Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true.
The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Dragment.
You're a detective sergeant.
You're assigned a homicide detail.
A man has been shot down on the street corner of your city.
There's no apparent motive.
No lead to the assailant.
Your job, find him.
Was Tuesday, May 8th.
Was cool in Los Angeles.
We were working the night watch out on homicide detail.
My partner's Frank Smith.
The boss is Captain Larmon.
My name's Friday.
I was on my way over from the office and it was 10, 13 p.m. when I got to Georgia Street
Receiving Hospital.
The waiting room.
Hi Frank.
Joe.
How's he doing?
I don't know.
I talked to Dr. Sebastian.
How's it look?
Well, not too good.
Slugs embedded in his lung caused a hemorrhage.
He's getting a transfusion.
What do you got on him?
I just talked to the guys who came in with him for a minute.
They didn't have a lot.
No.
Call came in from a man who owns a newsstand at the corner of Normandy and Willowbrook.
He the witness?
Yeah.
Anything there?
I don't know.
We'll have to talk to him.
What do you got on the victim?
Wait a minute.
I got it here.
The name's Matthew Denton.
Address given is 18970 Taft Street in Hollywood.
Did you get in touch with anybody?
No, tried the house, but nobody was there.
Anything else?
They went over the personal property.
Usual stuff, cigarettes, lighter, comb.
Found a diamond ring on the small finger left hand.
Looks expensive.
Gold wristwatch.
$140 in cash.
$1,300 in American Express checks.
Doesn't spell robbery, does it?
No.
None of the stuff was disturbed.
Well, maybe you can tell us something, huh?
Yeah.
Hello, Joe.
Frank.
Hi, Doc.
How are you?
How's it look?
What time you got?
Uh, 10-16.
Make it 10-13.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Not 10-13.
Make it 10-13.
Hmm.
Close enough for the report.
What?
Time of death.
Matthew Trevor Denton, WMA.
31 years, 5 foot 9, 164 pounds.
Had stopped living at 10-13 P.M. on May 8.
We didn't know who he was or why he died.
Before we left the hospital we put in a call to Denton's address, but we got no answer.
We checked the name and description through R&I.
There was no record on the dead man.
At 1048 p.m., we left Georgia Street and drove over to the scene of the shooting,
where we talked to the witness, Andrew Cates.
Right over there is where it happened, the bus stop.
Uh-huh.
I was standing right here, right here.
Mm-hmm.
I saw the whole thing happen.
Yes, sir. By what time was that, Mr. Cates?
Oh, I guess it was 9.30 or so.
I see.
I was just standing here and bang, bang, two shots.
Did you see what led up to the shooting?
Well, what do you mean, led up?
Well, I mean, did you see what happened before?
Oh, yeah, the whole thing.
Uh-huh.
Would you tell us about it?
Sure.
All right. Go ahead.
Well, one of those nights where just nothing went right, you know what I mean?
Uh-huh.
I started off with my wife burning the coffee.
I wouldn't think a person could do that, would you?
Burn the coffee.
Shall I go ahead?
I had a big argument before I left home.
I just started off that way.
Yes, sir.
Got out here and took over.
By what time did you open the stand, sir?
Oh, it was 7.30 in the morning.
I tried to get breakfast business, you know, people on the way to eat,
stop off for a paper.
I see.
I tried to get them.
All right.
I opened it up in the morning, and then there's a school kid takes over for me
about 3 in the afternoon.
He's here around 6.30 when I come back from supper.
I see.
That's when you burn the coffee, tonight at supper.
All right. Do you want to tell us about the shooting?
Oh, sure.
They're kind of hard, you know.
This is the first time for me.
How's that?
Well, it's the first time I've ever been a witness.
First.
I see.
What time did you first see the victim?
The man who was shot?
Yes, sir.
Well, I told you.
It was about 9.30.
The car pulled up to the curb, and this fellow got out.
He kind of stood there for a minute, and he talked to the other fellow in the car.
He just stood there a minute and talked.
Kind of leaned in the window.
Mm-hmm.
The car pulled away, and the one man, one who got out...
Yeah.
He walked over and sat down on the bench.
I was waiting for the bus.
Okay, did you get a good look at the car?
It got out of...
Well, I saw it, if that's what you mean.
What did you describe it for?
