The Onion Field Murder - REAL Crime Scene Locations 4K

I come luck my whever I go luck good luck never stays always for today's Grim Adventure we have to go back to March 9th 1963 to walk the steps of a crime that started here in Hollywood California and ended just outside of Bakersfield in an onion field the crime became known around the world as The Onion Field murder The Onion Field killing even and there was a book written about it the book became a movie starring Ted Danson and James Woods we're going to talk a little bit about that later on but today we're going to be visiting all of the crime scene locations from here to Bakersfield to the actual spot where officer Ian Campbell was shot and killed killed officer Ian Campbell was the only victim and he's buried here in this [Music] Cemetery [Music] now before we head out to the crime scenes and even further all the way up to Bakersfield where the onion Fields were I wanted to stop by the cemetery because this is where you'll find the final resting place of Officer Ian Campbell over here at the top of the even tide section near the road overlooking Los Angeles and Glendale I can see the Griffith Observatory off in the distance on the hillside but it's a peaceful little plot here now like I said officer Ian Campbell is the only person that was killed that night the only person that was murdered and throughout this video we're going to talk a lot about what happened but you have to remember that truth is often quite often scarier than Fiction with that being said there is a book that came out called The Onion Field it's a great book and if you're not a reader there's a movie that came out called The Onion Field that stars James Woods and Ted dancing but right over here is the final resting place of Officer Ian Campbell Ian Campbell 1931 to 1963 lo I am with you always in this video we are going to talk about how Ian Campbell died how he was murdered out in the Onion Field we're actually going to go to the exact location but I didn't want to talk about it here instead I just kind of wanted to come and pay you know our respects and show you that it's an actual real place what I mean by that a lot of times whenever you find out about True Crime stuff depending on where you are in the world it's a book or an article or you see a little video on Tik Tok or something like that or you watch documentary on Hulu I'm obsessed with them and you might be too and you kind of forget that these are real people these are real stories and this one here is a doozy so hang on when I first came across the headstone I was like wait a second did somebody deface the actual stone itself you see all these markings right here I was like like man I mean I've seen stranger things but uh it's actually the blades from a lawn mower you know whenever they cut the grass it just it's all nicked up other than that it's a simple beautiful Tombstone let's talk about the movie The Onion Field for just a moment it came out in the year 1979 and it stars James Woods and Ted dancing everybody's favorite bartender from the TV show Cheers it's a pretty good movie it follows the book it's a movie based on the book of the same name which is based on the crime and the trailer for it is probably one of my favorite trailers for any True Crime dramatization movie ever made any cop who gives up his gun to some punk is a coward he's got a gun in my back give him yours Carl 9900 p.m. Los Angeles California Petty criminals Greg Powell and Jimmy Smith forced police officers Ian Campbell and Carl Hettinger to an abandoned Onion Field we told you we were going to let you go but have you ever heard of the little Lindberg law do you know what the Lindberg law is it kidnapping carries capital punishment you're wrong up until the moment the first shot was fired the little Lindberg law didn't apply I'm just a thief and no cup killer why the hell would I lie what could I gain he can stand silent on the Fifth Amendment John Savage is Officer Carl hinger Ted dansson is Officer Ian Campbell James Woods the actor portrays Greg Powell the criminal Franklin seals the actor portrays Jimmy Smith the criminal the book is a best [Music] seller the screenplay is by the author we have now seen what the Onion Field looked like on the night of March 9th what happened in the Onion Field is true but the real crime is what happened after Joseph wall The Onion Field a true story so what exactly happened the night of March 9th 1963 well two plane closed police officers were on patrol here in Hollywood officer Ian Campbell and officer Carl hedinger and they noticed a suspicious car driving through the streets and I read a couple different things the first one being that they pulled them over because they noticed a a light like a bulb above the license plate was burned out and the other one being that they pulled a U-turn where they weren't supposed to now I am guessing that to the officers this felt like a typical traffic stop a normal traffic stop that they've done countless times before but on this night in particular March 9th 1963 everything changes so this is the intersection of Carlos and Gower Street right in the heart of Hollywood and this is where they pulled over that suspicious vehicle in fact they parked right in front of this building that's to the right hand side and there's a black truck parked right there right now now inside the vehicle were two guys Gregory pal and Jimmy Smith and whenever the cops came up to the car and had them get out they didn't know it that both men actually had guns they got the drop on the police one of the guys put the gun up against the back of Ian Campbell the only guy who was shot and killed during all of of this and Ian Campbell tells his partner hey