Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boiseidah.
Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment,
Speaker 1: email it to me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net,
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Speaker 1: Before we get started, I want to dedicate this program
Speaker 1: to the memory of Dragnet cast member and most notably
Speaker 1: the star of Adam twelve, Martin Milner, who passed away
Speaker 1: on September sixth at the age of eighty three. We'll
Speaker 1: talk more about mister Milner after the program. Now it's
Speaker 1: time for today's episode of Dragnet. The original air dates
Speaker 1: September the seventh of nineteen fifty. In the title The
Speaker 1: Big Poison.
Speaker 2: The story you are about to hear is true, only
Speaker 2: the names have been changed to protect the innocent Dragnet.
Speaker 2: You're a detective sergeant here assigned the homicide detail. An
Speaker 2: old couple suddenly disappeared from one of the fashionable neighborhoods
Speaker 2: in your city. There's no trace of them, not to
Speaker 2: their whereabouts. Foul play is suspected. Your job find.
Speaker 3: Them Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime. For
Speaker 3: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
Speaker 3: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
Speaker 3: side of the law through an actual case from official
Speaker 3: police folence, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
Speaker 3: Dragnet is the story of your police force in action.
Speaker 4: It was Saturday, September thirtieth. Was warm in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4: We were working the day shift out a homicide. My
Speaker 4: partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Captain Blaine Steed. My
Speaker 4: name is Friday. Was three forty five pm when I
Speaker 4: got to room sixty seven to eight missing persons.
Speaker 5: Hi, Jim, Hi, where's al next door? I'll be back
Speaker 5: in a minute.
Speaker 6: The phone message for you and the book from your wife?
Speaker 5: What is it this time? She didn't say it have
Speaker 5: been a bad week. Oh, what's the matter? Lou see him?
Speaker 6: Who our cat again? Kittens?
Speaker 5: Had to let them them by the time I left
Speaker 5: the house. Who was a healthy kid? Yeah? And what
Speaker 5: I'm gonna do with him? Hey, your mother likes cats,
Speaker 5: doesn't it you?
Speaker 4: You gave us two from the last letter. We still
Speaker 4: got him as healthy as their mother. Yeah, never pass
Speaker 4: up a meal.
Speaker 7: Hi, Joe Hill, sorry to keep you away, Just getting
Speaker 7: this report straightened up.
Speaker 8: Ego, mister and missus Walter Aperson, how long they've been missing?
Speaker 7: Well, today's the fourth day. They're an notaly couple. One
Speaker 7: of their next door neighbors got a little worried when
Speaker 7: he didn't see him around the house. Came in yesterday
Speaker 7: and filed at three sixteen on him. See Clarence Stokely.
Speaker 5: Is that the neighbor?
Speaker 6: Yeah, this is here.
Speaker 7: He lived next to the Appersons for twenty eight years.
Speaker 7: Never known who to take off like this. Checked Aperson's
Speaker 7: cottage out there, dirty dishes on the kitchen table. Not
Speaker 7: the way an old couple leave the house normally. How
Speaker 7: about friends and relevants, Stokely called him. None of them
Speaker 7: seen or heard from the abersence for a week. Checked
Speaker 7: two of their three living relatives, cousin of Eagle Rock,
Speaker 7: and he's to know Hamburg.
Speaker 6: I don't know thing.
Speaker 8: I wonder if I can see that man? Yeah, thank you? Well,
Speaker 8: how about the third route team, nephew?
Speaker 5: Is that it Joe?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Frank Apperson says here he goes to a private college
Speaker 4: out near MONROEVI I haven't.
Speaker 5: Been able to contact the kiddies away on a vacation.
Speaker 5: Possibly old couple might be with him.
Speaker 7: Not, according to Stokely, says the Apperson seldom spending time
Speaker 7: away from their home.
Speaker 5: That's all we've got to go on. Huh just the
Speaker 5: neighbor's story.
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, he says he checked the garage too. Of
Speaker 7: the absence car's gone.
Speaker 5: How does that die in?
Speaker 6: Well, mister Apperson.
Speaker 5: Hasn't driven the car for the last year and a half.
Speaker 7: He has a nephew or some friend drive whenever he
Speaker 7: wants to go out.
Speaker 5: One more thing may mean something, may not.
Speaker 6: Want missus Afferson's an invalid.
Speaker 7: You know, she has left the neighborhood in ten years.
Speaker 6: Four PM.
Speaker 4: Then and I left the office and drove out the
Speaker 4: interview the neighbor of the missing couple. After checking at
Speaker 4: his home, we finally located him at his place of business,
Speaker 4: a small barber shop at the corner of fifty fourth Street.
Speaker 6: In Laxford Place.
