Friday peruses the elusive armed robber Mark Hoffman after the man repeatedly escapes from both State and military prisons. Can Friday convince the man to surrender or will he go down in a hail of bullets.
Friday and Smith are following up on a missing persons report when they do find the man -- folded up in a wall bed with fatal hammer blows to the head.
The detectives are trying to solve the case of the milk bottle bandit when they catch a break and apprehend a diminutive fifteen year old. The youngster, under questioning, explains he just wants to be a big deal for once.
Joe Friday searches for a check forger who has been using the name of the old-time movie villain Parker Allington, who died three years ago. The search takes him to a former extra who has given up show business for crime.
Executive leaves suicide note in his car with pistol, two bullets spent and no trace of the body. Friday and Smith working Homicide, Missing Persons Detail, begin their search for the man.