This is Your FBI: The Cold Blooded Kidnapper 01/18/1946

Summary

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Podcast Summary:

Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
Episode: This is Your FBI: The Cold Blooded Kidnapper (01/18/1946)
Original Date: December 7, 2025 (rebroadcast)

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Episode Overview

This episode revisits a gripping case from the FBI files, dramatizing the kidnapping of a teenage girl from a modest family by a desperate and remorseless criminal. Rather than sensationalize high-profile cases, the story highlights how every crime, regardless of the victim’s status or the ransom demanded, receives the full attention of the authorities. The drama emphasizes the coordinated efforts of the FBI and local law enforcement to ensure public safety and the rule of law, while serving as both entertainment and a vehicle for postwar public reassurance.

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Key Discussion Points & Episode Breakdown

1. Setting the Scene (03:13–05:29)

• Narration establishes context: The episode opens by framing the kidnapping epidemic as a societal threat, stating, “A crime against any member of society is a crime against the whole of society.” (03:13)
• Introductory setting: We’re placed in rural New England, where the Monroe family struggles in poverty, leading Jed Monroe to concoct a criminal scheme.

2. The Kidnapping Plot Unfolds (05:29–07:24)

• Jed Monroe manipulates Dottie Barnes: Pretending to need help for his ailing wife, he lures high schooler Dottie Barnes into his car under false pretenses.
• Tension escalates:
  • Dottie becomes suspicious: “Excuse me, but Miller street is down the other way.” (06:47)
  • Jed’s response is chilling: “Was this the way I want to go?” (06:52)
• Physical abduction: Dottie’s pleas go ignored; Jed silences her and drives away.

3. Law Enforcement Mobilizes (07:24–09:00)

• Police and FBI coordination: Special Agent Briggs is notified of the kidnapping and quickly puts standard FBI procedure into motion: “Our first consideration is the victim's safe return.” (08:07)
• Briggs and his partner Wade set up an observation post at the family’s home.

4. Life in Captivity and Family Anguish (09:00–11:05)

• Dottie regains consciousness in Monroe’s squalid home, frightened and desperate.
• Clara Monroe’s conflicted role: Armed, she demands her cut of the ransom and keeps Jed at bay, but offers Dottie little comfort: “Don’t get no wrong ideas, miss. It ain’t that I’m sticking up for you.” (10:30)

5. Ransom Demand and Investigation Breakthrough (11:05–13:27)

• Kidnapper’s call: Jed contacts Barnes, demanding $1,000 and threatening his daughter’s life: “If the police are watching, you’ll never see her again, you understand?” (11:41)
• FBI traces call: The call is linked to Drake’s Drugstore—witnesses provide a physical and vehicular description, focusing attention on Monroe.

6. Criminal Escalation & Infighting (13:27–14:40)

• Clara’s fate: Tensions boil; Jed, fearing betrayal, murders his wife in cold blood. “I’m getting you out of my sight for good.” (14:29) — The stakes for Dottie’s survival rise dramatically.
• Jed threatens Dottie: “Now, young lady, if you don't do like I say from now on, same thing will happen to you.” (14:40)

7. The Manhunt (17:35–19:40)

• FBI strategy: The agents release details to the press and spread physical descriptions widely.
• Breakthrough from rural informant: The general store owner recognizes Jed Monroe from the composite sketch: “It can’t be nobody else, but this is a heap better looking than him.” (19:10)
• Agents locate the shack: Inside, they find evidence of Dottie’s captivity and Clara’s body—“One of them didn’t clear out. Look over in the corner...must be Monroe’s wife.” (21:12)

8. Monroe On the Run, Dottie in Peril (21:41–25:19)

• Jed’s menacing calculus: He views Dottie as a “meal ticket,” planning further ransom extortion.
• Dottie resists writing another plea to her father; Jed threatens her: “Better be remembering what happened to my wife, Clara.” (25:08–25:19)

9. Final Confrontation and Rescue (25:19–25:46)

• FBI intervention: Agents arrive in the nick of time.
  • Special Agent Briggs: “My hands are just itching for you to resist.” (25:33)
• Dottie is rescued unharmed.

