mrs. collins?
my name is captain j. j. jones, lincoln park juvenile division. my office supervises all runaway and missing child cases, including your son's, and.  he's alive, mrs. collins. he was picked up two days ago by local police in de kalb, illinois. he's safe and unhurt. he was in the company of some drifter, we've got an apb out for him now, and --
yours is a story with a happy ending, mrs. collins. people love happy endings. train should be pulling in shortly. we'd better get a move on.
thank you. we'll have a statement for you in a little while.
mrs. collins, i'd like to introduce you to chief of police james e. davis.
women. just a sec.
well? aren't you going to --
i. what are you --
i'm. i'm sure you're mistaken.
he's been through four long, terrible months. he's gone through changes, lost weight --
i'm just saying. i mean, you're in shock, and he's changed, and --
what's your name, son? can you tell me your name?
do you know where you live, walter? do you know your home address?
mrs. collins. listen to me. i know you're feeling uncertain right now, but that's to be expected. a boy this age changes so fast. but we've compensated for that in our investigation. we're experts in child identification. there's no question that this is your son.
it's not walter as you remember him. that's why it's important for you to take him home, on a. trial basis.
once you've put him back in familiar surroundings, and given yourself time to recover from the shock of his changed condition. you'll see that it is him. i swear to you, mrs. collins. i give you my word. trust me. this is your son.
if there's any problem, any problem at all, come and talk to me and i'll take care of it. mrs. collins. he has nowhere else to go.
thank you.
it was certainly quite a shock. at first she hardly recognized him. perfectly natural, the boy's been through quite an ordeal.
absolutely.
mrs. collins --
we agreed you would give him time to adjust --
maybe your measurements are off. look, i'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for --
mrs. collins. your son was missing for four months. for at least part of that in the company of an as-yet unidentified drifter. who knows what such a disturbed individual might have done? he could have had him. circumcised.  might have --
i am listening, damn it, i -- i am listening. and i understand your feelings. he's changed, no mistake. you've both been through a terrible experience. that's why he needs your support and love to bounce back.
why are you doing this, mrs. collins? you seem perfectly capable of taking care of the boy, your work pays you enough to attend to his personal needs. so i don't understand why you're trying to run away from your responsibilities --
why should we look someone we've already found?
his identity has been confirmed by the best minds in the field of child identification, people who know what they're doing.
sara, get dr. tarr on the phone.
morelli, i want you to find the collins woman and get her here. bring her in the back way, and have a couple of matrons standing by.
mrs. collins.
leave the boy for now. we'll look after him.
you've put us through quite a bit of trouble, mrs. collins. this situation has become an embarrassment for the entire department.
no, of course not. you just told the papers we can't tell one boy from another as a compliment for the months we spent working on your case. are you trying to make fools out of us? is that it? do you enjoy this?
you know what your problem is? you want to shirk your responsibilities as a mother. you enjoyed being a free woman, didn't you? enjoyed not having to worry about a young son. you could do what you wanted, go where you wanted, see anyone you wanted. but then we found your son. brought him back. and now he's an inconvenience. that's why you cooked up this whole scheme, to try and throw him to the state, let the state raise him for you.
no? even the boy says he's your son. why would he do that? how would he know to do that?
maybe so. maybe he is a liar. but that's how he's been trained, isn't it? lying was born in both of you. you're a liar and a troublemaker and if you ask me you've got no business walking the streets of los angeles.
because either you know you're lying, or you're not capable of knowing if you're lying or telling the truth. so which is it, mrs. collins? are you a derelict mother? or just nuts? because from where i sit, those are the only options.
you want to bring in experts? doctors? well, i can do that too. matron?
mrs. collins. do you still insist that the boy out there is not your son?
you are to convey the prisoner to the los angeles county general hospital psychopathic ward.
make the following entry in the booking department: defendant states she has been deceived by police and others, and that they have given her a boy and tried to make her think it is her son when she says it is not.
mrs. collins has been known to us since about march 10, 1928, when she reported her nine-year-old son walter missing.
the boy was gone until july, 1928. since his return, she has complained that he is still missing, and has made repeated requests that he be found, saying, "this is not my walter," even though positive identification has been established.
she suffers from paranoia, delusions of persecution, and dislocation from reality. she may be a threat to herself or others. we recommend that she be conveyed to the psychopathic ward for treatment and observation until her senses can be restored. the matron stops before the desk. the nurse barely looks up.
he's lying.
have you gone soft in the head, les?
he's playing you! he knows he's in trouble, so he's come up with some cock and bull story about how he was forced to stay in the country --
he picked the collins kid! we found him, remember? haven't you been reading the papers? or maybe you have, is that it?
tell the sonofabitch to get the hell off police property before i have him arrested for disturbing the peace.
what the hell?
jesus jumped down.
ybarra? listen. you're not to do anything except come back here.
departmental policy is what i say it is, you got that? now i'm ordering you to get your ass back here with that kid, you got that? you bring him here and you talk to no one, got it? nobody!
i am.
mrs. collins has been placed in protective custody following a mental breakdown.
her statements and behavior have been found to be consistent with a delusional state of mind that could make her a danger to herself or others. in the public interest, we are looking after her son while she gets the help she clearly needs.
sorry, we're withholding that information to respect the privacy of the family. but i can assure you that she's getting the best treatment available. that's all.
sir, i --
sir, nobody could have known what was going on up at that ranch. not us, not the sheriff's department, the marshall's office. as for the collins woman.  i'm still not convinced that her kid is among the victims up in wineville.
no, sir.
sir?
yes, sir.
yes, sir.
sir, there's talk of an investigation by the police commission.
my boys are working on it now, sir.
did you check the wire services?
what about the man he showed up with at the diner?
and he overheard them say the name walter collins.
but why that one? i mean, of all the police departments he could've screwed up, why los angeles?
the boy, walter collins, was reported as missing on march 10, 1928.
we then instituted a nationwide search. on july 10, we received a cable indicating that a boy matching his description had been found in de kalb, illinois. upon questioning, he admitted to being walter collins, and we made arrangements to transport him back to california.
yes. she denied his identity in spite of all evidence pointing to the contrary.
whether or not this was in fact the correct boy was not relevant to my decision. throughout this period, she acted strangely. she was often cool, aloof and unemotional, especially when presented with the boy we located in de kalb, and in our subsequent conversations. it was because of her disturbing behavior that i submitted her for observation to the psychopathic ward of los angeles county general hospital.
she wasn't --
she wasn't --
she wasn't thrown. she was.  escorted.
i did.
september 12th.
the form is backdated.
that's correct. there was no need to serve the warrant since she was at that time already in custody.
technically. yes.
extraordinary steps were necessary because we were dealing with an extraordinary situation! is it our fault that we were being deceived by the boy who claimed to be walter collins? no. in light of his claims and her behavior, who wouldn't begin to wonder if there was something wrong with her?
because she wouldn't listen, because she insisted on being obstinate and taking matters into her own hands best left to qualified officers, because --
yes. it is.