In 1936, night watchman Harry E. Bradley, a father or ten, was killed in the middle of the night of July 12. Waltham Police and the Middlesex DA suspect the guard interrupted thieves while in the act of robbing the place.

Despite a flurry of tips from the community - a wounded man in Roxbury, a potential break-in nearby, a discarded set of forceps a couple streets away, and of course the "dark roadster with a peculiar green striping" seen driving by the scene of the crime.

Bradley was found to be missing by a fellow guard around 4:00 AM, and his body was recovered from the Charles River. His watchman's light strap was wrapped three times around his neck. His revolver was found on the riverbank, having fired three shots.

But, the case grows cold.

The Middlesex DA, Warren Bishop, and the Mayor of Waltham, Frederick MacDonald, trade accusations of blame for a botched investigation.

Mayor MacDonald argues with Massachusetts Governor James Michael Curley over a $1000 reward the Mayor wants to offer for the apprehension of the killers.

But then, nothing.

There's no trace of suspects beyond the first couple of weeks of activity. Evidence is lacking, and the trail grows cold.

Until May 1938. The Boston Daily Record newspaper thinks the case is cracked and publishes a story on May 4 that a state prison inmate at MCI Concord had confessed to the crime!

According to the Fitchburg Sentinel, "The prisoner's 'confession' was given to a policeman who had kept at the case after other investigators had marked it unsolved."

He turned that evidence over to DA Bishop.

In the intervening months, the police brought people in for questioning, heard about potential suspects - one woman said her boyfriend was invited to take part in the robbery, but didn't- and questioned and fingerprinted former Waltham Watch factory employees.

Nothing.

What next?