Dragnet 1967 (1967) s01e15 Episode Script
The Gun
1
[Friday Narrating]
This is the city— Los Angeles, California.
In 1920,
the population was 576, 673.
Today, Los Angeles is
the third largest city in the United States.
Nearly three million people live here.
From every nation,
Los Angeles draws its bloodline.
When some of that blood is spilled,
I go to work.
I carry a badge.
It was Tuesday, August 1 6.
It was hot in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch
out of Homicide Division.
The boss is Captain Hugh Brown.
My partner's Bill Gannon.
My name's Friday.
We’d just come back
from a bomb investigation.
It turned out to be a hoax.
[Man Narrating]
The story you are about to see is true.
The names have been changed
to protect the innocent.
How'd it go, Bill?
No bomb?
No bomb.
This heat keeps up,
the whole town's gonna blow.
Yeah. I signed us in.
Good.
For me?
From the fifth floor.
Credit union.
Pink slip on my car.
Paid off your loan, huh?
Finally. Now I gotta see
Bob Fennell again.
What for?
Another loan.
Now I have to get it fixed.
Transmission went out.
[Brown]
Friday, Gannon.
Yes, sir.
Close to quitting time, I know,
but here's one to go on. I'll sign you out.
Yes, sir.
1104 Westgarden. Dead body.
Don't know what I'm gonna do
with all the overtime I'm piling up.
Buy a yacht.
[Friday Narrating]
4:23 p.m. Before we left P.A. B.,
we made the notifications,
and then we headed across town
for the Westgarden address.
1 104 Westgarden was located
in a quiet residential neighborhood
15 minutes from the office.
It was 4:40 p.m.
when we got there.
Friday and Gannon. Homicide.
Fisher, 1 L-36.
The body's in the bedroom.
Here's your D.O.A. slip.
Right. Thanks, Fisher.
Who's she?
Mrs. Sunshine Pound.
She put in the call.
Right. Ask her to stand by, will you?
Right, Sergeant.
Thank you.
Joe, Bill.
Hi, Blake.
What've ya got?
Two gunshots.
- Where?
- Head and the heart area.
Those two slugs weigh more than she did.
Tiny little thing.
Yeah. Who covered the body?
- Woman out there in the front room.
- Let us know when you pull the slugs.
- Right, Gannon.
- All right, Ed.
Besides the usual shots, I want two lateral,
two vertical and one head down— and in color.
Okay, Sergeant.
Can't weigh over 90 pounds.
Beautiful girl, Joe.
A living doll.
Not anymore.
You're Mrs. Sunshine Pound?
Beg your pardon?
You're Mrs. Sunshine Pound?
Had you tuned out.
Yes, that's correct.
Police officers, ma'am.
This is Sergeant Friday.
My name's Gannon.
Oh, the shame of it all.
Lovely girl like Reiko.
Who could do such a thing?
- What's her full name, Mrs. Pound?
- Reiko Hashimoto.
Twenty-six years old.
She married?
She was. Her husband was killed
seven months ago in Vietnam.
- He was a sergeant in the army.
- What was his name? Would you know?
Frank. Frank Hashimoto.
They were a lovely couple.
He was an army career man,
brought Reiko over from Japan.
He was nisei,
born and raised right here
in Los Angeles.
- Did you hear any shots, any disturbance?
- No. Not a sound.
- Where do you live, Mrs. Pound?
- Just down the block.
1181 Westgarden.
Friday, see you a minute?
Excuse me.
We're gonna move
the body, Joe.
Bill.
Be right back.
Looks like there was an exit wound.
Wanna check it?
It'll keep.
See you, Joe.
Right, Blake.
Find out anything yet?
She's dead,
and she was pretty.
Poor Reiko.
Poor little thing.
The Hashimotos have
any enemies that you know of?
Anyone who might do a thing like this?
Not a soul, Sergeant.
They were delightful neighbors.
Kept pretty much to themselves.
Oh, they were friendly,
but they loved their home—
always sprucing it up.
And isn't it lovely?
Reiko was so neat and tidy.
You say she was from Japan.
She have any relatives in this country?
- Yes. One. Her mother.
- Would you know her name?
- It's Mrs. Watanabe.
- Do you know where we might find her?
Not exactly.
I only met her once.
I think from what Reiko said
that she has an apartment someplace
down in Japanese Town— Little Tokyo.
- That's where Miko probably is,
staying with her grandmother.
- Miko?
Yes. Reiko's little daughter.
She's only five.
- Mrs. Pound, did Mrs. Hashimoto have
any men friends that you know of?
- How do you mean that, Sergeant?
- Well, I mean, being a widow,
did she go out with men?
- If she did, I never heard her say.
She loved her husband,
and although she was a beautiful girl,
I doubt very much
if she ever saw another man.
- Why would her daughter
be staying with her mother?
- I don't know.
- You covered the body with that bedsheet?
- Yes, I did.
I couldn't stand to wait here
for you people with that little thing
lying in there.
- Yes, ma'am.
- I'm deaf, you know.
- When there's something
I don't want to hear, I turn off my aid.
- Yes, ma'am.
Poor little Reiko.
There's no way I can tune that out.
[Friday Narrating]
5:35 p.m. Bill called Captain Brown
and filled him in.
