Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true.
The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Fragment.
You're a detective sergeant.
You're assigned a homicide detail.
An attractive divorcee disappears from her home.
There's no lead to her whereabouts.
There's evidence of foul play.
Your job, find her.
Fragment.
The document a drama of an actual crime.
For the next 30 minutes in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will
travel step by step on the side of the law through an actual case transcribed from official
police files.
From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force
in action.
Was Tuesday June 10th.
Was mild in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch out of homicide details.
My partner's Frank Smith.
The boss is Captain Norman.
My name's Friday.
We're on our way out from the office and it was 1115 a.m. when we got to 2962 Reservoir
Street.
Front door.
Are you the policeman?
Yes ma'am.
Ms. Harrison.
That's right.
Come on in.
My partner, Frank Smith.
My name's Friday.
How are you ma'am?
I was expecting you.
Yes ma'am.
Other officers said there'd be somebody here from the detectives to see me.
You meant from the detectives?
That's right, Ms. Harrison.
I got some coffee on if you'd like a cup while we talk.
No thank you.
No thank you ma'am.
Okay.
You want to sit down there?
We can get started on this.
I made some little notes this morning after the other policemen left.
I thought it might help me to remember.
They didn't find anything when they went to Josephine's house, did they?
No they haven't.
I wonder if you'd tell us what you know about her disappearance.
I'd be glad to.
Last time I saw her was Friday, the sixth, last Friday.
Where was that?
Out in her yard.
She was hanging up clothes and we got to talking, you know, about neighborhood stuff.
Yes ma'am.
We talked for a little while.
Her hanging up clothes and I was working around the yard.
Did there seem to be anything wrong then?
Well what do you mean?
Well did you seem upset about anything?
Not that she told me about.
We were pretty close.
She told me just about everything happened to her.
When her and Jordan were still married we used to get together all the time, have a little
barbecue, maybe take in the drive-in movie.
That's her husband?
Yeah, Jordan Allen.
She's divorced then?
Yeah.
I got them in a locketory about six months ago.
Not final yet.
Where's Mr. Allen now?
Nonetheless, I heard he was working down in San Diego.
Do you know where we might get in touch with him?
Well not right off.
Must be some letters over to Josephine's though.
He was always writing it.
Was there any trouble between them?
They got a divorce.
Well that's not what I mean.
I mean after.
Did they have any arguments, any disagreements?
Off and on.
Jordan wanted to get back together again.
I was asking her to call off the decree.
Did he see her often?
I don't think they got together in the last couple of months.
No Josephine got some phone calls from him though.
From San Diego?
Yeah.
Did Mrs. Allen say anything to you about taking vacation, anything like that?
No, she'd had anything like that in mind.
She'd have told me.
We were pretty close.
Did she have any men friends that you know of?
Oh she's a handsome woman, Mr. Friday.
She had a lot of them.
Well did she see any one person more than the others would you know?
David Lansing.
They used to go out quite a bit.
I think David wanted to marry her as soon as the divorce was final.
Has he been around lately would you know?
Not since Josephine disappeared.
How about before that?
I had a date with her the very night before.
Went out for dinner and then went dancing.
Any trouble between them would you know?
I don't want to get mixed up in anything Mr. Friday.
You can understand that can't you?
Yes ma'am we can.
But if you know anything about Mrs. Allen's disappearance we'll have to ask that you
tell us.
It's just that I don't want David to find out about it.
Well he won't hear it from us.
That's a promise?
Yes ma'am.
How about you?
Yes ma'am.
Well then, if you ask me, I'd say that David had something to do with Josephine's being
gone.
Why do you say that?
Because they were always fighting.
I could hear them all the way over here.
What'd they argue about do you know?
David wanted to marry her.
And she wouldn't tell him whether she would or not until after the divorce was final.
Luckily she put it, until she got the papers she was still a married woman.
Lansing didn't like that huh?
Oh no, not a bit.
About ten days ago I was over there.
