Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true.
The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
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You're a detective sergeant, you're assigned to homicide detail.
You get a call that a man has had a heart attack, fallen and fractured his skull.
It looks like an accidental death.
Your job, investigate.
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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 Wednesday, September 4th.
It was warm in Los Angeles.
We were working the night watch out of homicide detail.
My partner is Frank Smith.
The boss is Thad Brown, Chief of Detectives.
My name is Friday.
It was 1046 p.m. when we got to 2102 West Francis Avenue.
The front door.
Yes?
Mrs. Prater?
Yes, that's right.
Police officers, ma'am.
Oh yes, of course.
Come in.
Thank you.
I'm Sergeant Friday.
This is my partner, Frank Smith.
How do you do?
How do you do, ma'am?
Will you sit down?
Yes, thank you very much.
The doctor said you'd be here, because he told you about the accident.
Yes, ma'am.
If there's something you want to know, I guess I can tell you about it.
Your husband's full name was Alfred Kenneth Prater, is that right?
Yes, Alfred Kenneth.
I wonder if we could go in, Miss Prater.
Yes, in the dining room.
Yes, ma'am.
We just finished dinner, and Alfred got up from the table, said he wanted to see the
ball game on television.
He excused himself and got up, and all of a sudden he put his hand on his chest and started
to stagger.
He said something about his heart, asked me to help him.
Yes, ma'am, go ahead.
Well, I jumped up to go to him, and he just crumpled and fell.
His head on the table, the thing there didn't move.
The doctor said his skull might be fractured.
That's what might have killed him.
Did you call the doctor right away?
No, I stayed with Alfred.
My mother called Dr. Adams.
He's her own doctor.
When we got here, poor Alfred was gone.
I'm not trying to say anything.
Dr. Adams, he's the one that called us.
Yes, he said he would.
He said he would.
Something about a death certificate, and I didn't understand it.
Well, Miss Prater, maybe you'd like to go into the living room.
Yes, please.
Can we get you anything, a glass of water, anything?
No, I'll be all right.
It'll just take a minute.
All right.
I'm sorry.
Yes, ma'am, just a few more questions.
Did your husband have a history of a bad heart?
Any trouble like this before?
Not that I have.
I'm sorry.
You've got to be kidding me.
He was a good man.
Your husband was a good man?
Yes, I guess.
That's a good guess.
He was a good man.
You never said anything about it.
Not that I know of.
Never said anything about it.
He used to work off his heart long hours.
Has your husband been out of the care of a physician?
No, never was sick.
Had a doctor where we used to live.
Since we've been here, we haven't had any need for one.
Did your husband ever give you any indication there was something wrong with his heart?
And we couldn't ask for anything more.
Good provider.
Who was here when your husband had the accident, ma'am?
My mother. She lives with us.
She here now?
Yes, she's in the next room lying down.
In the drying time, officer.
Yes, ma'am.
All those years Alfred and me.
Ray was born, he's nine now.
Happy family.
All the neighbors used to tell me how lucky I was, but I knew it.
I knew it.
Now it's all gone.
I wonder if we could speak to your mother in this prayer.
Yes, of course, I'll get it.
Sergeant.
Yes, ma'am.
She's 55, and even too well late in the call.
Things could be quite a shock for her.
I'd appreciate it if you'd be as brief as possible.
Yes, ma'am, we understand.
Mother? Mother, are you awake?
Yes, dear, what is it?
Well, there's two officers out in the living room.
They'd like to talk to you.
What about?
About Alfred.
Alfred? What about him?
I think they asked you to break in.
Nothing wrong.
Tell them I'll be right there.
All right, good evening.
Be right out, Alfred.
All right, thank you, Miss, later.
Can I get you something? A cup of coffee or something?
No, not a thing, thank you.
Oh, ma'am, thank you very much.
If you don't mind, I'd like to make a pot of tea for Mother and myself.
Yes, go right ahead.
Do I come out in the kitchen?
We can talk while I put the water on.
All right, ma'am.