He asked for another two teams
to begin a house-to-house check
of the neighborhood
to see if any witnesses
could be turned.
The captain said they would begin
a search for Reiko Hashimoto's mother,
Mrs. Watanabe.
I talked to Sergeant Dean Bergman
from Latent Prints.
Doesn't look too promising, Joe.
House is unusually clean.
The woman must have dusted
and waxed the place every 15 minutes.
Yeah.
Got a few prints, but right now
I don't know. I'll work for eliminations.
Thanks, Dean.
Alexander, Petrovich, Higbie
and Hansen are on their way out
to give us a hand.
Good. Let's see if we can turn a photograph
of the Hashimoto woman.
What's been dusted?
Everything in the room
except this table.
Inside of this chest
looks like a filing cabinet.
Same here.
Everything's in perfect order.
Must have been quite a housekeeper.
Not a thing out of place.
Joe.
Reiko Hashimoto.
Recent picture, I'd say,
wouldn't you?
She was pretty, Joe.
Let's check on that slug
in the bedroom.
- In there?
- No, it doesn't seem to be.
Went on through.
Under the house.
Wanna get the flashlights?
It's getting dark out.
Be easier to find it in the morning.
It'll still be dark
under the house in the morning.
[Friday Narrating]
5:55 p.m. While I crawled under the house,
Bill waited in the bedroom above.
He signaled to me
by tapping on the floor.
When I reached the area
underneath the bedroom,
I returned the signal.
[Gannon]
Okay. I'm bringing the flashlight
over the hole.
All right.
It's on.
I see it.
How you comin'?
Workin' on it.
Got it?
Got it.
[Friday Narrating]
6: 10 p.m. Two teams of detectives arrived
to assist Bill and me in checking
the immediate neighborhood
in the hope that we might turn up
someone who might know something
about Reiko Hashimoto's murder.
We gave one of the photographs
of Reiko Hashimoto
to Chuck Higbie and his partner.
Bill and I kept the other one.
Every house within a two-block radius
would be checked.
9:35 p.m. Three hours later,
we were no further ahead
than we were before.
About all you can say is we took
a long walk on a warm summer evening.
Did you pull up anything, Chuck?
Woman whose property backs up on
this house thinks she heard a couple of shots.
Thinks it was around 11:00, 11:30.
Yeah?
She also said it could have been
a car backfiring.
She's not sure, Joe.
Couldn't you pin her down
on whether they sounded
like shots or backfiring?
Yeah, Joe. I tried.
She just wasn't sure.
You'd think people
would try to be a little more sure.
Anything else, Chuck?
Hansen talked to a woman
by the name of Cordell.
Lurlene Cordell.
She lives a couple blocks from here.
908 South Wallace.
What about her?
She was attacked by some guy
driving a yellow Dodge pickup truck.
Said she reported it.
Yeah?
Said the truck was full of
housepainter's gear. She remembers
a ladder painted red and green.
Threatened her with a gun.
She didn't know the caliber.
Anything else?
- Nope. That's about it.
- Then what's the connection?
I didn't say there was.
Just giving you what we turned.
With all that, Higbie,
we ought to break it
in about an hour.
- Something wrong, Joe?
- No, Chuck. There's nothing wrong.
A hundred pounds of young woman
was shot through the head and the heart.
10-to-1 she was mauled
by whoever did it.
She's got a five-year-old kid and a mother
floating around somewhere in this city.
They don't even know she's bought in.
We can't buy a piece of anything
to pick up and run with.
Some case of arrested development
can walk into a home like this,
destroy a human life,
waltz out and leave nothing behind
but his memory.
And you can't run a make on that.
We're all tired. Let's grab
something to eat and hit it again
first thing in the morning.
You go ahead.
I'll see you at the office tomorrow.
Wife's holding dinner.
See you in the morning, Joe. Bill.
Right. Thanks, Chuck.
Come on, Joe. Nothing more
we can do here tonight.
I'll hang a while longer.
What's bugging you you get
in that first lecture at the academy.
Yeah? What's that?
The business of not letting yourself
get personally involved in a case.
Who says I am?
I do. I know it's a useless killing.
They all are.
I know we haven't got
eight cents to go on.
We seldom do.
But don't let this one
eat at you, Joe.
Here are the car keys.
I'll catch a ride with Higbie.
Thanks, Bill.
Smoke a cigarette
and go home.
[Door Closes]
[Friday Narrating]
When a man signs on the job,
a lot of things come with the badge.
The risk, the pay,
the hours he works.
One thing that isn't regulation issue:
his personal feelings.
There's no way of regulating
an officer's thoughts
when he's on an investigation.
He becomes hardened to the sight
of a dead human being—
to the grotesque, the hideous,
to man's inhumanity—
his almost casual ability to murder,
to take another's life.
Once in a great while,
an officer's knees bend.
If they buckle,
he's been on the job too long.
Reiko Hashimoto was dead.
It was our job to find
who made her that way.
Bill was right.
I smoked a cigarette and went home.
Wednesday, August 1 7, 8: 10 a.m.
Bill and I reported to the coroner's office
for the postmortem on Reiko Hashimoto.
Victim had been dead approximately
five hours before discovery.
Yeah?
She'd been sexually molested.
Killer didn't have to worry
about the shot in her heart.
