May 2, 2025 • 25 mins
Please enjoy Big Filth a great episode of the OTR legend Dragnet
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Ladies and gentlemen. The story you were about to hear
is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Drag me. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to Juvenile Detail.
Four children in your city have apparently been abandoned by
(00:29):
their There's womer abouts. There's a possibility of foul play.
Your job investigate. It was Friday, February eighth, was raining
in Los Angeles. We were working the night Watch out
of Juvenile Detail. My partner is Frank Smith. The boss
is Captain Powers. My name is Friday. I was on
my way back from Juvenile Hall and it was seven
(00:51):
forty six pm when I got to thirteen thirty five
Georgia Street. The office.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Joe Jelly, you talked to Captain Powers.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Yeah, Well, had looks Frank's gonna be tied up in
the court for a couple of days.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Going kind of hard game, more, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Well, seems like everybody in town's claimed on this one,
really making a big thing on it.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Uh huh.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Alse Kepper said, I was supposed to give you a
hand or anything that might come.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Up, and you just made it.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Mmm.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Woman in the next office, you'd better talk to her.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
What's it about.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I'll be better if you got it straight from her.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
What is you crank?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I don't think so see what you can figure.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Huh, Missus Eggars, Miss Darden, are you ready to do
something about this?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yes, ma'am. I'd like you to meet Sergeant Friday.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Joe.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
This is missus Eggers. How'd you do? Miss If you
give him the story the way you told it, to
meet and you bet, I will sit down, young man.
I'll tell you all about it. Get your book out.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I beg your pardon your book.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
You can take some notations, aren't you.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Well, if you'll just tell us what this is all about.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Yeah, well, I don't want you to get the idea
that I'm the nosy type.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I'm not.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
It's just that I take an interest in the things
that go on around me. It's simple minded the way
they put it in the papers. Of course, there are
people who say that I pay too much mind of
their business, but it isn't true, not a bit of it.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
If you'd tell the sergeant what happened.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Oh yeah, well, these people moved into the house about six.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Months ago, to five of 'em.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Stevie, Pamela Carol Martin and the.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Mother Rowena, four kids and the mother ah right like
you going well now, right off, I could spot this
woman seen a.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Lot of 'em. How do you mean that, Missager?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
You can make it crystal if it's an.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Easier Yes, ma'am, what did you mean that you've seen
a lot of 'em?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Alki's you know drunks. Well, she's one. I get spotted
right off her and those four beautiful children.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
How the first few months they lived there, i'd maybe
see you a couple times a week, you know, going
in the house or coming out a couple times a week.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I see last week, ten days, I haven't seen it
at all, not even a little sight. So right off
I figured that something was wrong. That's what it looks
to me.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
All right, thank you, Missaggers. We'll check in the house
right away.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
That's what I wanted this policewoman to do. I told
her I'd go right.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Along with you, but I won't be necessary.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Now, listen, young man, if there's anything wrong with them kids,
I wanna.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Know about it. I wanna do my part. What the
whole neighborhood's talking is that, right?
Speaker 5 (03:02):
Sure, little students.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Into all the houses, looking for something to do, asking
for work.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
It just seems to me that there's something wrong about
the wholekaboole of 'em. Not seeing the mother, the way
the boy don't eat the lunch plate, not seeing the
other kids. There's something that don't fit over there.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Alright, man, we'll look right into it.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
You just do that and I'll see what I say
is true.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Thank you, missus Agger, You don't go thanking me. Just
trying to be civil minded, that's all. It seems that
there isn't anybody who cares about those kids.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Well that's not true of ziggers. What we do? Eight
fourteen pm, Policewoman Irene Gardner and I left the office
and drove over to the address the Eggers, a woman
had given us. The house was a small, one story,
clabored building located on the rear of the lot. The
front yard was overgrown with weeds and there were neighborhood
(03:49):
advertising papers lying around. When we arrived, there was a
faint light on in one of the front rooms. Irene
and I went up to the front door and we knock.
We got no answer. I tried the door, but we
found it locked. There was no sound from inside the place.
The shades were drawn over the windows so that it
was impossible for us to see into the house. We
walked around to the rear and tried the back door block. Yeah,
(04:12):
it doesn't look like there's anybody at home. Oh, let's
talk to that Agger's woman again. Al Right, it doesn't
make a lot of sense, desert from the story she
gave us. The kid should be at home.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
She might be seeing things, Joe, you know, trying to
figure out some way to get attention.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, it might be. It didn't seem like that to mean,
you know, Joe, h what do you got there?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Different windows there?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
You see it? Yeah, there's somebody in there. Must go Yeah,
try it again. Yeah, I answering. Come on, open up
(04:56):
in there. Wait, know you're in there, Come on, open
the door.
Speaker 6 (05:02):
Why do you want please talk?
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Just let us in.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
There's nothing wrong.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Go away. No, we can't do that. Now, come on,
open up her. Well you go to a rat nobody.
We just wanna talk to you. You're sure, that's all
that's right? Okay, Just to man, what do you want you,
Pamela Telford.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
I haven't done anything wrong.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Oh we didn't say you did.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Then what are you doing? Around here. What are you
looking for your mother in? Well?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Is your mother home?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Well, yeah, she's here.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Oh we like to see her. If it's alright, you can't.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
You can't see her?
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Oh, pray, we're gonna have to she's.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Lying down a sleep. That's why you can't talk to her.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Oh what's the matter, little girl?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Nothing? Why do you ask something like that?
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Don't you think you better let us in. We're gonna
have to talk to your mother.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
But she's asleep, she's tired. You can't talk to her.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
You can't. I come on, you wanna go and wake
her up with some things we we got to talk
to her about.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I wonder if we could come in if it's kind
of wet out here. H how about it?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Now you can get your mother and we can't have
our talk. Huh?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I guess to come tire, I guess it's all right.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Front indel yea.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
The front room was about twelve feet square. The only
light in the room came from a candle and a
jelly blast on a table. The only furniture in the
place was the table that held the candle, had a
torn artificial leather and chrome couch. The floor was covered
with paper rain, soap, cardboard boxes, and dirty clothes at
a half a dozen different places. Drops the dirty water
we're seeping through the room. The water was being caught
(06:38):
in empty tin cans that had been placed around the room.
