32. The Price of Death

Case file: #7-23938-C
Arnold George Casey: Kidnapping.

Original air date: 18 September 1966
Rerun 30 April 1967

Kidnappers snatch boys from working class families, and then hold them for ransom. The kidnappers run into trouble when their latest victim turns out to be diabetic. This becomes a race against time.

• Inspector Erskine has to contact the kidnappers' parents by posing as a family doctor. To do this, he wears glasses, and drives a 1966 Lincoln (see above).
• Lew Brown takes over as recurring character Special Agent Allen Bennett. The part was introduced by Jason Evers in Episode 7.
• 1957 Ranchero in the background of the park scene when the two villians case out the house of the next kidnap victim. The car is barely seen just to the left of the statue in the park as the camera pans to the right to show the two bad guys sitting on the park bench.
• David Macklin makes his second appearance on the show. He had just finished his run on the 1965-66 ABC comedy Tammy.

Robert Blake’s final appearance

Robert Blake would make his final appearance on this series. He would not be allowed back on the show, thanks to the Bureau. When filming In Cold Blood in 1967, Mr. Blake made statements about criminals that displeased Director J. Edgar Hoover. As a result, Mr. Blake was barred from the series. Not that it mattered, though: Mr. Blake’s movie career, which began with the Little Rascals back in the 1930s, would resurge with In Cold Blood. He would later win an Emmy for the ABC crime series Baretta.