10. Resolution & Public Reassurance (25:46–28:58)

• Aftermath: Dottie is safely reunited with her family. Jed Monroe is tried and executed for the murder of Clara, as well as held for kidnapping.
• Public Service Message:
  • J. Edgar Hoover’s guidance for families in case of kidnapping:
    • Contact FBI immediately.
    • Keep details private and share only with law enforcement.
    • Preserve all evidence.
    • Remain calm and maintain normal routines.
• Societal note: The episode concludes with a reminder of the public’s role in deterring crime: “With your help, they shall be smashed again.” (27:28)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jed Monroe’s cynicism about work: “A man don’t make no real money working with his hands. He gets it out up here, his head thinking.” (04:49)
• Dottie’s rising fear: “Excuse me, but Miller street is down the other way.” (06:47)
• Special Agent Briggs’ priority: “Our first consideration is the victim's safe return.” (08:07)
• Chilling threat: Jed warns Dottie, “If you do decide to start talking...I'll be doing the same thing to you I done to my old woman.” (22:33)
• On vigilante justice: “My hands are just itching for you to resist.” — Special Agent Briggs during Monroe’s arrest (25:33)
• Public reassurance from the FBI: “You were a vital part of that army which over a decade ago smashed the hordes of kidnappers who preyed on you and members of your families. With your help, they shall be smashed again.” (27:28)

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Important Timestamps

• 03:13: Introduction to the nature of the case and its social significance.
• 05:29–07:24: Dottie’s abduction unfolds.
• 11:07–11:43: The ransom call to Dottie’s father.
• 13:39–14:40: Jed murders his wife to eliminate loose ends.
• 17:35–19:15: FBI receives key lead identifying Monroe.
• 21:12: Agents discover Clara’s body.
• 25:19–25:46: Final confrontation and Dottie’s rescue.
• 26:08–28:58: Aftermath, FBI procedure guidance, and societal call to action.

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Tone & Language

True to the era, the episode balances stark realism with dramatized dialogue, using direct and sometimes grim descriptions, matter-of-fact agent commentary, and earnest public appeals. Authority figures are depicted as resolute, while the criminals are portrayed with a mix of menace and desperation. The tone is urgent, responsible, and ultimately reassuring.

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This episode is a classic piece of radio storytelling, combining suspenseful crime drama with a public service message and a reassurance of society’s resilience when citizens, law enforcement, and public institutions join together.

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Transcript

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[Choice Classic Radio Host]

Welcome to Choice Classic Radio where we bring to you the greatest old time radio shows like us on Facebook, subscribe to us on YouTube and thank you for [e-mail].

[Narrator / Announcer]

The Equitable Life Assurance Society presents this is your FBI.

This is your FBI. An official broadcast from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, presented as a public service by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and the Equitable Society's representative in your community.

Tonight's important and exciting case will open in just a moment. First, a brief word on what's ahead for our returning soldiers, sailors and marines. Eighty years ago in the year 1866, America's number one problem was the same as we face today. Jobs for ex servicemen. And in 1946, as it did in 1866 at the close of the Civil War, the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States is helping American business and American agriculture to create jobs and more jobs for the men who serve this country well. Funds of the Equitable Society are invested in thousands of farms and ranches as well as in hundreds of the great basic industries on which our national prosperity depends. That is how Equitable Society dollars help provide opportunities for veterans in search of employment. That is why we say that by serving its members, the Equitable Society serves America.

Tonight's file, the cold blooded kidnapper.

[Narrator / FBI Narrator]

After nearly a decade of comparative freedom from his scourge, the kidnapper has gone to work again. The combination that defeated him before has gone to work again too. The combination of your FBI working in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies.

Tonight's case is the story of a kidnapping which did not make nationwide headlines. The victim was an average person. The family was a family of modest means and the ransom demand was small. But in the eyes of the law, all persons are of equal rank. And a crime against any member of society is a crime against the whole of society.

Back in the hills on the outskirts of a New England town, there's a squalid shack belonging to one Jed Monroe and his wife Clara. On a porch of this hovel, Jed is stretched out in the warm sunshine, sleeping.

[Dottie Barnes]

Jed, you Jed.

Jed Wake up.

Wake up, I said.

[Jed Monroe]

What is it, Clara? Time to eat?

[Dottie Barnes]

Nope.

Leave me be just a minute. I want to talk to you.

