 You're about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. Dragnet, you're assigned a robbery detail. 14 women in your city have been robbed and beaten. You've got a half dozen descriptions of their attacker. None of them match. The man's still free. Your job, get him. It was Wednesday, November 26th. It was cold in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out a robbery detail. My partner's Frank Smith, the boss's chief of detectives, Thad Brown. My name's Friday. I was on my way back to the office and it was 2.34 p.m. when I got to room 27A, robbery. Come on, Joe. Everybody's in the skipper's office. All right. I tagged by R and I to pick up these packages. Anything on them? No, not much. We'll check them out, but they don't look like they're going any place. Yeah, go ahead. Joe, Frank, you want to come over here? Yes. Sorry we're late. Don't worry about it. Let's get this thing on the road. All right. Want to settle down? Let's get started. The word's probably gotten to you about why we're here. Some of this purse-snatching thing Friday and Smith have got. Things gotten way out of hand. Thief hit again the night before last. Victims at the county hospital in a critical condition. She was pistol-whipped and it looks like she's got a fractured skull. It's only a matter of time before somebody's killed. That's the reason we're here to see that it doesn't happen. Now, you all got demographed emo sheets. Honest, you'll find what information we've got. Some of it's pretty broad, but it's the best we've been able to come up with. Friday and Smith have handled the thing to here, so I'll let them give you the details. You want to come? Yeah, all right, Skipper. Well, first off, you'll notice on those emo sheets all of the crimes have been listed in the order that they happened, also the place and the time. There's also a description of the clothing the suspect wore and when we could get it, a description of the suspect. Now, you'll notice that in most cases, there's quite a difference there on the physical description of the suspect. However, we've been able to put them all together and we've come up with a composite drawing that should look something like the suspect. The one thing that's fairly constant is the description of the clothing worn by the suspect. It's almost always dark. Where's a hat? And we've been known to wear a top coat. The hat and the coat are also dark material. Clear? There you go, buddy. All right, now take a look over here at the wall map. Now we've pinpointed all the jobs so you can get a little better picture of the operation. Can y'all see? There. The first one took place at 73rd Street just off Broadway, right here. The rest of the pins along here show the jobs that he made from there, all the way up to Jefferson. He's also worked Avalon Boulevard, Central Avenue, any street where there's a street car or a bus line he's hit. He worked between the hours of 5.30 and 11.30 PM. The approach is almost always the same. Frank, you want to tell him about the victim? Yeah. The victim will get off the streetcar usually, or the bus, whatever it is, and starts to walk home. As soon as the woman gets in the area that's not lighted well or that hasn't got much traffic, the guy walks up behind her and grabs him. After that, he tries to take her purse. If the victim offers any resistance, well, he usually slugs him, cause the fact that two of the victims have seen a gun in his hand. We know he's armed. So the gun's been described as revolvered. How about a car, Joe? Excuse me, a suspect driving? Car? Yeah. Well, we've got to assume that, yeah. He's been seen a couple of times by people in the neighborhoods as he ran through their yards. Pretty safe to figure that he's got a car parked on the side street somewhere. None of the victims have seen a car, however, but we know he leaves the area immediately. No descriptions of the vehicle, huh? No. Now, we've had a couple of calls, but they didn't check out. Now, the plan here is to use police women as decoys and try to bait them out into the open. That's the reason the women officers are here. Do you figure to work the main arterials? What was that? You figure to work the main arterials. Yeah. Yeah, there'll be two officers assigned to follow each police woman. We've been able to obtain 10 and all. That'll mean that 20 officers will be assigned to them and the rest of you will be in the area somewhere. Now, one of the things to look for is any vehicle which closely follows a streetcar or a bus. How about it, any questions? Yes, how are we going to get our assignment? Well, Skipper here has a list, Lomi. All of the officers who are to work with a police woman are noted. The others are given the areas that they're supposed to patrol. What about other calls coming in? Who's going to handle them? I didn't hear you. The other calls coming in, who's going to handle them? Well, those officers not assigned to a police woman. See, there'll be other units from the outlying areas on the operation, too. They'll lend us a hand. But remember this, under no circumstances are those officers working with a decoy to leave her. Is that clear? Yeah. Don't leave the police woman. Right. Why don't we stick with the detail unless there's an emergency call? Yeah, that's right. Well, if we run into any problems, who do we call, Joe? Well, we'll be in the area of 1K80. You can get in touch with us, Harry. How about it? Well, if we pick up a suspect, should we get in