The Big Winchester

The Big Waiter

Originally Aired: September 13, 1951 Dragnet #118, "The Big Waiter," opens with Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero arriving at the Apex Men's Shop on a foggy Los Angeles night. Inside the store's back room, they discover the brutal murder of 64-year-old shopkeeper Joseph Wilford, beaten to death with his arms tied behind his back and a woman's slip knotted around his neck. The victim's wife, Agnes, claims she found the body after returning from a friend's house and reports that several hundred dollars and her husband's engraved wristwatch are missing. However, Friday and Romero's investigation takes a curious turn when they discover a gift-wrapped black lace nightgown with a card signed by the victim himself. As Friday and Romero question Mrs. Wilford, a troubling picture emerges of the couple's unusual marriage. Agnes reluctantly reveals that for ten years, her husband had maintained relationships with numerous young women, sometimes bringing them to the shop while she discreetly left the premises. Despite this arrangement, she insists they never argued about his infidelities. With evidence pointing to both robbery and a crime of passion, Friday and Romero must untangle the victim's complicated personal life to find his killer.

The Big 17

Originally Aired: September 6, 1951 Dragnet #117, "The Big 17," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero are called to a neighborhood movie theater on West Fremont where a gang of fifteen to twenty teenagers has gone on a rampage. Theater manager Clyde Barton describes how what started as noisy teenagers quickly escalated into violence when he tried to restore order. The kids attacked him, one pulling a knife, then proceeded to tear apart the lobby, smashing mirrors, lamps, and display cases. In the chaos, a 14-year-old boy was shoved through a plate glass showcase and suffered severe eye injuries that may leave him permanently blind. An usher was also beaten in the melee. This incident is just the latest in a month-long crime wave that has Friday and Romero baffled. Previously well-behaved kids in this average residential neighborhood have suddenly turned wild, with auto thefts up 20 percent and charges for burglary, misconduct, and drunkenness mounting weekly. The detectives have a theory about what's driving the violence, but they haven't been able to prove it yet. As Barton provides a list of names and hints at his own suspicions, Friday and Romero begin their investigation to stop the teenage crime spree.

The Big Crazy

Originally Aired: August 30, 1951 Dragnet #116, "The Big Crazy," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero investigate the puzzling disappearance of a 30-year-old woman who has been missing for three months. Ruth Daly comes to homicide detail to report that her twin sister, Bernice Butler, vanished in early March. Ruth explains that she delayed reporting the disappearance because Bernice had done this once before, going to Arizona for a month without telling anyone. However, Ruth's recent visit to Bernice's husband Jimmy has left her deeply unsettled. As she was leaving, he looked at her with a horrible expression and said, "You'd be surprised if I killed her, wouldn't you?" Friday and Romero track down James Butler at the print shop where he works. The thin, blonde husband proves sullen and uncooperative, showing complete indifference to his wife's three-month absence. Butler's hostile demeanor and strange behavior raise immediate red flags. He admits to frequent arguments with Bernice, casually mentioning that he would "beat it out of her" when she got "too fresh." As the detectives press him for answers about his missing wife, Butler's bizarre responses suggest something far more sinister than a simple domestic dispute.

The Big In-Laws

Originally Aired: August 23, 1951 Dragnet #115, "The Big In-Laws," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero investigate a sophisticated gang of hijackers operating in Los Angeles. Truckloads of merchandise worth thousands of dollars are vanishing without a trace, and the criminals appear to have a foolproof system. When truck driver Frank Burroughs finally shows up at headquarters to look through mug books, he seems more concerned about his evening plans than helping solve the case. Burroughs recounts his hijacking in detail: while hauling Scotch whiskey to Phoenix, a gunman forced him to wear taped-over welder's goggles and drove him to a remote transfer point where accomplices took over. His story matches the pattern of other hijackings perfectly, perhaps too perfectly. As Friday and Romero press Burroughs for more details, inconsistencies begin to emerge. When asked about previous arrests, Burroughs reluctantly admits to a hijacking conviction from ten years ago in West Virginia. While Ben deals with his own domestic troubles involving overcrowded in-laws and an unhousebroken terrier, the detectives must determine whether Burroughs is simply an unlucky victim or an inside man working with the hijacking ring.

The Big Winchester

Originally Aired: August 16, 1951 Dragnet #114, "The Big Winchester," Sergeant Joe Friday is pulled away from his annual physical exam when his partner Ben Romero calls about a suspicious death in the Westlake Park area. An elderly man named Martin Latimer, a 68-year-old retired grocery store owner, has been found dead in his living room with a bullet wound in his chest. At first glance, the scene appears to be a suicide, with a Winchester rifle elaborately wired to a chair and connected by string to the victim's finger, but Officer Harkness from the radio car patrol has his doubts. As Friday and Romero examine the scene, the evidence reveals troubling inconsistencies. The trajectory of the bullet doesn't match the supposed suicide setup. The slug passed through Latimer's body but the bullet hole in the wall is in the wrong location, several feet off from where it should be based on the rifle's position. What initially looked like an elaborate suicide arrangement begins to appear more like a carefully staged murder scene, and Friday and Romero must piece together what really happened.