This is the one that did it.
The other one
was no vitamin pill.
[Friday Narrating]
8:35 a.m. We took the slug the coroner
had recovered from the victim's head
to S. I. D., Ballistics Section.
Ray Murray placed it under
the comparison microscope
along with the slug we had recovered
from under the Hashimoto home.
They check. They were fired
from the same weapon.
What's the caliber, Ray?
255 grains, .45-caliber revolver.
Big gun.
Yeah. For such a tiny target.
[Friday Narrating]
9:00 a.m. We met with Captain Hugh Brown
in the Homicide squad room.
The two slugs match up,
and that's it, huh?
That's it.
You're sure about the general location
on that Watanabe woman,
Hashimoto girl's mother?
Yes, sir. Mrs. Pound says she lives
somewhere down around Little Tokyo.
If she does, she's rolled up tighter
than a fortune cookie.
We can't find her.
The story made all the papers this morning.
If she reads them, she'll know.
How about your callbacks?
Last night when you made
your house-to-house, everybody home?
No, sir. Three houses were dark
in the Hashimoto block.
Thought we'd tag 'em now.
Get to it. We gotta turn somebody else
who can tell us how this woman lived.
Being a widow, attractive,
good chance she might've had
men in her life.
Maybe one of 'em
rang her doorbell with a .45.
- My guess is no.
- Let's find out anyway.
- Yes, sir.
- And, Friday—
- Yes, sir?
- Let's ease off on the hours
you and Gannon have been putting in.
I want to get the bum who did it
just as much as you two.
I also want to see you on the job.
Get your rest.
I'll admit this is one that's liable to
keep me awake nights.
They all do me.
[Friday Narrating]
10:20 a.m. Bill and I return
to Westgarden Street
to check the three houses
where there was no answer
the night before.
Two of the places said they didn't know
Reiko Hashimoto and had
nothing unusual to report.
We tried the third and last home
on the block.
I heard the entire story
on the news.
It was his will, of course.
Whose will, ma'am?
Our Heavenly Shepherd.
When he summons his flock,
we must respond.
Yes, ma'am.
- I wonder if we could have
your full name, please.
- Sister Agatha Edney. E-D-N-E-Y.
The Reverend Anointed Goodlang
of the Flock of Our Heavenly Shepherd
Tabernacle of the Angels will vouch for me.
There's nothing to be
vouched for, Miss Edney.
We just want a little information.
About my little departed
Japanese neighbor.
Yes, ma'am.
Were you home yesterday morning?
- I was. Until 9:00.
- You left the house at 9:00?
Tuesday Bible class begins at 9:30.
I do not drive a car.
I walk.
I see. What time
did you return home?
Midnight. I stayed
for the church social and supper.
When was the last time you saw
Mrs. Hashimoto, ma'am?
I can't say. I seldom saw her.
She's not church people.
Can you tell us anything at all
about Mrs. Hashimoto?
Ever see any visitors
come to her house?
Anything like that?
I rarely go outside of my home,
and then not to spy.
- Spying is the work of the devil.
- Yes, ma'am.
Does anyone else live here?
- Yes.
- Who would that be?
Our Heavenly Shepherd
dwells in the house of all who believe.
[Sighs]
[Friday Narrating]
1 1:05 a.m. We began
a store-to-store check
on all places of business
in the small shopping center
in the Westgarden district.
It netted us nothing.
Noon. Bill and I began questioning people
who passed by the Hashimoto home.
We talked to the mailman,
the milkman, the paperboy.
We talked to anyone who'd talk to us.
So far, the results were all negative.
3:30 p.m.
Oh, yes. A lovely woman. I used to see her
once in a while doing her gardening.
Yes, ma'am.
I'm sorry I can't help you.
Poor little thing.
Well, thanks anyway.
Yes.
Beginning to look hopeless.
Yeah. How many does that make?
Fifty-three.
Another woman.
You want to take her?
Yeah.
Police officer, ma'am.
Am I under arrest?
No. I just want to
ask you a few questions.
I'm not under arrest?
No, ma'am.
I live at 1255 Wallace Street.
My husband gets home from work at 6:00.
Yes, ma'am.
You talk to him.
[Friday Narrating]
Monday, August 29, 12:05 p.m.
We kept at it for 12 days,
watching, waiting.
We didn't know exactly
what we were watching for.
Maybe just a break.
Anything that might shed some light
on whoever murdered Reiko Hashimoto.
You sure you don't want
this last hot dog?
No, thanks. You go ahead.
You think I should?
Why not?
I've had four.
[Vehicle Approaching]
Bill.
I see it.
The ladder.
The woman Higbie talked to—
What was her name? Cordell?
Lurlene Cordell. 908 South Wallace.
That's three minutes from here.
I'll see if I can make it in two.
[Friday Narrating]
We were lucky.
Lurlene Cordell was at home.
Bill drove her back
and parked across the street
from the Edney house.
Miss Cordell was positive
it was the same truck
and the same red and green ladder.
We waited.
Thirty minutes went by.
I'd never forget that face
in a million years.
That's him.
Police officers.
Hold it right there.
You're under arrest.
What for?
Forcible rape.
Get 'em up there.
[Friday Narrating]
The suspect identified himself
as Ben Roy Yoder.