The black Chevy.
I'd say maybe a 52 or 53.
sedan or coupe?
Oh, it was a sedan, four door.
Nothing special about it.
Did you get a look at the man that was driving?
No, no.
The light's kind of bad all the day.
You can see for yourself.
The one fellow leaned in the car.
I couldn't get a good look.
Oh.
I didn't pay a lot of attention to it anyway.
It didn't seem anything to get all concerned about.
All right, sir.
You want to go ahead?
Well, the fellow sat there for a minute, not doing nothing, just waiting.
And this other car pulled up right up the curb.
Mm-hmm.
One guy got out of the car, got right out,
and walked over to the fellow sitting on the bench.
All right, sir.
Oh, excuse me a minute, the customer.
All right, sir.
What do you think?
I don't know.
Old Bert always stops by the same time.
He gets one of each, you know, same time every night,
with old Bert.
Yeah, sir.
I want you to go ahead with your story.
Oh.
Oh, yeah.
Well, this car pulled up, and the fellow got out.
He walked over to the bench, started talking to the first man,
and he got in an argument.
How do you know that?
What?
Well, how do you know they were arguing?
Well, I could see standing over there, waving their arms around.
I could even hear some of the yelling.
There was no trick at all to see that they were having some kind of trouble.
Mm-hmm.
Could you hear what the trouble was about?
No, just a lot of yelling and waving.
I could hear no outright word.
Mm-hmm.
You want to go ahead, please?
Well, the next thing I knew was when the fellow got out of the car,
started swinging at the other one.
That was the victim?
Yeah, one of them was shot.
All right.
Well, you just bet the guy tackled more than he could handle.
The victim fellow started to clean up on this other one.
He just started to mop up the street with it.
I see.
That's when the guy who was waiting in the car got out and run over to help his friend.
You see?
Mm-hmm.
Three of them kind of struggled around for a while,
and then one from the car pulled the gun.
Bang, bang.
Two shots.
First guy dropped right down on the sidewalk.
The other two got in the car and took off.
Went roaring down Normandy.
That way.
Can you describe the second car?
Well, not too good.
I just got a glance at it.
I wasn't paying a lot of the patients at first.
By the time I figured I should take a good look, it was gone.
I see.
Now, how about the men driving it?
What do you want to know?
Can you describe them?
Not good.
Well, if you tell us just what you can, Mr. Cates, it'll help.
Sure.
First one was a tall, lanky fellow.
He didn't weigh much.
Sort of an extreme bean.
Mm-hmm.
How tall would you say?
Well, I don't know.
Close to 6'3", maybe 6'2".
Round in there.
He was a tall one.
About how old?
20 feet, 25.
I couldn't tell that too good.
I see.
What about his coloring?
Was he light or dark?
Do you remember?
Light.
He was blond.
How about his clothes?
He had on a pair of jeans.
One of them jackets, you know, made out of the same kind of material.
Rivets like on them.
Mm-hmm.
Were real tight jeans.
Both of them were wearing them.
Anything else you can tell us about the tall man?
No.
Was he the driver of the car?
Oh, yeah.
He was the one who did the shooting, the tall fellow.
Could you see the gun?
Yeah, but not good.
Do you remember whether it was a revolver or an automatic?
Well, it looked like a revolver to me.
All right.
Now what about the other man?
He was shorter than the first one.
No runt, but, you know, shorter.
I guess anybody that looked small next to him.
About how tall was he?
Always about 5'9", 5'10".
Give a couple, take a couple.
All right.
How was he built?
Sort of light, maybe 140.
Anything else about the two men?
Did either of them wear glasses?
Do you remember?
No.
No, not so as I could see.
Might have taken them off, you know, before they got out of the car.
Might have, but I didn't see them when the fight started.
Did either of them use a name that you could hear?
I told you before, I couldn't hear anything they said.
There's just a lot of yelling when the fight started.
All right.
Wasn't anything special about the two fellows.
Make them stand out, one tall, the other short.
No big reason to remember them.
I'm afraid you got it wrong, mister.
Huh?
We got a reason.
We made arrangements for Andrew Cates to come down to the ops and look through the mudbooks.
The rest of the neighborhood was checked again,
but we were unable to find anyone else who'd witnessed the shooting.