To the left was a door to a bedroom. In it,
in a wooden crib were two children. From the descriptions
we'd gotten from the aggers woman, we recognized them as
Martin Telford, aged four, and his sister, Carol, aged two.
As soon as the children Sawiring and me, they hid
their heads under the dirty blank that that covered the crib.
(06:58):
There was nothing else in the room except the dirty
mattress lying on the floor in one corner. From the
appearance of the bedding, it hadn't been laundered or teens
in at least three weeks. On the other side of
the house, a small kitchen was piled high with dirty dishes,
pieces of rotting food, and empty tin cans. The plumbing
in the house had apparently been out of order for
several weeks. While Ireen and I looked over the house,
(07:19):
the girl who'd met us at the door, Pamela Telford,
followed us. When we got back to the front room,
she started to cry all right, do you wanna tell
us where she is? Come on, Pama, It's not as
bad as all that, is it. Here, here's a handkerchief.
Here you are, Now, where's your mother?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
She's out looking for a job.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
It was kind of late for that, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
I don't know that's what she's doing though, out looking
for a job.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Well, my, why'd you tell us that she was here
to night?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Cause I didn't know what you wanted. I thought you
were trying to arrest her?
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Or why did you think that?
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Because that's what she said.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Your mother said that.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
See, yes, she told us that policemen arrest of people.
She told us about it. How you did it once?
To her?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Your mother's been arresting?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah, do you know why?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Cause she was?
Speaker 1 (08:11):
But what for it?
Speaker 3 (08:11):
You know she got sick if he got sick and
they put her in jail. That's why I told you
she was asleep. I thought that you'd go away and
leave us alone.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
You're cold in here.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Now.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Do you have any heat in the house, Pamela.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
There's a heater in the bedroom. Oh, I'll turn it off. Good,
it doesn't work. What the heater doesn't work? Marty was
playing when Dad he broke the little rods in it.
It doesn't work anymore.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
H We should be able to get some heat out
of it.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
No, you won't. There isn't any gas. They turned it off.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Well, I think maybe you young, She's gotta come downtown
with us, don't you think why? Or it'll be warm
down there, a lot more comfortable for you.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
We can't go. We gotta wait here.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I'm all right, Pamela. We'll leave work for your mother
where you are. Maybe that's your mother now.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Huh No, it's Steve. Who are you? He's a police
for me? What do you want? There's nothing wrong here,
nothing for you to come button any for.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
We wanna see your mother, son.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
She hasn't done anything. Long does your cops leave her
alone all the time? You're after? Never leave her alone?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Be kind of rough for a little guy, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
It's none of your business. I know my rights. I
know I'm good.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I look to your son. We're gonna take you downtown, give
you a good meal, just until we can talk to
your mother, that's all. And you're gonna bring us back,
but we'll see.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
How about Marty and Carroll? You're taking them too?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Can you get dead or something deep.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Okay, we'll go with you just for the night, though,
that's all just for the night, you understand.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
Bill win another thing?
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yes, what's say?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
We're paying her own way. I've got money. Anything you give.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Us a better pay for or you won't have to
do that, Son.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
I'm going to We don't need charity. We're getting along,
all right. Everybody has a little rough luck now and
then everybody Mu'm tries. She really does. She's been looking
for a job for a long time.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Uh huh, all right, Steve, you wanna help you get
the others ready to leave?
Speaker 3 (09:56):
I'm not sure where you go.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Well, I'm afraid you're gonna have to you son, all right, it's.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Just for the night. But the only reason is that
I want Marty and Carolyn Pamela to have something hot
to eat. There's something wrong with a stove is you
can't cook on it. That's the only reason we're going,
just because there's something wrong with a stove. The gas
is turned off, nor what is? It just don't work.
But whatever we eat, whatever we get, we're gonna pay for.
I've got the money.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Oh no, I told you once before that won't be necessary, but.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
It is too. We're not taking any charity we've never
taken in and we're not gonna start now either. Anything
that's jne first is gonna be paid for.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah, I guess that's right, Steve, Huh, it'll be paid for.
Eight fifty six BMS men from the crime lab arrived
and photographed the entire house. The pictures were held for evidence.
A search of the house showed that there was no
food for the children. In a cardboard boxed in the
bedroom under a pilot of Pilotte articles. We found a
(10:51):
photograph of a man and a woman taking up what
appeared to be a beach photographer iring the knife back
to the rest of the house, but we found nothing
that would indicate where the mother of the for Chelford
show then was gone. The youngsters were taking the juvenile
hall bathe given clean clothes and fed. At first, Steve
Chelford refused to eat anything until he was assured that
his two sisters and his brother were being given the
same kind of food. After the boy had finished eating,
(11:13):
Iren and I talked to him, his previous uncooperative attitude
had changed, and then he seemed anxious to help us
find his mother, this is.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
The longest she's ever been gone. Began to think there
might be something wrong.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Well, when'd you see her last, Dave?
Speaker 3 (11:24):
This is Friday, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yes, February eighth.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Uh, it was last Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Then do you mean this week's then?
Speaker 2 (11:30):
No, a week ald go? A wee could go Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Well, what did she say when she left?
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Just like always said, she wasn't feeling very good and
she was going out and traddled.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Up for work. What kind of work does she do?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
But she's a waitress, a good one too, that's the trouble.
I guess she's so good. What do you mean, Well,
they're only a couple of places. Her mom says, you're
any good? Well you know where she wanna work?
Speaker 1 (11:53):
No, I don't really understand what you mean to think.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Well, my molways said that she wasn't just a hash
land that's what she calls. Oh, I see, she said
that she was a waitress and she couldn't go to work,
just any place.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
What she worked last?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
They place out in Beverly Hills. For got her name
right now?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
How long did your mother work there? Oh?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
She she had some trouble and then she had to quit.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
But what do you need in trouble?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Well, she got sick and the man who was the
boss got mad at her. And I gives you said
a lot of things her mom didn't like. Her mom
told him, and he couldn't talk to her like that.