He was advised
of his constitutional rights.
We asked that a black-and-white unit
take him downtown.
Bill drove Lurlene Cordell
back to her home.
I went to the Edney home
to again talk to Agatha Edney.
It was his will,
and his will will be done.
How long has Yoder lived here?
Three years now.
Why didn't you tell us before
he lived here?
Ben Roy is my sister's boy.
He is fighting the devil.
He is on parole.
He said he is always under suspicion
by the police, so he hid
to keep fighting the devil.
Kind of looks like he lost,
doesn't it?
[ No Audible Dialogue]
[Friday Narrating]
3:30 p.m. Ben Roy Yoder was booked
under Section 26 1, 3 P. C., Forcible Rape.
We still had nothing to connect Yoder
with the murder of Reiko Hashimoto,
but because of the proximity
of the Edney home to the Hashimoto home
and his M. O.,
Yoder looked like a good bet.
5:00 p.m. A search warrant was obtained,
and along with Detectives Hansen,
Alexander, Higbie and Petrovich,
Bill and I drove out to the Edney home
to search for the murder weapon.
5: 18 p.m. We laid out plans
for the search of the Edney home.
Higbie, you and Alexander take
the garage and the truck, okay?
Right.
Hansen, you take the bedrooms.
Don, how about the kitchen for you?
You want to check the bathroom?
I'll work the living room.
Right.
This is not a den of thieves to be searched.
We'll try not to upset things
any more than we have to, Miss Edney.
I shall pray, Officer.
Yes, ma'am.
Not for you.
For Ben Roy.
[Friday Narrating]
7:32 p.m. We searched
the entire premises three times.
Each time around,
we'd switch search areas.
Each officer would take a different room
than he had the time before.
Ten pounds of air, Joe.
All right. Again.
This time I'll take the kitchen.
Each man alternate
with his partner again.
I'll work the bathroom again.
I'll take Yoder's bedroom.
You men are the devil's disciples.
Yes, ma'am.
You men know no bounds.
You would search
a heavenly temple, wouldn't you?
Yes, ma'am.
If we thought there was
a murder gun in it.
[Gannon]
Joe. In here.
Missed it before.
False bottom in the drawer.
Found it underneath
in this torn paper bag.
.45-caliber revolver.
Been fired recently.
You know, if you could cook,
I'd marry ya.
[Friday Narrating]
Tuesday, August 30, 6:00 p.m.
Death bullets came from this weapon.
Striations match perfectly.
This is the gun that killed
the little Japanese girl.
Looked like it was wiped clean.
How do we tie it to Yoder?
I did that for you too.
Ran the paper sack through
the anhydrine process.
Lifted several good prints.
They belong to Yoder.
Thanks, Ray.
Joe.
It's been a real pleasure
doing business with you
on this one.
[Friday Narrating]
6: 10 p.m. Bill and I went downstairs
to Homicide to check out for the day.
Friday, Gannon.
Yeah, Skipper.
Just got a call 10 minutes ago.
Should interest you.
Yes, sir.
She's out at the Hashimoto house,
asked if you'd drop by for a minute.
Who's that?
Hashimoto woman's mother,
Mrs. Watanabe.
[Friday Narrating]
6:35 p.m. Bill and I drove out
to 1 104 Westgarden Street.
Mrs. Watanabe showed us
into the garden in back of
the Hashimoto house.
I am so happy you could come.
It is for Miko.
Yes, ma'am.
I have prepared green tea
and rice crackers.
Miko—
[Speaking Japanese]
[Bell Jingling]
[Watanabe]
This is Reiko's daughter, Miko.
[Speaking Japanese]
Thank you.
Arigato, Miko.
Mrs. Watanabe?
No, thank you.
The reason I did not call you before
is I did not know of my daughter's dying.
Miko and me,
we were staying with friends
on a farm in Imperial Valley.
I finally read Rafu Shimpo,
Japanese paper,
and I learned of my sadness.
Yes, ma'am. Mrs. Watanabe,
we'd like you to know
we believe we've caught the man
that killed your daughter.
Oh. So quick.
You have man in prison.
Why would he want my daughter's life?
We don't know, Mrs. Watanabe.
Some men just kill.
Oh, yes.
In Japan we have same,
but not so many.
- Yes, ma'am.
- Miko, she has gift for you.
She know you work hard
to find the man
who took her mother's life.
Miko—
[Japanese]
[Japanese]
[ Bell Jingling]
- Very nice tea, Mrs. Watanabe.
- I'm so happy you like it.
It is from Japan.
[Japanese]
She say it is her most favorite doll.
Her name is Princess Michiko.
She wishes for you to have it.
Mrs. Watanabe,
you don't have to give us anything.
We're not allowed to accept gifts.
Oh, the child will be disappointed
if you do not take it.
Please tell her thank you.
Tell her just the thought is enough.
Is it not a good enough doll?
- You tell her, just like her mistress—
- [Watanabe]
Yes?
Princess Michiko is a living doll.
[Narrator]
The story you have just seen is true.
The names were changed
to protect the innocent.
On November 20, trial was held
in Department 185,
Superior Court of the State of California,
for the County of Los Angeles.
In a moment, the results of that trial.
The suspect was found guilty
of murder in the first degree.
