The Big Frame: Truth Buried in the Gutter

In this gripping episode of Dragnet, Sergeant Joe Friday and Ben Romero tackle a supposed hit-and-run that turns out to be a calculated murder cloaked in tire tracks and silence. The body of Edward Raymond Stokes is found lifeless in the street, and the only evidence at first is a set of worn skid marks. But the clues don’t add up—and neither do the witness stories.

The case unravels slowly as Friday and Romero encounter a wall of silence from patrons of the Brown Barrel Tavern, where Stokes was last seen. Even his common-law wife, Marion Fuller, remembers nothing of value—claiming she passed out in a stranger's car and woke up at home. But the forensics raise suspicion: the injuries don’t match a hit-and-run, and the skid marks are older than the death.

Bit by bit, the truth surfaces. A reluctant witness remembers a drunken man warning of a fight. A local butcher hears whispers of a murder. And eventually, a trail of misinformation leads to Carl Janson, the bar’s owner, who admits there was indeed a cover-up—designed to protect his business from scandal.

The real killer is identified as Henry Baxter, a seaman with a violent temper and a grudge. In a dramatic arrest at a nightclub, he confesses proudly to the murder, thinking he got away with it. But Dragnet’s detectives—like the truth—never rest.

A stark look at how lies pile up to bury justice, The Big Frame is a powerful study in persistence, policework, and the thin line between negligence and conspiracy.

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Cast: Jack Webb (Joe Friday), Barton Yarborough (Ben Romero), with supporting performances by Harry Bartell, Herb Butterfield, and others from the Dragnet radio company.

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