The Big Cliff

Originally Aired: June 28, 1951 Dragnet #107, "The Big Cliff," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero investigate the mysterious death of Gertrude Turner, an elderly woman found dead on the floor of her shabby hotel room. Her husband, Mr. Turner, discovered her body when he woke up one morning and reached across the bed to find her gone. He found her lying on the floor beside the bed, ice cold, with a slight bruise on her forehead. With no apparent cause of death and no doctor in attendance, Friday and Romero must wait for the coroner's autopsy results while they question the grieving widower. As Friday gently interviews the devastated Mr. Turner, a portrait emerges of a seemingly happy couple who had only been married less than a year. The elderly newlyweds had moved to Los Angeles from Indiana just months earlier and were looking forward to celebrating Gertrude's upcoming name day. Turner insists his wife had no enemies, no health problems beyond occasional headaches, and no reason to take her own life. The investigation hinges on discovering what really happened in that hotel room during the night.