dead girl. 04:20.920 --> 04:21.920 All right. 04:21.920 --> 04:28.800 Said he was with her an hour before she died. 04:28.800 --> 04:32.680 Shortly before eight o'clock that night, a scrub woman in a downtown office building 04:32.680 --> 04:36.880 near the intersection of 8th and South Grand Avenue entered an office on the ninth floor 04:36.880 --> 04:40.120 of the building to do her usual cleaning chores. 04:40.120 --> 04:44.920 Lying face down behind a desk in the small office, she found the body of 28-year-old 04:44.920 --> 04:47.940 Secretary Adele Pryor beaten to death. 04:47.940 --> 04:52.460 When we arrived at the scene, routine investigation began, but almost immediately we found ourselves 04:52.460 --> 04:54.480 down a blind alley. 04:54.480 --> 04:58.400 Repeated questioning of all persons in or about the office building failed to turn up 04:58.400 --> 05:00.000 anything in the way of leads. 05:00.000 --> 05:03.840 A thorough investigation of the murder scene by the crime lab crew met with the same kind 05:03.840 --> 05:05.240 of luck. 05:05.240 --> 05:06.920 They knew they had the murder weapon. 05:06.920 --> 05:08.160 That was all. 05:08.160 --> 05:12.040 The deputy coroner arrived and removed the body to the morgue for posting. 05:12.040 --> 05:16.520 At 10 o'clock that night, three hours after the approximate time of the Pryor girl's death, 05:16.520 --> 05:20.520 officers in a cruiser car patrolling the area found a drunken man butting his head against 05:20.520 --> 05:23.700 a cement wall and muttering incoherently about a murder. 05:23.700 --> 05:27.000 He was picked up and taken immediately to the interrogation room where Ben and I questioned 05:27.000 --> 05:28.000 him. 05:28.000 --> 05:31.320 We'd talked to him a full hour before he began to make sense. 05:31.320 --> 05:35.800 He gave his name as Robert French, age 34, an unemployed electrical engineer. 05:35.800 --> 05:39.280 While we questioned him, two men from homicide were sent to check the hotel room where French 05:39.280 --> 05:40.280 told us he was staying. 05:40.280 --> 05:42.080 I don't know. 05:42.080 --> 05:46.360 I guess I had three, four drinks at Dusty's Place and I went down the street to the Blue 05:46.360 --> 05:48.200 Canary and had some more drinks there. 05:48.200 --> 05:50.160 I don't remember what happened after that. 05:50.160 --> 05:51.520 I wasn't feeling so good. 05:51.520 --> 05:54.280 You say you were drinking at Dusty's Place around 7 p.m. 05:54.280 --> 05:55.280 Is that right, French? 05:55.280 --> 05:56.280 I suppose so. 05:56.280 --> 05:57.280 I wasn't watching the clock. 05:57.280 --> 05:58.840 I guess it was around 7. 05:58.840 --> 06:00.760 Well, did you talk to anybody while you were in the bar? 06:00.760 --> 06:02.120 No, just the bartender. 06:02.120 --> 06:03.120 His name's Sarge. 06:03.120 --> 06:04.120 I don't know his last name. 06:04.120 --> 06:05.540 He'll tell you I was there. 06:05.540 --> 06:07.560 What time was it when you got to Dusty's Place, French? 06:07.560 --> 06:10.400 I couldn't tell you for sure, about 6.30 maybe. 06:10.400 --> 06:12.600 Sarge could probably tell you, the bartender. 06:12.600 --> 06:15.720 When you were coming up in the elevator, you told us you knew Adele Pryor. 06:15.720 --> 06:16.720 Yeah, I knew her. 06:16.720 --> 06:19.640 I used to work for her husband, or ex-husband, I mean. 06:19.640 --> 06:22.240 They've been divorced seven, eight years now. 06:22.240 --> 06:25.880 You said you saw Adele Pryor in her office late this afternoon, French. 06:25.880 --> 06:27.160 What was the reason for the visit? 06:27.160 --> 06:28.960 I borrowed a couple of dollars from her. 06:28.960 --> 06:30.720 She was always pretty good that way. 06:30.720 --> 06:31.720 Nice kid. 06:31.720 --> 06:34.000 Don't know why anybody'd want to kill her like that. 06:34.000 --> 06:37.520 Well, how about the show that you were putting on out in the street tonight, French? 06:37.520 --> 06:38.680 Beating your head against that wall? 06:38.680 --> 06:39.960 What was that all about? 06:39.960 --> 06:40.960 Drunk. 06:40.960 --> 06:41.960 Really drunk. 06:41.960 --> 06:43.880 Felt so low I wanted to kill myself. 06:43.880 --> 06:44.880 Just lay down and die. 06:44.880 --> 06:45.880 Well, how's that? 06:45.880 --> 06:46.880 You remorseful? 06:46.880 --> 06:47.880 Felt sorry for something you'd done? 06:47.880 --> 06:48.880 I don't know. 06:48.880 --> 06:51.680 I don't think of any special reason for it when I get that way. 06:51.680 --> 06:53.760 I just keep thinking I want to die. 06:53.760 --> 06:57.840 Haven't got the nerve for it, though I know that, like my old man always used to tell 06:57.840 --> 06:58.840 me. 06:58.840 --> 06:59.840 Haven't got the nerve to do anything right. 06:59.840 --> 07:01.360 Just wasn't born that way. 07:01.360 --> 07:02.480 I guess that's it. 07:02.480 --> 07:04.280 Do you use narcotics, French? 