Murder in the first degree
is punishable by death
or confinement
in the state prison for life.
[Friday Narrating]
This is the city— Los Angeles, California.
In 1920,
the population was 576, 673.
Today, Los Angeles is
the third largest city in the United States.
Nearly three million people live here.
From every nation,
Los Angeles draws its bloodline.
When some of that blood is spilled,
I go to work.
I carry a badge.
It was Tuesday, August 1 6.
It was hot in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch
out of Homicide Division.
The boss is Captain Hugh Brown.
My partner's Bill Gannon.
My name's Friday.
We’d just come back
from a bomb investigation.
It turned out to be a hoax.
[Man Narrating]
The story you are about to see is true.
The names have been changed
to protect the innocent.
How'd it go, Bill?
No bomb?
No bomb.
This heat keeps up,
the whole town's gonna blow.
Yeah. I signed us in.
Good.
For me?
From the fifth floor.
Credit union.
Pink slip on my car.
Paid off your loan, huh?
Finally. Now I gotta see
Bob Fennell again.
What for?
Another loan.
Now I have to get it fixed.
Transmission went out.
[Brown]
Friday, Gannon.
Yes, sir.
Close to quitting time, I know,
but here's one to go on. I'll sign you out.
Yes, sir.
1104 Westgarden. Dead body.
Don't know what I'm gonna do
with all the overtime I'm piling up.
Buy a yacht.
[Friday Narrating]
4:23 p.m. Before we left P.A. B.,
we made the notifications,
and then we headed across town
for the Westgarden address.
1 104 Westgarden was located
in a quiet residential neighborhood
15 minutes from the office.
It was 4:40 p.m.
when we got there.
Friday and Gannon. Homicide.
Fisher, 1 L-36.
The body's in the bedroom.
Here's your D.O.A. slip.
Right. Thanks, Fisher.
Who's she?
Mrs. Sunshine Pound.
She put in the call.
Right. Ask her to stand by, will you?
Right, Sergeant.
Thank you.
Joe, Bill.
Hi, Blake.
What've ya got?
Two gunshots.
- Where?
- Head and the heart area.
Those two slugs weigh more than she did.
Tiny little thing.
Yeah. Who covered the body?
- Woman out there in the front room.
- Let us know when you pull the slugs.
- Right, Gannon.
- All right, Ed.
Besides the usual shots, I want two lateral,
two vertical and one head down— and in color.
Okay, Sergeant.
Can't weigh over 90 pounds.
Beautiful girl, Joe.
A living doll.
Not anymore.
You're Mrs. Sunshine Pound?
Beg your pardon?
You're Mrs. Sunshine Pound?
Had you tuned out.
Yes, that's correct.
Police officers, ma'am.
This is Sergeant Friday.
My name's Gannon.
Oh, the shame of it all.
Lovely girl like Reiko.
Who could do such a thing?
- What's her full name, Mrs. Pound?
- Reiko Hashimoto.
Twenty-six years old.
She married?
She was. Her husband was killed
seven months ago in Vietnam.
- He was a sergeant in the army.
- What was his name? Would you know?
Frank. Frank Hashimoto.
They were a lovely couple.
He was an army career man,
brought Reiko over from Japan.
He was nisei,
born and raised right here
in Los Angeles.
- Did you hear any shots, any disturbance?
- No. Not a sound.
- Where do you live, Mrs. Pound?
- Just down the block.
1181 Westgarden.
Friday, see you a minute?
Excuse me.
We're gonna move
the body, Joe.
Bill.
Be right back.
Looks like there was an exit wound.
Wanna check it?
It'll keep.
See you, Joe.
Right, Blake.
Find out anything yet?
She's dead,
and she was pretty.
Poor Reiko.
Poor little thing.
The Hashimotos have
any enemies that you know of?
Anyone who might do a thing like this?
Not a soul, Sergeant.
They were delightful neighbors.
Kept pretty much to themselves.
Oh, they were friendly,
but they loved their home—
always sprucing it up.
And isn't it lovely?
Reiko was so neat and tidy.
You say she was from Japan.
She have any relatives in this country?
- Yes. One. Her mother.
- Would you know her name?
- It's Mrs. Watanabe.
- Do you know where we might find her?
Not exactly.
I only met her once.
I think from what Reiko said
that she has an apartment someplace
down in Japanese Town— Little Tokyo.
- That's where Miko probably is,
staying with her grandmother.
- Miko?
Yes. Reiko's little daughter.
She's only five.
- Mrs. Pound, did Mrs. Hashimoto have
any men friends that you know of?
- How do you mean that, Sergeant?
- Well, I mean, being a widow,
did she go out with men?
- If she did, I never heard her say.
She loved her husband,
and although she was a beautiful girl,
I doubt very much
if she ever saw another man.
- Why would her daughter
be staying with her mother?
- I don't know.
- You covered the body with that bedsheet?
- Yes, I did.
I couldn't stand to wait here
for you people with that little thing
lying in there.
- Yes, ma'am.
- I'm deaf, you know.
- When there's something
I don't want to hear, I turn off my aid.
- Yes, ma'am.
Poor little Reiko.
There's no way I can tune that out.
[Friday Narrating]
5:35 p.m. Bill called Captain Brown
and filled him in.
