He Walked by Night

On a Los Angeles street, Patrolman Rob Rawlins stops a man he suspects of burglary and is shot, mortally wounded. The sudden killing shocks the precinct and starts a tense manhunt for a skilled killer. With Rawlins dead, investigators scramble to find any clue that could identify the attacker.

Two homicide detectives, Marty Brennan and Chuck Jones, are assigned to track the elusive killer. They begin piecing together leads and coordinating surveillance across the city. The case quickly becomes a high-priority pursuit of a mastermind with no known criminal past.

Roy Morgan, a brilliant mystery man, holes up in a Hollywood bungalow and taps into police radio chatter with a custom receiver to monitor investigations. He keeps only a dog as his companion, using the information to time his moves and stay ahead of the men hunting him. The setup channels the cat-and-mouse dynamic that drives the pursuit.

Morgan forwards stolen electronic equipment to fence Paul Reeves and nearly gets caught when he tries to collect on his property. Reeves is threatened with prosecution, and for a moment appears willing to sell Morgan out. The exchange plants a seed of cooperation that could turn the case in the police’s favor.

Under pressure from prosecution and the danger of exposure, Reeves agrees to cooperate with the police. He becomes a source for investigators, providing access and turning the case toward Morgan. His alliance disrupts Morgan’s inside knowledge of police procedures.

The detectives stake out Reeves’s office with the aim of arresting Roy when he reappears. They believe they’re closing in and hope to force a confrontation that yields actionable evidence. The stakeout intensifies the pressure on Roy.

Roy detects the trap and fires during the stakeout, wounding and paralyzing Jones. Brennan returns fire and keeps the operation from collapsing entirely. The assault demonstrates Morgan’s willingness to do whatever it takes to survive.

Roy performs surgery on himself to remove the bullet and elude hospital treatment, evading police discovery. He relies on his medical know-how and cool nerve to survive his injuries. The self-prescribed operation marks a turning point in how he handles injuries and exposure.

With one fewer obstacle, Morgan escalates his crime spree to armed robbery. Police recover shell casings from a robbery and use them to connect him to the earlier Rawlins murder and Jones’s wounding. The forensic link consolidates the case against a single, elusive suspect.

Captain Breen rounds up witnesses from the robberies and coordinates with forensics to build a composite sketch of the killer. The process is aided by the recovered evidence and careful testimony from those on the scene. Reeves is able to identify Morgan from the evolving composite.

Reeves spots Roy in the crowd and identifies him from the composite. Roy, realizing he has been exposed, hides in Reeves’s car and tries to intimidate him into silence. Reeves, fearing for his life and the investigation, alerts the police and Roy flees.

Brennan digs deeper and learns that Morgan once worked as a civilian radio technician for a local police department before being drafted into the army. This past explains how Morgan understands police procedures and radios. He uses that knowledge to stay several steps ahead of the investigators.

Brennan obtains Morgan’s address through the postal system and goes undercover as a milkman to case Morgan’s apartment. He gathers intelligence and plans the raid with precision. The undercover work marks a shift to proactive policing.

The raid is carried out that night, but Roy is alerted by his dog’s barking and flees through the attic to escape. Internal doors and corridors complicate the pursuit, allowing him to slip out of immediate reach. The escape sets up the final pursuit.

A tense chase unfolds through the storm-drainage tunnel system beneath Los Angeles as officers close in. Roy is cornered when a police car wheel traps his exit at a manhole, and tear gas fills the passage. With no way out, he fires one last shot and is killed by the pursuing officers.