And didn't she quit?
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Your mother ever? Tell you what was wrong with him? See?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
No, she didn't. Did you see a darker about her?
Speaker 3 (12:32):
You might as well know it?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
You drink it? What's something?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Her mom drink a lot. Sometimes she drink too much,
and then she gets sick. That's what was wrong.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Where's your father, Steve?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
He died before Carol was born, right before.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
I want you to take a look at a picture
for us when him. Look at it and tell us
if you know who the man in it is? All right, Yeah,
that's mom.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
You know who the man is.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
No, don't think I was shown before it?
Speaker 1 (13:01):
You remember? Have any men friends?
Speaker 7 (13:03):
No?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
At least she never told me about him. She surely
said that the kids were enough for her, that we
were all up matters. She used to say that when
she got a steady job, we were all gonna live good.
She used to tell us how one day the phone
hauld ring, and all our troubles would be over, just
like that. One day we've had a little trouble. On
the next everything was gonna be all right. Well she
really believed it too. Just all of a sudden, the
(13:27):
phone was gonna ring and all our troubles would be over.
I didn't know how to tell.
Speaker 6 (13:31):
Her, tell her what if they turned the phone off.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
We had the name Rowena Telford checked threw R and I.
We found that the boy's story was true. The woman
had been arrested once on a charge of forty one
twenty seven a LAMC being drunk in a public place.
Irene put in a call at the waitress's union and
asked them to check to see if the woman was
working any place in town. They came back with the
information that the last job she'd held had been six
months before, and that she'd been fired for insubordination and
(14:02):
for being drunk. We showed the picture of the man
and woman that we found at the Telford home around
the department in the hopes that one of the officers
might recognize the place where it was taken. None of
them did. The next morning, we had several copies made
and we began a search at the bars along Fifth Street.
We asked each bartender if he'd ever seen the man
of the woman. In the first four places we checked.
We got yes answers to the query about the woman,
(14:23):
but none of the people we talked too could tell
us anything about the man in the picture. Two more
days passed without results. In the meantime, a warrant had
been ashue ordering the arrest of Rowena Telford, charging her
with a child neglect. A local and an ap B
were gotten out on her. On the third day after
we started our search for the missing woman, we talked
with a bartender who was able to give us the
name of the man in the picture. He described the
(14:44):
man as a fry cook in one of the smaller
restaurants down on Fifth Street. We checked the restaurant, but
we found that he'd been fired on Monday, the twenty
eighth of January. A check of his home address gave
us no indication as to where he might be hiring.
And I went back to the office and checked the
names through R and ey.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Joe.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Yeah, he's come up with anything.
Speaker 6 (15:02):
Check the name.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
He's registered as an ex convict. Uh huh, where do
you fall back in Pennsylvania. Good time for adw h.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
We better talk to him right now. It looks awful
good Why you say that?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
But he was arrested for Yeah, he tried to beat.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
A woman to death, and immediate search was started for
the man in the picture with Rowena Telford. From friends
of his, we found that we might be able to
locate him. In a Hamburger stand down in Santa Monica, Tuesday,
February twelfth, policewoman Iman Gardner and I drove down to
(15:34):
the beach.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Should be it up there?
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Huh yeah, go ahead, thanks, he's warming here. Yeah, yelf
did like to see willis thatcher was caught?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Police officers?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
You're a thatcher, aren't you? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (15:51):
What do you want? With many?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
A couple questions? They'd like to ask you? Sure, I
do not.
Speaker 6 (15:55):
I had no reason to give you any trouble. What
do you want to know?
Speaker 1 (15:57):
You know a woman named Rowena Telford? But he asked,
that's a simple questions. Act. Can you give us the
right kind of an answer? How about it?
Speaker 6 (16:06):
Yeah? I know? Why what's she done?
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Now? Why'd you see her last?
Speaker 6 (16:09):
I don't know A couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Narrow that down on.
Speaker 6 (16:12):
Why listen, next thing she did I had no part of.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
We understand you were pretty friendly with him.
Speaker 6 (16:17):
That's not true. Sure, maybe I had a couple of
dates with it. Not more than a couple.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
That's it.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
And anybody in the world could put up with it
for more than that.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Forty say anything like that.
Speaker 6 (16:25):
You ever know?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
You know we're looking for you.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
No, I've never met her.
Speaker 6 (16:29):
That's how come you can answer that kind of question.
And if you knew her, if you spent any time
with her, you had to know what I mean. I
suppose you tell us he's old lush, a real lush,
all the time blosing it up. It wasn't so bad
that she got loaded, but she was real loud when
she was tanked up, real loud. All right, Sure I
check heround. Ask a friend talk to him. I'll all
tell you the same story. Every one of m first
thought you'd have a couple of drinks. Next thing, you know,
(16:50):
any fellow whether to be trying to get out of
a place without get in his head knocked up. She's
always starting in trouble. Sit down, order a drink. The
next thing you know, some guy was asking you outside. Well,
I ain't built to go out side too often. I
get hurt bad when I fight.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Um?
Speaker 6 (17:02):
Hm, she have any other boyfriends? You don't listen very good?
I told you didn't anybody around here? It had much
to do with As far as I know, there wasn't
nobody who went with her.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
How'd you seem the last time you saw her?
Speaker 1 (17:12):
All right?
Speaker 6 (17:12):
She had a little hangover? She always had one of those.
She seemed depressed about anyone, not that you talked about.
Do you see anything up in town not to me?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Listen?
Speaker 6 (17:21):
How about giving me a break and telling me what
this is all about?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
What do you have to report these fights you told
us about? Do you ever have any arguments with miss job?
Speaker 6 (17:27):
I don't think that's any of your business.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
We're writing it down that it is now. How about
an answer.
Speaker 6 (17:32):
We had a couple of beefs. I told you couldn't
go around with her and I.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Have a little trouble.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Did you ever hit her?
Speaker 6 (17:37):
Go back to that?
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Huh? What do you mean?
