# Dragnet: The Big Canaries (EP4924)

An episode of [The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/335549005), 5 Mar 2026, 33 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/997ffb/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/70434317/gd4924.mp3

Today's Mystery:A mother is found murdered in her home. Original Radio Broadcast Date: December 6, 1951 Originating from Hollywood Starring: Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday; Barton Yarborough as Sergeant Ben Romero; Joyce McCluskey Support the show monthly at patreon.greatdetectives.net Patreon Supporter of the Day: Joe, Patreon supporter since April 2019. Support the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.net. Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715 Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net Give us a call at 208-991-4783 Follow us on Instagram at http://instagram.com/greatdetectives Follow us on Twitter @radiodetectives Join us again tomorrow for another detective drama from the Golden Age of Radio.

## Transcript

[0:28] Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
[0:36] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
[0:40] Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of Dragnet. But first,
[0:45] Speaker 1: I do want to encourage you, if you're enjoying the podcast,
[0:48] Speaker 1: to please follow us using your favorite podcast software. Our
[0:54] Speaker 1: listener support and appreciation campaign continues. You can support the
[1:00] Speaker 1: SOO by becoming one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for
[1:04] Speaker 1: as little as two dollars per month at Patreon dot
[1:09] Speaker 1: Great Detectives dot net. Now from December sixth, nineteen fifty one,
[1:16] Speaker 1: here is the Bake Canaries.
[1:23] Speaker 2: Wow, the story you were about to hear is true.
[1:30] Speaker 2: The names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're
[1:41] Speaker 2: a detective sergeant. You're assigned to homicide detail. A forty
[1:45] Speaker 2: year old mother is found murdered in the bedroom of
[1:47] Speaker 2: her home. The body bears the marks of a savage
[1:50] Speaker 2: attack with a knife. The killer showed no mercy. Your job, get.
[1:55] Speaker 3: Him Dragnet the documented drama of an actual crime. Well
[2:09] Speaker 3: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
[2:12] Speaker 3: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
[2:15] Speaker 3: side of the law. Through an actual case transcribed from
[2:18] Speaker 3: official police violence, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
[2:23] Speaker 3: Dragnet is the story of your police force and action.
[2:31] Speaker 4: It was Tuesday, February eighteen, was cold in Los Angeles.
[2:34] Speaker 4: We were working the day Watch out of homicide detail.
[2:37] Speaker 4: My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Thad Brown, Chief
[2:39] Speaker 4: of Detective.
[2:40] Speaker 5: My name is Friday.
[2:41] Speaker 4: There was ten forty three am when we got to
[2:43] Speaker 4: Woodview High School the vice Principal's office.
[2:48] Speaker 5: Good morning, ma'am. Yes, I'd like to see the vice principal.
[2:51] Speaker 5: Police believe her name is Harmon, Miss Harmon, I'm miss Harmon.
[2:54] Speaker 6: What us you wanted?
[2:55] Speaker 5: Police officers? Man, there's our identification. Oh yeah, this is
[2:58] Speaker 5: my partner's sergeant, their own. My name is Friday.
[3:01] Speaker 7: I see, how do you do?
[3:02] Speaker 5: Well? We'd like to talk to one of your girls students,
[3:04] Speaker 5: Miss Harmon, ROBERTA Dixon. I understand she's registered here.
[3:08] Speaker 7: ROBERTA Dixon.
[3:09] Speaker 6: Oh yes, I believe I know her.
[3:11] Speaker 8: Would you mind calling her out of class please?
[3:13] Speaker 5: We'd like to talk to her.
[3:14] Speaker 7: Well, we generally don't like to do that, officer, not
[3:17] Speaker 7: unless it's absolutely necessary.
[3:18] Speaker 5: Pretty important, man, We've got a message for the girl.
[3:21] Speaker 7: I see he couldn't wait until after school hours.
[3:23] Speaker 4: I'm afraid not, Miss Harmon. It's about the girl's mother.
[3:25] Speaker 4: It's pretty serious.
[3:27] Speaker 6: Oh was she been taken? Ill?
[3:28] Speaker 8: Iset it? No, ma'am, she's been murdered.
[3:32] Speaker 5: Sixteen year old ROBERTA.
[3:34] Speaker 4: Dixon, the daughter of the murdered woman, was called out
[3:36] Speaker 4: of her classroom and brought downstairs to the office of
[3:39] Speaker 4: Miss Harmon, the girl's vice principal. She was a thin,
[3:42] Speaker 4: dark haired girl and sweater and skirt. With the help
[3:45] Speaker 4: of Miss Harmon, whom the girl seemed to know fairly well,
[3:48] Speaker 4: Ben and I broke the news of her mother's death
[3:50] Speaker 4: as gently as we could. At first, the sixteen year
[3:53] Speaker 4: old girl seemed to take the shock with some composure,
[3:55] Speaker 4: but suddenly she broke down, weeping and became hysterical. When
[3:59] Speaker 4: she recovered sophiatiently, the girl agreed to come downtown with
[4:02] Speaker 4: us to answer a few routine questions. Miss Harmon agreed
[4:05] Speaker 4: to a company or eleven o five am. We checked
[4:08] Speaker 4: back in at the office. Ben and I completed the
[4:10] Speaker 4: three eleven dead body report while Miss Harmon and the
[4:13] Speaker 4: daughter of the murdered woman waited in the adjoining room.
[4:15] Speaker 5: What was that time discovered? Joe? You got a note
[4:18] Speaker 5: on it there? Yeah, let me look eight fifty five am. Oh,
[4:22] Speaker 5: thank you, hi Joe?
[4:24] Speaker 9: All right?
[4:25] Speaker 5: Oh hi George, how you doing?
[4:27] Speaker 9: Ken complain? Got some checking out to day? When if
[4:28] Speaker 9: you help me?