Did you call the coroner, Frank?
Yeah, Joe, before we left the office, should be here any minute now.
Have to get a sketch of the room before he removes the body.
Yeah.
Ray's the one who's gonna suffer for it.
How's that, ma'am?
Poor little kid.
I mean, his father was a great friend.
I don't know what he's gonna do when he really knows what's happened.
Well, doesn't the boy know about it yet?
Well, yes, he was here when it happened,
but I don't think he realizes yet what it means.
How old did you say he was, ma'am?
Nine. Nine last month.
Where is he now, Miss Prater?
In his room, asleep.
Here's Mother now, Officer.
Mother?
Yes, dear?
Mother, this is Mr. Friday and Mr. Smith from the police.
My mother and Mrs. Atkins.
Hello.
Hi, Mrs. Prater.
Ellen says there's something about Alfred?
Yes, ma'am, that's right.
I don't see any need to call the police.
Accident, that's what the doctor said.
Well, there's no death certificate, ma'am.
We have to look into it. It's just routine.
Mrs. Prater told us pretty much what we want to know.
We'd just like to get your side of it.
Sure, I was there, you know. I saw it all.
He got up from the table, said he had a heart attack.
Well, he wasn't fooling me.
Well, thank you, partner.
He wasn't fooling me. I knew. Heart attack. Fooey.
I don't understand.
He was drunk.
Mother.
Well, I still think he was, and you ain't going to change my mind.
Had Mr. Prater been drinking?
No. Well, he maybe had a drink on the way home from work, you know, to relax him a little.
Relax him.
There was no trouble relaxing him.
The big thing was to get him off the dime.
Laziest man I ever knew. I told her not to marry him.
I was against it all the time. I knew his time.
Out, carousing around, hanging around in bars.
And he'd come home and take it out on poor Ellen and little Ray.
Mother, please, Alfred was my husband. He's Ray's father.
You're dead. Find a little forgiveness in your heart.
That's all I'll find. A little.
Officer, I'm not afraid to say what I think. I didn't like him. I never did.
Well, as I'm concerned, he was no good. Drunken bum. That's all he was.
He hated me. He never did like me.
Regretted every mouthful of food I ate.
Never was too quiet about it either.
Mother, that's not true.
Alfred never regretted having you here with us.
Well, that's what you say and I know different.
He might have died from a heart attack, all right.
But if he did, it was that cheap liquor that brought it on.
Got up from the table, staggered around and fell.
Well, you say it was his heart and I say he was drunk. Just plain drunk.
Well, how about it, Miss Prater?
Had Mr. Prater been drinking enough to make him fall, do you think?
Certainly not, Officer. You'll have to excuse Mother.
She doesn't mean what she's saying.
I do, too.
If you're going to call me a liar, I'm going to my room.
When you're sorry about what you said, you can call me.
You'll have to forgive her. She doesn't know what she's saying.
Yes, ma'am.
My father died when I was very young, Sergeant.
I was old mother head.
Guess she never did think any man was good enough for me.
I hate to do this, Mrs. Prater, but there are some questions
we have to ask for our report if you'll bear with us.
Of course, I understand.
You said his full name was Alfred Kath Prater, is that right?
Yes.
What was his age?
36, birthday's November 22nd.
How about his physical description?
5'11", 167 pounds.
Front door. Mind answering?
Not at all, ma'am. My imagination's for us anyway.
I'll get it, Jill.
Mrs. Prater, we'd like to get this straight.
Just your mother, your son and yourself were present
when this accident occurred, is that right?
Yes, just the three of us.
The water's ready.
You sure you don't want a cup of tea?
No, ma'am. Thanks, just the same.
How about the other officers?
No, I don't think you'll want them either.
How about your boy Ray, Mrs. Prater?
What about him?
You said he was asleep?
That's right. We put him to bed right after the accident.
He was so close to Alfred. They were great friends.
I thought it might be best if he went back to sleep.
You want to see him?
Well, it's probably better if he sleeps right now.