He asked for another two teams
to begin a house-to-house check
of the neighborhood
to see if any witnesses
could be turned.
The captain said they would begin
a search for Reiko Hashimoto's mother,
Mrs. Watanabe.
I talked to Sergeant Dean Bergman
from Latent Prints.
Doesn't look too promising, Joe.
House is unusually clean.
The woman must have dusted
and waxed the place every 15 minutes.
Yeah.
Got a few prints, but right now
I don't know. I'll work for eliminations.
Thanks, Dean.
Alexander, Petrovich, Higbie
and Hansen are on their way out
to give us a hand.
Good. Let's see if we can turn a photograph
of the Hashimoto woman.
What's been dusted?
Everything in the room
except this table.
Inside of this chest
looks like a filing cabinet.
Same here.
Everything's in perfect order.
Must have been quite a housekeeper.
Not a thing out of place.
Joe.
Reiko Hashimoto.
Recent picture, I'd say,
wouldn't you?
She was pretty, Joe.
Let's check on that slug
in the bedroom.
- In there?
- No, it doesn't seem to be.
Went on through.
Under the house.
Wanna get the flashlights?
It's getting dark out.
Be easier to find it in the morning.
It'll still be dark
under the house in the morning.
[Friday Narrating]
5:55 p.m. While I crawled under the house,
Bill waited in the bedroom above.
He signaled to me
by tapping on the floor.
When I reached the area
underneath the bedroom,
I returned the signal.
[Gannon]
Okay. I'm bringing the flashlight
over the hole.
All right.
It's on.
I see it.
How you comin'?
Workin' on it.
Got it?
Got it.
[Friday Narrating]
6: 10 p.m. Two teams of detectives arrived
to assist Bill and me in checking
the immediate neighborhood
in the hope that we might turn up
someone who might know something
about Reiko Hashimoto's murder.
We gave one of the photographs
of Reiko Hashimoto
to Chuck Higbie and his partner.
Bill and I kept the other one.
Every house within a two-block radius
would be checked.
9:35 p.m. Three hours later,
we were no further ahead
than we were before.
About all you can say is we took
a long walk on a warm summer evening.
Did you pull up anything, Chuck?
Woman whose property backs up on
this house thinks she heard a couple of shots.
Thinks it was around 11:00, 11:30.
Yeah?
She also said it could have been
a car backfiring.
She's not sure, Joe.
Couldn't you pin her down
on whether they sounded
like shots or backfiring?
Yeah, Joe. I tried.
She just wasn't sure.
You'd think people
would try to be a little more sure.
Anything else, Chuck?
Hansen talked to a woman
by the name of Cordell.
Lurlene Cordell.
She lives a couple blocks from here.
908 South Wallace.
What about her?
She was attacked by some guy
driving a yellow Dodge pickup truck.
Said she reported it.
Yeah?
Said the truck was full of
housepainter's gear. She remembers
a ladder painted red and green.
Threatened her with a gun.
She didn't know the caliber.
Anything else?
- Nope. That's about it.
- Then what's the connection?
I didn't say there was.
Just giving you what we turned.
With all that, Higbie,
we ought to break it
in about an hour.
- Something wrong, Joe?
- No, Chuck. There's nothing wrong.
A hundred pounds of young woman
was shot through the head and the heart.
10-to-1 she was mauled
by whoever did it.
She's got a five-year-old kid and a mother
floating around somewhere in this city.
They don't even know she's bought in.
We can't buy a piece of anything
to pick up and run with.
Some case of arrested development
can walk into a home like this,
destroy a human life,
waltz out and leave nothing behind
but his memory.
And you can't run a make on that.
We're all tired. Let's grab
something to eat and hit it again
first thing in the morning.
You go ahead.
I'll see you at the office tomorrow.
Wife's holding dinner.
See you in the morning, Joe. Bill.
Right. Thanks, Chuck.
Come on, Joe. Nothing more
we can do here tonight.
I'll hang a while longer.
What's bugging you you get
in that first lecture at the academy.
Yeah? What's that?
The business of not letting yourself
get personally involved in a case.
Who says I am?
I do. I know it's a useless killing.
They all are.
I know we haven't got
eight cents to go on.
We seldom do.
But don't let this one
eat at you, Joe.
Here are the car keys.
I'll catch a ride with Higbie.
Thanks, Bill.
Smoke a cigarette
and go home.
[Door Closes]
[Friday Narrating]
When a man signs on the job,
a lot of things come with the badge.
The risk, the pay,
the hours he works.
One thing that isn't regulation issue:
his personal feelings.
There's no way of regulating
an officer's thoughts
when he's on an investigation.
He becomes hardened to the sight
of a dead human being—
to the grotesque, the hideous,
to man's inhumanity—
his almost casual ability to murder,
to take another's life.
Once in a great while,
an officer's knees bend.
If they buckle,
he's been on the job too long.
Reiko Hashimoto was dead.
It was our job to find
who made her that way.
Bill was right.
I smoked a cigarette and went home.
Wednesday, August 1 7, 8: 10 a.m.
Bill and I reported to the coroner's office
for the postmortem on Reiko Hashimoto.
Victim had been dead approximately
five hours before discovery.
Yeah?
She'd been sexually molested.
Killer didn't have to worry
about the shot in her heart.
This is the one that did it.
