- 7 hours ago
Reiko, a beautiful Japanese-born widow whose Nisei husband was killed in Vietnam is murdered and Sgt Friday and Officer Gannon are assigned to find her slayer.
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00:26This is the city of Los Angeles, California.
00:31In 1920, the population was 576,673.
00:37Today, Los Angeles is the third largest city in the United States.
00:41Nearly three million people live here.
00:44From every nation, Los Angeles draws its bloodline.
00:48When some of that blood is spilled, I go to work, I carry a badge.
00:54It was Tuesday, August 16th. It was hot in Los Angeles.
00:56We were working the day watch on a homicide division.
00:58The boss is Captain Hugh Brown.
01:00My partner's Bill Gannon.
01:03My name's Friday.
01:05We'd just come back from a bomb investigation.
01:08It turned out to be a hoax.
01:19The story you are about to see is true.
01:22The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
01:49You're about to go, Bill.
01:50No bomb?
01:51No bomb.
01:52The heat keeps up, the whole town's gonna blow.
01:54Yeah.
01:55I signed us in.
01:56Good.
01:57For me?
01:57From the fifth floor.
01:59Credit union.
01:59Pink slip on my car.
02:00Paid off your loan, huh?
02:01Finally.
02:02Now I gotta see Bob Fennell again.
02:04What for?
02:04Another loan.
02:05Now I have to get it fixed.
02:06Transmission went out.
02:07Friday, Gannon?
02:09Yes, sir.
02:10Close to quitting time, I know, but here's one to go on.
02:12I'll sign you out.
02:13Yes, sir.
02:131104 West Garden.
02:15Dead body.
02:16Don't know what I'm gonna do with all the overtime I'm borrowing up.
02:18Buy a yacht.
02:224.23 p.m.
02:23Before we left PAB, we made the notifications,
02:26and then we headed across town for the West Garden address.
02:301104 West Garden was located in a quiet residential neighborhood
02:3315 minutes from the office.
02:35It was 4.40 p.m. when we got there.
02:42Friday and Gannon homicide.
02:44Fisher, 1L36.
02:45The body's in the bedroom.
02:46Here's your DOA slip.
02:47Right, thanks, Fisher.
02:48Who's she?
02:49Mrs. Sunshine Pound.
02:50She put in the call.
02:51Right, ask her to stand by, will you?
02:53Right, Sergeant.
03:00Joe? Bill?
03:01Hi, Blake.
03:02What do you got?
03:03Two gunshots.
03:05Where?
03:05Head and heart area.
03:06Those two slugs weigh more than she did.
03:08Tiny little thing.
03:09Yeah.
03:09Who covered the body?
03:10Woman out there in the front room.
03:12You'll let us know when you pull the slugs, Bob.
03:13Right, Gannon.
03:14All right, Ed.
03:15Besides the usual shots,
03:16I want two lateral, two vertical, and one head down, and in color.
03:19Okay, Sergeant.
03:20Can't weigh over 90 pounds.
03:22Beautiful girl, Joe.
03:23A living doll.
03:25Not anymore.
03:33You're Mrs. Sunshine Pound?
03:35Beg your pardon?
03:37You're Mrs. Sunshine Pound?
03:40Had you tuned out?
03:42Yes, that's correct.
03:43Police officers, ma'am.
03:44This is Sergeant Friday.
03:45My name's Gannon.
03:46Oh, the shame of it all.
03:48Lovely girl like Reiko.
03:49Who could do such a thing?
03:51What's her full name, Mrs. Pound?
03:52Reiko Hashimoto, 26 years old.
03:55She married?
03:56She was.
03:57Her husband was killed seven months ago in Vietnam.
03:59He was a sergeant in the army.
04:01What was his name, would you know?
04:02Frank.
04:03Frank Hashimoto.
04:04They were a lovely couple.
04:06He was an army career man, brought Reiko over from Japan.
04:09He was Nisi, born and raised right here in Los Angeles.
04:13Did you hear any shots, any disturbance?
04:15No, not a sound.
04:16Where do you live, Mrs. Pound?