Speaker 6 (17:39):
You know the record the time I did? You figure
maybe I did something to Rowena? Isn't that it? You
think I heard her? We're asking you, but you're way
off the rug. I ain't gonna try that con you're sure.
Maybe I had a lot of reasons to want it,
but I used to think a lot of rowena, awful lot.
But that's all over all I want to do with
leading along. Stay away from me. I didn't never hit it.
I didn't hurt it. No matter what you think. Believe that.
(18:00):
I guess it sounds funny. I ain't trying to fool anybody.
I'm ready to admit it. I'm a bumb If you
didn't have to keep telling me not all the time,
I know it. Yeah, nobody likes to be called a bomb,
even if you know it's true.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
One forty seven pm we drove the suspect over to
his rooming house and we checked the premises. We found
nothing that would definitely tie him in with the disappearance
of the Telford woman. After leaving his room, we took
him downtown where he was held for further investigation on
a charge of suspicion of murder. We checked communications, but
what have been wordim as a woman turn him of
the difption that can check to the files and Missing
Person's bureau without results. Three forty pm Frank came by
(18:41):
the office and said that the trial he was attending
was dragging on, and there would be a couple more
days before he'd be back on duty with me. A
petition was filed on behalf of the children, charging violation
of Section two seven three eight PC unfit home askings
that he made water to the police. Lareene Gardner put
in a call to the next door neighbor of the
Telford woman, but we found that there'd been no face
of the missing woman since we'd removed the children. Five
(19:03):
twelve pm, we finished pped the log for the day
and we were leaving the office. I got it Fuminal Friday. Yeah,
that's right. Yeah, what's that? Yeah? Yeah, sure, we'll be
right there, right, thank you.
Speaker 6 (19:20):
What do you got bar over on East sixth Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Rowena Telford just walked in. The bartender was one of
those that we'd questioned when we first started our investigation.
At the time, he knew the Telford woman, but he
said that he hadn't seen her for several weeks. On
the phone, he told me that she just walked into
his bar. Irene Gardner and I left the office and
drove over to the East sixth Street address, but the
(19:43):
woman had just left. We had a description and a
description of the clothes she was wearing, and we put
that out to all cars in the area, but she
was not picked up. Irene Gardner and I went back
to the office and we put out a supplementary bulletin
on a woman. At eight fourteen pm, we got a
call from the woman who'd made the original complaint, missus
Crystal Eggers. She told us that the Telford woman had
just walked into her own home. Irene and I left
(20:05):
the office and we drove out to the house on
Balaoe Street. Light on.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
She can still be home.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yeah, what is it? Police officers would like to talk too.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
You're up, he's by the time you got here.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
You got him here?
Speaker 1 (20:25):
How big your fighters?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
You got? The little bras?
Speaker 5 (20:27):
They all run off, all of 'em. Get my hands
on them and they're gonna get what for?
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Where are they?
Speaker 1 (20:33):
We have 'em downtown, Miss Telford?
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Why don't you bring 'em home?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
This is where they belong.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
I get my hands on 'em. Oh, and I'm gonna
give that little steve.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
You might if we come in.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Oh, come on, I have if I kind of excuse
away to the house, so stide.
Speaker 5 (20:46):
Don't wait for a couple of days. Can you see
how the kids can mess away something?
Speaker 1 (20:51):
I'm starting Friday. This is MS Gardner.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Oh, how do you do? Would you like to?
Speaker 6 (20:55):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (20:56):
No, that's all right, I'll come. You have done, bring
'em back.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
They're being held in juvenile hall and it's time for what.
Well when we found them, they were suffering from malnutrition.
This place you could not sit for youngstes.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
Oh you just took them out and put them in
a home the way they Yes, ma'am, that's way.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
This is well.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
You've got your nerve, you really have what you coming
in here and breaking up a home like this, you
ought to be.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Ashamed of yourself.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
We have a warrant for your arrest me. Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
Now you listen, You've got no right to come in
here and break up my I know.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
All about your cups because she's.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
Wating around trying to make everybody think you're so good.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I know you for what you are.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
I'm gonna tell you this, Yes, ma'am, you better get
those kids back.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
You're fast, do you hear me? You got them back
here fast?
Speaker 6 (21:43):
Because if you don't, I'm gonna.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Sue you and her and the city for every dime.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
It's duck.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
I don't take this to any part in the country.
I have to, but I'm gonna get my kids back.
You ain't half as good as you think you are.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
You aren't playing real.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Four so you can understand that you stink.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
That's what all of you is sick, all.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Right, man, I dine gets enough of that. Where have
you been for the last two weeks?
Speaker 5 (22:09):
The noble thing ever happened to me to anybody. He
told me he loved me and said he was gonna
get married. I thought, that's what I did, and we
was gonna get married. I mean, he had Stevie a
couple of dollars and told him to take.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Care of things.
Speaker 5 (22:26):
And then we left and robe all the way to
San Diego without stopping. And then we had some lunch
on the way to get married, and we had a
couple of drinks, just to make the food taste better,
that's all. And then all of a sudden I got
sick again when he walked out on me, left me
right there in the bar, all of myself, all the
(22:47):
promises he made to me, all the things we were
gonna have, all of it just a lot of lies.
So when I get a little sick.
Speaker 6 (22:58):
You just had a couple of drinks.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
He walked out on me, left me right there all
by myself, you know, all by myself.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I didn't have no money.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
You know where you get back? What was I going
to do?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I believe him.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
I really thought.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
He was gonna marry me. I believed all he said,
how things were going to be better.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
I believe at all.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
The dirtiest trick I ever heard of, walking out and
a girl like that, A dirty trick.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
I got one to beat, the one you pulled in
your children.
Speaker 7 (23:45):
Rowena Esther Telford was tried and convicted a violation of
Section two seventy three, a PC endantering the life and
safety of a miner, which is punishable by imprisonment in
the County jail for a period of not more than
one year. The four Telford children were made wards of
the Juvenile Court and were placed in Foster Holmes.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
You have just heard Dragnet, the Authentic Story of your
Police Force in Action and starring Jack Webb, A presentation
of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service COLO
Ladies and gentlemen. The story you were about to hear
is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Drag me. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to Juvenile Detail.