they got guns give them your give them your weapon and hinger his partner was very reluctant so he says and interesting thing about this after all this was said and done the other police officers really gave him a lot of a lot of Guff or Gruff if you will because you know you never give up your your weapon but he did so hinger gives up his gun and now that Gregory pow and Jimmy Smith have both police officers in their control they kidnap them they get them in their car and then they drive up the highway like 90 minutes towards Bakerfield to the middle of an onion field hence how the name The Onion Field murder The Onion Field killings began because this is a very busy intersection I had to get the shot very quickly by running out in the middle of the street but there's a crime scene photo that was taken of the patrol car the unmarked patrol car parked right here in front of these houses and this is how it looks today and the fun thing about this the buildings are the same as well as the light post right there as well as the crosswalk signs and they changed a little bit but they're in the same exact spot they look almost identical back to 1963 at the time of recording this it is 2023 and this square is now known as the Ian Campbell Square I'm not entirely sure when that went into effect but it's nice to see that there's something here talking about that it's a couple different signs one over by the church and then one actually on the light pole that was right next to the car the patrol car that was stopped pretty wild right here in the heart of Hollywood [Music] after pal and Smith kidnapped the officers they drove them about 90 Mi North to some onion fields on the outskirts of Bakersfield which is exactly where we are right now from here on out we're going to do our best to try to locate exactly where this crime took place where everything happened and where Ian Campbell was shot using what we know from the book some notes as well as some crime scene photographs the first sign that we are in the right spot is this sign right here that says warning high pressure gas line and the reason that this is important is because back in 1963 whenever this crime took place they were digging the gas line and in some of the crime scene photos you can actually see the ditch in the background with the officers standing there now now what's really important even more important about this is the night that this happened pow and Smith drove the officers out here and they they got off the highway and they drove out into the onion fields and they couldn't go any further the road LED straight to a trench which was the gas line to be and they turned around did a u-turn and instead of driving back they had to figure out something to do with the officers that they just kidnapped [Music] now the highway that you see is the highway that they took out of Hollywood all the way up here towards Bakersfield and it's important to note that certain parts of the highway are actually dedicated to Ian Campbell I me they do that a lot with different officers but especially this one here now this gas line right here is actually very important because it acts as a pointer now if we were to come over here and stand this way and just kind of look out across the highway and the fields that is where we are going we're going to try to find it I can see those the the lines out there the power lines that's pretty close to where we need to be baby go so we got some we got a little bit of an adventure here to try to track down the exact spot we finally found the dirt road that takes us back to where we need to be and we notice that there's another trench over here on the right hand side of the car right hand side of the road that's not the trench that we're looking for back in 1963 the gas line trench actually went across the road which they would have been driving just like we are right now and they couldn't go any further because it just kind of you know cut them off this is pretty wild being out here it looks like instead of onion Fields now it's [Music] grapes now it didn't take us too long to figure out which way the car was driving down here through the onion Fields it's actually the same direction that Jessica is walking and like we said earlier they they couldn't go further down this back road because they came to a ditch the gas line that we're talking about that they were digging back in 1963 we're going to show you where it was it's clearly marked but this is it it's pretty crazy to be here I mean out of all the places out in the middle of nowhere truly in the middle of nowhere right up here so let me try to map out this as best as I possibly can if we were to keep going across this field it would take us to where we were standing next to the highway and we're showing you the gas lines it's almost a straight line remember how we were talking like it was going to be an arrow it cuts right across this road right here you can see that that yellow marker and if I stand right here and just kind of pivot the camera right across this road warning High Press gas line crazy how this works right tracking all this down the sun is Playing Tricks on us darting in and out behind the clouds but try to picture this right now I am standing on the other side of where the gas line trench was being dug in 1963 again you can see both markers on both sides of the road here now that night they were driving just the way that Jessica was walking and they couldn't go any further because of the trench so they stop and they turn around and when they do this Ian Campbell is ordered out of the car for some reason they had him driving from Hollywood all the way up here to Bakersfield and when he gets out of the car he's standing pretty much