07:04.280 --> 07:05.280 No. 07:05.280 --> 07:06.800 I haven't even got the nerve for that. 07:06.800 --> 07:07.800 Booze, that's all. 07:07.800 --> 07:08.800 It's good enough for me, see. 07:08.800 --> 07:13.320 You think we could go out for a cup of coffee? 07:13.320 --> 07:14.840 Maybe I could use it. 07:14.840 --> 07:16.200 We'll have some brought up, huh? 07:16.200 --> 07:18.400 Ben, you mind going down the hall and check with Lope. 07:18.400 --> 07:20.680 Ask him to have some coffee brought up, huh? 07:20.680 --> 07:21.920 Yeah, okay. 07:21.920 --> 07:26.440 And see if those two men will check back in yet, will you? 07:26.440 --> 07:27.440 Right. 07:27.440 --> 07:28.440 Appreciate it, Sergeant. 07:28.440 --> 07:32.280 You're sure going to be mean when all this booze wears off. 07:32.280 --> 07:34.980 I'd like to ask you a little more about the prior girlfriends. 07:34.980 --> 07:36.280 Just how well did you know her? 07:36.280 --> 07:37.280 Not too well. 07:37.280 --> 07:40.280 I guess I used to see her maybe once a month. 07:40.280 --> 07:41.280 Up there at her office? 07:41.280 --> 07:42.280 Yeah, that's right. 07:42.280 --> 07:43.280 She was a nice girl. 07:43.280 --> 07:46.520 Whenever I was broke, I could always depend on her for a couple of bucks. 07:46.520 --> 07:47.520 I liked her. 07:47.520 --> 07:48.520 She was a nice person. 07:48.520 --> 07:49.520 Did you ever go out with her? 07:49.520 --> 07:50.520 No, no. 07:50.520 --> 07:51.520 Never did. 07:51.520 --> 07:52.520 No romance stuff. 07:52.520 --> 07:53.520 I didn't like her that way. 07:53.520 --> 07:54.520 She was just a good person. 07:54.520 --> 07:55.520 We got along okay. 07:55.520 --> 07:56.520 Want a cigarette? 07:56.520 --> 07:57.520 No, it's no thanks. 07:57.520 --> 07:58.520 It's full of cotton already. 07:58.520 --> 08:08.800 How about this business of Adele Pryor lending you money? 08:08.800 --> 08:10.160 Does she think quite a bit of you? 08:10.160 --> 08:12.160 Oh, I did her a couple of favors once. 08:12.160 --> 08:15.640 When I was working for her husband, she was still married to him. 08:15.640 --> 08:17.840 She was going out with a guy she liked on the side. 08:17.840 --> 08:19.760 She was out with this guy once and I saw him together. 08:19.760 --> 08:21.720 She asked me not to say anything, so I didn't. 08:21.720 --> 08:24.820 Before she got a divorce, I used to cover up for her all the time. 08:24.820 --> 08:26.320 She never forgot it, I guess. 08:26.320 --> 08:28.560 How about when you saw her in her office tonight? 08:28.560 --> 08:30.240 Franchi, she seemed all right to you? 08:30.240 --> 08:31.520 Yeah, same as ever. 08:31.520 --> 08:34.160 I asked her if she could lend me a five and she did. 08:34.160 --> 08:35.160 I left. 08:35.160 --> 08:36.880 It was about a quarter after six, I guess. 08:36.880 --> 08:38.760 There anyone else in the office when you left? 08:38.760 --> 08:41.560 Yeah, there was a guy waiting in the little reception room there. 08:41.560 --> 08:42.920 Didn't know who he was. 08:42.920 --> 08:44.720 You remember what he looked like? 08:44.720 --> 08:48.280 Tall fellow, about my size, my age. 08:48.280 --> 08:53.480 Joe, can I see you a minute? 08:53.480 --> 08:54.480 Yeah. 08:54.480 --> 08:58.800 Dorothy and Brian have checked in and just got back from going over Franchi's hotel room. 08:58.800 --> 08:59.800 They find anything? 08:59.800 --> 09:02.360 White shirt, a pair of brown shoes, a pair of dark trousers. 09:02.360 --> 09:03.360 What about them? 09:03.360 --> 09:07.560 Blood stains on all of them. 09:07.560 --> 09:11.440 The stained pieces of clothing found in the suspect's hotel room were delivered to Lieutenant 09:11.440 --> 09:15.120 Lee Jones at the crime lab for detailed examination. 09:15.120 --> 09:19.740 Coffee was brought in and Ben and I continued to question Franchi until about 4 a.m. 09:19.740 --> 09:23.960 He denied any knowledge or complicity in the killing of 28-year-old Adele Pryor. 09:23.960 --> 09:27.280 He told us the blood stained clothing in his hotel room was the result of an accident he'd 09:27.280 --> 09:30.640 been in two weeks before when he'd been drinking heavily. 09:30.640 --> 09:35.040 He was checked through R&I while we talked to him, but he had no previous criminal record. 09:35.040 --> 09:38.560 Franchi kept insisting that we check on the tall, dark-haired man who'd been waiting in 09:38.560 --> 09:43.200 the reception room of the Pryor girl's office the night before when Franchi left her. 09:43.200 --> 09:47.080 We gave the description of the suspect, along with the MO, to the stats office requesting 09:47.080 --> 09:52.720 them to furnish us with any information regarding any assaults or any solved or unsolved murder. 09:52.720 --> 09:59.440 At 4.15 a.m., we booked in Robert Franchi at the main jail on suspicion of 187 P.C. murder. 09:59.440 --> 10:03.040 The next morning at 10 a.m., the legwork began. 