[4:29] Speaker 5: Well, do I give it a try? Ben? You know
[4:31] Speaker 5: George the COVID.
[4:32] Speaker 8: Don't you report it from the Daily News?
[4:33] Speaker 5: Oh? Yeah, sure, sam Aron, I say.
[4:36] Speaker 10: I understand you too, working on that knife murder out
[4:38] Speaker 10: on Pico the dead woman I found this morning.
[4:40] Speaker 8: Yeah, that's right.
[4:41] Speaker 10: A few things I'd like to check with you before
[4:42] Speaker 10: I do the story. The victim's name was Florence elenor Dixon.
[4:46] Speaker 10: That right, that's right, George. Yeah, A couple more things here,
[4:48] Speaker 10: stop me if I got it wrong. The victim was
[4:51] Speaker 10: forty years old, divorced, one child, daughter sixteen. Body was
[4:54] Speaker 10: discovered nine o'clock this morning by a next door neighbor.
[4:57] Speaker 10: You see, your neighbor's name is Esther Fenwick.
[5:00] Speaker 5: I think the name is Fenmore. George. Oh, thanks, N
[5:04] Speaker 5: M O. R.
[5:06] Speaker 9: I understand you haven't got much to go on. No murder, weapons,
[5:08] Speaker 9: no other leads.
[5:09] Speaker 8: No, not much of anything so far. We just started
[5:11] Speaker 8: on this thing.
[5:12] Speaker 9: How about the husband of the dead woman, you get
[5:13] Speaker 9: anything there?
[5:14] Speaker 5: Well, he divorced Missus Dixon two years ago. There's no
[5:16] Speaker 5: line on him yet.
[5:17] Speaker 8: We're still checking him out. They might have some word
[5:19] Speaker 8: later on the day for.
[5:21] Speaker 9: Any other possible suspects of mine or do you want
[5:23] Speaker 9: to say?
[5:23] Speaker 5: Oh, I don't think so. It's still wide open.
[5:25] Speaker 9: How about them on if I've been established yet?
[5:27] Speaker 5: Could have been one of a dozen things. We're gonna
[5:29] Speaker 5: have to do some digging before we can say definitely.
[5:32] Speaker 4: Doesn't look like it was a robbery motive. That's about
[5:34] Speaker 4: all we can tell you for sure.
[5:35] Speaker 5: George.
[5:37] Speaker 10: So, I was over at the morgue when they brought
[5:38] Speaker 10: the buddy, and it's the worst I've seen a long time. Brutal,
[5:41] Speaker 10: it's pretty bad. I suppose there's nothing from the crime
[5:43] Speaker 10: light yet.
[5:44] Speaker 4: No, I think they just got back from the house
[5:47] Speaker 4: a few minutes ago. If you want to drop by
[5:49] Speaker 4: later on this afternoon, we might have something new for you.
[5:51] Speaker 9: Okay, thanks?
[5:52] Speaker 10: Oh say, I say you're bringing the girl in a
[5:54] Speaker 10: few minutes ago, victim's daughter.
[5:56] Speaker 9: I like to get a couple of pictures of it.
[5:57] Speaker 4: Well, how about making a little later, huh, George. Kids
[5:59] Speaker 4: still set pretty much of a shock for you.
[6:01] Speaker 9: Mother, Storkay, I'll be waiting out in the hall with
[6:02] Speaker 9: a photographer. Oh can you give me a call? I
[6:04] Speaker 9: just a couple of shots. You won't take it, you
[6:06] Speaker 9: bet you?
[6:06] Speaker 8: George will call it.
[6:07] Speaker 9: Okay?
[6:08] Speaker 5: You about finishing that report, man? Yeah, old don I
[6:11] Speaker 5: guess we better talk to the girl. Huh yeah? All right?
[6:16] Speaker 5: The mark say when they're going to force the body
[6:18] Speaker 5: sometime today. We got to have the results first thing
[6:20] Speaker 5: tomorrow morning, Miss Harmon.
[6:27] Speaker 7: I think she's a lot better than outsigeant Roberta. The
[6:31] Speaker 7: officers would like to talk to you a few minutes
[6:33] Speaker 7: if you feel up to it.
[6:34] Speaker 6: All right, who killed my mother? Have you found out?
[6:38] Speaker 5: Not ched Roberta. And we think you might be able
[6:40] Speaker 5: to help her.
[6:40] Speaker 6: So it's so hard to believe. I just saw her
[6:42] Speaker 6: this morning. She was all right?
[6:44] Speaker 4: Then, well you try to take it easier. Roberta will
[6:45] Speaker 4: make it as brief as possible. Now, you and your
[6:48] Speaker 4: mother are the only people living at your house.
[6:49] Speaker 6: No one else, No me and my mother.
[6:51] Speaker 5: That's so.
[6:52] Speaker 6: My father used to live with us, he doesn't anymore.
[6:54] Speaker 5: And how long has it been since your father left.
[6:57] Speaker 6: I'm not sure. About five years. I think he and
[6:59] Speaker 6: Mamma didn't get along. I got divorced.
[7:01] Speaker 5: Do you see your father told her anymore? I mean,
[7:03] Speaker 5: does he ever come to your house to busy?
[7:05] Speaker 6: He did once, it was about a year ago. I
[7:07] Speaker 6: think wasn't much good, and my mother argued all the
[7:10] Speaker 6: time he was there, and he left. He hasn't been
[7:13] Speaker 6: back since.
[7:14] Speaker 8: Has he been in contact at all with your mother?
[7:16] Speaker 5: You know? Does he write her letters, call her on
[7:18] Speaker 5: the phone.
[7:19] Speaker 6: The last time was when he came to her house.
[7:21] Speaker 6: I haven't heard anything about him since. I don't even
[7:24] Speaker 6: know where he is. I don't care. I guess I
[7:27] Speaker 6: hardly even knew him.
