I'm glad you mentioned that for one particular reason.
People who see something in an earlier piece of entertainment are fond of saying "That would never be allowed NOW, but people were okay with it BACK THEN."
Either okay with it in a good way, or in a bad way, as is naive. And sometimes that's true, but people say it about almost everything.
So, maybe Columbo taking Audrey to do that identifying would've been unrealistic when the episode was made, just as you say.