While we'd been talking to Cates, a team of detectives from homicide detail had gone out to the victim's house.
They didn't find anyone at home, but when they spoke to the neighbors,
they were told that Matthew Denton's wife was in a hospital.
Frank and I checked with her doctor and found out that she was in the maternity ward.
He recommended that we delay talking to the woman as long as possible since she was in a weakened condition.
From the hospital records, we found that Denton was employed by an advertising agency.
We checked with the nurses on duty and found that he'd left the hospital with another man.
They gave us a description of him, but they were unable to identify him for us.
We asked that they call the office in the event the man returned to the hospital.
Frank and I went back to the office and checked out.
The next morning, Wednesday at 8.40 a.m., we were back in the squad room.
Yes, sir, you looking for somebody?
I'd like to see somebody about this story in the paper.
Which one is that, sir?
About the shooting last night, cornered Normandy in Willowbrook.
All right, what is it you want to talk about?
Are you the officer handling the case?
Yes, sir.
My name's Sterling Hall. I think maybe I can help you out.
All right, want to have a seat, Mr. Hall?
Sure, thanks.
Here, right here, sit right here.
Thank you.
My partner, Frank Smith. My name's Friday.
How do you do, Mr. Smith?
All right. What do you got?
Well, it says here in the paper where Denton left the hospital with the man.
It says you're looking for him.
That's right.
Well, you don't have to look no further. I'm him.
You were with Denton last night, were you?
Just said that.
All right. How long were you together?
Till about 9.30.
They dropped him off at the bus stand right where he was shot.
Well, I don't want if you could start at the beginning and tell us the whole story, would you?
Sure thing.
Well, you see, I got a lady friend.
They're the same hospital as Denton's wife.
I was over there last night to say hello.
I brought her a box of caramels and said hello.
Uh-huh.
Well, I was on my way out of the place and I stopped off for a cup of coffee in that little old shop they got there.
You know, whether it has the gifts, books, and what the name of the baby, you know.
Yeah, I know what it is.
Well, I was having a cup of coffee when this here Denton come in.
He wanted to buy a little plant for his wife.
They just had a baby.
Wanted to send her something.
I see.
Now, we got to talk and they had a cup of coffee.
It turned out he didn't have his car, so I asked him if I could give him a ride home.
He was kind of nervous and all. New father.
Yes, sir.
We left the hospital and he said it wasn't necessary for me to take him all the way home.
He said for me to just drop him off at the bus stand.
He told me there was one right near his house.
All right.
But on the way, we was following this car and all of a sudden it stops.
No signal, nothing. Just slams on the brakes and we rammed into it.
Well, didn't hardly do no damage to the other car.
Broke one of my headlights is all, but didn't hurt the other car at all.
I see. Go ahead.
Two fellas got out and they walked back and they started a little ruckus.
Said we was speeding and driving reckless, all that kind of stuff.
Read aloud.
This Denton, he'd tell them to shove off.
Said their car wasn't hurt at all and said not to make a big thing out of it.
He told them it was their fault anyway.
Were you still in the car?
No, we got out to see what damage had occurred.
I see.
These two guys started to get rugged now.
Like they wanted to start some real trouble and Denton said if they wanted to make a problem out of it,
the thing to do was to call the cops and make a complaint.
What'd they say to that?
Nothing. Just said to forget it and then they got in the car and shoved off.
Mm-hmm.
Now, I didn't see him again, but I got to thinking about it this morning when I saw the story in the paper.
You think it might have been one of them two who shot Denton?
Well, we don't know, sir. Can you give us a description of the man?
Sure thing.
Now, one of them was real tall.
The other one was about my height.
That'd be about 5'8".
Uh, 5'8 and 3 quarters.
All right. Can you give us a description of the car?
Yes, sir.
It was a light blue Ford.
One of them new ones, you know, with the plastic on top.
Yeah, sir.
I took a good look at it.
Matter of fact, I kind of thought there might be some trouble about the accident.
I didn't want to be out on a limb with my insurance company, so I made sure.
Yeah.
I got the license number.
Well, I got a complete description of the two men.
Frank checked DMV on the license number.
Five minutes later, he came back to the office.
Joe?
Yeah, you got it?
If you find out who the car belongs to, it shouldn't be anything to pick up them two fellers.