[7:28] Speaker 8: Have you think about this carefully now, Roberta.
[7:31] Speaker 4: Did your mother have any close friends who used to
[7:33] Speaker 4: come to the house quite a bit?
[7:34] Speaker 6: Yes, two or three women friends are hers at work?
[7:37] Speaker 8: Any men friends.
[7:39] Speaker 6: Mom didn't have any men friends. She didn't like him.
[7:42] Speaker 6: She said they were all no good. She used to
[7:44] Speaker 6: tell me that all the time.
[7:45] Speaker 5: Do you have any relatives we can contact?
[7:48] Speaker 6: I don't know about my father's side. My mother has
[7:51] Speaker 6: a brother and sister in West Virginia. Dresses at home.
[7:56] Speaker 6: What am I gonna do? Why would anybody kill my mother?
[7:58] Speaker 8: You try to take it easy, ROBERTA. Thing's gonna work out,
[8:00] Speaker 8: all right.
[8:02] Speaker 4: Look, now, do you think you can give us a
[8:04] Speaker 4: list of most of the people your mother knew friends
[8:06] Speaker 4: around the neighborhood, the people she knew at her work.
[8:08] Speaker 6: Yes, I think so. Most of them are in her
[8:11] Speaker 6: dress book. I think I know where it is.
[8:12] Speaker 5: All right?
[8:13] Speaker 8: Fine?
[8:14] Speaker 5: Just before you left for school this morning, ROBERTA, was
[8:16] Speaker 5: there anyone in the hospit beside you and your mother?
[8:18] Speaker 6: No? Just the two of us.
[8:20] Speaker 5: Was your mother expecting anyone?
[8:21] Speaker 6: Not that I know?
[8:23] Speaker 8: Your mother was all right?
[8:24] Speaker 5: Was she? That didn't seem to be anything bothering her?
[8:26] Speaker 6: She acted all right to me, just like any other morning.
[8:29] Speaker 6: We got up at four to seven. I got dressed,
[8:32] Speaker 6: and I took a shower, I fixed breakfast, We ate,
[8:34] Speaker 6: and then I left for school.
[8:35] Speaker 8: How about what time was that, Roberta?
[8:37] Speaker 6: Well before eight through the usual time. I have my
[8:39] Speaker 6: first class nine o'clock. When I left, Mama, she was
[8:42] Speaker 6: just finishing her breakfast. I said, goodbye. Who was the
[8:46] Speaker 6: last time? Is saart? Can we talk after a while? Please?
[8:51] Speaker 6: Maybe I'll feel better. I can't talk?
[8:54] Speaker 5: Oh sure, that's all right, would you like to rest here?
[8:58] Speaker 6: I don't know why I'm crying, do it? I don't
[9:01] Speaker 6: care anyway, No reason to cry.
[9:04] Speaker 8: You better get some rest, youngster.
[9:05] Speaker 6: Oh reason doesn't make sense crying about mamma.
[9:08] Speaker 5: Hush.
[9:09] Speaker 6: I'm not sorry, I'm glad she's dead.
[9:14] Speaker 4: Early that afternoon, after she'd rested sufficiently and recovered herself,
[9:18] Speaker 4: we had another interview with Roberta Dixon, the teenage daughter
[9:21] Speaker 4: of the murdered woman, Miss Harmon.
[9:23] Speaker 5: The vice principal went back.
[9:24] Speaker 4: To the school and a policewoman was called in to
[9:26] Speaker 4: be present during the interrogation. Again, she insisted that she
[9:30] Speaker 4: wasn't at all sorry that her mother was dead. She
[9:32] Speaker 4: said that privately she didn't have any love for either
[9:35] Speaker 4: one of her parents, least of all her mother. She
[9:37] Speaker 4: told the usual story of a broken home, a father
[9:40] Speaker 4: who showed little interest in his daughter or providing a
[9:42] Speaker 4: good home for a strict, overbearing mother who apparently made
[9:45] Speaker 4: no effort to understand the girl. We continued to interview
[9:49] Speaker 4: Roberta Dixon, but outside of what she'd already told us,
[9:52] Speaker 4: she showed no further knowledge of the murdered Pending action
[9:55] Speaker 4: by the court, we had the girl placed in the
[9:57] Speaker 4: custody of the juvenile authorities. Three to ten PM, Ben
[10:01] Speaker 4: and I drove back to the murder house on south
[10:03] Speaker 4: peak of Boulevard, where we met police reporter George d.
[10:06] Speaker 5: Covin.
[10:07] Speaker 4: Together with Brian and Ortiz, we continued our preliminary investigation.
[10:11] Speaker 4: We rechecked the immediate area of the Dixon home and
[10:13] Speaker 4: talked again with the neighbors. We failed to come up
[10:16] Speaker 4: with anything new. Four twenty five PM, along with the
[10:20] Speaker 4: reporter George d. Covin, Ben and I went back to
[10:22] Speaker 4: the murder house.
[10:25] Speaker 5: Well, I don't know.
[10:27] Speaker 9: It doesn't seem to jide at that time of morning.
[10:29] Speaker 9: It's possible, though, what's that joy prowler might have been here?
[10:32] Speaker 9: Do you think so?
[10:33] Speaker 8: No, we've already run that down.
[10:35] Speaker 5: Yeah, we checked communications.
[10:37] Speaker 4: There's no recent complaints about anybody prowling the neighborhood. We
[10:39] Speaker 4: talked to the neighbors too, no indication of it, no
[10:42] Speaker 4: sign anybody tried to break in here.
[10:44] Speaker 5: Either, got me. I can't figure and Dick's moment short
[10:48] Speaker 5: kept to herself, lived here eleven years and we can't
[10:50] Speaker 5: dig up more than half a dozen neighbors who are
[10:51] Speaker 5: running new yeah.