We can talk to him in the morning if we have to.
I'd appreciate it if you could, Mr. Fryder.
He's just a boy and all this, you know.
Surely, ma'am, we understand.
Deputy Coroner Joe, he's taking care of the body.
Well, what about that, ma'am?
You're going to take Alfred now?
Yes, ma'am.
Where will he be? Can I go along?
Poor Alfred.
There's no need for it, ma'am.
There'll be an inquest after the autopsy.
We'll give you a call about that.
We know how you feel, ma'am.
We don't like to intrude at a time like this,
but it's one of our duties there being no doctor in attendance at the time of death.
Meantime, if there's anything we can do for you,
here's our card and you let us know anything at all.
Thank you very much. Michigan 5211.
That's right, that's right. Station 2521.
All right, Mr. Fryder.
Terrible thing.
Can't hardly believe it. Alfred dead.
Terrible.
Officers.
Yes, ma'am?
I hope you didn't take Mother seriously about Alfred drinking.
I know she didn't really mean it.
Don't worry about it, Miss Prater. We understand.
Don't forget to call us if there's anything you need.
I won't. Good night, Mr. Fryder. Mr. Smith.
Good night, ma'am.
That's one for you, huh, Joe?
Yeah.
Even when he's dead, his mother-in-law won't leave him alone.
Must have been a real pleasant life.
It's been rough on his wife, too.
Hey, you.
Joe, you hear that?
I think I did over there by the window.
Yeah, there's somebody there.
Well, did you call us, son?
Yeah, you the cops?
That's right. Is there something you wanted?
Yeah, I'm my Prater.
There's something I wanted to tell you.
Why? What is it, son?
About my father.
I don't want Mom to hear me.
She'd be sorry if she knew I told you.
I'm supposed to be asleep.
What's that, Ray?
I've been sitting here listening to you talk to Mom.
She told me she'd tell you, and she didn't.
Tell us what, Ray?
Maybe I shouldn't tell you.
Mom said she'd take care of it.
I just don't know what to do.
I tried to think of what Dad did.
He always said if there was something wrong,
to find a policeman to tell him.
All right, son. What is it you want to tell us?
About Dad.
Just before he fell on Hitty's head, he was finishing dinner.
He drank a glass of milk, and he put the glass down on the table,
and he said to Mom, this milk tastes bitter.
It's not bad. This milk tastes bitter.
I tried mine, but it tastes all right.
Now, go ahead.
Well, a little bit after, he got it from the table,
and he fell on Hitty's head.
Did your mother hear him say that about the milk?
Yes, sir. She was right there.
Well, why did you say that you didn't want your mother
to know that you talked to her, Ray?
Because when I asked her about it,
she said for me not to tell anybody.
Mom said that if I told anybody, they wouldn't believe me.
They'd be mad at me.
I said it, and I thought about it,
and if she didn't tell you, I thought maybe I should.
Is that wrong, mister?
No, son, that's not wrong.
I hope it's all right.
Is it, mister?
What's happened?
Are you mad at me?
Before we left the house, the incident looked just like
another natural or accidental death.
However, with the boy's story, it seemed possible
that it might be something more.
11 56 p.m.
Under the pretext of getting additional information
for our report, Frank and I went back into the house.
We talked to Mrs. Prater for another hour.
It was possible that the boy's story about the glass of milk
was his imagination, but it had to be checked out.
While we talked to her, we had to be careful not to let her know
that we'd seen or talked to little Ray.
We noticed that the dishes from the evening meal
had been washed and put away.
We commented about this, and Mrs. Prater said that she'd done
the dishes to keep her mind occupied while she waited for us.
Frank and I asked her about her husband's insurance policy,
and she gave us the name of the company that had written them.
We asked if she and her husband had quarreled much,
and she told us that in 14 years of marriage,
they hadn't had one serious argument.
During the conversation, we gave her every opportunity
to tell us about Mr. Prater's remark concerning the glass of milk.
She didn't mention it.