touch with you? Well, you can use your own judgment on that, George. You think it's a routine pickup. Take him to robbery, and he'll be processed there. All right. Any more questions? Never? Anything else? We all know about the day's off cancellation. Sorry it has to hit now, but that's where it's got to be. No one will draw any time till this thing is cleaned up. Right. When Murphy won't do any good to have your wife call me, you're still going to have to work. Ha, ha, ha, ha. That's it. Operation will start tonight and go until the suspect's in custody. Have a happy Thanksgiving. OK. No? Say, wait a minute. Before you go, the worksheet's on the board outside. You can check it on the way out. You better do that. Right. Anything else you need to carry it off? No, it's all there, Skipper. I mean, we use now's luck. No reason for you to be different, huh? Suspect, that is, Sheriff. Frank and I left the office and drove out to the area of the operation. The plan was that the police women would board the cars and buses and get off at the points where previous sluggings had not taken place. In the established MO of the suspect, it was noted that he never hit on any street more than once. At 4 PM that afternoon, all of the units were in place and the plan was started. During the night, several pickups were made, but no one was apprehended who resembled the suspect. Those people who were detained were processed and they were either booked or released. The following day, Thursday, November 27, Frank and I checked the reports filed by officers in the field. At 3 PM, we stopped at a small restaurant and we had a plate of sliced turkey, cold gravy, and some lumpy mashed potatoes. We wished each other a happy Thanksgiving. We went back to Unit 1 K80 and cruise the streets marked for surveillance. Another night went by without the suspect hitting. Saturday, November 29, 1130 PM, Frank and I were driving down San Pedro Street at Vernon Avenue. Looks like another one shot, huh? Yeah, it's beginning to shape up that way, isn't it? You figure the suspect knows about the operation. I mean, where we're working. You got as much as I have, doesn't seem likely. You got a cigarette? I'm out. Yeah. There you go. Thanks. You're packed about Thanksgiving? Well, I figure. That didn't make me too mad. She had the in-laws over. Yeah. Her brother. One thing about that guy, he eats more than any 10 people. You know, I've had to sit there and just look at him and everybody's through, and he's still going strong. Yeah. Nephew was over, too. You know Little Sam? You've heard me talk about Little Sam. No, I don't think so. Yeah, Little Sam. He's a monster. Only 10 years old, he's a real monster. Bay's sister lets the kid do whatever comes into his mind. They say it isn't good to repress him. What? They say it isn't good to repress him. That's what they, you know, repress him. Yeah. I'd like to take him over. I'd repress him. Yeah, I guess you'd do that real good, wouldn't you? 1K80. 1K80. Meet unit 1K87 at the 300 block, East 51st Street, code 2. 1K80, Roger, KMA 367. Let's go. Yeah, that's one of the units assigned to a decoy. Thanks to Goodwin. Well, there's one way to find out in there. Yeah. Ask him. San Pedro on 51st Street. One of the police women had gotten off a streetcar at the corner of Main Street on 51st. She'd walked east, and as she passed the park, a man had approached, blocked her progress, and demanded money. The man was pretty drunk, and when the officers following the woman arrived at the scene, he was struggling with a police woman. He was taken into custody when we were called. We took the man to room 27A and from there to the interrogation room. Physically, he masked the description of the suspect as we'd gotten from the victims, 12.15 AM. That's the dirtiest thing I've heard of pulling me in here like this. All right, what's your name? I don't think I'm going to tell you. Let me see your wallet. There's nothing in there. No juice. Empty your pockets on the table. If you have a copy of the LA phone, come on, Mr. Empty your pockets, will you? All right. No juice. Take the money out. I told you there's no juice. No money in the wallet? No. But it is your true name, Victor Nathaniel Roberts. You think I use aliens? I don't be smart. Where do you live? Where you been sleeping? Where have I been? You got a job? What? Do you work? No. You ever hold a job? No. Never had a job. Remember what? What were you doing on 51st Street tonight? Oh, I was just looking around. At 11.30 at night? The sun hurts my eyes. All right. I would just walk along the street for this young woman to stop me. She stopped you? She tried to pick me up. That girl was a police woman. You're telling me. Now what were you doing out there? I'm never going there again. Ever been arrested? Yes. Don't check the record, John. Is he going to look me up? What's that? I say, is he going to look me up? He's going to check your record, yeah. Officer, you mind a little constructive criticism. Now you listen, Mr. You're funny times running out here. You must feel a little sneaky about this whole thing, don't you? What's that? I mean this whole business about the police woman. Don't you think that's going too far? How long you been in Los Angeles? Sometime this year. What do you mean by that? Checked here about a year. What? I said I checked here about a year. A year ago, you mean? Yeah, yeah, about a year ago. Well, if you haven't got a job, how do you manage to live? I haven't