The Big Odd

Originally Aired: December 1, 1953

Dragnet #224, "The Big Odd," Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Frank Smith investigate a brutal truck hijacking that leaves driver Russell Gilmore beaten and hospitalized. The case is part of a larger pattern—14 loaded trucks have been stolen by an organized gang operating in Los Angeles. Friday and Smith visit Gilmore at County Hospital Ward 419, where the victim, still recovering from his ordeal, recounts his terrifying experience. Two armed men were waiting in his cab when he returned from a coffee break, forced him to drive to an alley, then locked him in the back of his own truck. After a twenty-minute drive, the hijackers unloaded the furniture at what Gilmore believes was a garage near Rosecrans and Avalon, then viciously beat him unconscious.

Despite his injuries, Gilmore provides crucial details: one suspect was called "Leo," the truck scraped against a house and bumped a car while backing up a steep ramp, and he heard a woman's voice at the location. He also claims his knowledge of phrenology—reading the bumps on people's heads—told him the criminals had "real criminal heads." As Friday and Smith head to the crime lab to examine paint chips found on the truck, they begin piecing together clues to track down the dangerous hijacking ring.

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