10:03.040 --> 10:07.320 Lopez and Doherty from homicide started checking on the background and alibi of the suspect, 10:07.320 --> 10:08.320 Robert Franchi. 10:08.320 --> 10:10.200 It didn't hold much water. 10:10.200 --> 10:13.080 None of the people at either of the bars where Franchi said he'd been drinking at the time 10:13.080 --> 10:17.360 of the murder could definitely vouch for his presence, but they all volunteered the information 10:17.360 --> 10:20.960 that no matter how much he drank, Franchi was never violent toward other people, only 10:20.960 --> 10:21.960 himself. 10:21.960 --> 10:25.000 Lopez and Doherty continued investigating the suspect while Ben and I checked on the 10:25.000 --> 10:27.160 background of the victim, Adele Pryor. 10:27.160 --> 10:29.360 At 8.25 p.m., we got back to the office. 10:29.360 --> 10:30.360 Hi. 10:30.360 --> 10:32.000 Been waiting for you two. 10:32.000 --> 10:34.200 Lopey, you and Doherty do any good? 10:34.200 --> 10:35.680 Nothing to celebrate over. 10:35.680 --> 10:37.120 Long day, tired feet. 10:37.120 --> 10:38.360 What'd you find out, Lopey? 10:38.360 --> 10:39.360 Anything new at all? 10:39.360 --> 10:41.880 Oh, maybe Franchi's arman can't prove it but me. 10:41.880 --> 10:44.240 Every place we checked, everybody we talked to, same answer. 10:44.240 --> 10:45.240 Yeah? 10:45.240 --> 10:46.240 He's a smart guy with a good education. 10:46.240 --> 10:48.760 He's on the bottle and he's out of work. 10:48.760 --> 10:49.760 Everybody seems to like him. 10:49.760 --> 10:51.520 He gets drunk, but he never bothers anybody. 10:51.520 --> 10:54.240 That's about the worst anybody can say about him. 10:54.240 --> 10:55.240 Drinks too much. 10:55.240 --> 10:56.240 Well, how about his being friends with a dead girl? 10:56.240 --> 10:57.560 Did he pick up anything there? 10:57.560 --> 11:00.080 Yeah, it only proves he was telling you the truth, though. 11:00.080 --> 11:03.640 As far as we could find out, there was nothing going between the two of them. 11:03.640 --> 11:06.340 Everything we got only verifies what he told you. 11:06.340 --> 11:09.240 He had no interest in the girl except the bar offer when he was broke. 11:09.240 --> 11:11.360 You got in touch with the girl's ex-husband, did you? 11:11.360 --> 11:12.840 Yeah, he couldn't add anything. 11:12.840 --> 11:13.840 All clear there. 11:13.840 --> 11:16.560 Hey, uh, by the way, here. 11:16.560 --> 11:19.120 Lee Jones called from the crime lab just before he came in. 11:19.120 --> 11:20.640 What did he have, Lopey? 11:20.640 --> 11:24.000 He was testing the blood stains on those clothes they found in French's hotel room. 11:24.000 --> 11:26.440 None of the stains are on a mass victim's blood type. 11:26.440 --> 11:27.800 It's another dead end. 11:27.800 --> 11:29.520 Yeah, sure hard to figure. 11:29.520 --> 11:30.520 You got anything else, Lopey? 11:30.520 --> 11:31.520 Oh, yeah. 11:31.520 --> 11:32.520 You're good links, Doc. 11:32.520 --> 11:34.880 A report for you from the stats office. 11:34.880 --> 11:35.880 Oh, thank you. 11:35.880 --> 11:37.880 You asked to make a run for you last night, didn't you? 11:37.880 --> 11:38.880 Yeah, I did. 11:38.880 --> 11:39.880 What's it look like? 11:39.880 --> 11:40.880 Just a minute. 11:40.880 --> 11:44.160 Yeah, it doesn't help much. 11:44.160 --> 11:45.480 Looks like more leg work. 11:45.480 --> 11:46.480 What's that, Joe? 11:46.480 --> 11:50.000 Well, French told us when he left Adele prior last night there was a man in the reception 11:50.000 --> 11:51.000 room waiting to see her. 11:51.000 --> 11:54.960 He gave us the guy's description and the stats office made a run on it for us. 11:54.960 --> 11:56.280 This is the best one they got. 11:56.280 --> 11:57.280 Yeah? 11:57.280 --> 12:02.440 Guy's name is William Tanner, WMA, 33 years old, 6 foot 195 pounds, dark hair, dark complexion. 12:02.440 --> 12:04.680 Fits the description French gave us as a guy. 12:04.680 --> 12:06.360 The rest of it's a lot closer to home. 12:06.360 --> 12:08.080 What do you mean? 12:08.080 --> 12:12.840 William Tanner was a prominent suspect in the Donaldson murder last September. 12:12.840 --> 12:15.400 Testimony of friends and relatives subsequently cleared him. 12:15.400 --> 12:16.840 Donaldson's murder is still unsolved. 12:16.840 --> 12:17.840 Mm-hmm. 12:17.840 --> 12:18.840 Well, what's the point? 12:18.840 --> 12:20.560 The only thing that killed Donaldson killed Adele prior. 12:20.560 --> 12:21.560 What do you mean? 12:21.560 --> 12:25.040 Piece of steel pipe wrapped in paper. 12:25.040 --> 12:29.240 To the working detective assigned to examine a criminal case, the element of coincidence 12:29.240 --> 12:33.320 when it occurs generally serves to complicate any investigation. 12:33.320 --> 12:37.600 Toward the solution of the crime, coincidence may mean a lot or it may mean nothing. 12:37.600 --> 12:39.940 In any event, it can't be dismissed. 