got a little drink, have you? John, see you in a minute. You sit still. Checked R&I, got the word on Roberts. Yeah, what about him? He's been tagged 67 times for drunk. Fallen, LA? Total's 92. Doesn't look like he's our man, though. Why? Well, he's been in Camarillo over the last three months. He told the superintendent at the state hospital up at Camarillo. He told us that Victor Roberts had only been released 10 days before. He'd spent three months undergoing treatment for alcoholism. The suspect we were looking for had been working for the past two months. Roberts was booked in at the main jail on the charge of violation of section 4127 ALAMC. During the time we'd been working on the case, all known first snatchers had been picked up and interrogated. Runs for the stats office had been made, and the names they gave us had been checked out. Locals and APBs were gotten out, carrying the description of the MO of the suspect. The leads that came in were followed up without results. Informants were questioned, and George Bratton, up at the CII in Sacramento, furnished us a list of possible. All in all, over 100 people had been questioned. In the course of the investigation, several other cases were cleared, but our prime suspect was still free. Meantime, the operation continued. Each night at 4.30 PM, 10 police women would board streetcars and buses in the area. 10 police cars carrying 20 officers would follow them. In the immediate vicinity, another 40 men were patrolling the streets and alleys looking for the thief. As a result of the newspaper stories on the string of crimes, calls were coming into the complaint board at such a rate that they were jamming our normal facility. Women refused to walk the streets alone after dark. Apparently, the thief could come and go as he pleased. In the next two days, he hit three times, but in areas that were not covered. He began to hit them places he hadn't worked before. He seemed to know where we were and that we were using decoys. The search went on. Tuesday, December 2nd, we got a call from the manager of a cheap hotel in the Skid Row area. We're going to go out to see her. Right down this way, he's not in. Well, just what is it you want us to see? You wait, when you get a good look, you'll know. Yes, ma'am. Here we are. I'll get the door. You just come on in. Thank you. Over here. I was cleaning up this morning. My girl's sick had to do it myself. And just cleaning up, now found them over here in the closet. Yeah. Up on the shelf. Can you see them up there? Way back. I don't remember, I forget to cheer. Well, I was just straightened up and I saw them and I thought to myself, I ought to call the police, get them right out here. That's what I thought to myself. Yes, ma'am. I always feel it's the duty of every citizen to cooperate with the police. Well, do you see them up there on the shelf? Yes, ma'am. Frank. Well, you'll find out anyway. You don't have to worry about fingerprints. I guess I shouldn't have done it. But when I found them, I picked them up, but I put them right back, right where I found them. Here you are. Signs of cards and things, no money, but all kinds of other stuff. You just look. Who has this room? You mean registered? Yeah. Well, he gave his name as Jerry Kilgallan. He asked me, so I think it's funny. You take the room alone, did he? Oh, absolutely. This is a hotel for men, don't allow no women in. Is it possible that somebody else left these purses up there? Hardly. These rooms are cleaned every day, cleaned thoroughly. I don't miss anything. That's right. How about the identification of them, Joe? I don't recognize the names, we'll have to check them. Take a look at this, though. No, here, on the lining of the purse, this one. Oh, yeah, I better get it to the lab, huh? Well, what is it, did you find something? We're not sure. Well, what is it, I called you. I got a right to know. What is it? It looks like blood stains. We got a complete description of Jerry Kilgallan and Frank called it into R&I. We found no record on him under that name. The purse was sent to Lieutenant Lee Jones at the crime lab, and after running a precipitve test, he told us that the stains were human blood. The stakeout was placed on the hotel, and that night Kilgallan was taken into custody. Under interrogation, he admitted taking the purses from two women in a department store in downtown Los Angeles. He went on to explain that he'd just gotten into town and that he was broken hungry. He gave us the date and the times of the thefts, and when we called the victims, they were able to give us positive identification. He told us that when he'd taken the second purse, he'd cut his hand on the clasp, and that the blood stains we found were his own. He was booked in at the main jail on the charges of suspicion of robbery. That night, Frank and I took up our place in the dragnet operation. Nothing happened. The next night went by without activity. On Thursday night at approximately 845, a woman was slugged and robbed after she left the bus on 71st Street just off Vermont. All cars in the operation converged on the area, and a block by block search was made. Additional officers were called into Aiden the Hunts. Every alley, every street, and every backyard was gone over thoroughly. 