My TV was on the blank and I went over to see one of my favorites.
David was there and it was no time before they was at it.
Yelling and screaming kind of made me embarrassed.
That's when he said it.
What was that?
Said for Josephine to get rid of Jordan or David would get rid of her.
We continued to question the Harrison woman about Mrs. Allen.
She could give us no reason for her disappearance.
Sang and I left and went next door.
We checked through the house.
It was exactly the way the two uniformed officers had found it that morning.
The shades on all of the windows were drawn.
None of the furniture seemed to be disturbed.
There was no sign of a struggle.
On the dining room table there was a setting for two people.
Silverware, napkins, glasses.
They were all ready to be used.
On the plate themselves was a complete meal.
None of the food had been touched.
We looked for Mrs. Allen's luggage.
There was no way of being sure, but apparently none of her things had been taken.
We went on through the house and out into the backyard.
There was no sign of anything wrong out there either.
Sure doesn't figure, does it?
Table all set, food, none of it touched.
There was an answer some place.
Let's check the garage.
All right.
I got it.
Well, no sign here.
You want to check the stuff at the back?
Yeah.
Trunk here.
Look at this.
It looks like stains of some kind.
Better take a look, huh?
By the way it's wrapped up, they're going to mail it.
Labels and everything here.
Rope.
You got anything to cut this with?
Might be something here.
Here, will you try this?
Oh, thanks.
Keep those knots.
Yeah.
Here, give me a hand with the lock, will you?
Yeah.
It's coming out.
There we are.
All right.
You know where she is?
Yeah.
Let's find out who put her there.
The crew from the crime lab was called and they came out to go over the house and the garage.
Frank and I called the office and told them what we'd found.
We checked the labels on the trunk.
They were addressed to a David Lansing on Rowena Avenue out in Glendale.
We went back to the woman who put in the original call.
From her we got a complete description of Lansing and we called it into the office.
We found that he had an arrest record listing several drunk charges and two major 415s, fights.
While the men from the crime lab continued their investigation on the scene,
Frank and I drove over to see Lansing.
He wasn't home.
We talked to his landlady, but she told us that she hadn't seen him in several days.
She was unable to tell us where he was employed.
We checked his room and questioned her about his car.
She gave us the name and business address of his roommate.
We drove over to see him.
He worked in a large television store on Pico Boulevard.
Yes sir, something I can do for you?
I'd like to see Mark Gilson.
That's me.
Police officer, this is my partner Frank Smith. My name's Friday.
How are you? What can I do for you?
We'd like to ask you a couple questions about David Lansing.
David in trouble again?
Do you know where he is?
No, I haven't seen him for a couple of days.
You have no idea where you can find him?
If I had you'd sure get it. Say, can you tell me what this is all about?
It'd be better if we talked to Lansing about it.
Yeah, if he's in the beef again, I'd just as soon stay out of it. It won't make me unhappy.
When did you see him last?
The day?
That's it.
Let me see, I guess it was Friday night.
Did he say anything to you that might give us a lead as to where we can find him?
No, I was home when he came in. He was pretty bugged about something.
Do you know what it was?
Only a couple things ever got David upset, his boss or his girl.
Do you know his girl?
No, never met her. David was all the time talking about how we were going to get together some night, have dinner, take in a few places.
We never quite got around to it though.
Uh-huh.
Did he ever say anything about her?
No, not much. He was pretty crazy about her. He wanted to marry her just as soon as her divorce was final.
What was he mad about when you saw him last, you know?
Well, I guess it was Josephine. That's his girl.
Yeah, we know.
He was sore about her. She's got this husband down south someplace. I don't know, either San Pedro or San Diego, somewhere down there.
Yeah?
He was trying to get Josephine to come back to him, call off the divorce. He's always calling about it, trying to see her.
Made Dave sore.
Boy, he put it, he and Joe had gotten into a beef about it that day.
Uh-huh.
That was Friday?