Until we received the results of the autopsy,
Frank and I figured we'd better wait before questioning her further.
12 34 a.m.
We got back to the office and signed out.
The next morning, we put in a call to the insurance company
to check on the husband's policy.
The deputy coroner said we'd have the results of the autopsy by noon.
Thursday, 11 20 a.m.
Yes, sir.
All right, sir, thank you.
Yeah, that's right, Smith, 2521.
Thanks again, bye.
Anything?
Insurance company says when they wrote the policy on Prater,
there was nothing wrong with his heart.
Good size policy, Joe.
25,000 double indemnity in case of accidental death.
Who's the beneficiary? His wife.
Guy at the company told me that Mrs. Prater called last week
wanting to know the premium on the larger amount.
He gave it to her and said they'd like to send a salesman
over to the house to talk to her and her husband.
He said it wouldn't be necessary. She'd bring him down to the office.
They haven't heard from her since.
$50,000. Sure is in a good motive, isn't it?
Yeah. Funny about the kid, isn't it?
What do you mean?
Figuring what his father said about the milk might have meant something.
Must have been a tough decision for the little guy to make
whether to tell us or keep quiet.
I'll get it.
Commicide Friday.
Yeah, just a second.
All right, go ahead.
Well...
Okay, thank you.
Abernathy at the coroner's office just finished the autopsy.
Anything?
Yeah.
Considerable amount of poison in the victim's stomach.
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authentic stories of your police force in action.
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The finding of the poison in the stomach of Alfred Prater
had definitely ruled out natural or accidental death.
There was still the possibility, however,
that he'd taken his own life.
The story given us by the sun made this unlikely,
but still was in the realm of possibility.
1.15 p.m., Frank and I arrived at the Prater residence.
Yes?
Oh, you're the officers who were here last night.
Won't you come in?
Thank you, ma'am.
Something more that you wanted to know?
I think I told you everything last night.
Well, something's come up, ma'am,
and it kind of changes things a little.
What's that?
Originally, ma'am, we thought your husband's death
was natural or accidental.
You mean now you don't think so?
No, ma'am, he died of poison.
No, it can't be.
There's a mistake somewhere.
I'm afraid not, ma'am.
I wonder if we could sit down
and a few questions we're going to have to ask him.
Yes, of course, this is quite a shock, officers.
I don't know what to think.
Yes, ma'am.
Could you tell us what you had for dinner last night,
what your husband ate?
He ate the same things all of us did, nothing different.
What was that, ma'am?
Green salad, macaroni and cheese, bread and butter,
and a pudding for dessert.
You all ate the same food, is that right?
Yes, what are you trying to say?
Do you think that I poisoned Alfred?
We're not trying to say anything, Mrs. Prater.
Your husband died of poison.
We're trying to find out why.
Just a minute.
Mother?
Mother, can you come out here a minute?
Most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
Your husband having anything to drink for this dinner, ma'am?
Of course, water, then coffee after dinner.
He always has a couple of cups of coffee after dinner.
All he had for this dinner was water, is that right?
Yes, just water.
Did he ever drink anything else for this dinner?
Milk, tea, maybe a glass of beer?
Milk, once in a while.
Last night we only had enough for Ray, though.
Just one glass.
That's for beer, Mother.
Ray's such a fuss.
I don't think Alfred would want to go through it.
I don't know if he wanted beer.
He drank it at the bar down the street.
Are you sure, though, that last night your husband
only drank water with his meal, is that right?
Yes, I told you, just water.
Why all this harping on milk?
What are you trying to say?
What are you getting at?
Mother, are you coming out?
What's all the ruckus about?
Can I even take a nap and pee?
These officers just told me that Alfred's death
wasn't accidental, Mother.
Not accidental? Nonsense.
The doctor said it was an accident.
What more do you need?
Got drunk and fell down, broke his head.
Of course it was an accident.
I'm afraid not, Ms. Atkins.
Your son-in-law was poisoned.
Poisoned? How?
That's what we're trying to find out.
