Original subtitles

This is the city, Los Angeles, California.

The engineers are already laying out the freeways

they'll be driving on 20 years from now,

and it looks like we're gonna need 'em.

There's just about everything here

a youngster could want: parks, and playgrounds,

sunshine, plenty of space,

and the whole Pacific Ocean.

We have good schools, when they're old enough,

and fine medical facilities, if they need them.

But here, as anywhere else, children can get into trouble,

because they don't know any better,

or trouble can come to them,

because they're weak and innocent

and an attractive target.

When that happens, then it's my job.

I carry a badge.

It was Monday, May 8th.

It was warm in Los Angeles.

We were working the day watch out of Juvenile Division.

The boss is Captain Jack Morris.

My partner's Bill Gannon.

My name's Friday.

We were on our way back to the office,

when a call came in over the air.

Two young girls, ages 3 and 5,

had been reported missing from their home

at 209 Bethel Street in North Hollywood.

We had to try and find them.

The story you are about to see is true.

The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

We've already made both missing reports

and broadcast a full description to all units.

- Yeah. - The mother's alone in there.

Name's Mrs. Stanley.

The girls are Diane and Virginia.

Mother missed them about an hour ago.

She left them playing out here on the front lawn.

You want to give us a description?

Diane's 5.

Ginny's 3 years and 4 months.

Ginny's what her mother calls her.

Both blonde, blue eyes, fair complexion.

Both were wearing cotton play dresses.

Diane's was blue and Ginny's pink.

- You search the house? - Top to bottom.

We're starting to check the other places.

What about that house for sale across the street.

- Is it empty? - And locked.

The real estate agent is on his way over to let us in.

When did Mrs. Stanley last see the children?

Quarter of 4, maybe 20 of 4.

When did she notice they were gone?

4:00 exactly.

She went outside to call 'em in to look at a TV show.

She start looking for 'em right away?

She called them, and then looked up and down the street,

then got in her car and drove all around the neighborhood.

No sign of 'em.

How far could two little girls get in 20 minutes?

Well, you'd be surprised, Joe.

The lawn needs mowing,

my kids can disappear in a split second.

Funny woman, Mrs. Stanley.

- How's that? - To listen to her, you'd think

there was a regular iron curtain around this block.

What do you mean?

He swears her kids wouldn't cross the street

unless she was right with them.

Yeah, well, there's another possibility.

The mother says they were taught

never to talk to strangers.

Well, they were playing pretty close to the curb here.

Maybe there wasn't any talk.

The father been notified?

He might give us another slant on the girls.

- No, they're divorced. - Yeah?

Mrs. Stanley says if we don't find them on this block,

then he's taken 'em.

- Where's he live? - She doesn't know.

When we left her, she was trying to get her lawyer

on the telephone to get her ex-husband's address.

Right.

- Are you police officers, too? - Yes, ma'am.

Well, would you tell Marian, uh, Mrs. Stanley,

I'll come sit with her when you're finished.

She shouldn't be alone.

Tell her Grace Bonney said, will ya?

Yes, ma'am.

- Yes? - Mrs. Stanley?

- Yes. - We're police officers.

- Have you found them? - No, ma'am, not yet.

May we come in?

There are two policemen looking for my girls right now.

Yes, ma'am, we talked to them.

I already told them what happened.

Have your girls ever disappeared before, Mrs. Stanley?

No, they haven't.

My kids are older now,

but they gave us some bad moments.

Kids lose track of time, wander off,

forget where they are.

No, if they're not somewhere in this block,

then they're with my ex-husband.

It has to be that.

They wouldn't talk to a stranger, take candy.

Do you have Mr. Stanley's address?

No. I can't reach my lawyer.

Got a number from his secretary,

but Bert isn't there anymore.

He's moved, and they don't know where he is.

Do the children have a dog?

No, why?

Well, sometimes you find one, you find the other.

There's no dog.

Does Mr. Stanley come to see the children often?

No.