[10:52] Speaker 9: Business with her daughter too at cheer stacks up pretty strange.
[10:56] Speaker 9: Didn't the crime lab crew find anything this morning?
[10:58] Speaker 5: Joe?
[10:58] Speaker 4: No, nothing, great jacket, a pair of shoes with a
[11:01] Speaker 4: few stains on them. Took them in to run a
[11:02] Speaker 4: benzitin test. That's about the size of it.
[11:04] Speaker 5: Sure a slow start. Yeah, I expect a little more
[11:08] Speaker 5: from the neighbors. I die. You know, it'd be different
[11:11] Speaker 5: if the thing happened in the middle of the night.
[11:13] Speaker 4: According to the daughter, it must have happened at least
[11:15] Speaker 4: after eight point thirty this morning. Now, if the killer
[11:18] Speaker 4: got in the house after that, you'd think somebody on
[11:20] Speaker 4: the block would have noticed it.
[11:21] Speaker 8: Neighbors close by on either side.
[11:23] Speaker 5: How about checking out in the yard and back. I
[11:25] Speaker 5: didn't get too good a look around this morning. There
[11:27] Speaker 5: was nothing more to cover in here. Crime may have
[11:29] Speaker 5: been all over.
[11:32] Speaker 10: And how about where this missus Dixon worked, Joe, anybody
[11:35] Speaker 10: tag base there?
[11:35] Speaker 4: Yeah, Tommy Bryan did hotel down on South Grand. She
[11:39] Speaker 4: worked in the linen room. A couple of people she
[11:40] Speaker 4: knew there. They couldn't tell him anything.
[11:42] Speaker 5: How about some of her other friends? No, nothing yet,
[11:44] Speaker 5: We're still checking. Go ahead, Joey, all right, it's a
[11:52] Speaker 5: big backyard, kept it nice, didn't I?
[11:55] Speaker 8: You want to check alongside here, Ben with the house.
[11:58] Speaker 5: I'll give the back of the yard a look. Yeah, okay,
[12:02] Speaker 5: good size garage. Huh.
[12:03] Speaker 9: Pretty hard to find him like that anymore.
[12:05] Speaker 5: Pretty good sized lot too. He's sure must have worked
[12:09] Speaker 5: at keeping it up. There's not a weed on the place,
[12:10] Speaker 5: is here? Yeah?
[12:12] Speaker 9: More you can say for the neighbors.
[12:15] Speaker 5: I have a look, George. Down here, huh, flowerbed here?
[12:19] Speaker 5: Two little mounds of dirt? You see him?
[12:21] Speaker 6: Oh?
[12:21] Speaker 5: Yeah, the ground looks like it's been recently turned. When
[12:25] Speaker 5: you say fairly recent what what that's supposed to mean? Yeah,
[12:32] Speaker 5: small wooden crosses pressed down in each one of the mounds.
[12:35] Speaker 9: Where looks like a couple of small graves, doesn't it.
[12:39] Speaker 5: You want to reach me that stick over there? George?
[12:40] Speaker 5: Oh here you go, thank you. I have a look here,
[12:48] Speaker 5: all right, nothing on mind? How are you? What's it?
[12:53] Speaker 5: And we're not sure ourselves? Wait a minute? Uh huh?
[12:57] Speaker 5: What is it? Wait a minute? All right? There you
[13:01] Speaker 5: are a bird, the canary? How about that hasn't been buried? Long?
[13:08] Speaker 8: Look here at the breast.
[13:11] Speaker 5: What do you think a night could be?
[13:13] Speaker 8: Sharp instrument of some kind.
[13:14] Speaker 5: Just a minute, I'm gonna try this other mounder. Wait
[13:19] Speaker 5: a minute, Joe, Yeah it's another one. Yeah, a canary,
[13:24] Speaker 5: same thing, Look at the breast. Neither one's been buried
[13:29] Speaker 5: for more in a few days. Anyway.
[13:32] Speaker 9: The Dixon's raise canaries, you know.
[13:33] Speaker 5: I don't know.
[13:34] Speaker 8: I don't think so.
[13:35] Speaker 5: Surrey doesn't make any sense to me. They didn't want
[13:38] Speaker 5: the bird, you'd think they'd give them away. Why go
[13:40] Speaker 5: slaughter them like there? Yeah, well it works both ways.
[13:44] Speaker 5: Deep wounds in the chest, some kind of sharp weapon. Yeah.
[13:48] Speaker 5: The Dixon woman, she died the same way.
[13:53] Speaker 4: Four thirty five pm. We took the two canaries, wrapped
[13:56] Speaker 4: them in paper, and brought them downtown to Lieutenant Lee
[13:59] Speaker 4: Jones at the crime labed to be processed. He was
[14:02] Speaker 4: still running tests on a stained jacket and pair of
[14:04] Speaker 4: shoes which had been found in the house among the
[14:06] Speaker 4: dead woman's personal effects. Five point fifteen pm we checked
[14:10] Speaker 4: by the office and then we drove over to Juvenile
[14:12] Speaker 4: Hall to see ROBERTA.
[14:13] Speaker 5: Dixon. Apparently she was in a much better frame of mind.
[14:18] Speaker 6: I talked to miss Harmon this afternoon, our vice principal.
[14:21] Speaker 6: She wants me to come and stay with her for
[14:23] Speaker 6: a while. Hope she can arrange it at you'll.
[14:24] Speaker 5: Be nice moving back at your house this afternoon, ROBERTA.
[14:28] Speaker 5: We found himself something with doctor asked you, but what's that?
[14:30] Speaker 5: Do you keep any pets in your house? I mean
[14:32] Speaker 5: either you or your mother?
[14:34] Speaker 6: Well, no, not usually.
[14:35] Speaker 5: Why how do you mean not usually?