Four children in your city have apparently been abandoned by
(00:29):
their There's womer abouts. There's a possibility of foul play.
Your job investigate. It was Friday, February eighth, was raining
in Los Angeles. We were working the night Watch out
of Juvenile Detail. My partner is Frank Smith. The boss
is Captain Powers. My name is Friday. I was on
my way back from Juvenile Hall and it was seven
(00:51):
forty six pm when I got to thirteen thirty five
Georgia Street. The office.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Joe Jelly, you talked to Captain Powers.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Yeah, Well, had looks Frank's gonna be tied up in
the court for a couple of days.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Going kind of hard game, more, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Well, seems like everybody in town's claimed on this one,
really making a big thing on it.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Uh huh.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Alse Kepper said, I was supposed to give you a
hand or anything that might come.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Up, and you just made it.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Mmm.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Woman in the next office, you'd better talk to her.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
What's it about.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
I'll be better if you got it straight from her.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
What is you crank?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I don't think so see what you can figure.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Huh, Missus Eggars, Miss Darden, are you ready to do
something about this?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yes, ma'am. I'd like you to meet Sergeant Friday.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Joe.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
This is missus Eggers. How'd you do? Miss If you
give him the story the way you told it, to
meet and you bet, I will sit down, young man.
I'll tell you all about it. Get your book out.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
I beg your pardon your book.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
You can take some notations, aren't you.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Well, if you'll just tell us what this is all about.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Yeah, well, I don't want you to get the idea
that I'm the nosy type.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I'm not.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
It's just that I take an interest in the things
that go on around me. It's simple minded the way
they put it in the papers. Of course, there are
people who say that I pay too much mind of
their business, but it isn't true, not a bit of it.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
If you'd tell the sergeant what happened.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Oh yeah, well, these people moved into the house about six.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Months ago, to five of 'em.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Stevie, Pamela Carol Martin and the.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Mother Rowena, four kids and the mother ah right like
you going well now, right off, I could spot this
woman seen a.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Lot of 'em. How do you mean that, Missager?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
You can make it crystal if it's an.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Easier Yes, ma'am, what did you mean that you've seen
a lot of 'em?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Alki's you know drunks. Well, she's one. I get spotted
right off her and those four beautiful children.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
How the first few months they lived there, i'd maybe
see you a couple times a week, you know, going
in the house or coming out a couple times a week.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I see last week, ten days, I haven't seen it
at all, not even a little sight. So right off
I figured that something was wrong. That's what it looks
to me.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
All right, thank you, Missaggers. We'll check in the house
right away.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
That's what I wanted this policewoman to do. I told
her I'd go right.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Along with you, but I won't be necessary.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Now, listen, young man, if there's anything wrong with them kids,
I wanna.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Know about it. I wanna do my part. What the
whole neighborhood's talking is that, right?
Speaker 5 (03:02):
Sure, little students.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Into all the houses, looking for something to do, asking
for work.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
It just seems to me that there's something wrong about
the wholekaboole of 'em. Not seeing the mother, the way
the boy don't eat the lunch plate, not seeing the
other kids. There's something that don't fit over there.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Alright, man, we'll look right into it.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
You just do that and I'll see what I say
is true.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Thank you, missus Agger, You don't go thanking me. Just
trying to be civil minded, that's all. It seems that
there isn't anybody who cares about those kids.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Well that's not true of ziggers. What we do? Eight
fourteen pm, Policewoman Irene Gardner and I left the office
and drove over to the address the Eggers, a woman
had given us. The house was a small, one story,
clabored building located on the rear of the lot. The
front yard was overgrown with weeds and there were neighborhood
(03:49):
advertising papers lying around. When we arrived, there was a
faint light on in one of the front rooms. Irene
and I went up to the front door and we knock.
We got no answer. I tried the door, but we
found it locked. There was no sound from inside the place.
The shades were drawn over the windows so that it
was impossible for us to see into the house. We
walked around to the rear and tried the back door block. Yeah,
(04:12):
it doesn't look like there's anybody at home. Oh, let's
talk to that Agger's woman again. Al Right, it doesn't
make a lot of sense, desert from the story she
gave us. The kid should be at home.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
She might be seeing things, Joe, you know, trying to
figure out some way to get attention.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, it might be. It didn't seem like that to mean,
you know, Joe, h what do you got there?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Different windows there?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
You see it? Yeah, there's somebody in there. Must go Yeah,
try it again. Yeah, I answering. Come on, open up
(04:56):
in there. Wait, know you're in there, Come on, open
the door.
Speaker 6 (05:02):
Why do you want please talk?
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Just let us in.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
There's nothing wrong.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Go away. No, we can't do that. Now, come on,
open up her. Well you go to a rat nobody.
We just wanna talk to you. You're sure, that's all
that's right? Okay, Just to man, what do you want you,
Pamela Telford.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
I haven't done anything wrong.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Oh we didn't say you did.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Then what are you doing? Around here. What are you
looking for your mother in? Well?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Is your mother home?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Well, yeah, she's here.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Oh we like to see her. If it's alright, you can't.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
You can't see her?
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Oh, pray, we're gonna have to she's.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Lying down a sleep. That's why you can't talk to her.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Oh what's the matter, little girl?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Nothing? Why do you ask something like that?
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Don't you think you better let us in. We're gonna
have to talk to your mother.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
But she's asleep, she's tired. You can't talk to her.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
You can't. I come on, you wanna go and wake
her up with some things we we got to talk
to her about.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I wonder if we could come in if it's kind
of wet out here. H how about it?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Now you can get your mother and we can't have
our talk. Huh?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I guess to come tire, I guess it's all right.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Front indel yea.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
The front room was about twelve feet square. The only
light in the room came from a candle and a
jelly blast on a table. The only furniture in the
place was the table that held the candle, had a
torn artificial leather and chrome couch. The floor was covered
with paper rain, soap, cardboard boxes, and dirty clothes at
a half a dozen different places. Drops the dirty water
we're seeping through the room. The water was being caught
(06:38):
in empty tin cans that had been placed around the room.
