Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. Drag men. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned the homicide detail. A young man walks into your office and tells you he has a problem. From the way he talks, you know it's serious. Your job, listen. It was Wednesday, September 8th. It was cold in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of homicide detail. My partner is Frank Smith. The boss is Captain Warman. My name is Friday. I was on my way back to the office from R9. It was 10, 14 a.m. when I got to room 42. Homicide. Pardon me, sir. Yes, sir. Are you a policeman? Yes, sir. That's right. What can I do for you? I want to talk to somebody. I'm not sure who, though. If you tell me what it's all about, I might be able to help you. Well, I got to be sure it's the right person. You can understand that, can't you? Yes, sir. My name's Paul Marcus. All right, Mr. Marcus. What is it you want to talk about? Do you work in there in the homicide department? That's right. You know all about murders then, huh? You want to come into the office and talk? No, no. I don't want to go in there. Is there someplace else we can go? I'd like to talk to you alone. This is kind of a personal thing. All right, sir. I'll be down the hall in the interrogation room. Nobody else there? No. That's good, because like I told you, this is a personal matter. I need your advice. All right, sir. This way. This is the first time I've ever been in the police department. I feel kind of funny just walking in and talking personal things to a stranger. Yes, sir. I can understand. Go ahead. Mm-hmm. I'll sit down right there. Thank you. All right, you want to tell me about it? Do you mind closing the door? All right. All right, now what's your problem, Mr. Marcus? I told you it was personal. Yes, I know. I want to be sure I handled it right. I could get in a lot of trouble if I didn't. Mm-hmm. I've been trying to figure out what to do about it for a week now and couldn't find the right answer. That's why I came here. You guys should know. All right, now if you'll just tell me what's bothering you, we might be able to do something for you. Uh-huh. A whole week and no... I sure hope you've got it for me. I'm sorry, Mr. Marcus, but if you don't tell me what this is all about, I'll be in a lot of trouble. There's nothing we can do. Well, it's nothing big, just a personal problem. I just want to know how to handle it. All right, go ahead. I killed a woman. 10 a.m. We got the name of the woman Paul Marcus said that he'd murdered. We also obtained a description of the victim, and Frank went down the hall to missing persons to see if a report had been filed on her. I waited with a suspect. It's a personal problem. If you know how to handle it, I wasn't sure that's why I came to you. All right, where did you meet this Lorraine Farrell? San Francisco. How long ago? Couple of weeks. I just knew her a little while before it happened, just a couple of weeks. Fisherman's Wharf. What's that? Fisherman's Wharf. That's where I met her, in San Francisco. I was on a vacation. Two weeks with pay, and I went to San Francisco. Fisherman's Wharf. That's where I met Lorraine. All right, go ahead. Well, I was down there sitting on the dock, looking at the boats, just sitting there eating prawns. You know how they cook them in those great big pots? Yeah. I was just sitting there eating prawns, and I met her. Well, where'd you kill her? Look, you've got to let me tell this in my own way, or I'm not going to tell you at all. You'll understand, now if you don't get it right, the whole thing has gone wrong. You see, it's a real personal thing. All right, sir, go ahead. Well, I was just sitting there eating prawns, eating them, and throwing the little tail pieces down the water. You know how you do. Mm-hmm. Watching them kind of float around, and kind of all of a sudden, she was right there sitting just alongside of me. You ever see her before? I never laid eyes on her till then. All right, go ahead. We both sat there for a minute, and then we talked, just little things like nice weather, and how long you've been in San Francisco, things like that. You know how you do. How old would you say the feral woman was? Nineteen, turned 19 the 5th of August. All right. She was born there, you know, in San Francisco. She told me about it when we were talking, how she was born there and grew up there. Yeah. Told me all about the schools she went to, how she used to play on Strawberry Island in Stow Lake. You ever been there? Yes, sir. It's kind of a beautiful place, you know. They got those row boats, and you paddle around the lake, and right in the middle is this island, Strawberry