The Ghosts of El Segundo | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] this case was like no other case going back that much in time it was like out of this world it's like what
you see in the movies July 22nd 1957 something has happened and I ask if he uh was hurt is he hurt bad and they
said no it's worse than that it was a huge crime it hit Elsa gundo in the South Bay
Area hard what do you remember as a child asking mom questions about what happened to our dad she would
cry and say that um you you know he was killed the perpetrator of this crime turned on the
[Music] officers officers who hadn't even had their weapons drawn shot the first
officer in the back three times and then turned his weapon on the second officer who was seated in the
police car and savagely shot him three times in the Torso killing both officers to have them killed like that
right Cold Blood I was devastated back in 1957 everybody was involved the FBI state agencies local agencies the
sheriff's department and Elsa gundo this case has been haunting the people of Elsa gundo and especially those in the
police department for almost 50 years now how could a guy come out and commit all these crimes and then disappear all
this time guy got away with murder simple as that this guy killed two on duty police officers and some 46 years
later he was going to be held accountable for it the ghosts of el [Music] [Music]
zundo this is Los Angeles County 10 million people 4,000 square miles and according to statistics the most
dangerous place in the country to be a police officer almost every day of the year an
officer is shot at while on duty it's a violent World especially in Los Angeles County for peace officers
some of them end up dead we begin with breaking news an officer shot officer shot officer
Ricardo lisara died today this California highway patrol officer shot down on the steps of this Southland
Courthouse it is dangerous out there Darren LaVine knows the key to surviving in a hostile environment is having the
right skills to work with I'm the chief instructor of an Israeli hand toand combat system that comes from the
Israeli Army about 300 police departments use my system officially now I want it fast you
explode here like a bomb but leine is a lot more than just train police officers
how to survive on the streets nice Jesse my life has a certain theme to it I guess his full-time job is
Deputy district attorney Mr do you have any questions I do with an elite unit set up to prosecute anyone who would
dare wound or kill a law enforcement officer and I'm saying that this is weak evidence my unit is called the crimes
against police officer section we have to have a unit like this because in any given week we can have 5 6 7 8 eight 10
police officers shot at back then it wasn't like that back then means back in the days
when LA County was a much safer Place back then is when this story of a coldblooded cop killing begins but what
makes this tale all the more extraordinary is the fact that it would be almost half a century before Darren
LaVine and other investigators could finally put this case to rest this case was like no other
case this my senior year getting ready to go to college everything was just going great had a girlfriend here and
there and swam on the swimming team and had dances in the gymnasium we would dance to Johnny matys
and uh you know the Four Tops and you know all those you know great great songs in the past and when rock and roll
was really uh Bill Haley and the comments and everything was just great do you look back fondly on those
days oh yeah sure [Music] sure Bob Dart was just 17 back in 1957 an innocent kid living in a much
more innocent age when just being in a car with a girl was a big deal mustel this is the 49 Ford that uh we
drove that night uh out on lovers lane four teenagers driving home from a summer party stopped to watch planes
land at a Lover's Lane near a local airport Bob der figured he might get lucky which meant he might get a kiss or
two that was the first time I was ever in a car with a girl in that situation and what were you doing just talking
talking listening to music and uh we started to kiss one another and I guess it got pretty uh involved and I rolled
the window down because it it gets kind of steamy inside when four people are inside and that's
when the gun came through the window and said this is a robbery that's what he said yeah this is a robbery and I
thought this was a joke I said got to be somebody pulling a prank but the gun was
real this gunman was prepared he had surgical tape uh he had a flashlight with them he covered their eyes with
with tape and then he stopped and he said I don't know what I'm going to do with you
and then he asked us to take our clothes off naked bound and blind der and his buddy and their 15-year-old dates had no
choice but to do what they were told he came over to the passenger side of the car and he approached this female
teenager teenager he came around from the driver's side to the passenger's side opened the car and raped the
girl what had started as a night of innocent fun had now become a horrible dream from
which Bob der thought he and his friends might never awaken were you thinking this is it yeah we did yeah he asked us
to get out of the car and he said I I think I'm going to kill you and I want you to March out into the
field and so we all marched out on the field and girls were crying and I didn't know what to think I mean I couldn't
believe this was going to happen but you thought he might kill you sh well he had
a gun you know I figured that just takes four bullets and we're all gone we stood
in the field and then he turned the car so the headlights shined on us then we heard the car door close and he drove
away one girl raped three other teenagers robbed and terrorized but the gunman's night wasn't over yet as he