It's not going to be that easy.
Hmm?
The car was stolen.
Before Frank and I left the office, we made arrangements for Sterling Hall to check the mug books in the hope that he might be able to identify the suspects.
At 1120 AM, we drove over to talk to the registered owner of the stolen car.
He told us that the vehicle had been taken from a parking lot the day before, and that he'd made an immediate report of the car.
Additional broadcasts were gotten out on the automobile and on the suspects.
That afternoon, we drove over and talked to the victim's wife.
She told us that the money and the express checks Denton had been carrying were for the payment of the hospital and the doctor bills.
We questioned her about her husband's friends and associates.
Although we had the story given us by Sterling Hall, it seemed unlikely that the man was killed as the result of an argument over a minor traffic accident.
We spent the rest of the day interviewing people who knew the victim.
From them, we learned that Denton was well-liked and was respected.
He took an active interest in neighborhood clubs and events.
The more we went into his background, the more convinced we became that he'd been killed by the men in the stolen Ford.
Two days passed.
On Saturday, May 12th, the vehicle was found abandoned.
A stakeout was placed on it, and when no one approached it, the crew from Leighton Prince went over the car.
They found several partial fingerprints, but not enough for classification.
The prints were photographed and held for evidence.
Frank and I continued to work on the killing.
A month went by without additional information turning up.
On Tuesday, June 19th, we got a call from Burgery details.
Yeah.
No, nothing.
Where'd he come from?
That was my check, huh?
No, we'll pick him up.
Yeah.
Okay, right, thanks.
Mac over in Burgery.
Yeah.
He says they just picked up a guy for receiving.
Uh-huh.
Tried to make a deal.
Said if he got a break, he might be able to help us clean up something.
Say what it was?
Yeah, he did.
The Denton killing.
We left the office.
We went over to room 45.
We talked with the officers who'd picked up the suspect.
They told us that they found a large quantity of stolen automobile supplies in his possession.
We took him to the interrogation room for questioning.
For almost an hour, he remained silent.
How about it, Keneally?
Gonna give us a hand?
Keneally?
All right, come on, stand up.
Let's go.
Giving up, huh?
No, we'll be back.
Where you taking me?
Back to Burgery.
Making book you.
Main jail?
Yeah.
But you guys are all through with me, huh?
Yeah, for now.
We'll talk to you again.
Well, you won't get any more.
Tell me something, will ya?
What?
A little while ago you said you knew something about a killing.
Well, you can't set up and won't give us a time of day.
Why?
I told that other cop if I got a break, you'd get one.
You know we can't make deals.
No, that's gonna cost you.
You're gonna take an installment.
How do you figure that?
You said you knew something about Matthew Denton's murder, isn't that right?
I don't remember that far back.
We do, and we can prove you did.
You're up on a receiving wrap now.
That's bad enough.
But if we can tag you with holding information, we'll make you as an accessory after the fact.
You mean you'll try?
I think we'll make it.
Well, from here it's got another color.
Well, let's see how it comes out, huh?
Come on, let's go.
Down this way.
I know.
What's a tab for being an accessory?
Five years.
Okay, let's go back.
Huh?
I'll tell you all about it.
We returned Harold Keneally to the interrogation room.
We put out a call to Gene Bechdel to come and take a statement.
Keneally asked that we send out for some coffee for him.
Frank went down the hall and brought back three cups.
After he'd finished his, Keneally leaned back.
It's good coffee.
It's strong.
I like it that way.
Yeah, well, now that you've had the clatch, let's start the story.
What do you say?
Sure.
What do you want to know?
Who are the two men?
I don't know.
Are you going to start this all over again, are you?
I'm giving it down the line.
I don't know who they are.
What do you know about them?
Not much.
A couple of guys.
They're doing pretty good with radios.
You one of their customers?
Yeah.
A million and a half, a dozen others.
You know who they are?
You're not going to get the names.
All right, let's get back to two men.
Why do you think they had something to do with Denton?
About three weeks ago, they was in my place, had five new radios.
They came with the bar to pick the stations, you know, like the Nucads.
Yeah, I know.
I had five of them, want to turn them over.
Yeah.
The price they were asking was way out.
I told them so, so they have to find someplace else to drop them.
All right.
They told me there was a beef.