To the left was a door to a bedroom. In it,
in a wooden crib were two children. From the descriptions
we'd gotten from the aggers woman, we recognized them as
Martin Telford, aged four, and his sister, Carol, aged two.
As soon as the children Sawiring and me, they hid
their heads under the dirty blank that that covered the crib.
(06:58):
There was nothing else in the room except the dirty
mattress lying on the floor in one corner. From the
appearance of the bedding, it hadn't been laundered or teens
in at least three weeks. On the other side of
the house, a small kitchen was piled high with dirty dishes,
pieces of rotting food, and empty tin cans. The plumbing
in the house had apparently been out of order for
several weeks. While Ireen and I looked over the house,
(07:19):
the girl who'd met us at the door, Pamela Telford,
followed us. When we got back to the front room,
she started to cry all right, do you wanna tell
us where she is? Come on, Pama, It's not as
bad as all that, is it. Here, here's a handkerchief.
Here you are, Now, where's your mother?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
She's out looking for a job.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
It was kind of late for that, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
I don't know that's what she's doing though, out looking
for a job.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Well, my, why'd you tell us that she was here
to night?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Cause I didn't know what you wanted. I thought you
were trying to arrest her?
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Or why did you think that?
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Because that's what she said.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Your mother said that.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
See, yes, she told us that policemen arrest of people.
She told us about it. How you did it once?
To her?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Your mother's been arresting?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah, do you know why?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Cause she was?
Speaker 1 (08:11):
But what for it?
Speaker 3 (08:11):
You know she got sick if he got sick and
they put her in jail. That's why I told you
she was asleep. I thought that you'd go away and
leave us alone.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
You're cold in here.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Now.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Do you have any heat in the house, Pamela.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
There's a heater in the bedroom. Oh, I'll turn it off. Good,
it doesn't work. What the heater doesn't work? Marty was
playing when Dad he broke the little rods in it.
It doesn't work anymore.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
H We should be able to get some heat out
of it.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
No, you won't. There isn't any gas. They turned it off.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Well, I think maybe you young, She's gotta come downtown
with us, don't you think why? Or it'll be warm
down there, a lot more comfortable for you.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
We can't go. We gotta wait here.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I'm all right, Pamela. We'll leave work for your mother
where you are. Maybe that's your mother now.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Huh No, it's Steve. Who are you? He's a police
for me? What do you want? There's nothing wrong here,
nothing for you to come button any for.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
We wanna see your mother, son.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
She hasn't done anything. Long does your cops leave her
alone all the time? You're after? Never leave her alone?
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Be kind of rough for a little guy, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
It's none of your business. I know my rights. I
know I'm good.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I look to your son. We're gonna take you downtown, give
you a good meal, just until we can talk to
your mother, that's all. And you're gonna bring us back,
but we'll see.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
How about Marty and Carroll? You're taking them too?
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Can you get dead or something deep.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Okay, we'll go with you just for the night, though,
that's all just for the night, you understand.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
Bill win another thing?
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yes, what's say?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
We're paying her own way. I've got money. Anything you give.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Us a better pay for or you won't have to
do that, Son.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
I'm going to We don't need charity. We're getting along,
all right. Everybody has a little rough luck now and
then everybody Mu'm tries. She really does. She's been looking
for a job for a long time.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Uh huh, all right, Steve, you wanna help you get
the others ready to leave?
Speaker 3 (09:56):
I'm not sure where you go.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Well, I'm afraid you're gonna have to you son, all right, it's.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Just for the night. But the only reason is that
I want Marty and Carolyn Pamela to have something hot
to eat. There's something wrong with a stove is you
can't cook on it. That's the only reason we're going,
just because there's something wrong with a stove. The gas
is turned off, nor what is? It just don't work.
But whatever we eat, whatever we get, we're gonna pay for.
I've got the money.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Oh no, I told you once before that won't be necessary, but.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
It is too. We're not taking any charity we've never
taken in and we're not gonna start now either. Anything
that's jne first is gonna be paid for.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah, I guess that's right, Steve, Huh, it'll be paid for.
Eight fifty six BMS men from the crime lab arrived
and photographed the entire house. The pictures were held for evidence.
A search of the house showed that there was no
food for the children. In a cardboard boxed in the
bedroom under a pilot of Pilotte articles. We found a
(10:51):
photograph of a man and a woman taking up what
appeared to be a beach photographer iring the knife back
to the rest of the house, but we found nothing
that would indicate where the mother of the for Chelford
show then was gone. The youngsters were taking the juvenile
hall bathe given clean clothes and fed. At first, Steve
Chelford refused to eat anything until he was assured that
his two sisters and his brother were being given the
same kind of food. After the boy had finished eating,
(11:13):
Iren and I talked to him, his previous uncooperative attitude
had changed, and then he seemed anxious to help us
find his mother, this is.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
The longest she's ever been gone. Began to think there
might be something wrong.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Well, when'd you see her last, Dave?
Speaker 3 (11:24):
This is Friday, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yes, February eighth.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Uh, it was last Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Then do you mean this week's then?
Speaker 2 (11:30):
No, a week ald go? A wee could go Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Well, what did she say when she left?
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Just like always said, she wasn't feeling very good and
she was going out and traddled.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Up for work. What kind of work does she do?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
But she's a waitress, a good one too, that's the trouble.
I guess she's so good. What do you mean, Well,
they're only a couple of places. Her mom says, you're
any good? Well you know where she wanna work?
Speaker 1 (11:53):
No, I don't really understand what you mean to think.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Well, my molways said that she wasn't just a hash
land that's what she calls. Oh, I see, she said
that she was a waitress and she couldn't go to work,
just any place.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
What she worked last?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
They place out in Beverly Hills. For got her name
right now?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
How long did your mother work there? Oh?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
She she had some trouble and then she had to quit.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
But what do you need in trouble?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Well, she got sick and the man who was the
boss got mad at her. And I gives you said
a lot of things her mom didn't like. Her mom
told him, and he couldn't talk to her like that.