12:39.940 --> 12:43.080 This time we had two examples of coincidence to deal with. 12:43.080 --> 12:45.720 A girl had been beaten to death in an office building. 12:45.720 --> 12:49.720 In two blocks of the murder scene we found a man fairly well acquainted with the victim 12:49.720 --> 12:52.840 who admitted seeing the girl within an hour of her death. 12:52.840 --> 12:57.200 Primary investigation uncovered some facts which tended to incriminate the man, some 12:57.200 --> 12:59.600 facts which tended to prove him innocent. 12:59.600 --> 13:03.160 Was his presence in the immediate neighborhood of the killing only coincidental or was he 13:03.160 --> 13:05.720 there at the particular time for the purpose of murder? 13:05.720 --> 13:06.880 We didn't know. 13:06.880 --> 13:11.760 By the same token, a man by the name of William Tanner was suspected one year before of beating 13:11.760 --> 13:16.080 an elderly woman to death with an identical murder weapon, a length of steel pipe wrapped 13:16.080 --> 13:17.200 in paper. 13:17.200 --> 13:20.920 This same person, William Tanner, matched the description of a man reportedly seen entering 13:20.920 --> 13:24.720 Adele Pryor's office shortly before she was murdered. 13:24.720 --> 13:28.260 Tanner also had a criminal record of one conviction for assault. 13:28.260 --> 13:30.520 Maybe it was a lead, maybe it was nothing. 13:30.520 --> 13:32.040 It had to be checked out. 13:32.040 --> 13:36.920 We showed Tanner's mugshot to our first murder suspect, Robert French, but he failed to identify 13:36.920 --> 13:37.920 it. 13:37.920 --> 13:40.940 We went to William Tanner's last known address but he'd moved. 13:40.940 --> 13:43.400 We checked with his next of kin, his brother, Martin Tanner. 13:43.400 --> 13:45.640 He was with the city fire department. 13:45.640 --> 13:49.120 We found him on duty at the neighborhood fire station on Norwich Avenue. 13:49.120 --> 13:53.280 No, I'm afraid not, Sergeant. 13:53.280 --> 13:55.160 I haven't seen my brother Bill in three weeks now. 13:55.160 --> 13:57.240 If he's not at his apartment, I couldn't tell you where to find him. 13:57.240 --> 13:58.920 We tried the last address we had on him. 13:58.920 --> 13:59.920 He wasn't there. 13:59.920 --> 14:00.920 8625 Norman Road. 14:00.920 --> 14:01.920 Oh, no, no. 14:01.920 --> 14:03.760 He moved out of there six, seven months ago. 14:03.760 --> 14:05.240 I got his new address in my locker. 14:05.240 --> 14:06.240 I can give it to you if you want. 14:06.240 --> 14:07.240 We'd appreciate it, yeah. 14:07.240 --> 14:09.720 Okay, back this way and then upstairs. 14:09.720 --> 14:10.720 All right. 14:10.720 --> 14:11.720 What's it about, Sergeant? 14:11.720 --> 14:14.720 My brother in some kind of trouble again, I guess, huh? 14:14.720 --> 14:16.120 Oh, it's just a routine check. 14:16.120 --> 14:18.880 You sound like you almost expect your brother to be in trouble, Tanner. 14:18.880 --> 14:19.880 I'm going to tell you the truth. 14:19.880 --> 14:20.880 I guess I do. 14:20.880 --> 14:21.880 I don't know what... 14:21.880 --> 14:22.880 Excuse me, man. 14:22.880 --> 14:23.880 No, it's not our call. 14:23.880 --> 14:27.680 Well, how would you mean that, Tanner? 14:27.680 --> 14:28.680 What's happened to your brother? 14:28.680 --> 14:30.120 Well, to tell you the truth, I don't know. 14:30.120 --> 14:32.200 Bill and I used to live together with our mother. 14:32.200 --> 14:33.640 Ma died about two years ago. 14:33.640 --> 14:35.240 I don't think Bill ever really got over it. 14:35.240 --> 14:37.160 He was a lot closer to Ma than I was. 14:37.160 --> 14:38.160 I see. 14:38.160 --> 14:42.000 He died, he drank quite a bit for a while, then he tried women, lots of them. 14:42.000 --> 14:43.120 After that, he turned to religion. 14:43.120 --> 14:44.120 We thought that'd help. 14:44.120 --> 14:46.640 It would have too, except that he's an odd guy. 14:46.640 --> 14:49.720 He even finds ways of distorting the Bible. 14:49.720 --> 14:51.160 I guess he's still pretty religious. 14:51.160 --> 14:54.000 He goes to all the revivals, the tent meetings, all that kind of thing. 14:54.000 --> 14:55.000 Uh-huh. 14:55.000 --> 14:56.000 Do you know any of his women friends? 14:56.000 --> 14:57.720 Yeah, I do, two or three of them. 14:57.720 --> 14:59.000 How about the name Adele Pryor? 14:59.000 --> 15:00.520 Does that mean anything to you? 15:00.520 --> 15:03.920 Wouldn't she be kind of a pretty girl, blonde hair, nice clothes? 15:03.920 --> 15:04.920 Yeah, that's right. 15:04.920 --> 15:05.920 Have you met her, Tanner? 15:05.920 --> 15:06.920 Yeah, Bill had me meet her once. 15:06.920 --> 15:08.520 He seemed to like her quite a bit. 15:08.520 --> 15:09.520 Why? 15:09.520 --> 15:10.920 Was he pretty serious about her, or would you know that? 15:10.920 --> 15:12.480 Yeah, he was serious about her, all right. 15:12.480 --> 15:13.480 He told me that. 15:13.480 --> 15:14.840 I don't think it worked both ways, though. 