made his getaway in the stolen 49 Ford he made a mistake one simple mistake that would add murder to the list of his
crimes at the corner of saula Boulevard and Rose cray the suspect stopped for the red
light at [Music] sepula and then for unknown reason proceeded through the red light Lieutenant Craig clear was just 18
months old at the time of the crime but as an investigator for the elag gundo police department clear knows as much
about what happened that night as if he had been there there was a marked black and white unit that were parked off the
side of the road that obviously suspect didn't see in that patrol car were two young Elsa gundo policemen in their 20s
officer Richard Phillips and rookie Milton Curtis who had been with the Department only two and a half months
when the two decided to pull over that 49 Ford now while officers Curtis and Phillips were dealing with this
situation another black and white Rolls by with two other Elsa gundo police officers in it correct we were
Southbound on subul when we heard the call and turned the corner and there they were two other young patrolmen
James Gilbert I was 28 and Charlie Porter I was about 37 I believe not knowing what had taken place earlier at
The Lover's Lane assumed that Phillips and Curtis were making just a routine traffic stop officer Phillips appeared
to be getting ready to start a citation and as we stopped and looked looked the situation over and he waved a
paper at us like everything was all right so we we went ahead Porter and Gilbert would be the
last people to ever see their fellow officers alive just seconds later A call came on
the radio officer Phillips said on the radio that they they needed uh they'd been shot and they needed an ambulance
they raced back to the scene but it was too late Officer Curtis was in the center of the police car and officer
Phillips was out on the side in the dirt Phillips had been fatally wounded wounded shot three times in the back
Curtis was already dead shot three times as well while sitting in the patrol car
I reached in and fell of his neck and there was no pulse or anything I hate to say it but in in another circumstance it
could have been the two of you that had pulled this guy over that's true it's very difficult to be that close to
something like that to the fellas you know so well to have them killed like that right in Cold Blood it was pretty
hard to take the call for help came over the radio at 1:28 a.m. and in the short time it took
for Gilbert and Porter to respond the killer had simply disappeared where'd he go he went about
four or five blocks ditched the car parked it on the opposite side of the street and fled the from the car
hundreds of police officers from Elsa gundo and the neighboring communities scoured the area all night they found
the stolen 49 Ford but there was no sign of the suspect someone got away with murdering two police officers someone
got away with raping a woman the killer might have disappeared but he left something behind something that would
trigger one of the longest manhunts in California [Music] history how W St like a
Drifter we were high school sweethearts the first time I saw him I thought he was beautiful and I said to
myself I'd like to marry that [Music] guy for Jean Curtis it's the memory of her husband Milton Curtis that will
always be closest to her heart he was my first love and I never got over the first love I don't think anybody does
really they were just teenagers when they were married in 1952 the next 5 years the couple had two
children Keith and Tony and Milton had a new career as a police officer a career
that would end almost as soon as it [Music] began this is the plaque that they gave
me with his original badge on it that's all I have [Music] left tell me what do you remember about
sending him off to work that night we had had a little argument and I've always felt bad about
that we didn't get to say goodbye just a few hours later Jean Curtis would find out she was no longer
a 23-year-old wife she was now a 20 3-year-old Widow they woke me up around 4 in the
morning and they told me that he and his partner had been shot and killed and I thought
oh the world since I went to sleep the world's gone mad the morning of July 22nd 1957 was a
rude awakening for all the residents of elag gundo when they suddenly found themselves at the Center of one of the
largest manhunts in California history it was the number one story in Southern California for that time it was rare
back then it was a crime that would become one of the oldest unsolved murder cases in LA county a crime that would
haunt Deputy da Darren LaVine 46 years later you can imagine the scrutiny and all the resources that were put forth to
try and solve this case back in 1957 and everybody was asking the same question why why did a man who had
simply run a red light have to murder two police officers in Cold Blood perhaps he figured the cops were looking
for the man who had earlier terrorized those teenagers and stolen their car and once they'd run a check on him it would
all be over but there was just one problem with that theory there has been no report of that 49 Ford having been
stolen there's no report out on the airwaves of this rape and robbery that had just occurred in fact at the time of
the murders the teenagers naked and terrified had just been found wandering the streets looking for hell when their
story was finally reported investigators were already arriving at the scene of this crime the only thing that was going
through my mind was that I had to be sure and do everything right uh Howard speaks was one of the first to
arrive as a young crime- scene investigator with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department the first thing
that you do any homicide investigation is photograph the area I took some pictures of the back of the car Bullet