04:17Just down the block, 1181 West Garden.
04:20Friday, see you a minute.
04:21Excuse me.
04:22Gonna move the body, Joe.
04:24Bill.
04:25Be right back.
04:40Looks like there was an exit wound.
04:46Wanna check it?
04:47It'll keep.
04:48See you, Joe.
04:49Right, Blake.
04:50Find out anything yet?
04:52She's dead and she was pretty.
05:05Poor Reiko, poor little thing.
05:08The Hashimoto's have any enemies that you know of?
05:10Anyone who might do a thing like this?
05:11Not a soul, Sergeant.
05:13They were delightful neighbors.
05:15Kept pretty much to themselves.
05:17Oh, they were friendly, but they loved their home.
05:19Always sprucing it up.
05:21And isn't it lovely?
05:22Reiko was so neat and tidy.
05:24You say she was from Japan.
05:26Do you have any relatives in this country?
05:27Yes.
05:28One.
05:29Her mother.
05:30Would you know her name?
05:31It's Mrs. Watanabe.
05:32Do you know where we might find her?
05:33Not exactly.
05:35I only met her once.
05:36I think from what Reiko said that she has an apartment someplace down in Japanese town.
05:41Little Tokyo.
05:42That's where Miko probably is.
05:44Staying with her grandmother.
05:45Miko?
05:46Yes.
05:46Reiko's little daughter.
05:48She's only five.
05:49Mrs. Pound, did Mrs. Hashimoto have any men friends that you know of?
05:52How do you mean that, Sergeant?
05:54Well, I mean being a widow.
05:55Did she go out with men?
05:56If she did, I never heard her say.
05:58She loved her husband.
06:00And although she was a beautiful girl, I'd doubt very much if she ever saw another man.
06:04Why would her daughter be staying with her mother?
06:06I don't know.
06:08You covered the body with that bed sheet?
06:10Yes, I did.
06:11I couldn't stand to wait here for you people with that little thing lying in there.
06:15Yes, ma'am.
06:16I'm deaf, you know.
06:18When there's something I don't want to hear, I turn off my aid.
06:21Yes, ma'am.
06:22Poor little Reiko.
06:24There's no way I can tune that out.
06:355.35 p.m.
06:37Bill called Captain Brown and filled him in.
06:39He asked for another two teams to begin a house-to-house check of the neighborhood
06:43to see if any witnesses could be turned.
06:45The captain said they would begin a search for Reiko Hashimoto's mother, Mrs. Watanabe.
06:49I talked to Sergeant Dean Bergman from Leighton Prince.
06:52Doesn't look too promising, Joe.
06:54Joe House is unusually clean.
06:55Women must have dusted and waxed the place every 15 minutes.
06:57Yeah.
06:58Got a few prints, but right now I don't know.
07:00I'll work for eliminations.
07:01Right, thanks, Dean.
07:02Alexander, Petrovich, Higby, and Hanson are on the way out to give us a hand.
07:05Good.
07:06Let's see if we can turn a photograph of the Hashimoto woman.
07:08What's been dusted, Dean?
07:09Everything in the room except this table.
07:19Inside of this chest looks like a filing cabinet.
07:22Same here.
07:23Everything's in perfect order.
07:24Must have been quite a housekeeper.
07:27Not a thing, out of place.
07:30Joe?
07:36Reiko Hashimoto.
07:37Recent picture, I'd say, wouldn't you?
07:46She was pretty, Joe.
07:49Let's check on that slug in the bedroom.
08:03In there?
08:04No, it doesn't seem to be.
08:06It went on through.
08:06Under the house?
08:07Yeah, you want to get the flashlights?
08:09It's getting dark out.
08:10It'll be easy to find it in the morning.
08:11It'll still be dark under the house in the morning.
08:165.55 PM.
08:18While I crawled under the house, Bill waited in the bedroom above.
08:21He signaled to me by tapping on the floor.
08:23When I reached the area underneath the bedroom, I returned the signal.
08:28Okay.
08:29I'm bringing the flashlight over the hole.