Speaker 4: The chip gold lettering on the window read Jim Dandyton
Speaker 4: Sorroyl Parlor. Smaller lettering in the right hand corner of
Speaker 4: the window read the proprietor, Clarence Stokely. Except for a
Speaker 4: man in a white barber's smock sitting in the first chair.
Speaker 6: The shop was empty.
Speaker 8: Dear gentlemen, Oh yeah, you clar Stoven. That's right police officers,
Speaker 8: meter Stope. I'd like to talk to you about the
Speaker 8: missing person's report you filed yesterday. Oh yes, God to
Speaker 8: help you find out anything.
Speaker 6: Yet you know the appers pretty well, do you?
Speaker 9: Mister Stoker twenty eight years sure worried about Boiler and Kate.
Speaker 5: Never known him to do anything like this. Say, I
Speaker 5: couldn't be of service to you, could I?
Speaker 8: Well, I just had her good few days ago. How
Speaker 8: about you, Joe, like you could stand a trim?
Speaker 9: We could talk it over while I cut your hair.
Speaker 9: Don't think we'd be disturbed? Nice to look?
Speaker 6: Well? Yeah, okay, fine, yeah, I'll take a coat.
Speaker 5: Thank you. As Jay.
Speaker 8: M and missus Apperson didn't mention anything about going away
Speaker 8: on a trip, didn't they?
Speaker 5: Not a word? That's what makes it so strange. And
Speaker 5: let me fix this around your next year.
Speaker 9: Oh yeah, play cards with them twice a week usually, Katie.
Speaker 9: A person's a fine whisp player. Want me to take
Speaker 9: some off the sides here, officer?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Please, not not too much though, when did you first
Speaker 4: notice the Appersons weren't.
Speaker 5: Home Tuesday night? We thought we might go over and
Speaker 5: play some cards. I see, got enough off right here, officer,
Speaker 5: let me see.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 5: I was if you waited until yesterday to report the
Speaker 5: appers is missing.
Speaker 9: Wife and I are great friends of Walk and Katies,
Speaker 9: but it's certainly none of our business if they want
Speaker 9: to go off for a few days. Besides, he thought
Speaker 9: if anything was wrong, Buzz would have said something. Oh
Speaker 9: was Budd Anderson's nest for Bud name is Frank? Would
Speaker 9: ever called him Buzz? I thought he was away at
Speaker 9: school placed out in near Monrovia.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Stanley College, private school, and then he stays that
Speaker 5: part of the time. It's usually home, Honey.
Speaker 8: In the week, we were under the impression of this nephew,
Speaker 8: Buzz was on a vacation.
Speaker 9: That's so, that's the first time I've heard honey, Walk
Speaker 9: and Katy would have told us.
Speaker 5: Boom, sorry, there's a little dumb head down.
Speaker 4: You think the nephew might account for the air person's
Speaker 4: car being missing.
Speaker 6: I think he might have taken it on his vacation.
Speaker 9: Possible, I guess, But I think what would have mentioned it?
Speaker 9: The car was over, but he was particular about it.
Speaker 9: Maybe sit it out on top here a little.
Speaker 6: All right, fine, do you know the nephew at all?
Speaker 5: Pretty well? My young fellow.
Speaker 6: He got along with his aunt and uncle, all right,
Speaker 6: just indeed I was.
Speaker 5: Loved them both. Do you have any idea where the
Speaker 5: abersence might be, mister Stelphan, No, I don't either does
Speaker 5: my wife. That's why we called you people. You don't
Speaker 5: mean to be Bardinski's, but we're worried. Maybe just a
Speaker 5: little more off the top officer.
Speaker 4: No, it's fine, it's okay. You have no idea where
Speaker 4: we might find the nephew, Buzz not.
Speaker 9: If he's away on vacation. Might check with the school.
Speaker 9: Buzz might have gone off with a couple of his friends.
Speaker 9: There something to dampen that down. Yeah fine, Yeah, that
Speaker 9: porch lighted theirs burning for three nights and three days.
Speaker 5: It really kicks up the old electric bill.
Speaker 6: Maybe the a persons may have overlooked it.
Speaker 9: Maybe, all right, sir, that's a good looking haircut, if
Speaker 9: I say so myself.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's fine.
Speaker 5: Here you go, thank you. Oh, here's our card, mister Stokely.
Speaker 5: We'll be checking, will you.
Speaker 6: Bye?
Speaker 4: Bye, Can I borrow your comb? Barber never combs your
Speaker 4: hair right, that's not gonna help you. Huh, it's the
Speaker 4: way you cut it.
Speaker 6: What do you mean?
Speaker 5: He put the part on the other side.