- By choice? - By choice?

Well, because he doesn't want to,

or doesn't he have visitation rights?

He's not allowed to see them.

The judge made that very clear.

I have a restraining order.

I can have him arrested if he tries.

When was your divorce final?

A year and almost three months.

Well, now, in that time,

did he ever try to see the children?

He used to call asking if he could.

How recently?

He stopped finally.

When was that?

A year, I don't remember exactly.

I'm sure it's almost a year since he called.

Does he pay child support?

Yes.

- Alimony? - Yes.

- On time? - Now he does.

- How do you mean? - He didn't at first.

I had to go back to court,

and then the payments began coming regularly.

I guess he must've found a job he could hang onto.

I don't know how. He didn't when we were married.

Why was that?

He's a drunk, a terrible drunk.

What bank are your alimony checks drawn on?

United American.

- What branch? - I don't remember.

Well, the bank name's enough.

May I use your phone, Mrs. Stanley?

Yes. Oh, it's in the kitchen.

Uh, this way?

Yes. I'll go with you.

Oh, that's all right. Thank you.

Now, try to take it easy, Mrs. Stanley.

We'll get his address.

Did the little girls ever express any desire

to see their father?

No, they understand.

- They do? - Yes.

Well, if he were to drive by the house

and stop and talk to them, would they leave with him?

They'd be polite, but that's all.

Well, would they go with him, if he asked them to?

I don't know what you mean.

I've told them how I feel about their father.

They understand.

Have they ever told you how they feel about him?

They're too young to know.

If he took them, he may have broken the law,

but they're not in any danger.

If he's drunk?

And he'd have to be to dare to take them.

He's not allowed.

There's a court order against it.

You could arrest him.

- Yes, ma'am. - For kidnapping!

No, not quite.

Technically, it would be child stealing.

If he's got them, what's the difference?

- A big one. - Yes?

He's their father.

It was 5:29 p.m.

The real estate agent took us

through that house for sale: nothing.

Call North Hollywood. Get as many additional units

out here as they can spare, will ya?

We're on our way to check out the husband.

- Right, Sergeant. - We're near the railroad yards, aren't we?

Four blocks south of here.

Mrs. Stanley swears her kids won't cross the street.

Well, there's always a first time, Reed.

Be a million places to hide in the railroad yards.

We've got the time. Let's check 'em.

Stanley lives at 1008 York Street, apartment 14.

That's about ten minutes from here.

- Where's he work? - Salesman

for the United Plywood Company, 13th and Main, downtown L.A.

- Yeah. - He didn't show for work today.

- Oh? - Called the office

this morning, said he was sick.

5:40 p.m. Because of the late hour

and the ages of the missing girls,

the North Hollywood Division watch commander

said he would contact both Van Nuys

and Foothill Divisions for assistance.

The Juvenile watch commander said he would dispatch

at least one more unit immediately.

We found the apartment house where Bert Stanley lived,

5:50 p.m.

Yeah? Who is it?

Police officers. We'd like to talk to you.

Uh, just a minute.

- Bert Stanley? - That's right.

Police officers. My name's Gannon.

This is Sergeant Friday.

What's the trouble? All right if we come in?

It's sort of a mess, but...

Do you mind if we look around?

It's all right with me. I've got nothing to hide.

Have you seen your two children today?

Today?

I haven't seen Diane and Virginia in over a year.

Well, no, one day about six months ago,

I drove by the house and saw them out in the yard.

Did they see you?

No, they were playing with a little dog.

It's real nice of Marian,

finally letting them have a dog.

See them? What do you mean?

What's this all about? Something happen to the girls?

Your ex-wife has reported them missing.

Missing? For how long?

Since 4:00 this afternoon.

What could've happened?

That's what we're trying to find out.

Now, have you been out of your apartment today?

No, I've been too sick, been in bed,

some sort of flu bug.

Doctor said it might be the 24-hour kind.

Yeah.

I don't like to lose time from work.