08:32All right.
08:33It's on.
08:34I see it.
08:40How are you coming?
08:41Working on it.
08:45Got it?
08:48Got it.
08:526.10 PM.
08:53Two teams of detectives arrived to assist Bill and me in checking the immediate neighborhood
08:57in the hope that we might turn up someone who might know something about Reiko Hashimoto's murder.
09:02We gave one of the photographs of Reiko Hashimoto to Chuck Higbee and his partner.
09:06Bill and I kept the other one.
09:08Every house within a two-block radius would be checked.
09:129.35 PM.
09:14Three hours later, we were no further ahead than we were before.
09:17About all you can say is we took a long walk on a warm summer evening.
09:21Did you pull up anything, Chuck?
09:22A woman whose property backs up on this house thinks she heard a couple of shots.
09:26Thinks it was around 11, 11.30.
09:27Yeah.
09:28She also said it could have been a car backfiring.
09:30She's not sure, Joe.
09:31Well, couldn't you pin her down on whether they sounded like shots or backfiring?
09:34Yeah, Joe, I tried.
09:35She just wasn't sure, that's all.
09:36Yeah, well, you'd think people would try to be a little more sure.
09:39Anything else, Chuck?
09:41Hanson talked to a woman by the name of Cordell.
09:43Lurleen Cordell.
09:44She lives a couple blocks from here.
09:45908 South, Wallace.
09:47What about her?
09:48She was attacked by some guy driving a yellow Dodge pickup truck.
09:50Said she reported it.
09:51Yeah.
09:52Said the truck was full of house painter's gear.
09:54Said she remembers a ladder painted red and green.
09:57Threatened her with a gun.
09:58She didn't know the caliber.
09:58Anything else?
09:59Nope.
09:59That's about it.
10:00Well, then what's the connection?
10:01I didn't say there was, Joe.
10:02Just giving you what we turned.
10:04Yeah.
10:04With all that, Higby, we ought to break it in about an hour.
10:08Something wrong, Joe?
10:09No, Chuck.
10:10There's nothing wrong.
10:11A hundred pounds of young woman was shot through the head and the heart.
10:14Ten to one, she was mauled by whoever did it.
10:17She's got a five-year-old kid and a mother who are floating around somewhere in this city
10:20they don't even know she's bought in.
10:22We can't buy a piece of anything to pick up and run with.
10:25Some case of arrested development can walk into a home like this, destroy a human life,
10:29waltz out and leave nothing behind but his memory.
10:31And you can't run a make on that.
10:35We're all tired.
10:36Let's grab something to eat and hit it again first thing in the morning.
10:38You two go ahead.
10:39I'll see you at the office tomorrow.
10:40Wife's holding dinner.
10:41See you in the morning, Joe.
10:42Bill?
10:43Right.
10:44Thanks, Chuck.
10:45Come on, Joe.
10:46Nothing more we can do here tonight.
10:47I'll hang a while longer.
10:48What's bugging you, you're getting that first lecture at the academy.
10:51Yeah, what's that?
10:52The business of not letting yourself get personally involved in a case.
10:55Who says I am?
10:56I do.
10:57I know it's a useless killing.
10:58They all are.
10:59I know we haven't got eight cents to go on.
11:01We seldom do.
11:02But don't let this one eat at you, Joe.
11:05Here are the car keys.
11:06I'll catch a ride with Higby.
11:08Thanks, Bill.
11:09Smoke a cigarette and go home.
11:22When a man signs on the job, a lot of things come with the badge.
11:26The risk, the pay, the hours he works.
11:29One thing that isn't regulation issue is personal feelings.
11:33There's no way of regulating an officer's thoughts when he's on an investigation.
11:37He becomes hardened to the sight of a dead human being, to the grotesque, the hideous,
11:41to man's inhumanity, his almost casual ability to murder, to take another's life.
11:46Once in a great while, an officer's knees bend.
11:49If they buckle, he's been on the job too long.
11:53Reiko Hashimoto was dead.
11:54It was our job to find who made her that way.
11:57Bill was right.