Speaker 4: After we left Clarence Stokely's barber shop, we go out
Speaker 4: to the Apperson home on fifty fourth Street, just below
Speaker 4: Seaboard Avenue. We checked the house from top to bottom.
Speaker 4: The closets and the bedrooms were well stocked with clothes.
Speaker 4: None of the luggage seemed to be missing. In the basement,
Speaker 4: back on one of the covered shelves, we found a
Speaker 4: bottle of cyanide. It was half filled. In the kitchen
Speaker 4: we found dirty dishes still lying on the table. We
Speaker 4: put in a call to Raye Pinker at the crime
Speaker 4: lab and he came out and took sample scrapings from
Speaker 4: each of the three plates and specimens from each of
Speaker 4: the half filled cups of coffee on the table. He
Speaker 4: also took along the bottle of cyanide to examine it
Speaker 4: for fingerprints. Ben and I called the record bureau just
Speaker 4: as a matter of routine and asked for any making
Speaker 4: warrants on the nephew Frank buzz Afersen R and I
Speaker 4: called back with the information that Frank Aperson had been
Speaker 4: arrested for grand theft auto six weeks before his trial
Speaker 4: was pending. We checked back with the barber, Clarence Stokely,
Speaker 4: he knew nothing about the trouble. The next morning, Sunday,
Speaker 4: with the help of school authorities at Stanley College near Monrovia,
Speaker 4: we got in touch with the parents of two of
Speaker 4: buzz Aperson's friends. They told us, as far as they knew,
Speaker 4: Aperson was on a camping trip with their sons. They
Speaker 4: were expected back in the next day around noontime. From
Speaker 4: one of the boarding students at Stanley College, we got
Speaker 4: the name of buzz Averson's girlfriend, of missus Norma Louise Bernard.
Speaker 6: She lived in San Marino. Sunday night, we drove out
Speaker 6: to interviewer.
Speaker 10: I don't know what I can tell you, Sergeant. Buzzy's
Speaker 10: on a camping trip with two of the fellas from school.
Speaker 10: That's all I know.
Speaker 5: When did he leave? Do you know?
Speaker 6: Miss nine?
Speaker 10: Last Monday morning they left from school, said they'd be
Speaker 10: gone for a week. They're coming back tomorrow.
Speaker 6: You know a buzz Aferson pretty well?
Speaker 10: Yes, I do, as well as anyone I guess what
Speaker 10: is he?
Speaker 6: Just a casual date?
Speaker 10: Oh, Buzzy and I've been going steady for almost a
Speaker 10: year now.
Speaker 5: I see how old are you?
Speaker 10: I'm nineteen.
Speaker 6: Have you ever met the apersons? His aunt and his.
Speaker 5: Uncle just once?
Speaker 10: They're awfully sweet.
Speaker 5: How did Buzz get along with him?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 5: Well?
Speaker 10: Fine, I guess the only argument Buzz ever told me
Speaker 10: about was a month ago he wanted more allowance and
Speaker 10: his uncle said no.
Speaker 5: Was Buzz ever in any trouble to your annollege, Miss Vernine?
Speaker 10: I don't think I know what you mean. What kind
Speaker 10: of trouble?
Speaker 6: Well, I mean, was he ever in any trouble at
Speaker 6: the college or with a law in any way?
Speaker 10: Oh you mean that car Buzz took about two months ago. Yeah,
Speaker 10: we were supposed to go to this school dance and
Speaker 10: Buzz didn't have a car. I guess he was ashamed.
Speaker 10: He said he knew the fella he borrowed the car from.
Speaker 10: But the day after the dance the cops came.
Speaker 5: How did his uncle react, Well, there was a.
Speaker 10: Terrible row, Buzz said, I really shouldn't be telling you
Speaker 10: Bud Masby's promise.
Speaker 8: How were feelings between the boy and his uncle before
Speaker 8: he left on the trip.
Speaker 6: Did he mentioned anything to you about that?
Speaker 10: Well, we had a date last Sunday night. I asked
Speaker 10: him how things were at home. He didn't seem to
Speaker 10: want to talk about it.
Speaker 5: Last time you saw him was Monday morning?
Speaker 10: All right, Yes, just before he left on the camping trip.
Speaker 5: And you're sure he went on that trip?
Speaker 10: Well, of course, I'm sure. How do you mean, he said, No,
Speaker 10: matter who asked you, I went on a camping trip,
Speaker 10: he said it a couple of times.
Speaker 6: Do you offer any explanation?
Speaker 10: No, but I knew everything was all right.
Speaker 6: Oh? Was that so I could tell?
Speaker 10: Wade kissed me.
Speaker 4: The next morning, Monday? Then and I checked with missing persons.
