Melinda Miles

Originally Aired: March 5, 1961 Gunsmoke #465, "Melinda Miles," presents Marshal Matt Dillon with a troubling murder case that points to a young man courting against impossible odds. Tom Potter is struggling to win the approval of Melinda Miles and her father Paul, who fired Tom and clearly wants him out of his daughter's life. When Tom loses his entire stake in a poker game to Roy Taylor, Paul Miles' right-hand man who seems to enjoy antagonizing him, tensions run high. That same night, Roy Taylor is found murdered and robbed in an alley, and the circumstantial evidence pointing to Tom looks damning. Matt faces pressure from the grief-stricken Paul Miles, who's convinced Tom is the killer and threatens to handle justice himself. Melinda provides Tom with an alibi, claiming he was with her at the Miles ranch at the time of the murder, but her father refuses to believe her. When Matt discovers Tom buying an expensive ring the morning after the murder with exactly the amount of money stolen from Taylor, the young man's explanation seems conveniently unprovable. Matt must untangle a web of romantic rivalry, family loyalty, and conflicting testimonies to discover the truth before Miles takes the law into his own hands.