He gave me something to settle my stomach,

shot me full of antibiotics.

No one's seen the girls since 4:00?

No one we've checked with so far.

And Marian thought I might've taken them.

Well, it came up.

She must've said some bad things about me.

They're true, of course.

Is that right?

I'm an alcoholic.

The judge was right about me not seeing the kids.

I know that now, but in another two months,

I'm going to court again. I've set a goal for myself.

Two more months.

You on the wagon, are you?

I don't call it that.

I'm an alcoholic, pure and simple,

but I don't drink anymore.

On the wagon implies that I expect to drink again,

but I can't. I know it's a disease.

There's no cure, no such thing

as becoming a normal drinker, so I don't drink.

I don't take that first drink.

In two months, I'll be a year sober.

- Program works. - Program?

AA. I'm with it, and I'm gonna stay with it.

Something's happened to my kids,

I don't know what I'll do.

What's being done?

Checking you out is one of the things.

Yeah, but we've gotta look for them.

We've gotta find them.

Are you going back to Marian's house?

Do you have a car?

It's at the garage for a six-month service job.

I called them to come get it this morning

when I knew I couldn't go to work.

All right, we'll give you a ride out to the house.

Is their dog missing, too?

You know, the girls always wanted a puppy.

That time I saw them in the yard

playing with the dog, it made me feel good, you know?

Marian's a real bug on keeping a clean house,

but maybe once I got out of there,

a dog didn't seem so bad.

Your children don't have a dog, Mr. Stanley.

- We asked. - Oh.

Well, Marian's got a thing about germs, too.

Is that right?

I guess she hasn't changed much.

6:30 p.m. We dropped Bert Stanley off

at his former home.

At the same time, we obtained four snapshots

of Diane and Ginny,

taken within the last three months.

Sergeant Leonard Simeon came out with a unit

from Central Juvenile to coordinate the search.

Because of the number of undesirables

known to frequent the railroad yards,

he agreed that the yards should be covered

as quickly as possible.

Two additional units went to assist the men already there.

The remaining units were assigned search areas

in the residential blocks around the Stanley home.

In all, seven units were involved.

This included the detective unit

from North Hollywood Division

and two men working the day watch

out of Central Juvenile.

Some of the Stanley neighbors offered to join in the search.

6:58 p.m. Bill and I took the 700 block on Elm.

We searched it thoroughly.

We questioned anyone who might've seen the girls.

No one had.

We repeated the process in the 800 block.

We checked everywhere two small children were likely to be.

Youngsters that age are particularly attracted

to places they can crawl under

or get into and hide.

What do you think you're doing?

Police officers.

- Oh. - What's your name?

George Selfridge.

You still don't have the right to just barge in.

This is private property.

A couple of little girls are missing.

We're looking for them.

Well, they're not around here.

This your refrigerator?

What about it?

It's a misdemeanor to leave a refrigerator

so it can be closed and not opened again from the inside.

Well, I didn't know that.

A kid climbs into one, closes the door,

can't get out again, suffocates.

It only takes a few minutes.

You read about it all the time. Yeah, yeah.

You'll have to dismantle the latch

or take the door off altogether.

Now, if you prefer, we'll do it for you.

Nah, I'll take care of it.

Now!

I'm eating dinner! I said I'd take care of it!

We'll be back in 15 minutes.

What's the rush? I mean, what are the chances

a kid's gonna climb in there?

One in 10,000?

A lot of people figure it that way.

So there you are.

That's how the kids get killed.

We searched the rest of the block

and the adjoining playground.

There was no sign of the two little girls.

We checked back at the Selfridge garage.

The refrigerator had been dismantled.

7:30 p.m. We returned to the Stanley house.

Sergeant.

Picked up a friend of yours at the railroad yards.

Hello, Sergeant, Gannon.

Vernon Hale, isn't it?

G. Vernon Hale, Jr.

We handled Vernon a couple of years ago.

We told him his rights. He asked for you.