Hole in the trunk two in the rear windshield that shattered the windshield so we know that the car was hit three
times Lieutenant Craig clear and all the members of the elag gundo police department are amazed at how those
bullet holes got there officer Phillips happened to be one of the top marksmen on the department at the time after
being shot and actually in the process of dying was able to get off six shots at the flame suspect vehicle hitting the
vehicle three times Phillips may have marked his killer for Life two rounds were
recovered from the interior of the vehicle one was not and that told the investigators what the suspect might be
carrying a bullet from officer Phillips's handgun that's pretty remarkable it [Music]
is investigators knew the stolen 49 Ford might have one more story to tell did the killer leave something behind
something that would leave lead them in the right direction today samples of DNA
can point the way to a killer but back in 1957 they would have to rely on the best tool they had at the time this is
my fingerprint kit Howard speaks search the car from bumper to bumper for something anything that might lead them
to a suspect you've got this car you know that the suspect was in it and driving it are you hopeful that you're
going to get some prints off this I was very hopeful knowing that uh that he must have been uh highly nervous
and perspiring that he had to leave fingerprints on the steering wheel so tell me exactly what you did I just put
the powder on the steering wheel and moved it around and found The Ridges that were showing I found two latent
lifts of the left thumb print two partial prints by themselves not much to go on but when a lab
technician decid decided to put them together it was the break investigators were counting on they felt pretty
confident they had the suspect's fingerprints now you have to find the person investigators needed to put a
face on their suspect and luckily there were several witnesses who would never forget the man they had seen that night
were you able to provide them with a description of the man well I did the best I could Bob derer and his friends
were held at gunpoint by the suspect for almost an hour they tell you don't look
at the gun look at the man well I think I looked at the man this is a picture developed as a result of the accounts
that we had of the robbery I got a very good look at the suspect Ela gundo patrolman Charlie Porter and his partner
saw the man for less than a minute but that was enough he was about 6 tall 200 lb short hair and peculiar way he held
his head either he was arrogant or frightened it looked a little bit of [Music] both the face of a killer a clear clue
to his identity police now felt it would be only a matter of time until he was brought to justice but no one could ever
imagine just how much [Music] time meanwhile the residents of elig gundo frightened and saddened gathered
together as a family to late arrest two of their own what this is is a news cast
from 1957 city of elund the Douglas Mortuary was the sheriff of LA County at the time Keith Curtis was just five at
the time his father was shot his sister Tony only two that's my mother Jane she was very protective of both
myself and my sister she realized that times are going to change now and she did everything for us my son kept asking
me why doesn't Daddy come home home and uh I would tell him he he can't come home you know he can't he's
sleeping with the God and the angels in heaven and he still couldn't understand why he couldn't come home to sleep you
feel cheated I feel cheated I feel cheated that we never really got to know my [Music]
father it would take authorities nearly half a century to find the man who disappeared in the dark that night over
the next 46 years important new Clues would be discovered we were digging up the weeds when I found the gun promising
New Leads would be investigated could this be the diamond in the rof we were looking for and thousands of suspects
would be checked out all dead ends until a new piece of technology came along that would finally catch up
with this old mystery when the killer of two policemen disappeared down those dark alleys that
night in 1957 the Kurtis family wondered if and when they would ever catch him when they
said that they had no leads they meant they had no leads I think my mom put it the best way over a period of time you
had to have people born to figure out the science and technology to put this thing together we had to
wait she was right for although time is usually the enemy of a murder investigation this time the passage of
time 46 years would be necessary it would be a different world from the ' 50s in which this case could finally be
solved two modern-day policemen LA Sheriff's detectives Kevin low we were were the lead investigators and Dan
meler it was a fascinating case have inherited the coldest case on the books ice cold ice cold it was colder than
cold yeah these cards represent over 3,000 individuals that were looked at as possible suspects and they were all
cleared but Lo and meler weren't simply curious about some old files what got them involved was a phone call to the
elag gundo police department in September 2002 El the police I may help you it was from a woman who said she had
some tantalizing new information on the murders her uncle had been bragged about
being responsible for murder murdering two El police officers were you excited to the possibility of cracking this case
after all these years absolutely no absolutely their first order of business was simple see if the 1957 fingerprint
matched up with their new suspect we gave the uh information to the crime lab they worked it they cleaned up the print
the prince were sent here the Los Angeles sheriff's department crime lab easily the busiest in the country