Speaker 4: There was no additional information on the missing couple. We
Speaker 4: phoned the barber, Clarence Stokely, he had seen or heard
Speaker 4: nothing further of mister and missus. Apperson went down to
Speaker 4: the bank where the Apersons had their account.
Speaker 5: With the help of the manager, we found.
Speaker 4: That three checks had been passed on the apperson Checking
Speaker 4: accounts since the previous Wednesday, a full day after the
Speaker 4: missing cup had been last seen. One check was for
Speaker 4: one hundred dollars and two for fifty dollars each.
Speaker 6: All of them had.
Speaker 4: Been cashed in Los Angeles and all bore the signature
Speaker 4: Walter Apperson. After examination was found each signature had been
Speaker 4: carefully forged. Ten forty five am went back to the office.
Speaker 5: Hire you too, going sumblers? Oh hi, Ray, now just coming?
Speaker 6: You finished checking it stuff as a crime man?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I was passing over this way. I thought i'd
Speaker 5: drop off the report for you. Got it right here?
Speaker 5: How to go?
Speaker 8: Finger Prints on that bottle of cyanide Latin prince gotta make.
Speaker 5: Here's the name on it. Frank was Aperson.
Speaker 8: You look over those dirty dishes we found in the
Speaker 8: Aperson house, checked them through nothing.
Speaker 6: How about the samples you took from those cups.
Speaker 5: Whoever drank that cuffee is in trouble.
Speaker 6: It's loaded.
Speaker 5: Yeah, enough sinid to kill a horse.
Speaker 3: You are listening to Dragnet the case history of a
Speaker 3: police investigation presented in the Public Interest.
Speaker 6: Monday, one pm.
Speaker 4: We obtained a specimen of Frank buzz Aferson's signature and
Speaker 4: we had Don Myers and handwriting check it out against
Speaker 4: the signatures on the three checks. Both styles of handwriting
Speaker 4: matched in every detail. At one thirty pm, the parents
Speaker 4: of buzz Aperson's two friends called to tell us that
Speaker 4: their sons were back from their camping trip. We checked
Speaker 4: the Aperson home. The nephew wasn't there. We drove out
Speaker 4: to see his two friends. Under questioning, one of them
Speaker 4: finally broke and admitted that buzz Aferson had not gone
Speaker 4: with him on the camping trip. In the process of
Speaker 4: questioning the boys, one of them told us that he
Speaker 4: had been with a suspect two days before the trip
Speaker 4: when he purchased some medicine at the campus drug store.
Speaker 6: We went to the drugstore and checked the prescription book.
Speaker 4: It showed Frank buzz Aferson had purchased and signed for
Speaker 4: a bottle of cyanide two days before the disappearance of
Speaker 4: his ants. Uncle Ben and I drove back to the
Speaker 4: Apperson house. When we arrived, the officers on steakeout had
Speaker 4: the boy in custody.
Speaker 5: No, I'm sorry, officers, I wish I could help you out,
Speaker 5: but well, maybe it's not as bad as you think.
Speaker 5: When did you last see your aunt and uncle Monday
Speaker 5: before I left on the camping trip. You in the
Speaker 5: habit of going off like this other? Oh? Sure, Aunt
Speaker 5: Kate and Uncle Walter have friends all over. They go
Speaker 5: on trips all the time.
Speaker 6: Is that so?
Speaker 5: So?
Speaker 8: How do they get there? They drive, both of them.
Speaker 8: They've been driving for years. Talk to your uncle's friend,
Speaker 8: mister Stokely next door. He says, your aunt and uncle,
Speaker 8: I haven't been driving for least a year and a half.
Speaker 5: Stokely the barber. He's one of the neighborhood cranks. Sergeant,
Speaker 5: anybody around here can tell you that mind's everybody's business
Speaker 5: but his own. You don't seem too worried about your
Speaker 5: aunt and uncle. I think they're all right. Well, we'dn't
Speaker 5: heard by now if they weren't, don't you think, sir?
Speaker 5: They probably took off on a trip that's just about
Speaker 5: the size of it. I think.
Speaker 4: How about this trip of yours, sir, Well, this camping
Speaker 4: trip that you just come from.
Speaker 5: Oh, a couple of fellas from school. We went camping
Speaker 5: up by Big Bear for a week. Pretty good fishing
Speaker 5: for September. You ever been up there?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Have you for sure? I just said that's where we've
Speaker 5: been camping. So I'm a little thirsty. There's a couple
Speaker 5: of bottles of ale and the refrigerator. Care for a bottle?
Speaker 5: Would you mind if I had one? Sure could use it?
Speaker 6: No, you go right ahead? Would you talk?
Speaker 5: In the kitchen places in kind of a mess, so
Speaker 5: I'll have to go in clean it up.
Speaker 8: You your rent usually leave in a hurry like that.
