CRIMINAL MIND > FORENSICS & INVESTIGATION

Beverly Hills Cop

"All I Want Is Your Money"

Map of California with El Segindo Locator

In the summer of 1957, residents of El Segundo, California, were enjoying their own little piece of Eden. Buddy Holly, Bill Haley & the Comets and rock & roll filled the hearts of teenagers for the first time. Life seemed full of promise and community. People were excited about the future. America was changing. It was the era of the teenager. School dances were still held in gymnasiums. Kids still went wild over the cars they drove. Fashion statements consisted of wing-tips, petuli -oiled hair, kaki pants and cardigan sweaters.

In just a few square miles, El Segundo offered immaculate beachfront property and year-round average temperatures between 70 to 75 degrees. With a population of 8,000, "the little town by the sea," as locals called it then, was a place where families could go to bed at night and leave their doors unlocked. Just south of Los Angeles Airport, with the wonder of the Pacific Ocean at their doorstep, El Segundo was perhaps the last place Americans would have believed a simple armed robbery could turn into the brutal rape of a local girl and the vicious murders of two well-liked police officers.

The 1949 Ford 4-door Sedan

On July 21, a calm summer night, near midnight, four teenagers—two males, sixteen and seventeen years old; and two females, both fifteen—sat in a 1949 metallic blue Ford sedan owned by Roy Jones, the father of one of the boys. They were parked near the oil fields in Hawthorne, a suburb of El Segundo, on "Lover's Lane," watching the planes land at Hawthorne Airport and frolicking into the night. It was a spectacular atmosphere: the stars, the moon, the shimmering sparkle protruding off the ocean not far away, all adding to ambiance.

As the children sat and talked in the car, a man, who appeared to be in his early twenties-six foot two, about two hundred pounds, with light brown hair (combed back with pompadour in the front), receding hairline, wearing a plaid or checkered sport shirt, light red and white in color, and khaki pants-walked up to the driver's side window and pointed a gun at the driver, teenager Bob Dewar.

"Pay attention," the man said, "you're being robbed." He had a sharp, clear voice, with a distinct Southern drawl. He was later described as having an "athletic build with broad shoulders and slim waist." Dewar later reported that he was "extremely polite. I had just rolled the window down because the windows had started to fog up."

Everyone in the car froze as soon as they realized what was happening.

"All I want is your money-I won't hurt you," the man said. He had a nine-shot .22 caliber H&R revolver, a rare weapon, and was pointing it at Dewar's head.

After realizing the danger of the situation, Dewar decided to open the driver's door and let the would-be robber in. At first, Dewar contemplated the notion that it was a prank-that one of his friends had put the guy up to it.

Within moments, however, Bob Dewar would realize that it was, in fact, no joke at all.