The Big Whiff

Originally Aired: June 5, 1952

Dragnet #156, "The Big Whiff," begins when an unidentified woman is found dying in a vacant lot at 7th and Union. Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Frank Smith respond to what appears to be a suicide by chloroform poisoning. The victim, tagged as Jane Doe Number Four, is a well-dressed woman in her mid-thirties wearing expensive jewelry, making suicide seem unlikely. Despite her apparent affluence, she carries no identification, no purse, and no wallet. The only clues are an empty chloroform container and a man's handkerchief found near the body.

As Friday and Smith begin their investigation, the autopsy confirms chloroform poisoning with traces found even in her stomach. With no identification possible through fingerprints or missing persons reports, the case appears to be at a standstill. Then the detectives receive an unexpected phone call from a man named James Mitchell, a currently unemployed steel worker, who claims he killed the woman and wants to come in and talk to them.