Speaker 8: Not usually no dishes all over the place. She probably
Speaker 8: figured she'd wait till she got back to clean up.
Speaker 8: Aunt Kate does things like that once in a while.
Speaker 5: That's him. Yeah, she's like that sometimes. Well happy days?
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, Buzz, you want to tell us where are they?
Speaker 5: Your aunt and uncle? What happened?
Speaker 10: Say?
Speaker 5: I don't think I know what you're talking about. What's
Speaker 5: the trouble?
Speaker 8: Come on, Buzz, you know what the trouble is. Let's
Speaker 8: have a straight story. I'm gonna save a lot of time, sir.
Speaker 8: We can draw it out as long as you lie.
Speaker 8: It be a lot easier if you co operate.
Speaker 5: Look, I don't know what you're thinking, sergeant, but whatever
Speaker 5: it is, I don't understand you. What are you getting at?
Speaker 5: Something's happened to your aunt and uncle. We're pretty sure
Speaker 5: you know what it is. Well, how could I I've
Speaker 5: been away in this camping trip.
Speaker 6: You've been away, but not on a camping trip.
Speaker 5: Sir. We've checked you out from the day you came
Speaker 5: to live with your aunt and uncle. Boy, you're gonna
Speaker 5: make us spell out the whole record. Boy, But I've
Speaker 5: been away. I just got back. I don't know what's happened.
Speaker 4: We found a bottle of cyanide in the basement covered.
Speaker 4: Your fingerprints are all over it.
Speaker 5: Well, sure that figures. We use it for bug poison
Speaker 5: in the garden. I take care of the garden. I
Speaker 5: use it all the time, use it in coffee, sir.
Speaker 4: The police chemist checked what was left, and two of
Speaker 4: the cups that were on the table there cyanide in
Speaker 4: both of them.
Speaker 6: And have to kill six people.
Speaker 4: Hell, look, boy, we've talked to your neighbors, your teachers,
Speaker 4: your girlfriend Norma, those two pals you were supposed to
Speaker 4: go camping with.
Speaker 5: Now we can drag all of them out if we
Speaker 5: have to. They're going to make a liar on.
Speaker 6: You, Sir. I think you got it the first time.
Speaker 5: Well, there couldn't be any cyanide in those cups. Why
Speaker 5: should there be? We think you didn't tell us that.
Speaker 5: But I can't. I don't know anything about this. I
Speaker 5: have any idea what you're talking about it? Is this
Speaker 5: some kind of a gag? You know better than men?
Speaker 5: How about those checks buzz, sir, the ones you forged
Speaker 5: your uncle's signature on. You need the money?
Speaker 6: That bad?
Speaker 5: I didn't forge any checks. I was away on a
Speaker 5: camping trip. David Willie were with me. They can tell
Speaker 5: you you've got in a row with your uncle.
Speaker 6: Maybe about that stolen cars.
Speaker 5: That how it happened, It had nothing to do with it.
Speaker 5: I want to see Norma. I want to talk to
Speaker 5: David Willy. They'll tell you.
Speaker 8: How about the man at the campus drugst Sir, when
Speaker 8: you bought the cyanide from you? Want to talk to
Speaker 8: him too?
Speaker 10: Look?
Speaker 5: Are you two fellas kidding me? This must be some
Speaker 5: kind of a gag.
Speaker 4: Is it your aunt and uncle are missing? There's evidence
Speaker 4: of foul play? Now does that sound like a joke?
Speaker 5: Well? How should I know where they are? I wasn't there.
Speaker 5: I want to talk to Norma. I want to see
Speaker 5: Dave and Willie. They'll tell you. Why don't we drive
Speaker 5: over and see him?
Speaker 11: Now?
Speaker 6: It's all right with us. I wanna get your coaked.
Speaker 12: Sure, Mom is a girl I'm engaged to. Dadan Willie
Speaker 12: are my best friends. You know everything about me, A
Speaker 12: couple of real nice guys and so sure.
Speaker 6: O that's cooling.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Aaden Willie been all through school with me thinking
Speaker 5: about you for me.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Sure you can take their word too, we will.
Speaker 4: Five point fifty pm, we left the Aferson house, drove
Speaker 4: across town and headed over the Arroyo Seco toward the
Speaker 4: home of the suspect's friend, Dave Killerfer six thirty three pm,
Speaker 4: WHI took a right turn.
Speaker 6: Off the freeway, headed south for.
Speaker 4: Another mile, and finally pulled up in front of the
Speaker 4: killer for home.
Speaker 6: Buzz Afferson's friend Dave met us at the front door.
Speaker 5: What's it all about anyway, Buss, what's the pitch? Well,
Speaker 5: that's what I want to know. Look, is this some
Speaker 5: kind of a gag you guys cooked up on me?