The other one
was no vitamin pill.
[Friday Narrating]
8:35 a.m. We took the slug the coroner
had recovered from the victim's head
to S. I. D., Ballistics Section.
Ray Murray placed it under
the comparison microscope
along with the slug we had recovered
from under the Hashimoto home.
They check. They were fired
from the same weapon.
What's the caliber, Ray?
255 grains, .45-caliber revolver.
Big gun.
Yeah. For such a tiny target.
[Friday Narrating]
9:00 a.m. We met with Captain Hugh Brown
in the Homicide squad room.
The two slugs match up,
and that's it, huh?
That's it.
You're sure about the general location
on that Watanabe woman,
Hashimoto girl's mother?
Yes, sir. Mrs. Pound says she lives
somewhere down around Little Tokyo.
If she does, she's rolled up tighter
than a fortune cookie.
We can't find her.
The story made all the papers this morning.
If she reads them, she'll know.
How about your callbacks?
Last night when you made
your house-to-house, everybody home?
No, sir. Three houses were dark
in the Hashimoto block.
Thought we'd tag 'em now.
Get to it. We gotta turn somebody else
who can tell us how this woman lived.
Being a widow, attractive,
good chance she might've had
men in her life.
Maybe one of 'em
rang her doorbell with a .45.
- My guess is no.
- Let's find out anyway.
- Yes, sir.
- And, Friday—
- Yes, sir?
- Let's ease off on the hours
you and Gannon have been putting in.
I want to get the bum who did it
just as much as you two.
I also want to see you on the job.
Get your rest.
I'll admit this is one that's liable to
keep me awake nights.
They all do me.
[Friday Narrating]
10:20 a.m. Bill and I return
to Westgarden Street
to check the three houses
where there was no answer
the night before.
Two of the places said they didn't know
Reiko Hashimoto and had
nothing unusual to report.
We tried the third and last home
on the block.
I heard the entire story
on the news.
It was his will, of course.
Whose will, ma'am?
Our Heavenly Shepherd.
When he summons his flock,
we must respond.
Yes, ma'am.
- I wonder if we could have
your full name, please.
- Sister Agatha Edney. E-D-N-E-Y.
The Reverend Anointed Goodlang
of the Flock of Our Heavenly Shepherd
Tabernacle of the Angels will vouch for me.
There's nothing to be
vouched for, Miss Edney.
We just want a little information.
About my little departed
Japanese neighbor.
Yes, ma'am.
Were you home yesterday morning?
- I was. Until 9:00.
- You left the house at 9:00?
Tuesday Bible class begins at 9:30.
I do not drive a car.
I walk.
I see. What time
did you return home?
Midnight. I stayed
for the church social and supper.
When was the last time you saw
Mrs. Hashimoto, ma'am?
I can't say. I seldom saw her.
She's not church people.
Can you tell us anything at all
about Mrs. Hashimoto?
Ever see any visitors
come to her house?
Anything like that?
I rarely go outside of my home,
and then not to spy.
- Spying is the work of the devil.
- Yes, ma'am.
Does anyone else live here?
- Yes.
- Who would that be?
Our Heavenly Shepherd
dwells in the house of all who believe.
[Sighs]
[Friday Narrating]
1 1:05 a.m. We began
a store-to-store check
on all places of business
in the small shopping center
in the Westgarden district.
It netted us nothing.
Noon. Bill and I began questioning people
who passed by the Hashimoto home.
We talked to the mailman,
the milkman, the paperboy.
We talked to anyone who'd talk to us.
So far, the results were all negative.
3:30 p.m.
Oh, yes. A lovely woman. I used to see her
once in a while doing her gardening.
Yes, ma'am.
I'm sorry I can't help you.
Poor little thing.
Well, thanks anyway.
Yes.
Beginning to look hopeless.
Yeah. How many does that make?
Fifty-three.
Another woman.
You want to take her?
Yeah.
Police officer, ma'am.
Am I under arrest?
No. I just want to
ask you a few questions.
I'm not under arrest?
No, ma'am.
I live at 1255 Wallace Street.
My husband gets home from work at 6:00.
Yes, ma'am.
You talk to him.
[Friday Narrating]
Monday, August 29, 12:05 p.m.
We kept at it for 12 days,
watching, waiting.
We didn't know exactly
what we were watching for.
Maybe just a break.
Anything that might shed some light
on whoever murdered Reiko Hashimoto.
You sure you don't want
this last hot dog?
No, thanks. You go ahead.
You think I should?
Why not?
I've had four.
[Vehicle Approaching]
Bill.
I see it.
The ladder.
The woman Higbie talked to—
What was her name? Cordell?
Lurlene Cordell. 908 South Wallace.
That's three minutes from here.
I'll see if I can make it in two.
[Friday Narrating]
We were lucky.
Lurlene Cordell was at home.
Bill drove her back
and parked across the street
from the Edney house.
Miss Cordell was positive
it was the same truck
and the same red and green ladder.
We waited.
Thirty minutes went by.
I'd never forget that face
in a million years.
That's him.
Police officers.
Hold it right there.
You're under arrest.
What for?
Forcible rape.
Get 'em up there.
[Friday Narrating]
The suspect identified himself
as Ben Roy Yoder.
He was advised
of his constitutional rights.