Island. There's all those swans that swim around, and you can feed them. Real beautiful strawberry. Tell me something, Marcus. You ever been in the hospital? Huh? You ever had any mental care? Been under the supervision of a psychiatrist, maybe? You think I'm crazy, don't you? I'll just ask you a question. Well, I'm not. I've never been to a doctor. I'm telling you the truth. You'll see. All right. You want to go ahead? I guess you get a lot of crackpots in here telling you all kinds of phony stories, huh? Well, the doors are wide open all night. I guess you get a lot of them. But I'm not a crackpot. I'm telling you the truth. I did kill her. But it's important you know why I did it. I got to tell you the right way. If I don't, none of it's going to be any good. Why didn't you kill her? September 1st. That's the day we left. September 1st. That'd be a week ago today, huh? Yeah, September 1st. Joe? Yeah? See you in a minute. All right. Just a minute, Marcus. Mm-hmm. All right. What do you got? Oh, I checked missing persons. Yeah? I got a report on the girl. Same name, description matches. When'd she disappear? September 1st. Oh, that fits in with what he told us. Yeah, but there's something that doesn't. What's that? She's 16 years old. She's a housewife. There's nothing to do with that. I'm not going to go into the details of that. Okay. I'll get you the details. Okay. I'll get the details. Bye. Bye. Each year there are hundreds of citizens who walk into the nearest police station and confess to some sort of crime. Some have actually happened. Others have occurred only in the mind of the person confessing. No matter how wild the confession, how implausible the details of the crime, each report has to be checked out. To doctors, cases are clinical. But to the working detective, they're the cause of a lot of legwork and a great deal of checking. They cost the taxpayer untold man hours and investigating time and many times result in nothing. Because of his attitude and his reluctance to give us the complete story all at once, it appeared that Paul Marcus might be one of these people. The fact that he named a girl who was missing meant little, since it was possible for him to have read the story in the newspaper. The only way we had of being sure was to continue the interrogation. 10.34 a.m. She told me she wanted to get away from home. That's what she told me. How it was rough for her there and she wanted to get away. That's when you said you'd bring her down here, is that right? Oh, no, I didn't even suggest it. The whole thing was her idea. She brought it up? Yes. You see, after that first day on Fisherman's Wharf, I saw her several times. Almost every day we'd meet someplace and talk. Where would you meet her? Well, sometimes in one of the hotel bars once we met out at the Steinhardt Aquarium. We met on the rotunda there. You know where they have the big pool and all the alligators swimming around? You know where? Uh-huh. Well, we met there once and we walked over to the place where they have the band concerts right across the way where the band plays. Only they weren't there that day. Wasn't anybody there, just Lorraine and me. We sat on the benches and talked. That's when she said she wanted to go with me. To Los Angeles, huh? Yeah. That's where I was going and she wanted me to take her. She came right out and asked you, huh? Sure. Told me how it was hard for her at home and she wanted to get away. She told me she had friends here. Said she could stay with them until she got things straightened out. You know, get a job and a place of her own. Well, she was going to do that, get a place of her own and a job. Then she'd be all right. You ever meet her parents? No, I never went to the house. She told me where it was though, someplace out by the Twin Peaks Tunnel. I didn't know where exactly. She didn't want me to go out there. Said it would only cause her more trouble. That's why I'd meet her in town. You ever meet any of her friends up in San Francisco? Yeah, just once we were in a drug store on Market Street having a sandwich. We were just sitting there and she was telling me how it was bad for her at home and a girl came in. Looked like she was a school girl. You know how I mean, young? Mm-hmm. Well, she came in and talked to Lorraine and then they went over to the phone booths and talked. You didn't actually meet the girl? No. No, Lorraine said if I did, the girl might say something to Lorraine's parents and that would cause trouble. You know this girl's name? I think it was Grace. I'm not sure, but I think it was Grace. When did you leave San Francisco? Wednesday morning, September 1st. I wanted to get back in time to get some rest