Speaker 5: We were on the trip, Buzz, I don't know anything
Speaker 5: about any gag. What's all this about your aunt? Knuckle?
Speaker 5: I don't know. That's what these officers want to find out.
Speaker 8: I'd like to have you tell us again. Dave was
Speaker 8: Buzz here with you on that gavinger.
Speaker 5: Sure, that's why we came over. I'll tell him about it,
Speaker 5: you know, all right, let's have it, Dave. Was he
Speaker 5: with you on that trip?
Speaker 13: These officers aren't kidding, Buzz. They want the truth.
Speaker 5: Well tell him I was with you and Willie. We
Speaker 5: went to Big Bear.
Speaker 13: You're looking for your aunt, knuckle. I'm not gonna lie now.
Speaker 5: You didn't go to Big.
Speaker 13: Bear with us?
Speaker 5: All right?
Speaker 6: D thanks?
Speaker 5: Well he's lying. Officers? Who puts you up to this stunt? Dave?
Speaker 5: They'll throw you in the jug for a gag like this?
Speaker 5: Who's behind it? You're the guy who said it was
Speaker 5: a gag?
Speaker 13: You told us to tell everybody Rubbert the Big Bear
Speaker 13: was Willy and me? How about leveling? What's it about?
Speaker 13: He's lying? What's it about? You've got nothing to hide,
Speaker 13: have you?
Speaker 5: He's lying? You can tell that, can't you. Let's go
Speaker 5: talk to Willie. He'll tell you the truth. Joe.
Speaker 6: All right, thank you, Dave.
Speaker 13: That's all all right, sergeant. Sure, there isn't anything I
Speaker 13: can do?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 5: Thanks, just the same, good night, okay, good night. Anybody
Speaker 5: could tell he was lying, isn't that right? Sergeant?
Speaker 6: Well, he's your friend, was Why do you say that?
Speaker 5: Well? He was just plain lying, that's all. Couldn't you tell? No?
Speaker 5: I couldn't.
Speaker 6: How about you? Ben?
Speaker 5: Mean? Why would you lie?
Speaker 6: Boy?
Speaker 5: He told us he was your pair some kind of
Speaker 5: a stupid gag. They're pulling gang in the fraternity I
Speaker 5: belong to. Dave's one of them. They've done it before.
Speaker 5: I don't know why they're lying, but they are.
Speaker 6: Where's your friend Willy live?
Speaker 5: Sir?
Speaker 6: You said you wanted to drive over and have us
Speaker 6: talk to Willie? Oh yeah, and.
Speaker 5: Where does he live? Look? Would you mind very much?
Speaker 5: How's that? I got a terrible headache?
Speaker 14: Would you mind very much? Just driving around a while?
Speaker 14: I'd like to clear my head a little. I can't
Speaker 14: figure this thing out?
Speaker 5: All right? Watch you roll down the window there?
Speaker 6: Buzz?
Speaker 9: Okay, yeah, yeah, it feels good.
Speaker 5: Sure is hot out tonight. H's been a pretty long summer,
Speaker 5: hasn't it?
Speaker 6: Yeah? It has?
Speaker 5: Say, I guess maybe we ought to forget about going
Speaker 5: over to Willie's place. He strings along with the rest.
Speaker 6: He'd probably lie too, He said, you wanted.
Speaker 5: To want to just have a cok with him? Yeah,
Speaker 5: but I've been thinking about it. He'd only lie. It'd
Speaker 5: be better if we drove over to see Norma. That's
Speaker 5: the girl I'm engaged to.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's what we understand.
Speaker 5: If anybody can give you a straight story, Norma can.
Speaker 5: She doesn't move far straight down the road here in
Speaker 5: the San Marino.
Speaker 6: Yeah, we know.
Speaker 5: Oh, sure would appreciate it if you drive over there. Okay,
Speaker 5: Norma can straighten this thing out. Swell girl, we're gonna
Speaker 5: get married as soon as we can.
Speaker 6: Oh.
Speaker 5: Yeah, she saw me leave on that trip to Big Bear.
Speaker 5: She won't lie to you. Sure. Wish my aunt and
Speaker 5: uncle had left a note where they were going. All
Speaker 5: this trouble, you might have finally had a couple of
Speaker 5: things for you.
Speaker 4: Buzz, How what do you mean when a police officer
Speaker 4: picked somebody up, he's got a good reason for it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but Dave was lying, Sergeant. You know that. It's
Speaker 5: a lot more on what Dave had to say. You've
Speaker 5: done something wrong.
Speaker 4: We don't know what exactly, but we've got an idea
Speaker 4: and we're going to find out.
Speaker 5: You can't prove anything. I got that cyanide for the garden.