[14:37] Speaker 6: Well, we didn't up until a week ago. Mama didn't
[14:40] Speaker 6: like him, she didn't want him around. Then I got
[14:43] Speaker 6: these two canaries. I bought him with my own money.
[14:45] Speaker 6: I work after.
[14:45] Speaker 5: School, you know, I see.
[14:47] Speaker 6: I bought a cage for him too. My mother was
[14:49] Speaker 6: mad when I brought him home. She didn't like any
[14:52] Speaker 6: kind of animals, kept preaching at me. She finally made
[14:55] Speaker 6: me get rid of him, and I do that with Brett.
[14:57] Speaker 11: I got a knife and I killed him.
[15:16] Speaker 4: February eighteenth, the Dixon girl was released to the custody
[15:19] Speaker 4: of Miss Harmon, pending action for the juvenile court.
[15:21] Speaker 5: Nine pm.
[15:22] Speaker 4: Ben and I double checked with Lieutenant Lee Jones at
[15:24] Speaker 4: the crime lab. He showed us the school jacket and
[15:27] Speaker 4: a pair of shoes which had been found in a
[15:29] Speaker 4: closet in the home of the murdered woman, missus Florence Dixon.
[15:32] Speaker 4: Apparently the clothing belonged to the daughter, Roberta. There were
[15:35] Speaker 4: several dark stains on each of the articles. They'd been
[15:38] Speaker 4: checked thoroughly, first a Benzandeine test to determine if they
[15:41] Speaker 4: were blood stains, then a biological precipitent test to classify
[15:45] Speaker 4: them further. There wasn't any doubt in Lee's mind that
[15:48] Speaker 4: the stains were recent, that they were made by human blood,
[15:51] Speaker 4: the same blood type as that of the murdered woman.
[15:54] Speaker 4: It was a little hard to believe, but the evidence
[15:56] Speaker 4: on hand pointed only one prime suspect, sixteen year old
[15:59] Speaker 4: Robert Dixon. Early the following morning, we checked back in
[16:03] Speaker 4: at the office. Ben went across the street to see
[16:05] Speaker 4: if the coroner's autopsy report was ready. Eight o five am.
[16:09] Speaker 4: I checked by communications. They had a report on the
[16:11] Speaker 4: tracer we'd gotten out on the murder victim's husband, the
[16:14] Speaker 4: Charles Dixon.
[16:15] Speaker 5: I picked it up and headed back for the office,
[16:20] Speaker 5: worning Joe, Well, Hi, George, you got the message I
[16:23] Speaker 5: left for you. I put it on your desk over
[16:24] Speaker 5: the press room. Yeah, I got it. Thanks.
[16:27] Speaker 9: I was looked this morning. Anything new?
[16:28] Speaker 4: Well, this here an answer on that tracer. We got
[16:31] Speaker 4: out on missus Dixon's husband. He's been living up north
[16:33] Speaker 4: for the past year San Francisco.
[16:35] Speaker 9: That's so he's still up there.
[16:37] Speaker 5: No, not, According to this he died six months ago
[16:39] Speaker 5: heart attack.
[16:41] Speaker 9: What do you figure?
[16:41] Speaker 5: Well, there's not much choice, Joe, Oh hi, do you
[16:45] Speaker 5: autopsy report? Corner just got it out.
[16:47] Speaker 8: What's the word?
[16:48] Speaker 5: It doesn't jibe with this story. We got the Corner
[16:50] Speaker 5: places at time of death close to seven thirty am yesterday.
[16:53] Speaker 5: Of course, a desk what we figured chess boom, kind
[16:55] Speaker 5: of a sharp weapon. There's something else. According to the girls,
[16:59] Speaker 5: he had breakfast with their mother before she left for school.
[17:01] Speaker 5: Corner says Miss Dixon hadn't eaten for at least twelve
[17:04] Speaker 5: hours before she died.
[17:05] Speaker 9: What was that time of death?
[17:06] Speaker 5: Ben, seven thirty am? No later?
[17:08] Speaker 8: Oh, yes, we better move on it.
[17:10] Speaker 5: Yeah, what's the angle?
[17:11] Speaker 8: Well, the daughter, she says she didn't leave the house
[17:13] Speaker 8: until eight thirty.
[17:17] Speaker 4: Along with the policewoman, Ben and I drove out to
[17:19] Speaker 4: the home of the high school vice principal, Miss Harmon,
[17:21] Speaker 4: where the suspect, ROBERTA. Dixon, was staying. There was no
[17:24] Speaker 4: one there. We checked at the high school. Miss Harmon
[17:27] Speaker 4: told us that she'd brought Roberta to school that morning.
[17:29] Speaker 4: She thought that if the girl attended classes, it had
[17:31] Speaker 4: helped keep her mind off her troubles. Miss Harmon checked
[17:34] Speaker 4: the classroom the Dixon girl was supposed to be in,
[17:36] Speaker 4: but she wasn't there. Her teachers were contacted. None of
[17:39] Speaker 4: them had seen her that morning nine forty am. We
[17:43] Speaker 4: drove over to the Dixon home. We found Roberta in
[17:45] Speaker 4: the back bedroom. She was sitting calmly at a sewing machine,
[17:48] Speaker 4: stitching ruffles on a dress. In one corner of the room,
[17:52] Speaker 4: there was an empty bird cage.
[17:57] Speaker 6: I'm pretty busy right now. I've got this sewing to do.
[17:59] Speaker 6: What you want to talk to me about?
[18:00] Speaker 5: We've got a few more questions for your bert It's
[18:02] Speaker 5: about your mother.
[18:03] Speaker 6: She's dead, isn't she Do we have to talk about it?
[18:05] Speaker 8: Yeah, I'm afraid we do.