I seem to think that maybe I did it, Mother.
You?
Why, that's ridiculous.
Why would she do it?
Well, it was quite a bit of insurance, for one thing.
You've been nosing around, haven't you?
So there was a little insurance. What does that prove?
It was more than a little, ma'am.
$25,000 worth.
Double indemnity clause makes it $50,000.
That brings up another thing, Ms. Prater.
Yes?
The insurance company says that you called them
and wanted to raise the amount of the policy.
Is that right?
Well, yes, I did call them, but Alfred told me to.
Said he wanted to provide more for me and Ray.
Anyone hear your husband say that he wanted more insurance?
No, we're not in the habit of discussing our private business
around other people.
Other people learn to keep their noses where they belong.
The world would be a better place.
Ms. Atkins, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, but I don't think we can be a better place.
Ms. Atkins, I wonder if you could tell us
what you had for dinner last night.
Well, that is the limit.
I just told you what we had.
Isn't that enough?
Come in here and you ask a lot of questions.
Poor Alfred's not even buried
and you come in here and upset him.
We're awfully sorry, Mrs. Prater,
but we have to find out that's what we're paid for.
It's all right, Ellen.
We've got nothing to hide.
Answer their questions,
and then maybe they'll leave us alone.
But I told them that we don't know anything about it.
I told them.
All right, honey, now calm down.
Now, dinner last night, what you wanted to know about?
Yes, ma'am, just what you had to eat.
Macaroni and cheese, little salad,
and some pudding Ellen made.
Nothing else?
Bread and butter.
How about something to drink?
Water, good, clean water.
Ray drink water too?
No, he had milk.
Mr. Prater drink milk?
I told you.
We'd like for your mother to tell us too, ma'am,
just to keep the record straight.
I think he might have had some milk to drink.
I don't remember, special.
No, he didn't, mother.
Remember when I poured the milk for Ray?
I said there wasn't enough for anyone else.
Just one glass for Ray, that's all there was.
Don't you remember?
No, I don't, but if you say it was that way,
then I guess it was.
You've got no reason to lie.
Ever occurred to you officers
that maybe Alfred took the poison himself?
Ever think of that?
How's that, ma'am?
Well, didn't you tell him, Ellen,
about how he used to moan around the house
saying he couldn't stand it anymore?
Now, what's this, ma'am?
Your husband ever talk about taking his own life?
Yes, I didn't want to bring it up,
but now I suppose I'll have to.
Yes.
Alfred was pretty depressed.
He felt that he wasn't getting it in place in his job.
He felt that at his age, he should be farther along.
At times, he'd get real low, say he wasn't going any place.
I did my best to make him feel better.
I guess it didn't do any good.
Well, did he ever say he was thinking of taking his own life?
Yes, several times.
I laughed him out of it,
and things would go on quiet for a while,
and then something would happen that would set him off again.
Well, how is it that you didn't tell us about this before, ma'am?
Well, I didn't think it would prove anything.
No reason to drag skeletons out of the closet.
You satisfied now?
You happy?
Now you know about Alfred, maybe he'll leave us alone.
Is your son here, ma'am?
Yes, he's out in the yard playing.
I'll call him if you have to talk to him.
I'd like to very much, ma'am.
All right, I'll get him.
Before you go, Miss Freider.
Yes?
Do you keep any poison around the house?
Of course not. I'd be afraid that Ray might find it.
Nothing at all? Nothing for rats, gophers, anything like that?
No, never been bothered with rats and mice.
There aren't any gophers around. No, Sergeant, there's no poison in the house.
Well, you wouldn't mind if we looked around, would you?
Maybe your husband bought some and he didn't tell you about it.
No, go ahead and look. I know you won't find anything.
Alfred and I had talked about keeping anything around that Ray might get into.
I don't recall ever having bought any poison. I'm pretty sure Alfred didn't.
Well, we'll take a look later, ma'am. It's all right.
Now, if we could just talk to your son?
I'll get him.
Ray? Ray, come in here.