Wouldn't talk to anybody else.

I know you. New people make me nervous.

He took a little girl down to the culvert,

beat her pretty bad, fractured her cheekbone,

a couple of ribs, knocked out some of her teeth.

You're a tiger, aren't you, Vernon?

I don't know what come over me,

and it was just that one time.

Where'd you get those scratches on your face?

We had to tackle him.

He tried to take off running, as soon as we stopped him.

What were you running for?

I felt like it.

A citizen's got a right to run if he wants to.

I might take it into my head to run some right now.

I wouldn't, if I were you.

Couple of cops come up to me, only means one thing.

Something's happened to a kid.

That's right. You've got the track record.

I don't know anything about it.

I didn't do it! It was just that one time.

What were you doing between 3:30 and 5:30 today?

I was laying up down there by the yards,

right where they found me.

- Yeah? - That's the truth.

Did you see anybody, talk to anybody?

Like who? Like a couple of little girls.

No, I did not!

That's all you were doing this afternoon,

just lying around, huh?

- That's right. - Can you prove it?

I thought you fellas were gonna treat me right.

I ain't gonna talk to you no more.

We shook him down. He was clean.

Well, we'd better hang onto him.

Wait a minute! There was this yard cop.

He walked by two, three times looking at me,

but I wasn't really on the yard property,

so there wasn't nothing he could do.

- All right. - He'll tell ya.

We'll hold you until we check with that railroad officer.

That ain't fair! I'm clean!

I did my time, and that ought to make me even!

You got no right! Just forget me!

- What about that little girl? - What about her?

When do you think she's gonna forget you?

Bill and I went back into the house

to tell the Stanleys what was being done

to find their little girls.

- No sign of them? - Not yet.

We're doing everything we can, Mrs. Stanley.

You can't watch them every living second of the day, Bert!

I try, but you just can't!

You keep saying that. Now don't.

- I told you how careful I am. - Yes, ma'am.

And how they understand what I've taught them.

That's right.

If children can't play in their own front lawns

and be safe... On their own lawns!

I did look out just five, ten minutes before.

I know what a good mother you are,

so you don't have to defend yourself to anybody.

Something terrible's happened to them.

I know it. So do you.

That's not true, and no, we don't, ma'am.

It couldn't be anything else.

They've been gone over four hours now.

It's getting cold out, isn't it?

A little.

It's going to be dark soon.

It'll be light for another hour or so.

When the sun goes down, it gets cold.

It does that in California. They're not dressed for it.

They'll be getting hungry, too. It's past their mealtime.

I try to run things on a schedule now, Bert.

Yeah.

That's important for children.

You're the one with children.

That's right, ma'am.

Don't you agree about keeping them on a schedule?

Well, it's a good idea, sure.

Of course, the kids sometimes have different ideas.

I pray to God they're hungry!

Pardon?

That'll mean they're still alive!

7:40 p.m.

We continued talking to Bert and Marian Stanley.

No, no salesmen.

No one came to the door at all this afternoon.

Would you like some coffee, Marian?

I'll make some.

Coffee? You never made coffee.

I do these days.

You do?

It's all I drink.

Since when?

In two months, it'll be a year, Marian.

I've been trying to earn the right to see my girls again.

It's a little late.

You were always drunk when you called me to see them.

Always that dog business.

You knew I didn't want them to have a dog.

I know, but that's past.

That dog you were telling us about.

- What? - I was telling the officers about the dog

I saw the kids with when I drove by once.

Is there a dog in the neighborhood here

that they play with?

They know how I feel about animals in the house,

germs, tracking in dirt, shedding, all those things.

That may not stop them from playing with dogs.

The Bonneys had a gray poodle they let run loose

until I complained about it.

It wasn't a poodle I saw them with.

Oh, I don't know what dog, then.

My kids were always bringing home strays.

The neighbors used to call our house the city pound.

Maybe it was that Edna Felton's dog.

What's the difference?

- Edna Felton? - I remember her.