15:14.840 --> 15:17.400 It looked to me like she was playing the field. 15:17.400 --> 15:18.560 Bill took it way too serious. 15:18.560 --> 15:19.560 How do you mean? 15:19.560 --> 15:22.500 Well, they went together steady for a while, then they broke it up. 15:22.500 --> 15:23.500 She did, I mean. 15:23.500 --> 15:24.500 Uh-huh. 15:24.500 --> 15:25.500 How'd your brother take that? 15:25.500 --> 15:26.500 Not so good. 15:26.500 --> 15:27.800 I remember the night about a month ago. 15:27.800 --> 15:29.480 Never saw Bill like that before. 15:29.480 --> 15:30.480 Real bad shape. 15:30.480 --> 15:31.480 Wasn't drinking, either. 15:31.480 --> 15:32.480 Is that so? 15:32.480 --> 15:33.800 Never saw Bill like that in my life. 15:33.800 --> 15:34.800 Like what, Tanner? 15:34.800 --> 15:35.800 Off his head. 15:35.800 --> 15:40.240 He just went out and killed a girl. 15:40.240 --> 15:44.960 Before we left the fire station, we got William Tanner's new address from his brother, Martin. 15:44.960 --> 15:48.980 It was the same address as that of the murdered girl, Adele Pryor, an apartment house close 15:48.980 --> 15:51.700 by the intersection of Wilshire and La Brea. 15:51.700 --> 15:55.600 Tanner's apartment was on the third floor, just down the hall from the Pryor girl's apartment. 15:55.600 --> 15:57.480 But Tanner wasn't there. 15:57.480 --> 16:00.880 The apartment manager told us he'd moved out the night before without leaving a forwarding 16:00.880 --> 16:02.200 address. 16:02.200 --> 16:06.000 Then put in a call to the suspect's place of business, an industrial chemical company, 16:06.000 --> 16:08.440 where Tanner was employed as assistant office manager. 16:08.440 --> 16:09.440 What was the reason, sir? 16:09.440 --> 16:10.440 Oh, I see. 16:10.440 --> 16:11.440 Uh-huh. 16:11.440 --> 16:12.440 Yeah, well, all right. 16:12.440 --> 16:13.440 Thanks very much. 16:13.440 --> 16:14.440 We'll be checking with you later. 16:14.440 --> 16:15.440 Why? 16:15.440 --> 16:16.440 What'd they say? 16:16.440 --> 16:17.440 Tanner left yesterday. 16:17.440 --> 16:18.440 He quit without giving any notice. 16:18.440 --> 16:19.440 Told him he had a better job lined up. 16:19.440 --> 16:20.440 Where? 16:20.440 --> 16:21.440 South America. 16:21.440 --> 16:42.960 Saturday, October 1st, 8 a.m. 16:42.960 --> 16:47.020 We got out of broadcast and an APB on murder suspect William Tanner. 16:47.020 --> 16:50.380 We checked with the local U.S. State Department office, but they had no record of granting 16:50.380 --> 16:54.980 a passport recently to a William Tanner to travel in a South American country. 16:54.980 --> 16:58.520 We talked to the various consulates in the city representing South American nations, 16:58.520 --> 17:03.560 but none of them had issued a visa to a William Tanner recently or anyone answering his description. 17:03.560 --> 17:07.760 Together with Brian and Lopez from homicide, Ben and I continued the search for the missing 17:07.760 --> 17:08.760 suspect. 17:08.760 --> 17:12.480 The deeper we checked into his background, the more we became convinced that mentally, 17:12.480 --> 17:14.540 Tanner was far from normal. 17:14.540 --> 17:18.320 Most of the people who knew the suspect told us the same story his brother had given us. 17:18.320 --> 17:21.720 In recent months, Tanner had taken strongly to religion. 17:21.720 --> 17:26.280 He attended revival meetings and similar religious exercises every night in the week. 17:26.280 --> 17:27.820 He talked nothing but repentance. 17:27.820 --> 17:30.000 He quoted the scriptures constantly. 17:30.000 --> 17:34.240 He adopted the habit of carrying a Bible with him wherever he went, reading from it aloud 17:34.240 --> 17:35.840 every chance he got. 17:35.840 --> 17:39.520 He kept urging his friends to join him in being saved. 17:39.520 --> 17:43.760 On Monday, October 3rd, we began a check of the various revival halls. 17:43.760 --> 17:46.320 On Wednesday, October 5th, we found him. 17:46.320 --> 17:50.720 He was attending a gospel revival in a meeting hall in the south end of the city. 17:50.720 --> 17:54.320 He told us he had a room in a small hotel directly above the meeting hall, but he seemed 17:54.320 --> 17:56.360 reluctant to take us up there. 17:56.360 --> 18:00.160 While Lopez and Brian got a passkey from the manager and went up to check the room, Ben 18:00.160 --> 18:03.680 and I questioned Tanner downstairs in the lobby of the meeting hall. 18:03.680 --> 18:05.880 I'm sorry to hear about Del. 18:05.880 --> 18:06.880 What happened to her? 18:06.880 --> 18:07.880 It's a terrible thing, isn't it? 18:07.880 --> 18:08.880 Yes, sir. 18:08.880 --> 18:10.720 We understand you and you and Del prior fairly well, Mr. Tanner. 18:10.720 --> 18:11.720 Is that correct? 18:11.720 --> 18:12.720 Yes, that's correct. 18:12.720 --> 18:13.720 I liked her quite a bit at one time. 18:13.720 --> 18:14.760 We used to see a lot of each other. 