Yeah, yeah. He had a couple of drinks before he got home and while he was there and we were talking, he had a couple more.
Got pretty mean.
Is that right?
Oh, yeah. Dave doesn't drink too good. All he needs is a couple. He thinks he can lick the world. He gets pretty mean.
I don't like to have him around when he's loaded.
He give you any idea where he was going?
No, I left him at the apartment.
What time was that?
Oh, I don't know. About, well, about 6.30, around in there. I had a date with a girl. She lives out in the Santa Monica Canyon.
Takes about an hour to drive out there. I left about 6.30 because I met this girl at 7.30.
Lansing was still in the apartment, huh?
Yeah. He was just sitting there pouring the booze away. I told him, take it easy, slow down. He said for me not to worry.
He had to decide on something. I figured it was about Josephine.
You know, Dave really loved that girl. All this stuff with her ex-husband was just eating at him.
I guess he was just trying to figure out what to do.
Yeah.
The funny thing about Dave, it takes him a while to make up his mind about what to do, but once he decides, there's nothing that can stop him.
That's how?
Oh, yeah. It takes him a while, but he's always right.
No, not always.
What do you mean?
Looks like he missed this time.
Frank and I went back to the office. We got out a local broadcast and an APB on David Lansing along with the information on his automobile.
We made arrangements for a stakeout to be placed on his home.
A call was put through to the firm who employed him, but they told us that he hadn't shown up for work that week.
Frank and I went back to the crime lab and we met with Lieutenant Lee Jones. He went over the physical evidence found at the murder scene.
The trunk itself had been checked over as well as the ropes it was tied with and the mailing label.
There was nothing about the trunk to tell where it might have come from.
The rope was of a common variety that couldn't be purchased anywhere.
The knots, however, were of a type generally used by seamen to secure heavy articles.
We made arrangements to obtain samples of Lansing's handwriting for comparison with the writing on the label.
The evidence was marked in books.
The next morning, Frank and I met with Captain Lorman and we went over what we had.
We decided that in David Lansing we had a prime suspect.
After we left the city hall, we started to check out the people listed in Lansing's package as friends or acquaintances.
The first one we talked to was a Miss Dodie Frederick.
Honey, he's a bum.
Well, how long have you known him?
About ten years we went together. We even thought about getting married. It was all a big deal.
Right now, I don't much care if I never see him again.
I wanted to see him last.
Oh, I see. I guess it was Saturday. Yeah, Saturday night.
What was last week?
That's right. He came in the place we talked.
What place?
Bar over on Sixth. I worked there as a sort of hostess.
What did Lansing say when you saw him?
Not much. I did most of the talking, just like usual.
Just came in, sat in a booth. Always sits in a booth.
Ordered a drink and we talked. It was kind of slow, so we just sat and talked.
What did you talk about?
The old days.
I'm not going to give you a line.
I was in love with Dave. Always was. Right from the first time I saw him, I wanted to marry him.
Everything was going good until we met this Alan Broad.
Whatever it is.
All of a sudden he figures I ain't good enough for him or something like that.
Anyway, drops me right in the middle of the street, takes off.
You say anything about Mrs. Allen Saturday night?
Honey, he don't talk much else. All the time it's what she said or what she did. All the time that way.
You'd think she was a Taj Mahal or something the way he talked about her.
And what'd he say Saturday night?
Just about old Josephine. I tell you, I'm so sick of that name I could scream.
Big deal with him too. He's always around her, but when he's got a problem, who do you think he comes running to?
We wouldn't know.
I'll tell you, me. She gives him the bad time and he comes to me to get over it. Always been like that.
He meets some girl and right away it's the real thing. Always ends up the same way. He comes back.
Thinks he's a real big man, all the time with the chicks. One of these days I'm going to tell him that.
Tell him to leave me alone.
I'm going to tell him as soon as he comes back.
What do you mean?
Huh?
About when he comes back. Do you know where he is?
No, but when he was in here Saturday he was broke. Borrowed thirty bucks from me.
