Highway Patrol1955

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Narrator:
Of the thousands of felonies handled yearly by the Highway Patrol, the crime of first degree murder is least frequently encountered. When a murder has been committed, it is usually an immediate consequence of another felony such as armed robbery, and the motive for the killing is obvious. The Patrol's job is more difficult when the murder has been committed by the criminal whose motive is just as obvious, but not as ordinary - the man who shoots, in cold blood, people he has never met: the professional hired killer. On the morning of May 7th, such a man visited Chatsworth. He had arranged for a rented car, and immediately upon his arrival he picked up the car and headed directly for the Merlin Ranch. There he hoped to find the two men he was hired to kill - the Santell brothers.