before I had to go to work. You know, my vacation was up and I had to go back to work. Where'd you pick up the girl? Wasn't a pick-up. I was sitting on Fisherman's Wharf eating prawns and looking at the boats and we started to talk. Wasn't a pick-up, we just got friendly. No, Marcus, he means that where'd you pick up the girl when you left for Los Angeles? Oh, I thought you meant when I met her the first time, that's what I thought. I met her out at the tunnel. Where's that? Well, you know where Castro Street runs into Market, where the L-car comes in from the beach, that's where I met her. She came from home, had her suitcase and all, and she came out on the L-car. All right, go ahead. Well, she got off the streetcar, got into my car, and we left for Los Angeles. Where'd you kill her? I told you before, if I don't tell it my way, it isn't going to work. You're not going to understand. It's got to be my way. All right, go ahead, Marcus. Well, it was a beautiful day, just the kind of a day you want when you're going on a drive. You know how I mean, clear and the sunshine. Yeah. Well, that's what kind of a day it was. Uh-huh. You could see all across the bay over to Berkeley and way up north, it was real clear. You want to go ahead with your story? Mr. Friday? Uh-huh. My way? Yeah, sorry, go ahead. All right. We drove all day, stopped for lunch at a place near San Luis Obispo, a little lunch stand there. Had a French dip sandwich, it was one of the best I ever had. The meat was real lean and they didn't sop up the bun with the gravy, just the right amount, one of the best I ever ate. Lorraine liked them, too. She didn't like the bread all sopped up with gravy. Well, go ahead. What happened after you had lunch? Well, we left there and drove on. We got down to around Malibu. I guess it was really before that where the divided highway is, up the coast, you know where the cliffs are? Yeah, we know. Well, we stopped. She was such a beautiful night, I just wanted to sit there and look at the ocean. People don't take time anymore. And what happened then? We just sat there, had a cigarette and talked. That's when I told her. First time I ever said it. What was that? It's funny, I guess most fellas say it a lot. You know how I mean to a bunch of girls that never mean it. Go ahead. I told her, first time I said I loved her, I told her that she didn't have to get a job, that I wanted to marry her, get her a house and all. And she wouldn't have no more trouble at home, how she'd have her own home and everything would be all right. I told her all that. Yeah. And that's when I knew right then. You could divide the second in a million parts and in one of them, one of the parts I knew I had to do it. Kill her? Yeah. You see, she didn't tell me the real reason. She lied to me, I knew I had to do it. So she wouldn't lie to anyone else. You can understand that. You can see why I had to do it. Well, maybe you better tell us. Well, it was all a lie, all about the family being mean to her. All that was a lie. She just wanted to get to Los Angeles because she wanted to meet some other fella here. That's why. She lied about the family and that's why she did it. So you see, I had to kill her. I had to. How did you kill her? Huh? I say, how did you kill her? We got out of the car and walked over to the cliffs. We could see right down to the ocean. We just stood there. I just hit her. She fell down. It was quiet. So I pushed her over into the water. Mm-hmm. What did you do then, Marcus? I got in the car and drove home. You just left her there, huh? Certainly. There wasn't anything I could do for her. You point out the place where all this happened? Well, sure. It's up the coast where the highway's divided, north of Malibu. It's real easy to find. Anybody else around? You mean when I hit her? That's right. No, we were all alone. I didn't see anybody, just the two of us. All right, Marcus, you willing to give us a statement on all this? You mean what I just told you? Yeah. Well, sure. You want me to tell all about it again? We'll call in the stenographer. So you can write it down, huh? That's the idea. Well, sure. I'll tell her. Tell me something, Marcus. When did you get out of the hospital? I told you before. I was never in one. You guys sure make it tough, don't you? What's that? I came in here because I wanted to tell you about Lorraine. I wanted you to know so you wouldn't think it was my fault. That's all. So you wouldn't think it was my fault, and now you don't believe me. You think I'm just another crackpot trying to sell a phony story? You guys sure make it tough. We gotta be sure. Well, I'm telling you the truth. I want you to believe me. Yeah. I want you