18:14.760 --> 18:16.040 I was engaged to her, you know. 18:16.040 --> 18:17.640 Well, how is it you never married, Tanner? 18:17.640 --> 18:18.640 Did she break off the engagement? 18:18.640 --> 18:19.640 No, no. 18:19.640 --> 18:20.640 I was lucky. 18:20.640 --> 18:21.640 I found out in time. 18:21.640 --> 18:22.640 I broke off with her. 18:22.640 --> 18:23.640 Well, how do you mean you found out in time? 18:23.640 --> 18:24.640 What did you find out? 18:24.640 --> 18:26.880 I found the truth, Sergeant, the everlasting word. 18:26.880 --> 18:32.400 For know this and understand that no unclean person or covetous one has any inheritance 18:32.400 --> 18:37.960 in the kingdom of Christ and God, for these have given themselves up in despair to sensuality, 18:37.960 --> 18:40.800 greedily practicing every kind of uncleanness. 18:40.800 --> 18:43.480 Do not then become partakers with them. 18:43.480 --> 18:45.480 That's the everlasting word, Sergeant, the holy book. 18:45.480 --> 18:46.480 Yes, sir. 18:46.480 --> 18:48.320 I'm not quite sure I follow you. 18:48.320 --> 18:52.240 Open your eyes and ears to the everlasting word and you will know and understand all things. 18:52.240 --> 18:53.960 It's a very simple, Officer. 18:53.960 --> 18:56.880 I don't want to say anything uncharitable about her. 18:56.880 --> 18:57.880 Adele wasn't for me. 18:57.880 --> 18:59.520 I'm glad I found out in time, that's all. 18:59.520 --> 19:01.120 When's the last time you saw her, Tanner? 19:01.120 --> 19:02.120 Do you remember? 19:02.120 --> 19:03.120 No, I don't. 19:03.120 --> 19:04.120 Not exactly. 19:04.120 --> 19:07.240 I think I saw her a week or so before it happened, before they found her dead. 19:07.240 --> 19:08.440 Where was that that you saw her? 19:08.440 --> 19:09.440 How's that? 19:09.440 --> 19:11.720 I say, where was it the last time you saw her? 19:11.720 --> 19:12.720 On the street. 19:12.720 --> 19:13.720 It was downtown somewhere. 19:13.720 --> 19:14.720 I passed her on the street. 19:14.720 --> 19:16.840 You were in the same apartment house she did, isn't that right? 19:16.840 --> 19:17.840 Just down the hall from her? 19:17.840 --> 19:18.840 Yes, sir, I did. 19:18.840 --> 19:19.840 Why? 19:19.840 --> 19:22.520 And for a full week you didn't happen to see the Pryor girl around the apartment building 19:22.520 --> 19:23.520 at all? 19:23.520 --> 19:24.520 No, that's right. 19:24.520 --> 19:25.720 When I broke off with Adele, that was it. 19:25.720 --> 19:27.080 I had no reason to see her anymore. 19:27.080 --> 19:28.560 Well, it's not too clear, Tanner. 19:28.560 --> 19:31.320 It doesn't jive with what we've been told about you and the Pryor girl. 19:31.320 --> 19:32.520 Well, the lies, of course. 19:32.520 --> 19:33.520 I suppose you know that. 19:33.520 --> 19:36.000 Adele was a beautiful girl, very beautiful. 19:36.000 --> 19:38.480 A lot of men she knew were jealous of her. 19:38.480 --> 19:41.680 Well, the way we understand it, Tanner, you never did break off with Miss Pryor. 19:41.680 --> 19:44.760 You were going around with her and you were seen with her right up to the day of her death. 19:44.760 --> 19:48.380 Well, that's certainly a lie and I can prove that as soon as I found out about Adele. 19:48.380 --> 19:49.600 That was weeks before she was killed. 19:49.600 --> 19:51.920 As soon as I found out, that was the end. 19:51.920 --> 19:53.440 I broke off with her right away. 19:53.440 --> 19:54.920 Like to know what you're referring to, Tanner. 19:54.920 --> 19:55.920 You found out why. 19:55.920 --> 19:58.080 Adele, Adele, she was one of those. 19:58.080 --> 19:59.080 Huh? 19:59.080 --> 20:00.080 I'm sorry, she was. 20:00.080 --> 20:01.080 The sinner. 20:01.080 --> 20:04.480 I almost went out of my mind when I found out. 20:04.480 --> 20:05.480 She knew it was wrong. 20:05.480 --> 20:06.480 She must have known. 20:06.480 --> 20:09.480 It was right there in the book for anybody to read. 20:09.480 --> 20:13.080 Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts. 20:13.080 --> 20:15.280 Now look, Tanner, what are you trying to tell us? 20:15.280 --> 20:16.360 It was terrible. 20:16.360 --> 20:17.680 She sinned all the time. 20:17.680 --> 20:21.120 She committed terrible sins. 20:21.120 --> 20:23.160 Will you come into this side room over here? 20:23.160 --> 20:24.160 I can tell you all about her. 20:24.160 --> 20:26.000 I just as soon as I talk about it here. 20:26.000 --> 20:28.560 Sure, go ahead. 20:28.560 --> 20:30.120 In here. 20:30.120 --> 20:31.600 All right. 20:31.600 --> 20:33.920 Just one question before you get started, Tanner. 20:33.920 --> 20:34.920 Yes? 20:34.920 --> 20:37.800 Did you ever visit Adele Pryor at her place of business downtown at her office? 20:37.800 --> 20:38.800 No, I never did. 20:38.800 --> 20:39.800 Why? 20:39.800 --> 20:42.000 Did you visit Adele Pryor at her office the day she was killed? 20:42.000 --> 20:43.360 The Lord is my witness, Sergeant. 