No, right now.
You'll be right in, Mr. Freider. I hope you won't say anything to upset him.
Yeah, Mom? What do you want?
These men here would like to talk to you, son. They're policemen.
What do they want to talk to me about? I haven't done anything.
We know that, Ray. Just have a couple of questions for you.
This is Mr. Freider and Mr. Smith, my son Ray.
Hi. Pleased to meet you.
You bet. I wonder if you could tell us what you had for dinner last night, Ray?
Dinner?
Yes, son.
Well, Mom fixed macaroni and cheese. We had that.
Anything else, son?
A salad. I didn't like it.
Then we had some pudding for dessert.
What did you have to drink, Ray?
Milk.
What did your father have? Ray?
I don't remember too well. You better ask Mom. She'll tell you.
I told you, Mr. Freider, only Ray had milk. His father drank water.
Ray?
That's right, Mr. Freider. Dad drank water. Nothing else.
It was apparent that Mrs. Prater didn't know Ray had talked to us the night before,
and we were reluctant to involve the boy any more than was necessary.
We searched the house and the garage, but we found nothing that could have been used to poison the husband.
We obtained samples of Ellen Prater's and Mrs. Atkins' handwriting.
We canvassed the drug stores in the immediate area.
None of the druggists we talked to could remember selling poison to a woman answering either description.
We contacted the office, and Sergeants Gill and Senus and Danny Galindo were dispatched to the neighborhood where the Praters had lived previously.
They were to canvass the drug stores and at the same time talk to the neighbors.
In talking to the people in the area around the house, we found that the Praters were the subject of constant gossip.
We heard tales of violent arguments between the victim and his wife.
Several of the quarrels had resulted in the neighbors calling the police to quiet them.
Around the neighborhood, we found out that Mrs. Prater had a violent temper
and had had several arguments with her husband in the corner bar.
According to the bartender, she accused him of running around.
He went on to tell us that as far as he knew, nothing was further from the truth,
that Alfred Prater loved his home and his son, and that he took to drinking as an excuse to get away from his wife's nagging.
Five twenty p.m. Frank and I checked into the office.
Rough day?
Yeah, a lot of leg work.
Not that so much, just hoping Senus and Galindo did better than us.
Well, we didn't do too bad. We pretty much proved what you said about the happy home life wasn't true.
I suppose.
Without being able to show they were in possession of the poison, we aren't going to be able to prove much.
I got it, Joe.
Uh, homicide, Smith. Yeah, Gil.
Mm-hmm. How about that?
Yeah, ask him to, huh?
Okay.
Said what?
Yeah, I got it.
Right. See you then.
And Senus?
Yeah, they found the place she bought the poison.
Druggist out there remembered her from the description, checked the book, used the name Eileen Peters. Funny thing, though.
Yeah.
When the Druggist asked her the address, she gave him the real one. You know, the house they lived in previously?
Did she say what she wanted the poison for?
Yeah, Gil said the book read, to destroy pests.
On the way out to pick up Mrs. Prater, Frank and I outlined the plan for identification.
In the event the Druggist was unable to give a positive identification, we thought it better if the suspect didn't know she was being observed.
This would forestall any embarrassment to the Druggist.
We arrived at the Prater home and took the suspect into custody.
She said that she couldn't understand why we were arresting her, but that she'd be more than happy to go with us to get the thing straightened out.
Six forty p.m.
Frank and I talked with Mrs. Prater in the interrogation room.
Alfred and I got along perfectly, never a misunderstanding.
Well, your neighbors don't bear that out, Mrs. Prater.
What?
You two used to fight all the time, had to call the police a couple of times.
They're busybodies, Mr. Friday, busybodies.
They were jealous because Alfred and I were so happy.
Once in a while we had a little fuss, but nothing worth mentioning.
How about the police being called, ma'am?
Well, they might have come by when we were playing the radio a little loud, having a party, something like that, but never an argument.
You said your husband didn't drink any milk the night he died, is that right?