to believe me. May we're beginning to. A statement was taken from the suspect, and he was booked in at the main jail on a charge of suspicion of violation of Section 187 PC, murder. We sent a teletype to San Francisco, and we contacted Inspectors Ed Van Der Voort and John O'Hare of homicide detail. We filled them in and asked that they check out the suspect's story on their end. We also asked that they send us all available information on the missing girl, and that they check with her family and try to get a list of any known associates that she might have had in the Los Angeles area. Frank and I checked out of the office at 7 48 p.m. and we went home for the night. The following morning at 9 23 a.m. Inspector Van Der Voort from San Francisco called back. Uh huh. Yeah. When was that Ed? Wait a minute. All right. Yeah, I got it. How about friends down here? I said how about friends down here? Hmm. Well, it should be here this afternoon then. Right. Yeah, we'll check them out. No, no, that's on the way. We put it in the mail for you last... Well, you should have it by now then. Okay. Right. Right, Ed, thanks very much. We'll be checking with you. Right. Bye. How about it? Well, they checked the family and the friends, the place where Marcus said he stayed up there. Yeah. Well, we'll check. Marcus' story checks out all the way. In the phone conversation we learned that all of Lorraine Farrell's friends and relatives had been interviewed and their stories checked with the one given us by the suspect Marcus. The girl and Paul Marcus had been seen together in the Bay City. The desk clerk at the hotel where the suspect had stayed verified the date that he'd checked out. It was the same day Lorraine Farrell disappeared. The officers in San Francisco were able to contact the girl the suspect had referred to as Grace. She recalled seeing a man answering Marcus' description with a missing Farrell girl. Frank and I spent the rest of the day checking on the suspect. We talked to the people he worked with. They described Marcus as being moody and withdrawn. We talked with his landlady. Her description of the suspect's attitude was the same that we'd gotten before. We thoroughly searched Marcus' apartment and in a desk drawer we found a loose-leaf notebook with several pages of penciled notes describing the trip that he'd taken up to San Francisco. On one of the pages at the back of the book we found a lengthy letter to a Lorraine in which Marcus apologized to the girl for killing her, but he went on to explain that he had no choice. We booked this evidence. The following morning, Friday, September 10th, Frank and I drove down to the beach and we talked to the people in the vicinity where the suspect said the murder had occurred. We found an elderly couple who lived in a trailer on the beach. They recalled having seen two people answering the description of the suspect and the missing girl on the night that the murder occurred. We drove back to the main jail and we signed out Marcus. We took him down to the car and we drove him out to the beach. We turned up the highway and told him to let us know when we came to the place where he'd killed the Farrell girl. Sure you know where the place is, Marcus? Yeah, I remember. It's just up the road a little bit. Just keep right on going. You'll find it. You'll see it now. There's kind of a parking place and a couple of trees. Eucalyptus, I think. There's two of them on the side of the parking place. You can't miss them. It's right ahead there on the left. There, you see? Yeah. I'm gonna pull in, Frank. Okay. Just look at all those cars. Everybody's in such a hurry, they never see anything. Just like they had blinders on. You sure this is the place? I told you, didn't I? No reason to say a thing like that. If it wasn't true, just pull right in there. That's it, right over there. Well, right here is where I parked when it happened. Maybe over there a little bit more, but... Oh, right about here. And the two of you just sat here for a few minutes, is that it? Yeah. We just sat here and had a cigarette, and then we got out of the car and walked over to the edge of the cliff. All right, come on. Show us. Sure. So you'll believe me, I'll show you. Now, we stood right over there. Right there. And I told her I was in love with her and wanted to marry her. Now, you stay here. Just point out where you were. You think I might try to jump off, don't you? That's what you think, isn't it? Let me just show us. I wouldn't do that. There's no reason to. I don't know why you wouldn't agree that I had to do it. I didn't have any other way to do it. Where were you when you hit her? Right there, near that clump of grass. We stood