[Jed Monroe]

Now what?

[Dottie Barnes]

I'm getting sick to death about what's going on around here. 365 days a year. You eat, you sleep, then you get up and eat again.

[Jed Monroe]

Well, don't go starting that again.

[Dottie Barnes]

I tell you, I'm sick to death of it.

[Jed Monroe]

Oh, Clara, quit you nagging.

[Dottie Barnes]

When are you going to get to work?

[Jed Monroe]

I already told you, I don't like work.

[Dottie Barnes]

Well, we need to eat and we need clothes. Working is the only way to get them things, you know.

[Jed Monroe]

What makes you think that?

[Dottie Barnes]

You've got some other way?

[Jed Monroe]

Maybe I have.

[Dottie Barnes]

Like what, for instance?

[Jed Monroe]

Clara, a man don't make no real money working with his hands. He gets it out up here, his head thinking.

[Dottie Barnes]

That lets you out then.

[Jed Monroe]

Now leave me talk. All the time that you've been yapping and nagging at me around here, I've been thinking. Thinking real hard. And I got a way to make me some big money. More than you ever seen in your whole life. Now, you just listen to me. Here's what I'm aiming to do.

[Narrator / FBI Narrator]

Later that afternoon, a young high school girl is walking down the street in a nearby town. She nears a corner. A battered old car pulls up close to her and stops.

[Jed Monroe]

I beg pardon, miss.

[Dottie Barnes]

Yes?

[Jed Monroe]

Could I speak to you for a minute?

[Dottie Barnes]

Well, I. What do you want?

[Jed Monroe]

I wonder if you could help me.

[Dottie Barnes]

How?

[Jed Monroe]

Well, my wife's sick and I. I have to work all day. She's got to have someone to look after children.

[Dottie Barnes]

Yes.

[Jed Monroe]

We need somebody to come in in the afternoon till I get home.

[Dottie Barnes]

Oh, I see.

[Jed Monroe]

Would you be interested in the job?

[Dottie Barnes]

Gee, I. I don't know. I'd like to make the money, but I'd have to ask my mother first.

[Jed Monroe]

Well, sure, of course you would. What's your name? Where do you live?

[Dottie Barnes]

My name's Dottie Barnes. I live over on Miller Street.

[Jed Monroe]

Why don't you just hop in the car and we'll drive around, see your mother right now.

[Dottie Barnes]

Well, all right.

[Jed Monroe]

Now just get right up here. Front seat. And me.

[Dottie Barnes]

Thank you.

[Jed Monroe]

Even if your mother won't let you work, this will save you walking home.

[Dottie Barnes]

Sure.

Excuse me, but Miller street is down the other way.

[Jed Monroe]

Yeah, I know.

[Dottie Barnes]

Then why are we going this way?

[Jed Monroe]

Was this the way I want to go?

[Dottie Barnes]

Wait a minute. Where are you taking me?

[Jed Monroe]

Keep quiet.

[Dottie Barnes]

Look, you stop this car.

[Jed Monroe]

Shut up.

[Dottie Barnes]

No. Let me out of here.

[Jed Monroe]

Let me out of here. Get up. I said.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Special Agent Briggs? Speaking.

[Jed Monroe]

It's police headquarters, mister, this may be a kidnapping. Oh, Dorothy Barnes, 16 years old, daughter of J. A and Mrs. Barnes. 1625 Miller Street.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Yes.

[Jed Monroe]

She left Central High School at 3:15 this afternoon. About three blocks from the school. Two of her classmates saw her talking to a man seated in a parked car. Yes, she was seen getting into this car and driving away. Hadn't been heard from since.

[Special Agent Briggs]

You got anything on the car?

[Jed Monroe]

Only that it was a sedan. No license number.

[Special Agent Briggs]

How about the man?

[Jed Monroe]

No description of him at all.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Sounds like an abduction, all right.

[Jed Monroe]

The girl's father is a rug salesman at Gilby's. Not much money.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Some kidnappers aren't as ambitious as others.

[Jed Monroe]

What do you want us to do?

[Special Agent Briggs]

Well, if this is a kidnapping, officer, we must be careful to do nothing that would endanger the life of the victim. Our first consideration is the victim's safe return.

[Jed Monroe]

Yes, sir.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Alert your force. Furnish them with a girl's description. We'll be in touch with you later.