20:43.360 --> 20:44.640 I have nothing to fear. 20:44.640 --> 20:46.160 Why should you ask me that question? 20:46.160 --> 20:49.120 We have a report that you were seen going into the office less than an hour before the 20:49.120 --> 20:50.240 Pryor girl was murdered. 20:50.240 --> 20:52.560 I'd like to have you clarify that for us, if you would. 20:52.560 --> 20:53.560 Certainly, it's a lie. 20:53.560 --> 20:56.200 You're sure you weren't in that office with her just before she died? 20:56.200 --> 20:58.080 Well, let me tell you about her sins. 20:58.080 --> 21:00.840 There was never anything as evil as this, Sergeant. 21:00.840 --> 21:01.840 Is that right? 21:01.840 --> 21:03.160 Yes, it was a terrible shock. 21:03.160 --> 21:04.160 I liked Adele. 21:04.160 --> 21:05.160 I think I loved her. 21:05.160 --> 21:07.280 We'd been going out for two months sometimes. 21:07.280 --> 21:10.640 I'd take her here so that she could learn about the everlasting words, so that she could 21:10.640 --> 21:17.040 know about the terrible sins some people commit, drinking and parties and carryings on, things 21:17.040 --> 21:19.640 no one should do, especially girls like Adele. 21:19.640 --> 21:21.000 Beautiful girl. 21:21.000 --> 21:22.960 How can you be sure she was doing anything wrong, Tanner? 21:22.960 --> 21:24.600 Do you have any real proof of that? 21:24.600 --> 21:28.520 Everything, Sergeant, I knew, just knowing that she was sinning against the Lord. 21:28.520 --> 21:30.680 Did you know any of the other men she went out with? 21:30.680 --> 21:32.160 They were sinful, I knew that. 21:32.160 --> 21:34.220 They only liked Adele because she was beautiful. 21:34.220 --> 21:35.540 Did you know any of the men, Tanner? 21:35.540 --> 21:37.120 Did you know for a fact that there was anything wrong? 21:37.120 --> 21:38.480 I knew everything, Sergeant. 21:38.480 --> 21:41.820 She was a beautiful girl and I thought she was a woman of the Lord and I wanted her for 21:41.820 --> 21:44.640 my wife, but she gave in to sin. 21:44.640 --> 21:47.040 Now I guess that's her business, Tanner, how she lived. 21:47.040 --> 21:48.360 We're trying to find out how she died. 21:48.360 --> 21:51.320 Well, just let me tell you about it. 21:51.320 --> 21:55.400 I'd lie there in the dark in my room upstairs and I'd wait to hear her come in down the 21:55.400 --> 21:56.400 hall. 21:56.400 --> 21:57.400 It was always late. 21:57.400 --> 21:58.840 Two and three o'clock in the morning I'd hear her come in. 21:58.840 --> 22:00.120 You still haven't told us, Tanner. 22:00.120 --> 22:02.360 What about the men she went out with this bar girl? 22:02.360 --> 22:04.440 Slaves of the devil, every one of them. 22:04.440 --> 22:05.720 I thought I'd go out of my mind. 22:05.720 --> 22:06.980 All right, now come on. 22:06.980 --> 22:08.520 You want to tell us, Mr. How about it? 22:08.520 --> 22:09.680 Is that what made you do it? 22:09.680 --> 22:10.680 No, wait a minute. 22:10.680 --> 22:11.680 You don't want to wait to listen. 22:11.680 --> 22:13.160 You say made me do it, made me do what? 22:13.160 --> 22:14.480 I think you know what we mean, Tanner. 22:14.480 --> 22:15.480 You want to tell us now? 22:15.480 --> 22:17.720 It's a terrible thing, all this sin around us. 22:17.720 --> 22:20.480 It's a grave thing, the whole world. 22:20.480 --> 22:22.560 There is not one just man. 22:22.560 --> 22:24.520 There is none who understands. 22:24.520 --> 22:25.960 There's none who seeks after God. 22:25.960 --> 22:27.520 There is none who does good. 22:27.520 --> 22:29.720 No, not even one. 22:29.720 --> 22:31.220 Their throat is an open sepulcher. 22:31.220 --> 22:33.840 With their tongues they have dealt deceitfully. 22:33.840 --> 22:36.000 The venom of asps is beneath their lips. 22:36.000 --> 22:38.560 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. 22:38.560 --> 22:40.240 Destruction and misery are in their ways. 22:40.240 --> 22:43.040 And the path of peace they have not known. 22:43.040 --> 22:46.040 There's no fear of God before their eyes. 22:46.040 --> 22:47.040 No fear of God. 22:47.040 --> 22:48.680 Well, yes, sir. 22:48.680 --> 22:50.240 We'd still like an answer to our question. 22:50.240 --> 22:51.840 Maybe we could talk a little better downtown. 22:51.840 --> 22:54.400 The wisdom and the knowledge is here and now. 22:54.400 --> 22:56.320 I knew Adele and her terrible sins, 22:56.320 --> 22:58.360 they had to be paid for. 22:58.360 --> 22:59.800 Adele had to pay for every one of them. 22:59.800 --> 23:01.480 You want to get to the point, Mr. Now, what is it? 23:01.480 --> 23:02.480 What are you trying to tell us? 23:02.480 --> 23:03.840 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 23:03.840 --> 23:04.880 and the charity of God 23:04.880 --> 23:06.200 and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 23:06.200 --> 23:07.200 be with you all. 23:07.200 --> 23:08.200 Amen. 23:08.200 --> 23:10.760 And so she sinned and so she died. 23:10.760 --> 23:11.760 Yeah. 23:11.760 --> 23:15.480 In the name of God and in the name of our Lord, amen. 23:15.480 --> 23:20.920 I killed her. 23:20.920 --> 23:23.200 William Harold Tanner was brought downtown immediately 23:23.200 --> 23:24.840 where he volunteered a complete statement 23:24.840 --> 23:28.080 admitting full guilt for the murder of Adele Pryor. 