handling over 70,000 cases a year this is the actual lat and lift that Howard speaks lifted in 1957 Dale FAL and Don K
top fingerprint specialist took one look and knew right away their new suspect was no match to the old print just
another dead end those prints uh ultimately did not belong to that individual and homicide was quickly
notified once it was verified but now that this old unsolved murder was suddenly on top of the pile again they
thought why not give it one more try and and would you say describe that as kind
of fragile after all these years it it has literally Fallen apart this time with the advantage of modern science how
do you work with something like this well we we literally can't work with that we work with a photograph that
fortunately was taken of this using everyday computer technology that wasn't even dreamt of in 1957 the experts were
able to digitally reprocess the original photograph this in effect is a is a really paired down version of this that
is correct so the computer can read it that is correct but even with a new digital image of this original
fingerprint you still have to have some place to search for a match and that's what's really new following the events
of 9/11 the FBI finally created a nationwide computer database in it a copy of every single criminal
fingerprint from every state in the entire country how big a deal is this it's fantastic they loaded a digital
copy of the Killer's prints into the system and just like that a man that had eluded capture for nearly half a century
was found in a matter of minutes a hit like this it really makes you feel good they
gave us a call and said hey we got really good news for you the guy you're looking for lives in South Carolina and
uh that's when everything got exciting read the name for me it comes back to a Mason Gerald F
Mason Gerald F Mason after years of searching the face of a killer this was his fingerprint card
from his 1956 burglary or felony larsy arrest in Columbia South Carolina were those the only fingerprints from Gerald
Mason in the system yes he was only arrested that one time so if he had not been arrested done jail time in 1956 for
that crime we we wouldn't be here today some quick police work easily located Mason remarkably still living in his
hometown of Columbia South Carolina and not a career criminal but a retiree living comfortably with his family we
found that very unusual that a guy could come out here and commit that type of crime in
1957 and he' only been arrested one time we thought we were going to be looking at a guy with a a serious criminal
history so why not just going get Mason the answer is lo and meler would need a lot more than just a decades old
fingerprint match to prove to a jury that Mason was indeed a cop killer how do you try to prove that Mason is the
killer the first thing we did is we we looked through the file we found what we had what they had was the single largest
file in the very crowded Sheriff's record Library there were boxes and boxes boxes and boxes of evidence and
leads collect over the years which now had to be reexamined to see if any other Clues could be connected to Gerald
Mason in 1960 the actual murder weapon was recovered by a man that was doing some yard work we were digging up the
weeds when I found the gun Doug Tuli has lived in this house since 1956 less than
a mile from the scene of the murders in the same neighborhood police believe the
killer used to make his escape this portion we found first the frame the frame without the cylinder without the
cylinder and then we found the cylinder and The Spence shells and the live shells this was a year later this was a
year later that's when we called the police and said what do we do with it that gun the finding of that gun was
huge to this case also the serial number was traced by investigators back then to
shreport [Music] Louisiana L and meler followed the trail of evidence to shreport 1600 M and 46
years from El Segundo California the gun was sold here in 1957 they tracked down
the salesman at the Sears that sold that gun A Man by the name of Billy Jean Clark I pointed out that this was the
least expensive one at $29.95 then that's when he decided that's what he wanted Billy Jean Clark was just an
18-year-old kid in 1957 working his first real job behind the Sporting Goods counter at this local Sears because you
sold a lot of guns I assume yes back then we were by far the largest gun dealer in this
area what exactly is this document that we're looking at this is a record of firearm sold this is GD Wilson is the
name he gave me this is your handwriting that's correct who was GD Wilson that's
what they didn't know uh with just the initials they didn't they didn't have much so what' they do they started
canvasing the areas around the [Music] sear it's the YMCA this is where they tracked uh
George D Wilson too this is the man who bought the gun you know he stayed here yes investigators had checked out nearly
every George Wilson in the country this the room that uh Gerald Mason stayed in and none matched the 1957 fingerprint
this window you can see the back of the sear obviously the GD Wilson who stayed here had used an alias but it was an
alias written in the Killer's own hand they were able to locate the uh register from actual piece of paper where he
signed in to the YMCA as George D Wilson the handw running jumped off the page at me and it was something that I'm
going you know I gotta Paul edol formerly of the Beverly Hills Police Department and one of the country's
leading forensic experts on handwriting was enlisted to examine the evidence this was written out by the person who
checked into the YMC in the name of George D Wilson and this was an eye examination from the state of South
Carolina in the name of Gerald F Mason this is the Gerald Mason G this is the George Wilson G if you put one over the