And didn't she quit?
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Your mother ever? Tell you what was wrong with him? See?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
No, she didn't. Did you see a darker about her?
Speaker 3 (12:32):
You might as well know it?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
You drink it? What's something?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Her mom drink a lot. Sometimes she drink too much,
and then she gets sick. That's what was wrong.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Where's your father, Steve?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
He died before Carol was born, right before.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
I want you to take a look at a picture
for us when him. Look at it and tell us
if you know who the man in it is? All right, Yeah,
that's mom.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
You know who the man is.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
No, don't think I was shown before it?
Speaker 1 (13:01):
You remember? Have any men friends?
Speaker 7 (13:03):
No?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I don't think so.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
At least she never told me about him. She surely
said that the kids were enough for her, that we
were all up matters. She used to say that when
she got a steady job, we were all gonna live good.
She used to tell us how one day the phone
hauld ring, and all our troubles would be over, just
like that. One day we've had a little trouble. On
the next everything was gonna be all right. Well she
really believed it too. Just all of a sudden, the
(13:27):
phone was gonna ring and all our troubles would be over.
I didn't know how to tell.
Speaker 6 (13:31):
Her, tell her what if they turned the phone off.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
We had the name Rowena Telford checked threw R and I.
We found that the boy's story was true. The woman
had been arrested once on a charge of forty one
twenty seven a LAMC being drunk in a public place.
Irene put in a call at the waitress's union and
asked them to check to see if the woman was
working any place in town. They came back with the
information that the last job she'd held had been six
months before, and that she'd been fired for insubordination and
(14:02):
for being drunk. We showed the picture of the man
and woman that we found at the Telford home around
the department in the hopes that one of the officers
might recognize the place where it was taken. None of
them did. The next morning, we had several copies made
and we began a search at the bars along Fifth Street.
We asked each bartender if he'd ever seen the man
of the woman. In the first four places we checked.
We got yes answers to the query about the woman,
(14:23):
but none of the people we talked too could tell
us anything about the man in the picture. Two more
days passed without results. In the meantime, a warrant had
been ashue ordering the arrest of Rowena Telford, charging her
with a child neglect. A local and an ap B
were gotten out on her. On the third day after
we started our search for the missing woman, we talked
with a bartender who was able to give us the
name of the man in the picture. He described the
(14:44):
man as a fry cook in one of the smaller
restaurants down on Fifth Street. We checked the restaurant, but
we found that he'd been fired on Monday, the twenty
eighth of January. A check of his home address gave
us no indication as to where he might be hiring.
And I went back to the office and checked the
names through R and ey.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Joe.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Yeah, he's come up with anything.
Speaker 6 (15:02):
Check the name.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
He's registered as an ex convict. Uh huh, where do
you fall back in Pennsylvania. Good time for adw h.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
We better talk to him right now. It looks awful
good Why you say that?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
But he was arrested for Yeah, he tried to beat.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
A woman to death, and immediate search was started for
the man in the picture with Rowena Telford. From friends
of his, we found that we might be able to
locate him. In a Hamburger stand down in Santa Monica, Tuesday,
February twelfth, policewoman Iman Gardner and I drove down to
(15:34):
the beach.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Should be it up there?
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Huh yeah, go ahead, thanks, he's warming here. Yeah, yelf
did like to see willis thatcher was caught?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Police officers?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
You're a thatcher, aren't you? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (15:51):
What do you want? With many?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
A couple questions? They'd like to ask you? Sure, I
do not.
Speaker 6 (15:55):
I had no reason to give you any trouble. What
do you want to know?
Speaker 1 (15:57):
You know a woman named Rowena Telford? But he asked,
that's a simple questions. Act. Can you give us the
right kind of an answer? How about it?
Speaker 6 (16:06):
Yeah? I know? Why what's she done?
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Now? Why'd you see her last?
Speaker 6 (16:09):
I don't know A couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Narrow that down on.
Speaker 6 (16:12):
Why listen, next thing she did I had no part of.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
We understand you were pretty friendly with him.
Speaker 6 (16:17):
That's not true. Sure, maybe I had a couple of
dates with it. Not more than a couple.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
That's it.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
And anybody in the world could put up with it
for more than that.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Forty say anything like that.
Speaker 6 (16:25):
You ever know?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
You know we're looking for you.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
No, I've never met her.
Speaker 6 (16:29):
That's how come you can answer that kind of question.
And if you knew her, if you spent any time
with her, you had to know what I mean. I
suppose you tell us he's old lush, a real lush,
all the time blosing it up. It wasn't so bad
that she got loaded, but she was real loud when
she was tanked up, real loud. All right, Sure I
check heround. Ask a friend talk to him. I'll all
tell you the same story. Every one of m first
thought you'd have a couple of drinks. Next thing, you know,
(16:50):
any fellow whether to be trying to get out of
a place without get in his head knocked up. She's
always starting in trouble. Sit down, order a drink. The
next thing you know, some guy was asking you outside. Well,
I ain't built to go out side too often. I
get hurt bad when I fight.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Um?
Speaker 6 (17:02):
Hm, she have any other boyfriends? You don't listen very good?
I told you didn't anybody around here? It had much
to do with As far as I know, there wasn't
nobody who went with her.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
How'd you seem the last time you saw her?
Speaker 1 (17:12):
All right?
Speaker 6 (17:12):
She had a little hangover? She always had one of those.
She seemed depressed about anyone, not that you talked about.
Do you see anything up in town not to me?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Listen?
Speaker 6 (17:21):
How about giving me a break and telling me what
this is all about?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
What do you have to report these fights you told
us about? Do you ever have any arguments with miss job?
Speaker 6 (17:27):
I don't think that's any of your business.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
We're writing it down that it is now. How about
an answer.
Speaker 6 (17:32):
We had a couple of beefs. I told you couldn't
go around with her and I.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Have a little trouble.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Did you ever hit her?
Speaker 6 (17:37):
Go back to that?
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Huh? What do you mean?
