The Big Will

Originally Aired: June 7, 1953

Dragnet #207, "The Big Will," Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Frank Smith respond to a shooting call on a rainy Sunday night in Los Angeles. When they arrive at 1981 East Borendo, they find Charles Stahl, a 55-year-old bachelor, lying unconscious on his kitchen floor with a gunshot wound to the chest. Paul West, Stahl's longtime neighbor and friend of forty years, has been trying desperately to stop the bleeding after hearing what he thought was the sound of trash cans but was actually the gunshot. As Friday and Smith work to gather information, the critically wounded Stahl briefly regains consciousness, but his dying words are cryptic and unhelpful—he only pleads not to be shot again.

With the victim dead within minutes of their arrival and no clear suspect, Friday and Smith begin their methodical investigation. The crime lab finds a .32 caliber revolver under the kitchen stove with one spent cartridge, but gun records turn up nothing. With no fingerprints, no footprints, and only tire tracks in the alley behind the house to go on, the detectives face a challenging case with virtually no leads on who murdered Charles Stahl or why.