[18:06] Speaker 6: Why do we just told me she was dead? There's
[18:08] Speaker 6: no sense in talking about dead people anyway. I've got
[18:11] Speaker 6: this sewing to do. I have to get finished. There
[18:19] Speaker 6: isn't that pretty? These ruffles go all the way around
[18:21] Speaker 6: the bottom of the skirt here, like this beautiful color brown?
[18:26] Speaker 6: You like it?
[18:27] Speaker 5: You want to tell us. What happened, Roberta, yesterday morning?
[18:30] Speaker 6: Yesterday? I already told you, didn't I we.
[18:32] Speaker 5: Don't think you were telling the truth. You want to
[18:33] Speaker 5: go over it again for it.
[18:35] Speaker 6: I've got this sewing to do. You can see that,
[18:36] Speaker 6: can't you. Three more rows of ruffles go on right here?
[18:44] Speaker 6: I have to get it finished. Takes time in them.
[18:48] Speaker 5: I think you better let the sewing go. Roberta, Oh no.
[18:50] Speaker 6: I couldn't do that. I have to get finished.
[18:52] Speaker 5: I'm afraid this is a little more important. I think
[18:54] Speaker 5: you realize that I went over.
[18:56] Speaker 6: The whole thing for you already. I told you everything
[18:58] Speaker 6: wasn't the truth.
[18:59] Speaker 11: You know that.
[19:00] Speaker 6: Why do you say that? What do you expect me
[19:02] Speaker 6: to say? You think I lied, don't you? That's stupid.
[19:06] Speaker 6: I haven't got any reason to lie.
[19:08] Speaker 5: Did you kill her, Roberta?
[19:09] Speaker 8: What did you kill your mother?
[19:11] Speaker 6: I told you everything already. That's just the way it was.
[19:15] Speaker 6: Mom and I got up and had breakfast and I
[19:17] Speaker 6: went to school. It's all. I don't have any reason
[19:19] Speaker 6: to lie. Oh excuse me? Hello, Well hi, fran Yeah,
[19:29] Speaker 6: I'm working on it now. It's gonna be beautiful.
[19:32] Speaker 10: What.
[19:33] Speaker 6: Oh no, that's all right? Sure, Well thanks. Yeah, I'm
[19:37] Speaker 6: all right. M M. Look, can you call me back later? Yeah,
[19:44] Speaker 6: I'll be here, Okay, honey, Bye, I'm sorry. Officer's my
[19:48] Speaker 6: girlfriend friend. He's a good friend of mine. She can
[19:51] Speaker 6: vouch for me. She'll tell you I'm not a liar.
[19:54] Speaker 8: Do you want a pair of brown and white satell oxfords, Roberta?
[19:58] Speaker 6: No?
[19:58] Speaker 8: Why how about a school jacket green plaid?
[20:01] Speaker 6: No, I don't like green. Brown's my favorite color.
[20:05] Speaker 4: The green plaid jacket was fine in the house here.
[20:07] Speaker 4: It was stuffed back in the hall closet. It had
[20:09] Speaker 4: your name stancel on it.
[20:10] Speaker 6: Oh yeah, that old thing. I don't even wear it anymore.
[20:15] Speaker 11: Look at that.
[20:16] Speaker 6: It won't be pretty when I get finished.
[20:18] Speaker 5: That jacket to yours, Roberta. They found bloodstains on it.
[20:21] Speaker 5: On the shoes too, Noberta.
[20:25] Speaker 6: I already told you the shoes aren't mine, the jacket is.
[20:28] Speaker 6: Why do you keep calling me a liar? Can't you
[20:30] Speaker 6: believe me for once? It isn't bad enough the way
[20:33] Speaker 6: things are now.
[20:35] Speaker 4: The last time we talked to you, you said you
[20:37] Speaker 4: left the house at eight thirty yesterday morning.
[20:39] Speaker 5: Is that right?
[20:40] Speaker 6: Yes, it was around eight thirty.
[20:42] Speaker 5: Well, we got the report on your mother this morning, ROBERTA.
[20:45] Speaker 5: The corner says she died at seven thirty.
[20:47] Speaker 6: No waiter, that's stupid. How could he tell anyway?
[20:50] Speaker 5: He can tell?
[20:50] Speaker 6: He's a liar?
[20:51] Speaker 5: Something else, Roberta. You told the shoe and your mother
[20:54] Speaker 5: got up and you had breakfast together.
[20:56] Speaker 6: Yeah, we had breakfast together. Why are you picking on it?
[20:59] Speaker 5: You couldn't. I had breakfast together. At the time she died.
[21:02] Speaker 5: Your mother hadn't eaten anything for twelve hours.
[21:04] Speaker 6: I guess you're gonna say they can tell that too.
[21:07] Speaker 4: That's right. You want to tell us what really happened. Now,
[21:12] Speaker 4: Now tell us the truth, Roberta, it's going to work
[21:14] Speaker 4: out a lot easier.
[21:21] Speaker 6: These are some of the toys I had when I
[21:23] Speaker 6: was little. I saved almost all of them. My best
[21:30] Speaker 6: doll had a lot of dolls. I loved them. I
[21:33] Speaker 6: guess I still do. I love them more than her.
[21:37] Speaker 8: You mean your mother.
[21:38] Speaker 6: I wasn't fooling. I don't care if she's dead. She
[21:42] Speaker 6: didn't mean anything to me. She never did mean anything.
[21:46] Speaker 6: These are more my dolls here. I dressed them all myself,
[21:50] Speaker 6: every one of them.
[21:51] Speaker 5: What was the matter, Roberta, between you and your mother?
[21:53] Speaker 6: I mean, I don't know. I guess she just didn't
[21:57] Speaker 6: mean anything. Not like anybody else's mother. She didn't mean
[22:00] Speaker 6: anything at all, same as my father. You're in the
[22:04] Speaker 6: same house. That's all. Nobody cared for anybody else, anything
[22:08] Speaker 6: but fighting, fighting, or just not saying anything at all.