Do we have her name on the list of neighbors?

She moved out after her father died.

It's that house that's for sale across the street.

I remember.

She works in a bar as a cocktail waitress.

I was sorry when her father died,

but I wasn't sorry when she moved.

She was a very bad influence on Diane and Ginny.

Bad? How?

Just bad, that's all.

Every time the kids would come home with some silly notion,

I'd know right away where they got it from.

I suppose that sounds picky, but it's true.

What kind of a notion?

You wouldn't understand. She was spoiling them rotten.

I'd tell them one thing,

and she'd tell them something else.

I had to put a stop to it, that's all.

How do you mean?

They were not permitted to go to her house anymore.

When was this? A couple of months ago,

before she put the house on the market.

Do you know where she lives now?

No, I don't. Why?

You said she worked in a bar.

Jimmy Lindy's Bar.

It's on the corner of Chandler and Ventura,

about a mile from here.

What's this got to do with the girls?

Maybe nothing, but it's better than standing still.

We knew it was an outside chance

that the two little girls could've found their way

alone to a location a mile from their own home,

but it was all we had to go on.

We drove over to Jimmy Lindy's Bar.

8:10 p.m. We talked to Edna Felton.

You're sure checking out the long shots, aren't you?

It's about all we have.

Did the girls know where you worked?

No. Oh, I mean, I don't think so.

Diane... she's the oldest one...

She's a real bright little girl.

I suppose, if she overheard the name of the place,

she'd remember.

They liked you, didn't they?

I liked them. I'm not married.

I had a father to take care of and everything.

What I'm saying is I don't know kids real well,

and those two, they give me a real kick, you know?

They were so serious about everything.

I had to laugh.

I don't imagine you heard too many kind words about me

from Marian Stanley.

We wouldn't know about that, ma'am.

Yeah, well, I don't want to say she was wrong.

I don't want to say anything mean about her now.

She's gotta be dying.

Those two little girls, they're her whole life.

Like I said, I don't know kids real well,

and who am I to say she was wrong?

When did you last see them?

Oh, gee, let me think.

Uh, oh, not since I put the house up for sale.

That was about two months ago.

My dad left it to me, but I don't need a place that big.

Of course, Mrs. Stanley put a stop to them

coming to visit me before then.

She was wrong about Missy, though.

I will say that.

- Missy? - My dog.

I keep her cleaner than a lot of people keep their children.

- Boy, that's funny. - What's that?

I've been half worried out of my mind all afternoon,

since I've come to work, about my dog,

and here's a woman doesn't know where her kids are.

Doesn't make sense, does it?

Something happen to your dog?

She got out.

I've got this ground floor apartment with a little patio,

and that darn gate was open, and she got out.

I've got a tag on her with her address and everything,

if someone found her.

I'm just hoping she's come back, when I get back from work.

Where is your apartment?

On Myrtle Street, 113 Myrtle Street.

Is that near where you used to live?

Five blocks.

Myrtle Street runs parallel to Bethel, east.

What's your apartment number?

12. You going there?

Yes, ma'am, we'd like to, if it's all right with you?

Well, of course. Take a look inside, will you?

- I can't get away right now. - You'll give us the key?

You don't need a key. I left the sliding door open,

and a nightlight on in the living room.

Oh?

Well, in case Missy comes home.

9:35 p.m.

As far as we could piece out the story from the two girls,

Edna Felton's dog must've strayed back here

to her old neighborhood.

Your little girls started to play with the dog

and then followed her back to the Felton woman's apartment.

Sorry we took so long getting them back to you,

after we called.

We had to have Miss Felton come to the apartment.

The dog wouldn't let us near the girls.

Wouldn't let you near them?

No, ma'am.

You know, a dog's kind of a nice thing

to have around with kids.

So's a father.

The court, after hearing testimony

from both Bert and Marian Stanley,

modified the original order so that Bert Stanley would,

in the future, have reasonable visitation rights

with his two daughters.