there and looked down at the ocean, and she told me about this other guy. That's when I hit her. She fell down right about... well, right about there. I worried to put you in a spot where you could have been hurt. Right there. I worried to push her off the cliff. There, right where I hit her. She was lying there. I guess she hit her head on something and she was real quiet. I just rolled her over the edge. It was right there. There, you see where the rocks are kind of worn? Don't take it. Yeah. No, you wait here. Gee, if I'd have known it was going to be this hard to get it straightened out, I don't think I'd have started the thing. When am I going to get out of jail? That isn't up to us. Well, then I want to talk to the people who it's up to. I got to tell them about Lorraine. How she lied to me and why I had to kill her. As soon as they hear the story, they'll understand. They got to realize that there wasn't any other way. How's it look? Well, I found this caught in a branch just over the edge. It's a girl's handkerchief. Read the name on it. Lorraine. Friday, September 10th, 3.46 p.m. We contacted the crime lab and asked them to come out and go over the scene. Officers stood by so that any physical evidence would not be disturbed until Lieutenant Lee Jones and his men had an opportunity to go over it. Frank and I, along with the suspect, drove back to town where we made arrangements with the city lifeguard service to search for the body. The following morning, a boat equipped with diving gear left Santa Monica Harbor and took a course north. Experienced deep-sea divers searched the crevices in the rocks beneath the cliffs. All of the sea bordering the vicinity was gone over. There was no trace of a body. The shoreline on either side of the murder spot was checked. Still no trace of the missing girl. In the meantime, two additional teams of men were assigned to check out the friends of Lorraine Farrell. They carried pictures of Paul Marcus and attempted to dig out any information on the suspect and the missing girl. 6.42 p.m. Sunday. We called the main jail and asked that the suspect be brought to the city hall for additional questioning. I had a reason to do what I did, a good reason. Now, you let me talk to the responsible people around here and I'll have them tell you. I'm getting a little tired of being shoved around. You just bring in the boss and let me talk to him. What day did you say that you left San Francisco? September 1st. I thought it was the 2nd. The 1st. You said you left in the afternoon, is that right? In the morning, and you remember it. I don't know what all these questions are for. I told you I killed Lorraine. I walked in here and told you there was no reason for all this McGill. Just no reason. Where'd you hide the body? I didn't hide it. Well, then where is it? I told you, I put her in the ocean. We haven't been able to find her. Well, then you're not looking good. I told you the truth all along the line. You sure you didn't make a mistake about where all this happened? Not a chance in the world. Right there by the parking place where the two trees are. Well, maybe you just thought you left her there. I know it. Had you been drinking when you killed her? No. We stopped and had a couple of beers on the way. Just a couple, not enough to get drunk. But you did have something to drink. Well, sure, but not enough to get drunk on. How many beers do you have? Two, maybe three. Why, which was it? Two or three. Well, what difference does it make? Were you drunk? No. How about the girl? You got that? Yes. Yes, I'm sure. What are you trying to do? What difference does it make? Maybe we did have more than a couple, but what difference does it make? Just trying to get things straight. We want to be sure we got the right story. Well, you have. How about a cigarette? Yeah, thanks. Frank? Yeah, thanks. Here, I got a match. Hey, wait a minute. Don't light his two. That's bad. What do you mean? Three on a match. It's bad. It is, huh? Three on a match. Three on a match. Three on a match. Three on a match. Three on a match. Three on a match. Three on a match. It is, huh? Well, sure, you never do that. Here. Thanks. You got right home after you killed the Pharoah girl, huh? Yeah. I drove right down the highway and went home. The traffic was kind of heavy. I thought about it. All those people all hurrying around, not taking any time. Anybody see you when you came home? What do you mean? Well, anybody see you park the car, go into your apartment? Well, no, there wasn't anybody around. Now, you said when you met the girl up in San Francisco that she had a suitcase with her. Is that right? Yeah, she did. Artificial leather with real