right where Jessica is standing right up against the trench and pal walks over to Campbell they say a few different things and pal shoots Campbell in the face and he falls to the ground right there he's the only person to be shot the only person to be killed and murdered that night hence the name Onion Field killing Onion Field murder now when this happens his partner hinger breaks free and he runs across the road out into the onion Fields it's a full moon that night so everything is well lit and the the two criminals are shooting after him trying to get him as he runs down through this way again they weren't grape Vines then it was an onion field but eventually he gets away he makes it to a farmhouse to safety as hinger is running through the onion Fields he hears four more shots off the distance and it turns out they turned around and they shot Ian Campbell four more times now it's it's known for certain that pal was the guy who shot Ian Campbell in the face but for the other shots both criminals blamed each other a couple of days after this on March 11th the police come back up here to try to get a better understanding as to what happened that night and this time they bring Jimmy Smith and there were a bunch of photographs that were taken that day and in the photos you can see Jimmy Smith standing there in a long coat and he's got his hands and handcuffs and and what I find very interesting you can see how clear how desolate how empty all of this is and we got I think there're lemon trees on the left right now we got grapes over there to the right pretty much the only thing that stays the same that has stayed the same as the mountain in the background as well as these telephone pools there's a few new ones and I mean by that if you look very closely at some of these photos you can see that mountain range off in the distance if you look closely you can match it up all the different grooves but there's one two three telephone poles the third one which was right near the trench which is right here has been torn down for whatever reason it looks like the the grape Vines are actually closer to the road over here pretty much right where Jessica is standing and we know this because looking down here we can see some new telephone pools I mean come on 1963 to 2023 of course some things are going to [Music] change right now we are heading over to The Farmhouse we're heading to Rand to safety and I had to stop and show you this I mean look how beautiful this is now as beautiful as it is put yourself back in 1963 so right about there way off in the distance is where the crime happened where Ian Campbell was shot and killed and hinger in the middle of the night middle of the night ran through the fields with people shooting at him all through this I mean it's a long way to go and The Farmhouse is somewhere somewhere over here you can see some houses if you look very closely now Al I point this out because according to the book according to the records according to hedinger um he was in the back seat cramped like well he was he was crouched down and his legs were cramped and falling asleep when all this happened and whenever they you know Ian Campbell got out of the car and they shot him his legs were kind of numb like they were falling asleep so he ran this entire field I mean talk about adrenaline right he ran all of this to escape now I find this crazy insane in the middle of the night 1963 head iner runs 4 miles through onion Fields lit only by the moon to a farmhouse and that Farmhouse is down this road right here this is where he reported the crime where he found safety and the two Crooks they actually split up pal chased after head Ander on foot and Smith drove the car around the back roads looking for him trying to find him so as he was running the four miles to this Farmhouse he would see headlights off in the distance and he would duck down whenever they got he ran into the farmer who lived here they would see the headlights and they would duck down but eventually they made it out okay even though hinger made it to safety and he survived that night things got really really bad things got really really sad you see pretty much everybody on the police force blamed hedinger for Ian Campbell's death because you know a cop never gives his weapon no matter what and because he gave his weapon down there in Hollywood they uh they never let him live it down and eventually through depression and whatnot he uh got fired from the police force I do believe and I think it might have been part of it but I know that he got caught shoplifting I wasn't sure if that was before or after he got fired from the police department from the police force but crazy right it really is beautiful and peaceful out here it's hard to imagine that back in 1963 this crime took place and they wrote a book about it a movie was made from that book it's just surreal to me to visit these locations and with that being said thank you for joining us on another G Adventure this time telling the story of The Onion Field murder till next time Happy Halloween good luck never stay always my way I

Channel: grimmlifecollective

Views: 121,721

Keywords: Onion Field Murder, True Crime, Onion Field Murders, Onion Field Murders Documentary, True Crime Documentary, True Crime Stories, True Crime Daily, True Crime Podcast, True Crime Recaps, True Crime Documentaries Full Episodes, True Crime TikToks, True Crime ASMR, True Crime Daniel, True Crime Netflix, True Crime Netflix Documentaries, True Crime Netflix 2024, True Crime Netflix Trailer, True Crime Netflix Series, Netflix True Crime Documentary Trailer, True Crime Movies

Id: wPmTich7Rg4

Length: 21min 48sec (1308 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 05 2024