Whatever jam he'd got himself into must have been just before that, and it might have made the local newspapers.
6 seconds sound clip from the Dead Reckoning (1947) movie soundboard.
You can hear this line at 00:11:51.636 in the Blu-ray version of the movie.
Quote context
[...]
- Prendergast, Prescott, Prestwood.
- Stalled again, like a Jeep on synthetic gas.
- 48 hours since he'd called, and still no word.
- There it was, Father, all over page one.
- September third, '43, only five weeks before Johnny enlisted under the name of Drake.
- Search for Johnny goes limp, the story dribbling off until it fell right out of the paper.
[...]