1115 PM, while the search continued, Frank and I drove down to Georgia Street receiving hospital to talk to the latest victim. I was on my way home. I didn't think anything like this would happen. I was just walking home. Can you give us a description of the man? I don't know. It's dark. I was just walking home and it happened. Did you see the man at all? Yes, it was dark. Was he a tall man? I guess so. I guess he was tall. I talked to the other men. Isn't that enough? I talked to them. Well, we're trying to get all the information we can. I don't remember good. My head hurts. Isn't there something I can do to make my head stop hurting? Did you see the man's face? Did you get a look at it? Yes, I did. I saw his face. Can you describe it for us? Can you tell us what he looked like? I don't know. I don't feel good. This is pretty important, ma'am. He had a real white face. Real white. What about his eyes? Can you tell us what color they were? Oh, why are you? How about his hair? It looked brown. I'm not sure. I think it was brown. Yeah, I had on that. Couldn't feel good. All right, that's a few more questions now. Can you tell what color his hat was? I don't know. My head hurts. Can't you tell us something? We're sent for the doctor again. We might be able to give you another sedative. Hurts? Well, something else, ma'am. Was the man clean-shaven? Huh? I said, did he have a mustache? No, no mustache. So wear glasses. No. Is there anything else you can tell us about his appearance? No, nothing. He had a gun. I know that. He had a gun. So when he hit me with a gun, he hit me when I wouldn't give him the purse. First, he asked me for the money. So when I got out of my way, he said he'd kill me. Then he hit me on the head. Hit me as hard as he could. All right, ma'am. Is there anything else you can tell us that might make it easier to identify him? No, nothing. I told you everything. I know nothing else. All right, we're sorry to bother you. Thank you. We'll be talking with you again when you're feeling better. Yeah. You come back here now. I'll tell you I remember then. Thank you very much for your help. It's all right. You ask the doctor to come back, won't you? Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Something else might help a little bit. What's that, ma'am? Before he hit me, I remembered it was a fight. I didn't want him to take my purse. It was a fight. Yeah. I tried to stop him, and I scratched him. Scratched him hard. He broke a finger, no, when I did it. Have a help, won't it? Yes, ma'am. It should. Last thing I remember before he hit me, he was bleeding a lot. Where did you scratch him, ma'am? Do you remember? On the hand? No. No, it right across the face. We got to a phone. We had a broadcast put out carrying the additional information on the man and the fact that he had been badly scratched. Officers in the immediate area of the attack started to check of all the drug stores that were open in the hope that the thief had stopped for medication. After getting a call out, Frank and I left the hospital and started back to search the area. 1146 p.m. You talked to the doctor about the victim? Yeah, she's in pretty bad shape. We're going to move her to general. Sebastian says you might have to operate. She's glad to get this guy. Yeah. Attention, all units. Attention, all units. You want to turn it up now? All units on frequency seven, please stand by. All units in the vicinity of the 100 block on West 29th Street. Officer needs help. Special attention, 1K80, code 3. Lean on it. Right. Herb on the side of the street, we saw Park Police Unit. Standing next to it was a woman officer. We pulled up next to the unit and talked to her. She told us that our suspect had tried to attack her, and on the arrival of the two officers had fled the scene. At that moment, officers Sluder and Murphy were in pursuit. While Frank got additional information from the police woman, I went back to the car and got him a radio. 1K80 to control one. 1K80 to control one. Control one to 1K80. Go ahead. Suspect is now on foot, being pursued by two plain clothes officers through backyards in the area of West 100 block between 29th Street and 30th Street. Dispatch units to block intersections of Broadway and 29th Street. Broadway and 30th. Broadway and 28th Street. Broadway and 27th. Intersections of Main and 28th. Main and 29th. Main and 30th Street. Main and 27th Street. Control one to 1K80. Roger. AMA 367. I got the story, is that? Yeah, let's go. Police woman says they're headed west. They're back to the house down there, so all right, let's go. Attention, all units. Attention, all units. 1K80 to control one. Police woman says it's like docking to a driveway. That one's right up there. All right, take it easy. All right. West 29th Street. Now being pursued by two plain clothes officers. Looks like we've got a live on this panel. Let's hope we can see them. In the backyard between 100 block 29th Street and 100 block West 30th Street. Splash lights over there, John. Let's take a look. You see who it is? No. Look back behind the garage. You guys all right? Yeah. All right, let's take a look. You want to call an ambulance, Frank? Right. He opened up first, Joe. Murph and I gave him every chance. Well, that's more than he gave those women. Just the coroner's jury returned a verdict that the suspect, Kenneth Neil Stewart, died as a result of gunshot wounds inflicted by police officers in the line of duty. The death was listed as justifiable homicide. You have just heard, Dragnet, the authentic story of your police force in action and starring Jack Webb, a presentation of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service.