We asked that a black-and-white unit
take him downtown.
Bill drove Lurlene Cordell
back to her home.
I went to the Edney home
to again talk to Agatha Edney.
It was his will,
and his will will be done.
How long has Yoder lived here?
Three years now.
Why didn't you tell us before
he lived here?
Ben Roy is my sister's boy.
He is fighting the devil.
He is on parole.
He said he is always under suspicion
by the police, so he hid
to keep fighting the devil.
Kind of looks like he lost,
doesn't it?
[ No Audible Dialogue]
[Friday Narrating]
3:30 p.m. Ben Roy Yoder was booked
under Section 26 1, 3 P. C., Forcible Rape.
We still had nothing to connect Yoder
with the murder of Reiko Hashimoto,
but because of the proximity
of the Edney home to the Hashimoto home
and his M. O.,
Yoder looked like a good bet.
5:00 p.m. A search warrant was obtained,
and along with Detectives Hansen,
Alexander, Higbie and Petrovich,
Bill and I drove out to the Edney home
to search for the murder weapon.
5: 18 p.m. We laid out plans
for the search of the Edney home.
Higbie, you and Alexander take
the garage and the truck, okay?
Right.
Hansen, you take the bedrooms.
Don, how about the kitchen for you?
You want to check the bathroom?
I'll work the living room.
Right.
This is not a den of thieves to be searched.
We'll try not to upset things
any more than we have to, Miss Edney.
I shall pray, Officer.
Yes, ma'am.
Not for you.
For Ben Roy.
[Friday Narrating]
7:32 p.m. We searched
the entire premises three times.
Each time around,
we'd switch search areas.
Each officer would take a different room
than he had the time before.
Ten pounds of air, Joe.
All right. Again.
This time I'll take the kitchen.
Each man alternate
with his partner again.
I'll work the bathroom again.
I'll take Yoder's bedroom.
You men are the devil's disciples.
Yes, ma'am.
You men know no bounds.
You would search
a heavenly temple, wouldn't you?
Yes, ma'am.
If we thought there was
a murder gun in it.
[Gannon]
Joe. In here.
Missed it before.
False bottom in the drawer.
Found it underneath
in this torn paper bag.
.45-caliber revolver.
Been fired recently.
You know, if you could cook,
I'd marry ya.
[Friday Narrating]
Tuesday, August 30, 6:00 p.m.
Death bullets came from this weapon.
Striations match perfectly.
This is the gun that killed
the little Japanese girl.
Looked like it was wiped clean.
How do we tie it to Yoder?
I did that for you too.
Ran the paper sack through
the anhydrine process.
Lifted several good prints.
They belong to Yoder.
Thanks, Ray.
Joe.
It's been a real pleasure
doing business with you
on this one.
[Friday Narrating]
6: 10 p.m. Bill and I went downstairs
to Homicide to check out for the day.
Friday, Gannon.
Yeah, Skipper.
Just got a call 10 minutes ago.
Should interest you.
Yes, sir.
She's out at the Hashimoto house,
asked if you'd drop by for a minute.
Who's that?
Hashimoto woman's mother,
Mrs. Watanabe.
[Friday Narrating]
6:35 p.m. Bill and I drove out
to 1 104 Westgarden Street.
Mrs. Watanabe showed us
into the garden in back of
the Hashimoto house.
I am so happy you could come.
It is for Miko.
Yes, ma'am.
I have prepared green tea
and rice crackers.
Miko—
[Speaking Japanese]
[Bell Jingling]
[Watanabe]
This is Reiko's daughter, Miko.
[Speaking Japanese]
Thank you.
Arigato, Miko.
Mrs. Watanabe?
No, thank you.
The reason I did not call you before
is I did not know of my daughter's dying.
Miko and me,
we were staying with friends
on a farm in Imperial Valley.
I finally read Rafu Shimpo,
Japanese paper,
and I learned of my sadness.
Yes, ma'am. Mrs. Watanabe,
we'd like you to know
we believe we've caught the man
that killed your daughter.
Oh. So quick.
You have man in prison.
Why would he want my daughter's life?
We don't know, Mrs. Watanabe.
Some men just kill.
Oh, yes.
In Japan we have same,
but not so many.
- Yes, ma'am.
- Miko, she has gift for you.
She know you work hard
to find the man
who took her mother's life.
Miko—
[Japanese]
[Japanese]
[ Bell Jingling]
- Very nice tea, Mrs. Watanabe.
- I'm so happy you like it.
It is from Japan.
[Japanese]
She say it is her most favorite doll.
Her name is Princess Michiko.
She wishes for you to have it.
Mrs. Watanabe,
you don't have to give us anything.
We're not allowed to accept gifts.
Oh, the child will be disappointed
if you do not take it.
Please tell her thank you.
Tell her just the thought is enough.
Is it not a good enough doll?
- You tell her, just like her mistress—
- [Watanabe]
Yes?
Princess Michiko is a living doll.
[Narrator]
The story you have just seen is true.
The names were changed
to protect the innocent.
On November 20, trial was held
in Department 185,
Superior Court of the State of California,
for the County of Los Angeles.
In a moment, the results of that trial.
The suspect was found guilty
of murder in the first degree.
Murder in the first degree
is punishable by death
or confinement
in the state prison for life.