The Big Cast

Originally Aired: February 8, 1951 Dragnet #87, "The Big Cast," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero are assigned to a perplexing homicide case. Twelve men have vanished without a trace over a short period, and after four months of investigation, they finally track down their prime suspect: Henry Osworth Ross, a hot-tempered longshoreman living in a shabby rooming house. When Friday and Romero arrive to question him, Ross mistakes them for enemies from a bar fight and violently resists before realizing they're actually police officers. Back at headquarters, Friday and Romero interrogate Ross about one of the missing men, Paul Davis, who disappeared while driving to a new job. The detectives have evidence linking Ross to Davis's abandoned car, including forged signatures on the vehicle's pink slip and a suspicious letter—all in Ross's handwriting according to their experts. Despite the mounting evidence, Ross calmly denies everything, insisting he barely knows anyone named Davis and claiming someone must have copied his handwriting. As Ross sits casually scraping calluses from his hand, Friday and Romero face the challenge of breaking through his story to uncover what really happened to the dozen missing men.