11:58I smoked the cigarette and went home.
12:11Wednesday, August 17th, 8, 10 a.m.
12:13Bill and I reported to the coroner's office for the post-mortem on Reiko Hashimoto.
12:17Victim been dead approximately five hours before discovery.
12:20Yeah.
12:20She'd been sexually molested.
12:21Killer didn't have to worry about the shot in her heart.
12:23Just the one that did it.
12:24Yeah, the other one was no vitamin pill.
12:298.35 a.m.
12:31We took the slug the coroner had recovered from the victim's head to SID, ballistic section.
12:36Ray Murray placed it under the comparison microscope along with the slug we had recovered from under the Hashimoto home.
12:43Hey, check. They were fired from the same weapon.
12:45What's the caliber, Ray?
12:47255 grains, .45 caliber revolver.
12:49Big gun.
12:50Yeah, for such a tiny target.
12:569 a.m.
12:56We met with Captain Hugh Brown in the homicide squad room.
12:59The two slugs match up and that's it, huh?
13:01That's it.
13:02You sure about the general location on that Watanabe woman, Hashimoto girl's mother?
13:06Yes, sir.
13:06Mrs. Pound says she lives somewhere down around Little Tokyo.
13:09If she does, she's rolled up tighter than the fortune cookie.
13:12We can't find her.
13:13Well, the story made all the papers this morning.
13:14If she reads them, she'll know about it.
13:16How about your callbacks?
13:17Last night when you made your house to house.
13:18Everybody home?
13:19No, sir.
13:20Three houses were dark in the Hashimoto block.
13:22Thought we'd tag them now.
13:23Get to it.
13:24We got to turn somebody else who can tell us how this woman lived.
13:26Being a widow and attractive.
13:28Good chance she might have had men in her life.
13:30Maybe one of them rang her doorbell with a .45.
13:32My guess is no.
13:34Well, let's find out anyway.
13:35Yes, sir.
13:36And Friday?
13:36Yes, sir.
13:37Let's ease off on the hours you and Gannon have been putting in.
13:39I want to get the bum who did it just as much as you two.
13:42I also want to see you on the job.
13:44Get your rest.
13:44I'll admit this is one that's liable to keep me awake nights.
13:48They all do me.
13:5510.20 a.m.
13:56Bill and I returned to West Garden Street to check the three houses where there was no answer the night
14:00before.
14:01Two of the places said they didn't know Reiko Hashimoto and had nothing unusual to report.
14:05We tried the third and last home on the block.
14:09I heard the entire story on the news.
14:12It was his will, of course.
14:14Whose will, ma'am?
14:15Our Heavenly Shepherd.
14:16When he summons his flock, we must respond.
14:18Yes, ma'am.
14:19I wonder if we could have your full name, please.
14:21Sister Agatha Edney.
14:22E-D-N-E-Y.
14:24The Reverend Anointed Goodlang of the flock of our Heavenly Shepherd Tabernacle of the Angels will vouch for me.
14:30Well, there's nothing to be vouched for, Miss Edney.
14:32We just want a little information.
14:34About my little departed Japanese neighbor.
14:37Yes, ma'am.
14:37Were you home yesterday morning?
14:39I was.
14:40Until nine.
14:40You left the house at nine?
14:42Tuesday Bible class begins at 9.30.
14:44I do not drive a car.
14:45I walk.
14:46I see.
14:46What time did you return home?
14:48Midnight.
14:49I stayed for the church social and supper.
14:51When was the last time you saw Mrs. Hashimoto, ma'am?
14:53Well, I can't say.
14:55I seldom saw her.
14:56She's not church people.
14:57Can you tell us anything at all about Mrs. Hashimoto?
15:00Did you ever see any visitors come to her house?
15:01Anything like that?
15:02I rarely go outside of my home and then not to spy.
15:06Spying is the work of the devil.
15:08Yes, ma'am.
15:09Does anyone else live here?
15:10Oh, yes.
15:11Who would that be, ma'am?
15:12Our Heavenly Shepherd dwells in the house of all who believe.