Said he had to leave town.
We continued to talk to Dodie Frederick. We got as much information as we could from her.
She told us that Lansing had said he was going to San Francisco. We asked her if he had any friends in the Bay City.
She supplied us a list of names. We went back to the office and got in touch with the authorities in San Francisco and asked them to check on the suspect for us.
We put in a call to the coroner's office. The body had been posted and the time of death was set at sometime Friday night.
We checked out the rest of Lansing's friends and associates without result.
We re-questioned the suspect's roommate and we went over his apartment again but we failed to turn up any evidence that might aid us in taking him into custody.
Two days passed. Saturday, June 14th. Frank and I checked in for work.
How's it going John?
Alright.
Say, uh, you got a date tonight?
What was that?
I say you got a date tonight.
What do you mean?
Well, I just wondered if maybe you'd like to drop over for dinner. You know, kind of sit around and talk.
Well, is there anything planned?
Good. When it's all set, I'll give Fay a call.
Okay. I get it.
Homicide Friday.
Yeah, when did you get him?
Be right over.
Right.
Come on, we've got to get over to the main jail.
What's the matter?
They found Lansing.
We went over to the main jail and picked up David Lansing. He'd been arrested that morning and booked for drunk, violation of section 4127A of the Los Angeles Municipal Code.
As soon as the officers at the jail had made sure of his identity, they called us. He was taken back to the city hall to handwriting.
An exemplar of his handwriting was taken for comparison with the printing on the label found on the trunk.
Frank and I took the suspect back to the interrogation room for questioning. He was fairly sober, but he complained of a bad headache.
Frank went down the hall and brought back some coffee. We told Lansing of Josephine Allen's death. It didn't seem to make any difference to him.
It's hot.
Get it down, it'll help you.
If it isn't anything, it'll do me any good. I just got to wait it out.
All right, Lansing, you want to tell us why you did it?
Hmm?
You want to tell us why you killed Josephine Allen?
I'd like to help you out. There's only one problem. I didn't do it.
Only evidence doesn't point that way.
You better take another look.
Are you in the service, Lansing?
No, I got deferred. Bad ear.
Ever do any work in the Merchant Marine?
No. I get sick on the boats at MacArthur Park.
Never did any sea duty, huh?
No. I'm the kind of fellow that can only take a shower.
Here.
Note for you, Frank.
Thanks.
Fred?
Yeah?
Want to step on in?
Yeah.
What do you got?
No, here from Don Meyer.
Yeah.
They checked the exemplars of Lansing against the label on the trunk.
Yeah.
No match at all.
Kind of looks like they might have the wrong man.
You are listening to Dragnet, the authentic story of your police force in action.
The information from handwriting division on the results of the comparison made it possible that we had the wrong suspect in custody.
The main two pieces of physical evidence we had were the knots used in tying the rope around the trunk and the label.
On both counts, apparently David Lansing was out.
We set out for more coffee for the suspect and we continued to question him.
Look, I'll spell it out for you. I didn't have anything to do with killing her.
You saw her Friday, didn't you?
Yeah, but that don't mean I killed her.
Well, tell us what happened when you saw her.
From where?
From when she opened the door.
I went over to see her about 7.30.
Friday night?
Yeah. I went over to try to talk some sense into her.
Were you two having trouble?
Yeah.
About what?
The same thing all the time. I loved her. I loved her a lot. I wanted to marry the girl.
All the time his ex-husband's hanging around trying to get her to come back.
I had a belly full and wanted to get things straightened out so I went to see her.
Yeah.
I didn't call and tell her. She was pretty hacked about it. Said I should have called. She got real sore.
Mm-hmm.
I asked her what was wrong. She never acted like that before. I wanted to know what the beef was.
Really?
Well, she filled me in on how Jordan was coming up from San Diego. They had some things to talk about.
Big deal. All the time they were talking. Him trying to get her to come back.
Got to the point where I didn't know where I stood.