leather binding. Where is it now? Huh? What did you do with her suitcase? Well, I don't know. I don't remember it. We couldn't find it in your room. Well, you didn't have no right to go through my room. No right at all. Well, we didn't find the suitcase. Where is it? Well, I don't know. Did you put it with a body? Well, I might have. Where? I don't know. I don't remember. I hit her. She lied to me and I hit her. Then I pushed her into the ocean. That's all I know. And that's all I'm going to tell you. Joe, see you in a minute. Yeah, sure. What do you got, Al? We found the girl. Where? She's sitting in the squad room. Frank stayed with the suspect in the interrogation room and I went with Sergeant Al Olivas up to the office. Sitting at one of the tables was a small girl with jet black hair. As we came into the room, she was putting on lipstick. She glanced over at us and then she went back to what she was doing. There wasn't any doubt about it. The girl in the squad room was Lorraine Ferrell. She dyed her hair and she had on a lot of makeup, but it was the missing girl. Joe, this is Miss Ferrell and Joe Friday. How do you do? Hi. Where'd you find her out? Friend out in Eagle Rocks. Said she's been there for a week. Thanks, Al. Right. Have you seen the papers lately, Miss Ferrell? Yeah, I read the front page. You ought to read the front page. You've been on them. Am I right? Mm-hmm. I see a lot of policemen out looking for you. They probably needed the exercise anyway. There's a man down the hall who thinks that he killed you. That creep, Paul? Yeah, Paul Marcus. That's his name. Real creep. I was glad to get away from him. Oh, I guess you tried to give me a bite on home. Why baloney? He's a real creep. You ought to keep an eye on him. He's going to work one of these days. Is that so? Yeah. He drove me down here and when I told him I didn't want to have anything to do with him, he got real sore. Started yelling. Creep. Where'd all this happen, miss? Out by Malibu. Rode out there. Stopped the car and gave me all the stuff about when to marry me. I was in love with me. Big deal. Said I was the first girl I ever said that to. Big deal. What happened then? I told him I didn't want no part of him. Told him to get lost. Thank him for the ride and told him to get lost. He flipped. Bad. He flipped. I took off, got a ride, came into the town. I got this girlfriend, Eagle Rock. I've been out there. You ought to watch that guy, though. How old did you tell him that you were? I don't know. I forget. I think 19, something like that. I forget. He confessed to killing me, huh? That's right. What a piece of wig. Let's take a walk, huh? Where? Come on. Sure. I got nothing to lose. Can you guys drive me back to Eagle Rock tonight? I got a date. I got to be back pretty quick. You're not going to go back to Eagle Rock. Who says so? We're going to have to hold you. For what? I haven't done anything. Well, you're a minor. We've got a missing report filed on you. Your folks are pretty worried. They're always worrying about something. If there ain't nothing for them to worry about, then they worry about that. Well, it doesn't make any difference. We're going to have to hold you. You just try it, cop. You just try it. You'll find out you got more trouble than you came in one lump. Uh-huh. In here. This is Lorraine Farrell, Officer Smith. Hello. Lorraine. Hi, creep. I didn't mean to do it. You know that. I didn't really mean to do it, but there wasn't any other way. What's the plan? You know what he's talking about? He thinks he killed you. Wait. I didn't think I'd ever see you again. I didn't think I would. But I want you to know one thing, Lorraine. What's that? I forgive you for lying. I told you it hadn't. Yeah. Come on. Where to? We'll take you to the office and call a policewoman. Then to the can, huh? To Juvenile Hall. Come on, let's go. I'll take her, Joe. Bye, Paul. Bye, Lorraine. I'm not mad at you anymore. You know, I was worried. Sergeant? Yeah? I want you to know how I appreciate it. Yeah, what's that? What you tried to do. I think it was real fine, thanks. I don't know what you mean. You didn't fool me a bit. What? I know I killed her. suspect. Colonel? No, I didn't. You weren't right. No, he didn't. Hey, woot, doot. You're a stimulate? He's a avoidance. The points doesn't belong here, Morgenst romantic gun, Don't know, Lorenzo. Kalau Fang大哥 da? Leprechaun Hearker you been there? Relax. Leprechaun he over compressed your wife, Eleanor your lawyer. His lawyer. returned to the custody of her parents. DRAGNET. The story of your police force in action is a presentation of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service. ANSWERING THE QUESTION