They had to get out of town, so they needed the money to swing it.
That still doesn't add up to Denton's killers, does it?
Well, it will.
All right, come on, tell us.
Well, I went out of the office for a couple of minutes, told them I had to make a phone call.
Yeah.
I got a mic hidden in the room, found out it helps in business once in a while.
I turned it on and listened to the guy's talk.
They were yakking about some guy that got shot.
The big fellow was saying there was no other way to handle it.
Said that he didn't like it either, but there just wasn't any other way.
The big thing then was to get some money and just beat town.
I waited outside for a couple more minutes, but they didn't say anything, so I went back in.
I told them I couldn't swing the radio deal.
What'd they do then?
Well, they said they had to dump them someplace.
If I couldn't take them, they'd find somebody who would.
I told them to go ahead.
What do these guys look like?
A couple of bums, one tall, the other short, wearing those jeans with the coats made out of the same cloth, you know.
You had dealings with them before?
Yeah, a couple of times.
You know their name?
No.
All I know is the big one's called Dusty.
I don't know the last one.
How about the other one?
Nothing there.
Anything else about them?
They're both luscious.
Yeah?
The big one is dusty, always got a flask on his hip.
You mean the bottle one?
No, a metal flask.
Look, they used them prohibition.
This one's all beat up, dented.
It's all dirty.
But I never seen Dusty without it.
Both of them all the time nipping at it.
All right.
You know where these guys live?
No, someplace downtown, they got a pad there, I don't know where it is though.
How do you know it's downtown, man?
Well, I don't know for sure, it's just a guess.
Do you ever hear either one of them say anything about a job?
Not those two, they never done a day's work in their lives.
The only thing they're good at is lifting radios.
They wouldn't work steady if stealing was legal.
Is that all they take, radios?
All I've ever seen.
I guess they got a gimmick.
Figured they could make a living with them, why change?
Mm-hmm.
I guess they do pretty good, I don't know, I've paid them enough times.
All right, anything else you can tell us?
No.
They work with anybody else, do you know?
Not that I've ever heard.
How about close friends?
None.
They say when they'd be back to your place?
No, they don't have a regular route.
When they pick up some things, they come in.
If they got nothing to sell, I don't see them.
When did you see them last?
The time I told you about.
They still around?
Well, I don't know, Rumble says they are.
I haven't seen them myself.
You know where we can reach them?
No, you don't make an appointment with them.
You know if these guys have ever been arrested?
Well, we never talked about it.
Where they seem to feel about cops though, you sure figure they fell.
They from L.A., do you know?
I don't think so.
Never heard them say, only done business with them a couple of times.
We never got real buddy-buddy.
They don't go to that chummy set much.
All right, Keneally, any more you want to tell us?
I guess that's it.
All right, come on, watch your technicals.
Yeah.
Hey, can you spring out a cup of that coffee?
It's sure good, about the best they ever tasted.
Hey, wait a minute.
Yeah?
There's one more thing about the guys you're after.
All right.
Take it easy with them.
Like I told you, they're both luscious.
I think they're off their rockers.
Yeah, we'll watch it.
You're better, they're packing heavy.
Yeah.
Any way you slice it, they're loaded.
Harold Keneally went through the mug books, but he was unable to find a picture of the
two suspects.
The name Dusty was checked to the moniker file without result.
Information was forwarded to George Brereton up at C.I.I. Sacramento, and a supplemental
APB was gotten out.
We spent the rest of the day with officers from Burgery Detail going over reports.
We found that they'd been working on a string of car radio thefts for the past several weeks.
When we compared notes with them, it seemed more than possible that their two suspects
were the same men we wanted for the killing of Matthew Denton.
However, they were no closer to the men than we were.
From the reports, we were able to figure that the pair was still in Los Angeles.
That evening, we met with Captain Warman, Captain Bernard, and Chief of Detectives Thad
Brown.
We worked out a system of rolling stakeouts that would cover most of the territory where
the thieves had been working.
Three additional teams of men from Burgery were assigned to help us, and on Wednesday,
June 20th, the operation was started.
For three days, there was no action.
Thefts from autos continued, but when they were checked out, the method of operation
used eliminated any suspects that we were looking for.
On Sunday, June 24th, we got a call that a man answering the descriptions of one of the
thieves had been seen in the vicinity of Beverly Boulevard and Elmwood Avenue.