Speaker 5: We used around the house for different things.
Speaker 6: You don't use it in coffee cups. What happened? Boy?
Speaker 6: Where's your aunt and uncle?
Speaker 5: Next? Turn for normous house up by the signal turn left.
Speaker 4: Yeah, come on, buzz, you know what happened. You're gonna
Speaker 4: have to face it sooner or later. If it's not tonight,
Speaker 4: then tomorrow morning or tomorrow.
Speaker 5: Night or the night after. I don't know what happened.
Speaker 5: The facts say you do, and they're not gonna disappear.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 5: You made the problem.
Speaker 6: It's gonna stick out in front of you. I'll you
Speaker 6: find an answer.
Speaker 5: How about it? Normal? Know what to do? Way till
Speaker 5: I talk to Norman? Why don't you stand up and
Speaker 5: face it?
Speaker 6: Boy? Getting your girl mixed up? And this isn't gonna help.
Speaker 5: She'll know what to do.
Speaker 6: Can she finds your aunt and uncle? Can't she? How
Speaker 6: about the three checks? How about them?
Speaker 5: Can she explain those signatures that you forged?
Speaker 4: Maybe those fingerprints in the cyanide bottle? Can she help
Speaker 4: you out there? I look, Buzz, I believe you. You
Speaker 4: love the girl?
Speaker 6: If you want to mixed up in all this?
Speaker 5: Who we are? Joe? Okay, that's the right house, isn't it. Yeah?
Speaker 5: That's Norma's house? All right?
Speaker 6: What's it gonna be? Do we win?
Speaker 15: She'd cry, She'd only cried, Norma thinks a lot of me. Yeah,
Speaker 15: she's a swell girl. I don't want to have to
Speaker 15: tell her. She don't cry, you know, I killed my
Speaker 15: aunt and uncle.
Speaker 6: Eight pm.
Speaker 4: Buzz Aperson directed this to drive to San Pedro, to
Speaker 4: the west basin of the Los Angeles Harbor. We got
Speaker 4: out of the car and followed him to the end
Speaker 4: of one of the piers. He told us his story,
Speaker 4: and we put in a call to the office. Within
Speaker 4: half an hour, a fireboat and a barge were on
Speaker 4: the scene, and a diver was sent down into the
Speaker 4: water a few yards from the edge.
Speaker 6: Of the pier.
Speaker 4: We stood by and watched buzz Aferson, Ben and I.
Speaker 5: I put quite a bit of sign I had in
Speaker 5: the coffee. I had to be sure. How'd you managed
Speaker 5: to get both of them in the car.
Speaker 14: I waited till way after dark, and then I dragged
Speaker 14: him out, drove down to the end of the pier
Speaker 14: right here, put the car in low.
Speaker 13: It went over.
Speaker 5: I'd rather diver went down just at this end of
Speaker 5: the barge.
Speaker 8: All right, there was liones up there.
Speaker 5: You gotta stand back and yeah, watch it. Okay, so
Speaker 5: let's go, buzz.
Speaker 8: Yeah, my aunt only one thing missing, boy, sir.
Speaker 5: The reason, why'd you do it?
Speaker 11: I'm not sure anymore stolen car trouble. I guess my
Speaker 11: trial was coming up all that of trouble. I didn't
Speaker 11: want my aunt and uncle to go through all that.
Speaker 11: I mean, that's why you killed him, I think so.
Speaker 11: I didn't want him to be ashamed of me. That
Speaker 11: must sound funny.
Speaker 6: Nobody's gonna believe it.
Speaker 5: I suppose I don't make any difference.
Speaker 2: The story you have just heard was true, only the
Speaker 2: names were changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 3: On December fifteenth, trial was held in Superior Court, Department
Speaker 3: ninety two, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California.
Speaker 3: In a moment the results of that trial.
Speaker 5: And now here is our star, Jack Webb, thank you.
Speaker 4: To successfully prosecute a criminal suspect, the working detective gathers
Speaker 4: all available physical evidence in the crime lab. This evidence
Speaker 4: is carefully selected and screened to determine its worth.
Speaker 3: Frank buzz Apperson was tried and convicted of murder in
Speaker 3: the first degree and sentenced to life imprisonment. He is
Speaker 3: now serving his term in the state penitentiary. You have
Speaker 3: just heard Dragnets a series of authentic cases from official files.
Speaker 3: Technical advice for Dragnet come from the Office of Chief
Speaker 3: of Police wh Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.
Speaker 6: Coming up Duffies Tavern. Be sure to hear theater Gil
Speaker 6: Sunday on NBC.
Speaker 16: This is Andrew from Otrwesterns dot com. I wanted to
Speaker 16: invite you to come take a look at our site.
