Dragnet: The Helen Corday Murder 07/07/1949
episode
Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
30 min
2 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 1 hour ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the opening premise of the Helen Corday murder case?
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Ladies and gentlemen. The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed. Protect the innocent. NBC brings you. Drag man.
You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to homicide. Somewhere in the tangled web of your city, there's a killer on the loose. A young woman has been brutally murdered. The weapon A steel bludgeon. Your job is to get him. Dragnets, the documented drama of an actual crime investigated and solved by the men who unrelentingly stand watch on the security of your home, your family, and your life. For the next 30 minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will travel step by step on the side of the law through an actual case from official police files. From beginning to end. From crime to punishment. Dragnet is the story of your police force in action.
It was Thursday, March nineteenth. It was foggy in Los Angeles. We were working the night watch out of homicide detail. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Ed Baxtrand, Chief of Detectives. My name's Friday. It was nine fourteen PM when I got to the old central jail building, third floor. The crime lab.
Hi, Joe. How are you coming, Lee? Just ran a spectrograph. What'd you find? The paint flake from the victim's head matches that paint on the hunk of pipe.
Any prints?
Uh, the pipe was clean, no latent prints.
Well, that figured. Anything else?
Got those blood test reports. Couple of slides for you to look at under the comparison mic. Mm-hmm. Thanks, Lee. Oh, hi, Joe. Didn't hear you come in. What's it look like, Ben? Here's the blood test reports. This one is blood found on the piece of pipe.
Type A.
This one's blood from the victim.
Hi Bay.
They match. That's right, boys. Doesn't mean too much though. Did you look at these slides under the microscope?
No, not yet.
Well, this is your clincher. Wait till I get the light. Okay, take a look. Mm-hmm. Gotta make. Yeah, go ahead. Well, this slide here on the right that's a slice of hair from the victim's head. On the other slide is hair found on the steel pipe. Yeah. She had wavy hair. Both specimens are flat, same hair, Joe. You got anything on that piece of pipe, Lee? Mm, nothing. Just ordinary steel pipe. Fourteen inches long.
What else you got?
The plaster impression to those footprints we found by the body. Here they are. Mm. Grape soul? Tennis shoes, new ones, size nine, good impression. Ground was soft. Man about a hundred and fifty pounds, according to the length of stride, roughly about five feet ten inches tall. Yeah, new shoes all right. You can still read the manufacturer's label. That's right, made by the Sport King Company. Well, that's something to follow up. Yeah, sure. You could start with the tennis court. Only about a thousand or so in LA? Maybe you'd rather track down the brand. These particular tennis shoes are the biggest sellers in the country.
Yeah.
Where'd you like to start, Minneapolis or Pullman, Washington? What about that glove? Yeah, you might look for a missing glove.
Yeah.
They go well with the shoes, just about as common. White cotton work gloves with a blue top? Here's the right glove, you find the left glove. Blood on a lear, type A.
Well, that's good evidence, Jones, but where's the lead?
Now look, I don't ask you to pay my parking tickets. You want to see blow ups? Okay. Right over here.
Oh yeah. This is the vacant lot where they found the body. Yeah, that's right.
Here's a close up of her showing the location of the murder weapon, the glove, and the footprints relative to the position of the body. Looks as bad as yesterday. Sure did work her over, didn't he? The rest of these are morgue shots. interested.
Oh, I checked them this morning.
How do the detectives reconstruct the crime scene and identify key evidence?
Once is enough, Lee.
Well, that winds it, boys. You want to go over the stuff in her purse again? You find anything more? No, nothing you haven't seen already. The usual. Makeup, comb, barette. That's a Hair clip. Few cheap stones in it.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the opening premise of the Helen Corday murder case?
0:00–4:22
2
How do the detectives reconstruct the crime scene and identify key evidence?
4:22–7:56
3
What forensic findings link the victim’s hair and blood to the murder weapon?
7:56–11:33
4
Who are the primary suspects and what alibis do they provide?
11:33–16:04
5
How does the interrogation of Frank Philip Larson unfold?
16:04–20:01
6
What leads do the detectives follow during the nighttime chase?
20:01–23:23
7
How is the missing evidence (tennis shoes and glove) used to close the case?
23:23–26:18
8
What is the final outcome for the murderer and how is justice served?
26:18–29:53
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
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