How is it that the gardener in this episode did not report his truck stolen to the police? I mean a gardener's missing truck is kind of a big item, right? How long did it take Hugh Creighton to drive it to and from his Malibu beach house to commit the murder? If you listen to the dialog later on, it clearly states the truck was on "Rockingham." That's in Bel Air/Beverly Hills area, a GOOD 1/2 hour from Malibu at best. So for a minimum of one hour, the truck is gone and the gardener doesn't notice it? C'mon now.

(Side note: OJ Simpson's house was on Rockingham too)

Well Steve how do we know the truck wasn't reported stolen ? I don't think Columbo would have found out as soon as he did if the gardener hadn't told him when he was being questioned.
The gardener has lot's to do working on those very large yards, plus how do we know when he noticed his truck missing ? We really don't know that either.
-hbe

Maybe this episode takes place in the "24" universe, where any two points in Los Angeles are no more than 15 minutes apart (unless the character needs to be delayed till the next episode...)