[Jed Monroe]

Right.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Wade. Yeah, George? I just got a report from police headquarters. A possible kidnapping. What's the story? Girl named Barnes, 1625 Miller Street. He's been missing since 3:15 this afternoon. I see. I think we should set up an observation post and arrange to be near the family at all times. Now, let's get to work at once.

[Jed Monroe]

How are you feeling, miss?

How are you feeling?

[Dottie Barnes]

Where am I?

[Jed Monroe]

This is my home.

[Dottie Barnes]

Oh, it. It's you.

[Jed Monroe]

Now, just take it easy. Cut out that trying.

[Dottie Barnes]

Why did you bring me here? Why?

[Jed Monroe]

Well, it's a business deal, that's all.

[Dottie Barnes]

What do you mean?

[Jed Monroe]

You stay here until your pop buys your way out.

[Dottie Barnes]

This is a kidnapping.

[Jed Monroe]

I guess maybe you'd call it that. Oh, pop pays off. No harm's gonna come to you at all.

[Dottie Barnes]

Oh, my head hurts so.

[Jed Monroe]

Some cold water in the bucket. Here. Just fix a rag for you.

[Dottie Barnes]

Oh, no. Go away. Just leave me alone.

[Jed Monroe]

Now, don't be afraid of me.

[Dottie Barnes]

No, please go away. Please.

You get away from her.

[Jed Monroe]

Clara. You get out of here.

[Dottie Barnes]

I said let her alone.

[Jed Monroe]

What are you doing with that gun?

[Dottie Barnes]

Just say and that you get out of this room and get yourself into town.

I didn't want to get mixed up in this, but there's some money doing this, kid. Now that I'm in it, I want my share.

Get started, I tell you.

[Jed Monroe]

Ugly old fool.

[Dottie Barnes]

Don't get no wrong ideas, miss. It ain't that I'm sticking up for you.

That's what I think of you.

[Narrator / Announcer]

Can I Get you some coffee, gentlemen?

[Special Agent Briggs]

No, thank you, Mr. Barnes. How is Mrs. Barnes?

[Jed Monroe]

I think I persuaded her to try.

[Narrator / Announcer]

And get some sleep.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Wouldn't be a bad idea if you tried to get some rest yourself. I'm afraid that would be impossible. You answered, Mr. Barnes, very well. This may be the call we're waiting for. You remember your instructions.

[Jed Monroe]

Yes, sir.

Hello? We're just talking. This is J A Barnes.

[Narrator / Announcer]

Who. Who are you?

[Jed Monroe]

I'm the one you've been waiting to hear from. Is my daughter safe?

[Narrator / Announcer]

Is she all right?

[Jed Monroe]

All right. You want to see her again, you do what I tell you, you understand? I'll do anything you want money, of course. That's right.

[Narrator / Announcer]

Well, how much do you want?

[Jed Monroe]

I haven't got a great deal, but I'll shut up and listen.

Now. You know where the road crosses over Thompson's Creek, north of town? Yes. Yes, I know. And you put $1,000 five dollar bills in a paper sack onto the north end of the bridge by noon tomorrow. You'll have your girl back by sundown. All right. I'll have the money there. The police are watching. You'll never see her again, you understand? I understand, but how can I be sure my daughter will get back all right? You just do like I tell you. I ain't talking no more. He's hung up.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Let me have the phone. Mr. Barnes. Yes, sir. Operator? Operator.

[Dottie Barnes]

Yes, sir?

[Special Agent Briggs]

Did you have a tracer on that call?

[Dottie Barnes]

Yes, sir. The party called from a pay station in Drake's Drugstore, third in May.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Connect me with the drugstore right away, please.

[Dottie Barnes]

Yes, sir.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Wade. Yes? Take this phone. And when the drugstore answers, tell them to get a description of anybody using their phone booth. If they still can. I'm going to run out there.

Hello, Wade. Oh, hello, George. Any luck? I've got a pretty fair description of a man. Good. He's about 6ft tall, middle aged, rough clothes and unshaven. Looks like somebody out of the hill country around here. Anything else? The man out in front of the store remembered seeing him drive off in an old black Ford sedan, but didn't notice any more details. What do we do now, George? We'll arrange to deliver the $1,000 in marked $5 bills to Barnes in the morning to put under the bridge. And after sundown tomorrow, whether the girl is back or not, we move in and go to work fast.