That's right, I did.
Your boy Ray seems to disagree with that.
He said that his father did drink some milk, commented on the fact that it tasted bitter.
The little sneak, he's lying, of course, you know that.
Wait a minute, you talked to him.
You said that his father drank water, like I said.
What are you trying to do, cause trouble between me and my son?
No, ma'am.
I should hope not.
Poor little kid, father dead, and you're trying to say that I did it, that I killed Ray's father.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Frank.
Yeah, Joe.
It's a little warm in here.
You want to open the door for a minute?
Yeah, sure.
Thank you.
That's better.
It's not too cold on you as a Mrs. Prater.
No.
Mrs. Prater, did you ever buy any poison for any purpose?
You asked me that before, I told you no then, the answer's the same now.
You sure that you never bought any poison of any type?
Absolutely.
You ever do any business with a Mr. McClain in your old neighborhood?
McClain?
Don't we call him names?
He's a drugger.
No, no, I always bought from Mr. Swenson, a little drug store in the corner near the house.
Excuse me, ma'am, will you please, I want to check something down the hall.
Yeah, all right, fine.
Listen, maybe you haven't got anything else to do, but I have.
If you'll get this foolishness over with, I'd like to go home.
We're almost finished, Mrs. Prater.
Just a couple more things.
Well, get him over with.
Same one, Joe.
He's positive.
Mrs. Prater?
Yes?
Maybe if we lay this thing out for you, it'd be a little better.
Anything to get it over with.
I want to go home, I've got to get dinner for Ray and Mother.
All right.
In the first place, you told us that you and your husband were happy.
The neighbors tell us that you fought all the time.
The bartender says you used to come in and raise the roof with your husband.
You claim he was going out with other women.
So the part about you and your husband being happy is a lie, isn't it?
I don't know what you're talking about.
Well, you said your husband didn't drink any milk for dinner the night he died.
Your son says he did.
What's all this about milk anyway?
What's that got to do with it?
According to what your son said, it looks like that's what your husband got the poison in, doesn't it?
Where would I get poison?
I didn't buy any.
I told you that.
You searched the house in the garage, you didn't find any.
We've got the man to solve it to you, Mrs. Prater.
He just gave a positive identification.
And Don Meyer, our handwriting man, checked the samples of your handwriting with a signature in the druggist buy book.
They're the same.
He might have wanted to collect on that insurance policy.
Any way you look at him, Mrs. Prater, the facts point out that you killed your husband.
Now why not admit it?
I didn't want to kill him.
I only wanted to make him sick.
Just sick, that's all.
Stop drinking, stay home a little bit.
I didn't want to kill him.
I didn't mean it.
I didn't want the money.
I just wanted him home with me.
Yes, ma'am.
Frank, you want to call the stenographer?
Yeah, Joe.
You can understand a canch, Mr. Friday?
Ma'am?
You can understand it?
I thought he was running around.
I wanted him home with me and Ray and Mother.
A nice little home for Ray.
That's all I wanted.
Is that wrong?
Something nice for Ray.
Is that wrong?
Well, I don't know.
What?
What's he got now?
The story you have just heard was true.
The names were changed to protect the innocent.
On January 13th, trial was held in Superior Court, Department 87, 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, George Fenomen.
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Ellen Adelaide Prater was tried and found guilty of murder in the first degree.
She was sentenced to life imprisonment and is now serving her term in the state penitentiary for women.
Further investigation proved that the mother-in-law, Mrs. Ruth Atkins, was unaware of the intention of her daughter to kill her husband.
She was not connected in any way with the death of Alfred Prater.
You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files.
Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police, W.H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.
Technical advisors, Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant Marty Wynn, Sergeant Vance Brasher.
Heard tonight were Herb Ellis, June Whitley, Sammy Og, Virginia Gregg.
Script by John Robinson. Music by Walter Schuman. Hal Gibney speaking.
King-size Fatima has brought you Dragnet, transcribed from Los Angeles.
This is NBC, the national broadcasting company.