other here I mean it's almost identical I indicated that I was uh 99.9% sure that this was done by the
same person when you told them that you were 99.9% sure what was their reaction they were ready to go out and get a war
War for his arrest at that point and so confident their case against Mason was solid detectives made the trip to South
Carolina to finally get their man but it wasn't over yet Gerald Mason's comfortable retirement was about to come
to an end and no one knew how he'd react there was a lot of anxiety cuz we didn't know what was going to happen
what did you say to him Mr Mason uh we're detectives from Los Angeles and uh we're here to talk to you about
something happened back in 1957 two police officers were murdered my God you here for that reason yes
[Music] sir you say Canon will be used against a court a law you understand that
yes when Gerald Mason answered a knock on his front door early on the morning of January 29th 2003 it's clear from
these police audio tapes that he never expected it would be his past finally catching up with him we're investigating
a crime that occurred back in 1957 two police officers were murdered my God you here for that reason
sir when my partner explained to him that we were homicide investigators M County his chin just dropped detectives
Kevin low and Dan meler weren't sure who was more surprised when they finally met
Mason face to face he was just shocked completely shocked and he just kept saying I don't understand I don't
understand why you're here you've come here for me yes sir that's what the arrest Wars for he never denied it he
never reacted he just stared off and just shook his head El Segundo police Lieutenant Craig clear had the privilege
of taking me Mason into custody step over here you think that he thought after all
these years he'd gotten away with it absolutely even though Mason was almost 70 years old police still considered him
potentially dangerous in fact a search of his house turned up a collection of loaded Firearms but in the end Mason
gave up not with a bang but with a whimper I don't know honey I don't know what this is all about what are you
going to do with them going put me in jail they going put me in jail 46 years of searching had turned up
a fugitive very different than anyone had expected for example there's no record that Gerald Mason ever committed
another Crime After the 1957 police killings he got married raised a family and started his own business to everyone
who knew him he was nothing more than an ordinary law-abiding citizen for over 40
years Jerry has been a loving husband father grandfather and a friend of this community this has to be a case of
mistaken identity when it happened I I said there was no way I said he just didn't do it
Betty Wiggins has lived next door to the Masons for the past 10 years and like many people in this neighborhood could
always count on Gerald Mason when help was needed he put these flood lights up here for me he put the grill together
for me he would light the pilot light on my jacuzzi when I couldn't get it on the
heater how was he thought of here in the neighborhood everyone really did like Jerry I never heard anyone say anything
bad about him like many of the older residents of Colombia Mason could often be found at
the local bowling alley or at a nearby golf course enjoying his retirement with friends it was an individual who would
give you a shirt off his back if you need it Dell Trimble who counts Gerald Mason as one of his best friends played
golf with him the day before his arrest he wasn't a Harden criminal I mean he made a mistake he was a kid that went
out and and made a couple mistakes but at the same token he changed his life was this retired family man really the
coldblooded killer California police had been searching for all these years prosecutor Darren Levine would have to
prove that he was I've had my own friends say to me but he's been so good for 45 years he's lived such a good life
for 45 years he was a nice grandfather he was a decent husband does that count for anything sure it does we have to
overcome that the case against Mason was strong matching fingerprints handwriting
but there was one piece of evidence investigators always wondered about one that could eliminate any doubt Forever
Three impacts only two projectiles recovered where's the Third projectile question
mark did you check Mason to see if he'd been shot or had a scar we did he had a mark it looked like a big Pock mark on
his right shoulder blade he was in fact hit by a gunfire when Phillips shot him the last thing that officer did
before he died was Mark the man that killed him for life he tried to defend himself the best he could you know try
to defend him himself and his partner in another sense the Philips children Carolyn dick and Pat were also scarred
for life we lived our lives without dad he wasn't there but gee his murderer was able to
have everything that my father wasn't allowed to have it's um it's hard it's hard to live with you
know being sent to prison for the rest of his life is not good enough he needs to hear from from the families to see
and feel what he has done to us all right now the Phillips and Curtis families would have their chance to do
just that after a Judicial Hearing in South Carolina Mason agreed to return to Los Angeles for a trial long overdue
officers that hadn't been around for 20 years came in Walking on canes I thought
this St would never come officers like Howard speaks who lifted the fingerprint that solved the case I've been waiting
for this St a long time but the weight was well worth it new police officers rookie police officers detectives came
to see in this extraordinary case would it have an extraordinary ending and to the surprise of everyone