[Dottie Barnes]

Jed.

[Jed Monroe]

Yeah?

[Dottie Barnes]

Well, how'd you make out?

[Jed Monroe]

I made out all right. How are you feeling, girl?

[Dottie Barnes]

Never mind how she's feeling. How much did you get?

[Jed Monroe]

I got thousand Dollars? Right here in this paper sack.

[Dottie Barnes]

Let me see the money.

[Jed Monroe]

Never mind, I got it.

[Dottie Barnes]

Then you'll let me go now, won't you? What'd you tell him you'd do about her? You will let me go now, won't you? Won't you? Well, what'd you tell him, Jed?

[Jed Monroe]

I told him she'd back by sundown.

[Dottie Barnes]

Then we better blindfold her and get stuck started and let her out somewhere.

[Jed Monroe]

What do you mean, weed better?

[Dottie Barnes]

Cause I'm going with you, that's why.

[Jed Monroe]

You ain't going nowhere, Clara.

[Dottie Barnes]

What do you mean?

[Jed Monroe]

I'm changing my mind about taking her back.

[Dottie Barnes]

Oh, no.

[Jed Monroe]

You ain't going to vex me no more, Clara.

[Dottie Barnes]

What are you saying?

[Jed Monroe]

I'm saying I'm through listening to that tongue of yours and looking at that ugly face.

[Dottie Barnes]

Jed. What you got there?

[Jed Monroe]

I'm getting you out of my sight for good.

Now, young lady, if you don't do like I say from now on, same thing will happen to you.

[Narrator / Announcer]

At the conclusion of tonight's file, which we will reopen in just a moment you will hear an important message to parents prepared by Director J. Edgar Hoover of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. But now let me tell you a story from the Equitable Society that I think will tug at your heartstrings as it did mine. This week at the Equitable Society I heard a sentimental story, but sentiment that rings true. The story of a threadbare overcoat. Forty years ago, the owner of this coat was a hopeful young man with a very small salary and a very pretty little bride. Well, one winter morning, this young wife surprised her husband by handing him a little roll of dollar bills that she'd saved from her household money. This is for a new overcoat, she told him. That old one is getting too shabby for a rising young man like you to be seen in. But that night when he came home, he was still wearing the old fredbear coat. And from one of the frayed pockets he took out a receipt for a life insurance policy with the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. He'd used his overcoat money as a first payment. And he told his wife that it meant more to his self respect to know that she would have the security of life insurance than buying the finest overcoat in the world. And today, after 40 years, his wife still keeps the shabby old coat and sometimes runs her hands lovingly over the threadbare cloth. To her it's a symbol of a husband's self sacrifice. Well, when you come to Think of it. Almost every Equitable Society policy we issue is just such a symbol. A symbol of a husband's love for his wife. A symbol of a father's forethought for his children. A symbol of unselfishness. And that's one of many reasons why we of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States are happy in our work. Happy and proud to say that this week and every week for 86 years, the equitable Society has been building security for you, your home and your country.

And now back to the file on the cold blooded kidnapper.

[Narrator / FBI Narrator]

Yes, the kidnapper has gone to work again. And we repeat, the combination that defeated him before has gone to work again too. The combination of your FBI working in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies.

Because the first concern of the FBI is the safe return of the victim. Special Agents Briggs and Wade stand by in the local FBI office awaiting development. Special Agent Wade glances at the clock.

[Special Agent Briggs]

It's two hours after sundown, Jared. Yes. They've had enough time. Let's get moving. We'll phone the newspapers and press associations. Tell them to release that list of serial numbers on those five dollar bills.

[Narrator / FBI Narrator]

Right.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Then let's put out an alarm on the descriptions of the kidnapper and the girl.

[Narrator / Announcer]

Here's that sketch from the artist, Mr. Briggs.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Thanks, Tom.

Hey, what's that, George? I had an artist make a sketch of the kidnapper from the description we got from the druggist. Boy, he's an ugly looking devil. Let's just hope for the girl's sake he's not too much of a devil.

[Jed Monroe]

You say you're from the FBI?

