The Big Overtime

Originally Aired: December 13, 1951 Dragnet #131, "The Big Overtime," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero face a desperate race against time when 22-year-old Judith Sullivan is abducted from her business school. The kidnapper, posing as a family friend, lures the young woman away by claiming her father is dying. That night, her family receives a chilling letter signed "The Wolf," demanding $30,000 for her safe return. Chief of Detectives Thad Brown coordinates the response as Friday and Romero work through the early morning hours to catch the abductor before it's too late. When a second note arrives directing banker Martin Sullivan to meet the kidnapper at Elysian Park at 5 a.m., Friday and Romero hide themselves in the trunk of Sullivan's car for the rendezvous. But the cunning criminal fails to show, instead calling to raise his ransom demand to $50,000 and taunting that he knows the police are involved. With more than sixteen hours elapsed since Judith's disappearance and the kidnapper growing bolder, the homicide detectives must find a way to outsmart "The Wolf" before he makes good on his deadly threats.