15:2511.05 a.m.
15:27We began a store-to-store check on all places of business in the small shopping center in
15:31the West Garden District.
15:32It netted us nothing.
15:34Noon.
15:35Bill and I began questioning people who passed by the Hashimoto home.
15:39We talked to the mailman, the milkman, the paperboy.
15:41We talked to anyone who'd talked to us.
15:43So far, the results were all negative.
15:453.30 p.m.
15:47Oh, yes.
15:47A lovely woman.
15:48I used to see her once in a while doing her gardening.
15:50Yes, ma'am.
15:51I'm sorry I can't help you.
15:53Poor little thing.
15:54Well, thanks anyway.
15:55Yes.
15:58Beginning to look hopeless.
16:00Yeah.
16:00How many does that make?
16:01Fifty-three.
16:03Another woman.
16:03You want to take her?
16:04Yeah.
16:07Police officer, ma'am.
16:08Am I under arrest?
16:09No, ma'am.
16:09I just want to ask you a few questions.
16:11I'm not under arrest?
16:11No, ma'am.
16:12I live at 1255 Wallace Street.
16:14My husband gets home from work at 6.
16:16Yes, ma'am.
16:16You talk to him.
16:23Monday, August 29th, 12.05 p.m.
16:25We kept at it for 12 days, watching, waiting.
16:28We didn't know exactly what we were watching for.
16:30Maybe just a break.
16:31Anything that might shed some light on whoever murdered Riko Hashimoto.
16:36You sure you don't want this last hot dog?
16:38No, thanks. You go ahead.
16:39You think I should?
16:40Why not?
16:41I've had four.
16:57No.
16:58I see it.
16:59The ladder.
17:02The woman he'd be talked to, what was her name, Cordell?
17:05Lurleen Cordell, 908 South Wallace.
17:07That's three minutes from here.
17:08I'll see if I can make it in two.
17:32I'll see if I can make it in two.
17:37We waited.
17:38Thirty minutes went by.
17:44I'd never forget that face in a million years.
17:47That's him.
17:55Police officers, hold it right there.
17:57You're under arrest.
17:57What for?
17:58Forcible rape.
17:59All right, get him up there.
18:00All right, get him up there.
18:02The suspect identified himself as Ben Roy Yoder.
18:06He was advised of his constitutional rights.
18:08We asked that a black and white unit take him downtown.
18:11Bill drove Lurleen Cordell back to her home.
18:13I went to the Edney home to again talk to Agatha Edney.
18:16It was his will, and his will will be done.
18:19How long has Yoder lived here?
18:20Three years now.
18:21Why didn't you tell us before he lived here?
18:23Ben Roy is my sister's boy.
18:25He is fighting the devil.
18:26He is on parole.
18:27He said he is always under suspicion by the police,
18:30so he hid to keep fighting the devil.
18:33Kind of looks like he lost, doesn't he?
18:413.30 p.m., Ben Roy Yoder was booked under Section 2613PC.
18:46Forcible rape.
18:47We still had nothing to connect Yoder with the murder of Reiko Hashimoto,
18:51but because of the proximity of the Edney home to the Hashimoto home and his M.O.,
18:55Yoder looked like a good bet.
18:585 p.m., a search warrant was obtained,
19:01and along with Detectives Hanson, Alexander, Higbee, and Petrovich,
19:04Bill and I drove out to the Edney home to search for the murder weapon.
19:085.18 p.m., we laid out plans for the search of the Edney home.
19:12Higbee, you and Alexander take the garage in the truck, okay?
19:15Right.
19:16Hanson, you take the bedrooms.
19:17Don, how about the kitchen for you?
19:19You want to check the bathroom?
19:20I'll work the living room.
19:21Right.
19:21This is not a den of thieves to be searched.
19:24We'll try not to upset things any more than we have to, Miss Edney.
19:26I shall pray, officer.
19:28Yes, ma'am.
19:29Not for you.
19:30For Ben Roy.
19:367.32 p.m., we searched the entire premises three times.
19:40Each time around, we'd switch search areas.