[Special Agent Briggs]

Yes, sir. We thought since you run the general store up here, you might be pretty well acquainted with most everybody in the hills. They live in the hills. I know him. Now, this is just a rough sketch, but do you know anybody? It looks like. Let me see now, he's about 6ft tall, middle aged, drives an old black Ford sedan. And it can't be nobody else, but this is a heap better looking than him. Who? Old Jed Monroe. Jed Monroe?

[Jed Monroe]

Yep. As mean a cuss as ever was born to.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Whereabouts does he live?

[Jed Monroe]

Oh, he's got a little shack, him.

[Special Agent Briggs]

And his woman Clara, about three miles from here. You tell us how to get there? Sure.

[Jed Monroe]

Just keep right on up this road of peace.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Take a second left hand turn. Then after spelling.

There's the shackle. Yeah, no sign of a lamp. Don't flash your light. Let's make it up at the door. Come on.

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[Special Agent Briggs]

The door's unlocked. Flash your light inside the minute I open it.

[Jed Monroe]

Right.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Well, doesn't seem to be anybody in there. Let's go in. Okay.

Wait a minute, George. Huh? Look here on this table. What is it? School books. There's a name in one of them. Dottie Barnes. This must be the right place. I'm afraid we've arrived a little too late. Looks like they've cleared out. Yeah, I guess we oughta. George. What? One of them didn't clear out. Look over in the corner. Well.

Must be Monroe's wife. Uh huh.

[Narrator / Announcer]

She dead?

[Special Agent Briggs]

Yeah. Lets get back to the store and call the sheriff. He can send the coroner out to examine the body.

[Jed Monroe]

Okay.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Then we'd better catch Jed Monroe before the girl wishes she was in that woman's place.

[Jed Monroe]

You must be worn out riding all night. This way, girl. Well, we're gonna stop pretty soon and you can rest up.

Well, why don't you say something?

[Dottie Barnes]

I. I want to go home.

[Jed Monroe]

Oh, now look here. I ain't meaning you no harm. You. You get home.

[Dottie Barnes]

When?

[Jed Monroe]

Soon as me and your pop do a little more business.

[Dottie Barnes]

But he's already paid you.

[Jed Monroe]

Well, that was just a down payment.

[Dottie Barnes]

I'm sure he's given you all he could afford.

[Jed Monroe]

Ain't enough. See, the way I figured, you're kind of like my meal ticket. Just like money in the bank, anytime I need some, I just send word.

[Special Agent Briggs]

You pop.

[Dottie Barnes]

Then I'll never get home.

[Jed Monroe]

No, no, you get home. Now cut out that mope and listen to me. We're going to stop at that filling station up the road. Gas up. If you do decide to start talking, don't say the wrong thing while we're there. Or I'll be doing the same thing to you I done to my old woman.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Understand?

Oh, it's going on eight o', clock, George. Not a trace of them yet. Yeah, that beats me. We throw a ring of police and deputies around this country 200 miles wide, and yet somehow Monroe seems to have gotten through. I don't think he did get through, Wade.

[Jed Monroe]

Why not?

[Special Agent Briggs]

I think he's been moving around inside that circle. How do you Figure that, well, this is the only country Monroe's familiar with. Well, he's kind of act to stick to familiar countries, especially if they're on the run. I'll show you what I mean. Here, take a look at this map.

[Narrator / Announcer]

Yeah.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Here's Monroe's shack. Now follow the circle to the lunchroom that he stopped at four hours ago when he cashed one of the five dollar bills. Yeah. The circle continues around to the farmhouse where he was reported to have stopped to get water for his car. He's moving around inside that circle all right. All back roads, too. Yes?

Special Agent Briggs speaking.

[Jed Monroe]

Police headquarters over in New City. Mr. Briggs.

[Special Agent Briggs]

What's up?

[Jed Monroe]

Monroe and the girl stopped at a filling station outside of town about a half hour ago.

[Special Agent Briggs]

What? How do you know?

[Jed Monroe]

We checked the five dollar bill he gave the station man, and it's on the list.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Which way did they go when they left the filling station?

[Jed Monroe]

I don't know, but they didn't come through New City or we'd have caught them.