[22:12] Speaker 6: I'm glad she's dead.
[22:14] Speaker 5: You killed her.
[22:15] Speaker 8: Is that what you want to say.
[22:19] Speaker 6: Here's a little piano I had. I got one Christmas.
[22:23] Speaker 6: I think, look still play.
[22:31] Speaker 5: You want to tell us from the beginning.
[22:40] Speaker 6: It took a long time. I had thought about it
[22:44] Speaker 6: a lot.
[22:44] Speaker 12: Week ago.
[22:45] Speaker 11: I made up my mind, it's time to kill her.
[22:50] Speaker 6: She was getting worse. I couldn't do anything.
[22:54] Speaker 12: I was always wrong, couldn't go out, couldn't do this,
[22:58] Speaker 12: I couldn't do that. She started the same way. Yesterday morning.
[23:07] Speaker 12: I got the knife from the kitchen. I went in
[23:10] Speaker 12: and she was sitting on the bed putting her stockings on.
[23:15] Speaker 12: I don't think she knew what happened. Didn't take long.
[23:22] Speaker 5: Were you having an argument with her? Said west Gardener.
[23:25] Speaker 6: We argued every morning. I got so tired of it.
[23:29] Speaker 6: She had an awful voice. Finally made up my mind,
[23:35] Speaker 6: planned it all out. I even practiced it. You know
[23:39] Speaker 6: the two canaries I had? Yeah, I didn't buy them
[23:42] Speaker 6: because I wanted them got to be cute, though, felt
[23:50] Speaker 6: bad about killing them.
[23:51] Speaker 5: Why'd you kill him?
[23:52] Speaker 8: Roberta?
[23:54] Speaker 6: Practice decided to use a knife. I'm sure I knew
[24:00] Speaker 6: how to do it, though, So I got the canaries
[24:05] Speaker 6: one day after school. I killed him. Gave me more confidence.
[24:10] Speaker 6: I knew I could do it after that. Poor little things. Yes,
[24:16] Speaker 6: I shouldn't have killed them, went knife.
[24:19] Speaker 5: You killed your mother with, Roberta. You want to show
[24:21] Speaker 5: us where it is?
[24:22] Speaker 6: All right, I'll show you. I don't think you ever
[24:25] Speaker 6: could have found it. It's up in the attic, special
[24:28] Speaker 6: place I hide things. Say would you like some coffee
[24:34] Speaker 6: or coke or something?
[24:35] Speaker 5: No, one more thing? Why'd you leave school this morning?
[24:38] Speaker 5: I mean going off without telling anybody.
[24:39] Speaker 6: I wanted to come back here. I felt like it.
[24:43] Speaker 6: I wanted to come back to my room. It's the
[24:48] Speaker 6: only place I really liked to be. I've lived in
[24:52] Speaker 6: this house all my life, and this has always been
[24:56] Speaker 6: my room.
[25:00] Speaker 5: I had.
[25:02] Speaker 6: My dolls. Everything's here, everything, I have my books, Oh,
[25:10] Speaker 6: my dolls.
[25:11] Speaker 5: Yeah, I think we better be going, Roberta.
[25:14] Speaker 8: We'll have to take you downtown.
[25:16] Speaker 6: Yes, all right, I'll get my coat, then I'll show
[25:28] Speaker 6: you where the knife is. Officers, could I ask you
[25:33] Speaker 6: one favorite? It probably sounds silly, will help a lot though.
[25:41] Speaker 6: This doll here, could I take it with me? Just
[25:46] Speaker 6: this one? Make me feel a lot better? Please? Do
[25:51] Speaker 6: you think I could?
[25:53] Speaker 5: Yeah?
[25:53] Speaker 8: Sure, bring it along.
[25:54] Speaker 6: If you're like, thank you, you probably think I don't
[25:59] Speaker 6: care for any thing but my dolls. There's one thing though,
[26:03] Speaker 6: I want to tell you.
[26:05] Speaker 5: What's that?
[26:07] Speaker 6: I'm sorry now, I really am. I shouldn't have done it.
[26:12] Speaker 6: I know it was wrong. You do, Yes, I'm sorry.
[26:16] Speaker 6: I killed the canaries.
[26:26] Speaker 5: The story you have just heard was true.
[26:29] Speaker 2: The names were changed to protect the innocent.
[26:31] Speaker 13: On May sixth, the hearing was held in Juvenile Court,
[26:34] Speaker 13: Department thirty eighth, City and County of Los Angeles, State
[26:36] Speaker 13: of California. In a moment the results of that hearing.
[26:48] Speaker 13: At the hearing in Juvenile Court, ROBERTA. Evelyn Dixon was
[26:51] Speaker 13: found unfit to be handled as a juvenile and was
[26:54] Speaker 13: certified to Superior Court as an adult. There, she was
[26:57] Speaker 13: found to be criminally insane by three Sekaiah interists appointed
[27:00] Speaker 13: by the state. She is now confined to a state
[27:03] Speaker 13: mental institution where she is undergoing treatment. You have just
[27:15] Speaker 13: heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files.
[27:20] Speaker 13: Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police W. H. Parker,
[27:23] Speaker 13: Los Angeles Police Department. Bartney Yarborough is Sergeant venro Merrow.
[27:28] Speaker 13: Also heard was Joyce McCluskey. Script by Jim Mosy, music
[27:32] Speaker 13: by Walter Schumann.
[27:34] Speaker 14: Hell give me speaking, counter Spy Fights, International Intrigue.
[27:49] Speaker 15: Next on NBC, Welcome Back.
[28:00] Speaker 1: A great episode, and I think it illustrates how Dragnet's
[28:06] Speaker 1: often emotional understatement can be quite powerful. Now, obviously we
[28:13] Speaker 1: hear a lot of shows on this podcast that dial
[28:17] Speaker 1: it up to eleven, but when Roberta was talking honestly
[28:22] Speaker 1: before the midpoint where she stated she killed the canaries,
[28:31] Speaker 1: that was chilling. And of course if there was any
[28:35] Speaker 1: doubt as to what happened, you know, they had to
[28:38] Speaker 1: do the whole investigation.