Frank and I left our position in the stakeout, and we drove out to the area.
There should be a couple more blocks.
Yeah, we just passed Ridgewood Place.
You better take it easy next block when you start cruising.
Yeah.
See anything?
No.
Want to take a left here?
All right.
It doesn't look like it.
Let's go up a couple more blocks.
All right.
There should be a break if we nail them tonight.
Yeah.
A little rough on the study time.
How's it going?
Oh, I don't know, Joe.
At times, I don't think I'm ever going to make sergeant.
What are you doing now?
You mean studying?
Yeah.
Legal procedure.
You should know that.
More practical stuff, yeah.
Putting it into legal language, it makes it rough on me.
Yeah, I had the same trouble.
I haven't been able to hit the books for the past week.
Wait a minute.
Yeah.
No, nothing.
Keep going.
What did you say?
I said I hadn't hit the books.
I missed a couple of lectures, too.
Well, you're never going to make it that way.
That's what faith says.
Wait a minute.
Huh?
Slow down.
What do you got?
Up there.
See, next block on the left.
About 50 feet on the other side of the street line.
I don't see anything.
Look to me like somebody trying to get in a new car.
I'm not sure.
Well, let's check it.
All right.
Just up ahead there.
Yeah.
See anything?
No, looks like somebody on the other side.
Better pull up.
We'll take a look.
OK.
All right, let's go.
I'll come to the other side.
Take it easy.
You put the one we want there heavy.
All right.
All right, mister, let's hold it right there.
Huh?
Stand where you are.
You talking to me?
That's right.
What are you causing me trouble for?
I didn't do nothing.
We didn't say you did.
How about it, mister?
This your car?
Certainly this my car.
Who do you think it belonged to?
They got the white slip.
In the machines, right out in plain sight.
Where is it supposed to be?
You've been drinking, haven't you?
Small wonder you officers don't do better at solving crimes.
I had a couple, yeah.
What's your name?
I don't see how it's any business of yours.
All I'm trying to do is get into my car.
I'm not causing any trouble.
What's your name?
It's Kyle Petercock.
You got the keys to this car?
Matter of fact, I haven't.
That's why I'm having so much trouble getting in.
If I had the keys, I could just flip the door open and drive off.
Fine.
Yeah.
Here, what are you doing?
Just want to see what you're carrying.
Watch it, Joe.
All right, mister, come on.
You're going to get me in trouble.
I'm going to get you in trouble.
I'm going to get you in trouble.
I'm going to get you in trouble.
I'm going to get you in trouble.
I'm going to get you in trouble.
I'm going to get you in trouble.
All right, mister, come on.
I'm doing like you say.
Try to get in front.
Yeah.
Come on.
Put your hands back.
He's cleaning, Joe.
All right.
Turn around.
I didn't mean it.
I didn't mean it.
Yeah, sure.
Honest, you've got to believe me.
I didn't mean it.
Come on down here under the light.
All right, now stand still.
Yeah, matches and scripts are pretty good.
Where's your partner?
I didn't mean to do it.
It was an accident.
I just hit the guy.
I just got in a fight with him.
Dusty did the shooting.
He did it.
I didn't.
I just got in a fight.
All right, now calm down.
Where is he?
I knew you'd catch us and know it all the time.
I kept telling Dusty we had to get out of town.
We got to go.
I kept telling him all the time while I was telling him.
Where is he?
Home.
Where is that?
He's the one who did it.
I just got in a fight.
Dusty's the one who shot.
Not me.
Where do you live, mister?
Down on 4th.
That's where old Dusty is.
Old safe Dusty.
He said we didn't have to leave.
He said you'd never catch us.
All right, let's go.
Old Dusty is always right.
Always knows what he's doing all the time.
Never makes a mistake.
Not old Dusty.
Yeah, well, he made one this time, didn't he?
Peter Gregory Kyle and Jesse Haywood Poole were tried and convicted of murder in the second degree and petty theft, 18 counts.
They received punishment as prescribed by law.
Petty theft is punishable by imprisonment for a period of not more than one year in the county jail.
Second degree murder is punishable by imprisonment for a period of from five years to life.
Dragnet is a presentation of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service.
The United States Armed Forces Radio Service.