Speaker 16: We stream live OTR Westerns twenty four hours a day,
Speaker 16: seven days a week, along with putting out podcasts of
Speaker 16: old time Radio Westerns. Check us out at Otrwesterns dot com.
Speaker 16: You're listening to the great Detectives of Old Time Radio
Speaker 16: with Adam Graham. Now let's get back into the show.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. Well, this is another case where uh dragonnat
Speaker 1: told a very different story from other crimes. As if
Speaker 1: you watch the detective movies and the detective calls out
Speaker 1: the criminal, the criminal either breaks down or confesses, or
Speaker 1: grabs a hold of the protagonist pistols and makes a
Speaker 1: desperate dash to escape. Instead, what we see here in
Speaker 1: this more typical murderer investigation is a situation where the
Speaker 1: suspect and inded, the murderer remains in denial in face
Speaker 1: of a mountain pile of evidence. Ineligist becomes too much
Speaker 1: and so it's one of those things that Dragnet portrayed
Speaker 1: that really gave it that touch of realism. And you
Speaker 1: have to admit a sort of this satusfye ending in
Speaker 1: many ways, at least as far as the police are concerned.
Speaker 1: It's the case of what appeared to be a senseless crime,
Speaker 1: and even after is explained, it seems to be almost
Speaker 1: too incongruous. So a very realistic and interesting program. Well,
Speaker 1: now we turn to talking about Martin Milner and the
Speaker 1: Chief of the la Police Department, mister Charley Beck, issued
Speaker 1: a statement Adam twelve, and Martin Milner embodied the spirit
Speaker 1: of the LAPD to millions of viewers. His dections of
Speaker 1: a tough, a professional and tough yet compassionate cop led
Speaker 1: to thousands of men and women applying to become LAPD officers,
Speaker 1: including me. God speed, Martin. You will live forever in
Speaker 1: our hearts. When it comes to talking about actors' legacies,
Speaker 1: it can be a bit of a challenge because there's
Speaker 1: a natural tendency to confuse the actor and the role
Speaker 1: they played. However, in the case of mister Milner and
Speaker 1: Pete Malloy, there's at least some key similarities. Milner was
Speaker 1: considered and considered himself to be a working actor. He
Speaker 1: didn't view himself as a big star. He was a
Speaker 1: professional who did his job and did it well, and
Speaker 1: in many ways that was at the core of the
Speaker 1: Malloy character as well, which is I guess what made
Speaker 1: Milner perfect to play the role. Over the years, many
Speaker 1: people have come up to Milner and have let him
Speaker 1: know that they became police officers as a result of
Speaker 1: seeing his performance on Adam twelve. Though the lessons and
Speaker 1: behaviors of Maloy it applied to many lines of work.
Speaker 1: I know that some of my best coworkers, at their
Speaker 1: best moments say have reminded me of Malloy, who was
Speaker 1: always played with not only professionalism, but kindness, saying patience
Speaker 1: when it was an option. And so it was a
Speaker 1: great role from Milner, but there were so many others,
Speaker 1: including Ragna and the movie Pete Kelly's Blues. When Colombo
Speaker 1: began as an ongoing series, he was the first actor
Speaker 1: to play the murder victim. Was a very rich and
Speaker 1: very career for Milner. As time went by, he faded
Speaker 1: from the public view to a great extent, and what
Speaker 1: we can say publicly is that over the last couple
Speaker 1: decades of his life, Milner lived a fairly ordinary life.
Speaker 1: He volunteered at his local humane shelter quietly without any
Speaker 1: sort of fuss. He loved phishing in that he was
Speaker 1: very vocal about co hosting a phishing talk show for
Speaker 1: eleven years, and he dealt with his own share of
Speaker 1: personal tragedies, including the death of his daughter in two
Speaker 1: thousand and four. ELF, I'm extremely grateful have spent so
Speaker 1: many hours enjoying the fine work that Martin Milner did.
Speaker 1: His professionalism in talent provide a lasting legacy. We won't
Speaker 1: be airing his episodes. He spent four radio episodes as
Speaker 1: Joe Friday's partner, and those are really best listened to
Speaker 1: in context, and his roles in them really are quite limited. However,
Speaker 1: our next video theater will feature a episode of Dragnet
Speaker 1: starring Martin Milner, or i should say, featuring him in
Speaker 1: the Big producer rather than the Big Actor, which had
Speaker 1: been the play we'd been intending to bring you, So
Speaker 1: be sure and listen to that coming up in eight days.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, if you do have a comment, send
Speaker 1: it to me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net,
Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and become one
Speaker 1: of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com, Slash Radiodetectives
Speaker 1: From Boise, Idaho, This is your host, Adam Grahamson and
Speaker 1: Off