She told me to come in, but she said I couldn't stay long because she was expecting Jordan.
Said he was coming up for dinner.
I told her I wanted to marry her. I told her to make up a mind once and for all not to keep me on the string anymore.
What'd she say?
Told me to call her Saturday morning. Said she'd have something to tell me then.
Go ahead.
The way she put it, things were going to work out. After we talked for a little bit, I left.
She told me she didn't want me there when the ex got to the place.
What time did you leave?
I don't know.
Well, you must have some kind of an idea.
Maybe 7.30 or 8 around in there. I'm not sure. I was pretty sore when I walked out. I didn't pay a lot of attention.
Where'd you go then?
I went home for a while. I sat around, then I went over to see a guy I know runs a little club on Alvarado.
We sat there until the place closed, and after that I went home with him.
Why didn't you go on to your place?
No reason. He lived pretty close. We spent the night there.
Why'd you stop going to work?
What?
We checked with the place where you worked, and said you haven't been to work this week.
I guess that's because I couldn't get in touch with Joseph Fink.
How do you mean that?
I tried to call her Saturday morning. I didn't get any answers, so I figured that Jordan had talked her into coming back. I just went out on a run.
Did you try to see her?
Hmm?
What, did you go over to the house and try to see her?
Yeah, I went over Saturday night. There wasn't any answer. Shades were all full down. I figured sure she'd left town.
What'd you do?
Went down to a bar on sixth. Saw a girl I know. We talked, and I guess I got pretty loaded.
The next couple of days are kind of foggy.
You ever met Jordan Allen?
Yeah, once. Put it down that we didn't get along too good.
You know anything about him?
What do you mean?
What kind of business is he in?
I think it's some kind of photography thing. He sells cameras or something like that.
You know anything about his background?
Not much. I only met the guy once. We didn't get along too good then.
Near as I can remember from what Josephine told me, he worked on a boat.
Really?
Merchant Marine for about six years.
You sure about that?
It's what I heard. Take it from there.
All right, we'll do that.
It's gonna make a difference?
It might to you.
How do you figure?
You're lucky you get seasick.
The suspect was returned to the main jail where he was held to answer on the drug charge.
We got in touch with Sergeant Tony McGuire down in San Diego and asked him to check on the victim's husband.
Frank and I met with Chief of Detective Staff Brown and Captain Warman.
We laid out the information we'd been able to come up with.
They agreed that we should drive to the Southland City and talk to Jordan Allen.
We checked out a trip car and we drove down to talk to him.
We found him at his home, a small clabbered house on B Street.
From the way he looked, he'd been in bed when we rang the bell.
Come on in.
What do you want to see me about?
I'd like to ask you a few questions.
About what?
When was the last time you saw your wife?
Why?
We'd like to have an answer.
I don't know, maybe a couple weeks ago.
Bring it down to a day, will you?
Why?
Pretty important to you.
Why to me?
You lay it out to me when you want, mister.
We asked it simple.
You can give us the same kind of an answer now.
Look, you come in here, you're not from Diego, you got no right asking me anything.
Local authorities know we're here.
Now if you want us to ask them to ask the questions, it can be fixed up.
How about it, Alan?
Go ahead.
When did you see your wife last?
Must have been a couple weeks ago.
I can't come up with a date for you.
What do you do for a living?
Sell photographic materials.
What kind of a job did you have before that?
First maid on a ship.
How long did you hold down that job?
Six and a half years.
How'd you and your wife get along?
We were divorced.
I understand you saw her quite a bit.
Once in a while, yeah, not too often.
The way we got it, you were trying to get her to call off the divorce.
You've been listening to a lot of people with big mouths.
They seem to talk pretty straight, mister.
Well, you go and ask them the questions.
All right, Alan, get your clothes on.
What for?
If you don't want to talk here, we can make it downtown.
Well, what do you want to know?
Your accounts for your time last week.
What day?
I'll start with Monday.
Worked.
What'd you do at night?
Took in a movie.