Speaker 6 (17:39):
You know the record the time I did? You figure
maybe I did something to Rowena? Isn't that it? You
think I heard her? We're asking you, but you're way
off the rug. I ain't gonna try that con you're sure.
Maybe I had a lot of reasons to want it,
but I used to think a lot of rowena, awful lot.
But that's all over all I want to do with
leading along. Stay away from me. I didn't never hit it.
I didn't hurt it. No matter what you think. Believe that.
(18:00):
I guess it sounds funny. I ain't trying to fool anybody.
I'm ready to admit it. I'm a bumb If you
didn't have to keep telling me not all the time,
I know it. Yeah, nobody likes to be called a bomb,
even if you know it's true.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
One forty seven pm we drove the suspect over to
his rooming house and we checked the premises. We found
nothing that would definitely tie him in with the disappearance
of the Telford woman. After leaving his room, we took
him downtown where he was held for further investigation on
a charge of suspicion of murder. We checked communications, but
what have been wordim as a woman turn him of
the difption that can check to the files and Missing
Person's bureau without results. Three forty pm Frank came by
(18:41):
the office and said that the trial he was attending
was dragging on, and there would be a couple more
days before he'd be back on duty with me. A
petition was filed on behalf of the children, charging violation
of Section two seven three eight PC unfit home askings
that he made water to the police. Lareene Gardner put
in a call to the next door neighbor of the
Telford woman, but we found that there'd been no face
of the missing woman since we'd removed the children. Five
(19:03):
twelve pm, we finished pped the log for the day
and we were leaving the office. I got it Fuminal Friday. Yeah,
that's right. Yeah, what's that? Yeah? Yeah, sure, we'll be
right there, right, thank you.
Speaker 6 (19:20):
What do you got bar over on East sixth Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Rowena Telford just walked in. The bartender was one of
those that we'd questioned when we first started our investigation.
At the time, he knew the Telford woman, but he
said that he hadn't seen her for several weeks. On
the phone, he told me that she just walked into
his bar. Irene Gardner and I left the office and
drove over to the East sixth Street address, but the
(19:43):
woman had just left. We had a description and a
description of the clothes she was wearing, and we put
that out to all cars in the area, but she
was not picked up. Irene Gardner and I went back
to the office and we put out a supplementary bulletin
on a woman. At eight fourteen pm, we got a
call from the woman who'd made the original complaint, missus
Crystal Eggers. She told us that the Telford woman had
just walked into her own home. Irene and I left
(20:05):
the office and we drove out to the house on
Balaoe Street. Light on.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
She can still be home.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yeah, what is it? Police officers would like to talk too.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
You're up, he's by the time you got here.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
You got him here?
Speaker 1 (20:25):
How big your fighters?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
You got? The little bras?
Speaker 5 (20:27):
They all run off, all of 'em. Get my hands
on them and they're gonna get what for?
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Where are they?
Speaker 1 (20:33):
We have 'em downtown, Miss Telford?
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Why don't you bring 'em home?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
This is where they belong.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
I get my hands on 'em. Oh, and I'm gonna
give that little steve.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
You might if we come in.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Oh, come on, I have if I kind of excuse
away to the house, so stide.
Speaker 5 (20:46):
Don't wait for a couple of days. Can you see
how the kids can mess away something?
Speaker 1 (20:51):
I'm starting Friday. This is MS Gardner.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Oh, how do you do? Would you like to?
Speaker 6 (20:55):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (20:56):
No, that's all right, I'll come. You have done, bring
'em back.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
They're being held in juvenile hall and it's time for what.
Well when we found them, they were suffering from malnutrition.
This place you could not sit for youngstes.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
Oh you just took them out and put them in
a home the way they Yes, ma'am, that's way.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
This is well.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
You've got your nerve, you really have what you coming
in here and breaking up a home like this, you
ought to be.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Ashamed of yourself.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
We have a warrant for your arrest me. Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
Now you listen, You've got no right to come in
here and break up my I know.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
All about your cups because she's.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
Wating around trying to make everybody think you're so good.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I know you for what you are.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
I'm gonna tell you this, Yes, ma'am, you better get
those kids back.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
You're fast, do you hear me? You got them back
here fast?
Speaker 6 (21:43):
Because if you don't, I'm gonna.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Sue you and her and the city for every dime.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
It's duck.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
I don't take this to any part in the country.
I have to, but I'm gonna get my kids back.
You ain't half as good as you think you are.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
You aren't playing real.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Four so you can understand that you stink.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
That's what all of you is sick, all.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Right, man, I dine gets enough of that. Where have
you been for the last two weeks?
Speaker 5 (22:09):
The noble thing ever happened to me to anybody. He
told me he loved me and said he was gonna
get married. I thought, that's what I did, and we
was gonna get married. I mean, he had Stevie a
couple of dollars and told him to take.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Care of things.
Speaker 5 (22:26):
And then we left and robe all the way to
San Diego without stopping. And then we had some lunch
on the way to get married, and we had a
couple of drinks, just to make the food taste better,
that's all. And then all of a sudden I got
sick again when he walked out on me, left me
right there in the bar, all of myself, all the
(22:47):
promises he made to me, all the things we were
gonna have, all of it just a lot of lies.
So when I get a little sick.
Speaker 6 (22:58):
You just had a couple of drinks.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
He walked out on me, left me right there all
by myself, you know, all by myself.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I didn't have no money.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
You know where you get back? What was I going
to do?
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I believe him.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
I really thought.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
He was gonna marry me. I believed all he said,
how things were going to be better.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
I believe at all.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
The dirtiest trick I ever heard of, walking out and
a girl like that, A dirty trick.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
I got one to beat, the one you pulled in
your children.
Speaker 7 (23:45):
Rowena Esther Telford was tried and convicted a violation of
Section two seventy three, a PC endantering the life and
safety of a miner, which is punishable by imprisonment in
the County jail for a period of not more than
one year. The four Telford children were made wards of
the Juvenile Court and were placed in Foster Holmes.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
You have just heard Dragnet, the Authentic Story of your
Police Force in Action and starring Jack Webb, A presentation
of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service COLO
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