19:42Each officer would take a different room than he had the time before.
19:46Ten pounds of air, Joe.
19:47All right.
19:48Again.
19:48This time, I'll take the kitchen.
19:50Each man alternate with his partner again.
19:52I'll work the bathroom again.
19:53I'll take Yoder's bedroom.
19:54You men are the devil's disciples.
19:57Yes, ma'am.
19:58You men know no bounds.
20:00You would search a heavenly temple, wouldn't you?
20:02Yes, ma'am.
20:03If we thought there was a murder gun in it.
20:10Joe.
20:11In here.
20:16Missed it before.
20:17False bottom in the drawer.
20:18Found it underneath in this torn paper bag.
20:2245 caliber revolver.
20:25Been fired recently.
20:27You know, if you could cook, I'd marry you.
20:32Tuesday, August 30th, 6 p.m.
20:35Death bullets came from this weapon.
20:36Striations match perfectly.
20:38This is the gun that killed the little Japanese girl.
20:40Looked like it was wiped clean.
20:42How do we tie it to Yoder?
20:43I did that for you, too.
20:45Ran the paper sack through the anhydrine process.
20:47Lifted several good prints.
20:48They belong to Yoder.
20:49Thanks, Ray.
20:50Joe.
20:52It's been a real pleasure doing business with you on this one.
21:016.10 p.m.
21:02Bill and I went downstairs to Homicide to check out for the day.
21:05Righty, Gannon.
21:06Yes, Gilbert.
21:07Just got a call ten minutes ago.
21:08Should interest you.
21:09Yes, sir.
21:09She's out at the Hashimoto house.
21:11Asked if you'd drop by for a minute.
21:12Who's that?
21:13Hashimoto woman's mother, Mrs. Watanabe.
21:186.35 p.m.
21:20Bill and I drove out to 1104 West Garden Street.
21:24Mrs. Watanabe showed us into the garden in back of the Hashimoto house.
21:29I am so happy you could come.
21:31It is for Miko.
21:32Yes, ma'am.
21:33I have prepared green tea and rice crackers.
21:36Miko, please take the tea.
21:40This is Rayko's daughter, Miko.
21:51Thank you, Miko.
21:52Mrs. Watanabe.
21:53No, thank you.
21:54The reason I did not call you before is I did not know of my daughter's dying.
22:00Miko and me, we were staying with friends on a farm in Pure Valley.
22:04I finally read Ravishimbo, Japanese paper, and I learned of my sadness.
22:10Yes, ma'am.
22:12Mrs. Watanabe, we'd like you to know we believe we've caught the man that killed your daughter.
22:15Oh, so quick.
22:17You have man in prison.
22:19Why would he want my daughter's life?
22:21We don't know, Mrs. Watanabe.
22:23Some men just kill.
22:25Oh, yes.
22:26In Japan, we have same, but not so many.
22:30Yes, ma'am.
22:31Miko, she has a gift for you.
22:33She know you work hard to find the man who took her mother's life.
22:37Miko, take the gift of your family.
22:40Yes, ma'am.
22:45Very nice tea, Mrs. Watanabe.
22:48I'm so happy you like it.
22:49It is from Japan.
23:08She said it is her most favorite doll.
23:10Her name is Princess Michiko.
23:13She wishes for you to have it.
23:15Mrs. Watanabe, you don't have to give us anything.
23:17We're not allowed to accept gifts.
23:19Or the child will be disappointed if you do not take it.
23:27Please tell her thank you.
23:29Tell her just the thought is enough.
23:30Is it not a good enough doll?
23:32You tell her just like her mistress.
23:35Yes.
23:36Princess Michiko is a living doll.
23:53The story you have just seen is true.
23:56The names were changed to protect the innocent.
24:00On November 20th, trial was held in Department 185,
24:04Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles.
24:08In a moment, the results of that trial.
24:14The suspect was found guilty of murder in the first degree.
24:18Murder in the first degree is punishable by death,
24:20Or confinement in the state prison for life.
24:28Or confinement in the state prison for life.
24:31THE END
25:06THE END
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