Can you prove that?
Yeah, I took a girl, I know.
Works in one of the photo shops here in town.
Check with her.
What about Tuesday?
Worked during the day, stayed home Tuesday night.
You got any way to back that up?
No, I was alone.
All right, go ahead.
Wednesday, I had to go out of town, took a run over to Riverside,
didn't get back till about 1.30.
In the morning?
Yeah.
You proved that?
I can give you the names of the people I was with.
You can call them if you have to.
All right.
There's some way to get away from it, I sure appreciate it.
I don't like to have them brought into it.
All right.
It's a business thing.
The old man buys a lot of stuff from me.
I don't want to ruin the contact.
What about Friday night?
Friday night, I was home all night.
Didn't feel too good, so I was here all night.
Anybody devout for you?
No, I called a couple of people, but there wasn't anybody here.
Saturday night, I went out with the same girl I dated Monday.
Look, you want to tell me what this is all about?
What do you think you know?
Now, how would I know?
You guys coming here caused a lot of trouble.
How am I supposed to know what it's all about?
All right, I'll lay it out for you.
Your wife's dead.
Josephine?
That's right.
When did it happen?
Last week.
You think I had something to do with it?
Everything.
We've got points that way.
Well, how do you figure that?
Why'd I want to kill her?
What reason would I have?
They want you to tell us.
Well, I haven't any.
Now, come on, fellas.
Tell me the truth.
This is a joke, huh?
How much did Jeff give you to pull again?
No joke.
Look, I don't know what he gave you, but I'll double it.
You just tell me the bit and I'll double your money.
I'd like to get back at Jeff.
No joke, Alan.
All the evidence we've got points out that you killed your wife.
Now, we just want to know why.
You mean you really got a case you can take to court?
We're going to try.
Well, how about it?
You want to tell us?
Tell them.
I got scared.
That's the only way you'd have known I got scared.
Go ahead.
I saw her Friday night.
She said she'd have dinner with me,
said we'd have some stuff to talk about.
I went up to have dinner with her.
Yeah.
She told me she made up her mind,
said she didn't want to get back together.
This past six months, I figured it would work out.
All the time, I kept calling her,
asking her to take me back.
All the time.
Would have done anything in the world she asked me to do.
She had just taken me back.
None of it worked.
We sat there, had a couple of drinks,
and then she went out in the kitchen and got dinner ready.
All the time, I figured, sure, she's going to say
we were going back together.
I went out in the kitchen with her,
and we talked about it.
She put the stuff on the plates.
And then she told me she was going to marry this David Lansing.
I tried to talk her out of it.
I told her it wouldn't work.
She just wouldn't listen.
Yeah.
Tried to tell her how she was making a mistake,
but she wouldn't listen.
She kept telling me to sit down, eat my dinner.
Just kept telling me that.
I just couldn't take any more of it.
I couldn't see her going to anybody else.
You can see that yourself.
There wasn't anything else I could do.
You can see that, can't you?
Why'd you put Lansing's name on that truck?
That's where I thought I was smart.
I figured I'd have it sent to his place
and then pick it up and get rid of it.
If I couldn't do that, then he'd get the blame for it.
Either way, it would have worked out for me.
All right.
You want to get dressed?
Are you going to take me back to L.A.?
That's right.
I don't much care anymore.
As long as she's gone, there isn't much.
The big thing is that you know that I really loved her.
Yes, yes.
You've got to believe that I did love her.
It's important that you believe me.
I loved her.
It was just one thing.
Yeah.
You had a funny way of showing it, didn't you?
The story you have just heard is true.
The names were changed to protect the innocent.
On November 18th, trial was held in Department 97,
Superior Court of the State of California,
in and for the County of Los Angeles.
In a moment, the results of that trial.
Jordan Keith Allen was tried and convicted of murder in the second degree,
one count, and received sentence as prescribed by law.
Murder in the second degree is punishable by imprisonment
in the state penitentiary for a period of from five years to life.
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.