[Special Agent Briggs]

That's all right. I think we'll catch him anyway now. Thanks a lot. What was that? Monroe and the girl stopped at a gas station in New City half an hour ago. Let's see how that figures on the map. He's following the same pattern, Wade. Still continuing the same circle half an hour ago. Traveling in an old car should take him to. Come on, Wade. I've got a pretty good idea where we might find him.

[Jed Monroe]

Will you quit that sniffling now?

[Dottie Barnes]

Oh, leave me alone.

[Jed Monroe]

I stopped here at this tourist camp so you could get some rest.

[Dottie Barnes]

Please go away.

[Jed Monroe]

No, no, no, no. We've got some business to take care of.

[Dottie Barnes]

What do you mean?

[Jed Monroe]

Well, it's time your pop was hearing from us again. This time going to be direct from you. How I want you should write him a letter.

[Dottie Barnes]

Oh, no.

[Jed Monroe]

Now look, you won't get home, don't you.

[Dottie Barnes]

You won't let me go home. You just want to get more money from my father.

[Jed Monroe]

You're writing that letter.

[Dottie Barnes]

I said no.

[Jed Monroe]

Now you listen here. I don't want to do nothing mean to you, you understand? But you'd better be remembering what happened to my wife, Clara.

Now, write me that letter.

[Dottie Barnes]

Keep away from me.

[Jed Monroe]

I'm giving you one last chance.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Keep away. Please stay where you are.

[Jed Monroe]

Monroe.

[Narrator / Announcer]

Huh?

[Special Agent Briggs]

Who.

[Jed Monroe]

Who are you?

[Special Agent Briggs]

Special agents of the FBI.

[Jed Monroe]

What?

[Dottie Barnes]

Oh, thank heaven.

[Special Agent Briggs]

My hands are just itching for you to resist.

[Narrator / FBI Narrator]

Young Dorothy Barnes was returned unharmed to her parents home. Although Jed Monroe could have been tried for kidnapping, he was first turned over to the local authorities who tried and convicted him for the murder of his wife. He paid for this crime by death in the electric chair.

With indications that kidnapping has once again threatened this security of the American home. J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has prepared this following important method in case of kidnapping.

[Narrator / Announcer]

Regardless of the hour. Contact the nearest office of the FBI whose number can be found on page one of the telephone book. Or contact the Washington headquarters of the FBI by calling the celebrated kidnapping number National 711 7. Keep the details of the abduction together with details on demands for ransom.

[Special Agent Briggs]

Strictly within the family circle.

[Narrator / Announcer]

Talk only to law enforcement officers. Information regarding kidnappings is not public news so long as the victim's life is at stake. Turn all letters or communications relative to the kidnapping over to trained investigators. Do not permit them to be handled by others. Do not disturb evidence at the scene of the crime. Remain calm. Do not act disturbed. Carry on normal routine so far as possible.

[Narrator / FBI Narrator]

Mr. Hoover is asking for the cooperation of the. You, the citizen. You were a vital part of that army which over a decade ago smashed the hordes of kidnappers who preyed on you and members of your families. With your help, they shall be smashed again.

[Narrator / Announcer]

In a moment we'll tell you about next week's exciting case. Meanwhile, remember that to your FBI agents you look for national security. And to the Equitable Society agent in your community you look for the financial security of life insurance. And whatever special meaning that word security may have for you. A home of your own, an assured education for your children or a retirement income for your old age. Your Equitable Society representative will gladly do everything within his power to help you reach your goal. Like your FBI, the Equitable Society representative is dedicated to the security, through life insurance of you, your home and your country.

[Narrator / FBI Narrator]

Next week we will bring you another colorful story. From the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the unwelcome guest.

[Narrator / Announcer]

The incidents used in tonight's Equitable Life Assurance Society's broadcast. Are taken from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The role of J. Edgar Hoover was impersonated. But all other names used are fictitious. And any similarity thereof to the names of persons, living or dead is accidental.

Tonight the music was under the direction of Frederick Steiner. The author was Frank Ferries and your narrator was Dean Carlton. This is your FBI is a Jerry Devine production.

Now this is Carl Frank speaking for the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and the Equitable Society's representative in your community and inviting you to tune in again next week at this same time for this is your FBI.

[Narrator / FBI Narrator]

This is abc, the American Broadcasting Company.

[Choice Classic Radio Host]

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