23:28.080 --> 23:29.520 Blood stained clothing found in his room 23:29.520 --> 23:31.460 corroborated his story. 23:31.460 --> 23:34.480 It was obvious that the man was mentally unbalanced. 23:34.480 --> 23:36.760 He gave us the details of how he murdered Adele Pryor 23:36.760 --> 23:39.080 because she spurned his attentions. 23:39.080 --> 23:41.160 We began questioning him about the Donaldson murder 23:41.160 --> 23:43.160 which had taken place more than a year before 23:43.160 --> 23:45.400 and which was still unsolved. 23:45.400 --> 23:47.640 The victim, 64-year-old Louise Donaldson 23:47.640 --> 23:49.960 had met death in the same manner as Adele Pryor. 23:49.960 --> 23:51.400 No, I didn't know the old lady, 23:51.400 --> 23:53.160 but she had money, I'd been told that. 23:53.160 --> 23:54.640 I was broke and I needed the cash, 23:54.640 --> 23:56.000 so I thought it'd be a good thing. 23:56.000 --> 23:58.400 This was in September, a year ago that you murdered her. 23:58.400 --> 23:59.600 Yes, sir, September, all right. 23:59.600 --> 24:01.440 She was all alone, she didn't have anybody, 24:01.440 --> 24:02.440 she was sick. 24:02.440 --> 24:03.640 I probably did her a favor. 24:03.640 --> 24:05.960 Your package here says that you figured in the investigation 24:05.960 --> 24:07.800 on the plot to blow up the Rexmore Hotel 24:07.800 --> 24:09.720 about three years ago, homemade bomb planted 24:09.720 --> 24:10.640 in the basement of the hotel. 24:10.640 --> 24:12.920 Yes, that was mine three years ago in September. 24:12.920 --> 24:14.040 Never could have traced it. 24:14.040 --> 24:16.760 Too bad the bomb didn't go off, I hated those hotel people. 24:16.760 --> 24:18.000 Is that right, what was the matter? 24:18.000 --> 24:20.840 I worked at that hotel once, you know, worked hard too. 24:20.840 --> 24:22.640 One Saturday they held up a paycheck, 24:22.640 --> 24:24.680 I didn't get it till next Tuesday. 24:24.680 --> 24:26.920 Never forgot that, September. 24:26.920 --> 24:28.680 September, now what's that got to do with it? 24:28.680 --> 24:29.520 I don't know really, 24:29.520 --> 24:31.480 September's always been the time, that's all. 24:31.480 --> 24:33.600 I work into some kind of trouble. 24:33.600 --> 24:36.480 Last four years, every September, I don't know what it is. 24:36.480 --> 24:39.020 Seems to be the best time to get rid of them. 24:39.020 --> 24:40.880 Yeah, September, it's always September. 24:42.120 --> 24:44.040 I didn't really want to kill Adele, 24:44.040 --> 24:46.160 wasn't anything else I could do, she was a sinner. 24:46.160 --> 24:46.980 Yeah. 24:46.980 --> 24:49.600 Drinking, running around, she committed sins all the time, 24:49.600 --> 24:52.120 worst kind of sins, terrible. 24:52.120 --> 24:54.160 Let me tell you, maybe you better check the book, Tanner, 24:54.160 --> 24:55.300 you're way ahead of her. 24:55.300 --> 24:56.140 What do you mean? 24:56.140 --> 24:58.200 What kind of sins worse than murder? 24:58.200 --> 25:03.200 The story you have just heard was true. 25:08.480 --> 25:11.000 The names were changed to protect the innocent. 25:11.000 --> 25:13.640 On January 10th, trial was held in Superior Court, 25:13.640 --> 25:16.040 Department 87, City and County of Los Angeles, 25:16.040 --> 25:17.080 State of California. 25:17.080 --> 25:19.080 In a moment, the results of that trial. 25:19.080 --> 25:24.080 The investigation proved beyond a doubt that William Tanner, 25:32.080 --> 25:34.760 besides murdering Adele Pryor, had also taken the life 25:34.760 --> 25:37.880 of 64 year old Louise Donaldson the year before, 25:37.880 --> 25:40.240 and that he was responsible for the attempted bombing 25:40.240 --> 25:42.860 of the Rexmore Hotel the year before that. 25:42.860 --> 25:45.500 After examination by three psychiatrists appointed 25:45.500 --> 25:48.040 by the state, the suspect was found to be sane 25:48.040 --> 25:49.680 at the time of the murders. 25:49.680 --> 25:51.600 Tanner was convicted of first degree murder 25:51.600 --> 25:53.240 and received the death penalty. 25:53.240 --> 25:55.240 He was executed in the lethal gas chamber 25:55.240 --> 25:57.840 at the state penitentiary, San Quentin, California. 26:06.640 --> 26:09.680 You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases 26:09.680 --> 26:11.220 from official files. 26:11.220 --> 26:13.320 Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief 26:13.320 --> 26:18.320 of Police, W.H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.