it did my understanding is that you want to enter a ple today is that correct that's correct Gerald Mason could have
fought the charges yet for some reason this time he did the right thing he pleaded guilty and Darren LaVine was
more than happy to accept his ple on July 22nd 1957 do you acknowledge that you murdered officer Phillips and Officer
Curtis willfully deliberately and with premedication yes and finally Mason would have to face up to what he had
done and face those whose lives he' shattered carted individual left a total of five children
fatherless and four teenagers devastated for many years to come your cowardly act shattered our lives
forever for all of this we cannot and will not forgive you but that didn't stop Mason from trying to make some kind
of amends is it impossible to express to so many people how sorry I am I do not understand why I did this it does not
fit in my life it is not the person I know I detest these crimes did you believe what he said in court no
no as far as I'm concerned his that apology speech went out for himself and to his family we might say he's sorry
now but we didn't even look at that because I don't believe it yes he was remorseful but I think he was more sad
and more sorry for having been caught is the Judgment of this court that You' be sentenced to life in
prison Gerald Mason will now spend what's left of the rest of his life in prison but one question Still Remains
after all these years [Music] why it wasn't too easy no it was a lot of work it was draining physically emot
emotionally and now it's [Applause] over detectives Kevin low and Dan meler got what they wanted from Gerald Mason a
confession but what they also wanted now were answers after the proceedings he was willing to sit down and talk with us
and answer some more questions that we we had for him nagging questions like why did Mason after just getting out of
prison for burglary end up in California with a gun I didn't have a family life I
didn't have any place to go and things were not going well for me and so I took off California I bought the gun at
streetport with the intention of using it simply as a deterrent in so far as I was hitchhiking when asked why he
attacked the teenagers and raped that 15-year-old girl amazingly Mason said he didn't really remember but as far as why
he killed two cops in Cold Blood Mason's answer was shockingly simple I thought if I don't get them they going to get me
so when the officer turned away from me I shocked both officers got back in the car and drove away a simple answer for
an incredibly senseless crime an answer that brought little Comfort to his victims I hope he burns in
hell it made me really feel angry sick uh to the point where I wish I could reach out and smack him up on the
side of the head he's a murderer he's a thief and he's a rapist that's what he is he just got old but there was great
comfort in knowing that after 46 years the victims were never forgotten to know that they didn't give up there were
people out there of the department that still wanted to solve this case but then
to be able to do it it was phenomenal how is solving this case helped you peace of
mine that's it peace of mind they presented these to us these pocket watches it says thank you seem so
small we carry these with us everywhere we go and uh it's just a reminder of these great families that we feel such a
part of now my man how are you good in the end maybe what it took to solve this case wasn't
one clue or one break but one family generations of police officers determined to protect their own
there's probably a hundred people that was in on this investigation and I love each and every one of them you can't
even begin to thank them a lot of people put their hearts and soul into it there's not much more satisfying
thing I've ever done in law enforcement it's heartwarming that we were able to do a small part in that I didn't think
I'd ever live to see it it'll live with me the rest of my days this is the culmination of my career law enforcement
just the thanks and the praise we got from the families is more than any recognition we could get from our
department I hope we brought them some measure of comfort knowing that we've got the
guy the town of elig gundo hasn't changed much since that fateful night so long ago but one thing has changed the
wounds that were suffered almost 50 years ago have finally begun to heal I'm not his victim
anymore my son is not his victim anymore I am so grateful I had to wait this long is worth a
[Music] [Music] wait [Music]

A cold-blooded cop killing haunts police for half a century. Follow a 50-year manhunt to a stunning conclusion. "48 Hours Mystery" correspondent Bill Lagattuta reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

Brief Summary

The episode details the 1957 murders of two police officers and the decades-long pursuit of justice culminating in Gerald Mason's arrest in 2003.

Key points

The Cold-Blooded Murder of Officers. Two police officers were brutally murdered during a routine traffic stop, shocking the community.
The Longest Manhunt in California History. The search for the killer of two police officers would span nearly half a century.
A Night of Innocence Turned Horrific. What began as a fun night for teenagers quickly escalated into a nightmare when they were held at gunpoint and assaulted.
The Digital Breakthrough. A digital fingerprint match leads to the capture of a fugitive after decades.
The Shocking Arrest. Gerald Mason, a seemingly ordinary retiree, is confronted by detectives about a cold case.
A Life Shattered. Mason's confession reveals the impact of his actions on the victims' families.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This case was like no other.

0:18WatchMay 14, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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