[28:40] Speaker 15: But I pretty much knew who did it at that point.
[28:45] Speaker 1: And again, the sort of calm way she talks about
[28:49] Speaker 1: it is really I think part of the strength of
[28:53] Speaker 1: the episode and what makes it so realistic and suddenly disturbing.
[29:02] Speaker 1: And I think the facts of the case reflect a
[29:04] Speaker 1: situation where you had an angry teenage girl who didn't
[29:12] Speaker 1: know what she was doing or have a really strong
[29:15] Speaker 1: insight into what the police figure out, which led to
[29:18] Speaker 1: her making mistakes that she got caught in. All right, well,
[29:23] Speaker 1: listener comments and feedback, and we're going over to Spotify,
[29:27] Speaker 1: where we have a comment from Vicky, who writes the
[29:32] Speaker 1: police only knew about the wife's disappearance because the husband
[29:36] Speaker 1: called them, But yet the husband was the guilty party.
[29:40] Speaker 1: Perhaps he wanted to be caught. Great episode. Well, Becky,
[29:43] Speaker 1: I didn't think he wanted to be caught. I think
[29:46] Speaker 1: in that case, the fact is that his wife was
[29:50] Speaker 1: not around, and if he had at no point reported it,
[29:55] Speaker 1: somebody was going to notice that she was missing, and
[29:58] Speaker 1: the question would be, okay, doctor, why did you never
[30:04] Speaker 1: report your wife was missing?
[30:06] Speaker 6: Oh?
[30:06] Speaker 1: He couldn't remove the mystery, but he could relocate the
[30:11] Speaker 1: mystery to the other side of the city. Yeah, she
[30:14] Speaker 1: went to New York and I don't know what happened
[30:16] Speaker 1: to her. And he thought he'd been very clever, but
[30:19] Speaker 1: of course he was amateur and made some mistakes along
[30:23] Speaker 1: the way. All right, Well, now it's time to thank
[30:26] Speaker 1: our Patreon supporter of the day. Thank you to Joe,
[30:29] Speaker 1: Patreon supporter since April twenty nineteen, currently supporting the podcast
[30:34] Speaker 1: at the Master Detective level of fifteen dollars more per month.
[30:37] Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your support, Joe.
[30:39] Speaker 15: That will do it for today.
[30:40] Speaker 1: If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your
[30:44] Speaker 1: favorite podcast software and be sure to rate and review
[30:48] Speaker 1: the podcast wherever you download it from. We'll be back
[30:51] Speaker 1: next Thursday with another episode of Dragnet. But join us
[30:55] Speaker 1: back here tomorrow for yours truly. Johnny dollarware, you were here.
[31:01] Speaker 16: To see missus Ballen.
[31:02] Speaker 3: That's right, I'm Johnny Dollar.
[31:03] Speaker 16: I'm Hal Winters, her nephew.
[31:05] Speaker 5: Hi.
[31:06] Speaker 16: Say tell me something, yes, about this little statue that's missing?
[31:10] Speaker 16: You mean that little chunk of pot metal that's disappeared.
[31:13] Speaker 5: Oh is that what it is?
[31:14] Speaker 6: Oh?
[31:14] Speaker 16: Yes, just a piece of junk. But a couple of
[31:16] Speaker 16: months ago at Dora decided it looked like her grandfather
[31:19] Speaker 16: when he was a general back in the Civil War.
[31:21] Speaker 5: Oh why does she value it so highly?
[31:24] Speaker 16: I expect the general was the only Ballon who had
[31:26] Speaker 16: guts enough to do anything on his own. What do
[31:29] Speaker 16: you mean, I mean instead of just living off the
[31:31] Speaker 16: family shipping fortune.
[31:33] Speaker 2: So when she.
[31:33] Speaker 16: Suddenly decided the statue looked like the General, Johnny Dollar,
[31:39] Speaker 16: did you.
[31:40] Speaker 2: Say that's right?
[31:42] Speaker 16: The insurance investigated, Yes, Well, now why should she bother
[31:48] Speaker 16: you with it? I don't know, truly, mister Dollar.
[31:51] Speaker 5: It's not worth it.
[31:52] Speaker 16: If I were you, i'd forget it. And now, if
[31:54] Speaker 16: you'll excuse me, i'd better see if the morning mail
[31:56] Speaker 16: has arrived?
[31:56] Speaker 1: Helu Just when.
[31:58] Speaker 16: Did the statue disappear? Where kind of discovered it missing
[32:02] Speaker 16: from the reception room yesterday morning? Now, if you'll pardon me.
[32:05] Speaker 13: Was the house broken into?
[32:06] Speaker 1: Possibly?
[32:07] Speaker 16: But there was no sign of it.
[32:08] Speaker 5: How about guests?
[32:09] Speaker 16: No, we haven't had guests for a week or more.
[32:11] Speaker 16: How many servants are there, mister Dollar? Perhaps there's something
[32:16] Speaker 16: i'd better tell you about that statue, the statue.
[32:19] Speaker 5: Of the General.
[32:20] Speaker 1: I tell you, mister Dolla. You are mister Dollar, aren't you?
[32:24] Speaker 16: Yes, ma'am, I tell you that if you don't find
[32:27] Speaker 16: out who's stole it and get it back, I'll can
[32:29] Speaker 16: celevery bit of my insurance.
[32:31] Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime.
[32:34] Speaker 1: Send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot NAT.
[32:38] Speaker 1: Follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives and check us
[32:42] Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great detectives from Boise, Idaho.
[32:48] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham, Sogn and all

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