This case details one of the strangest unsolved mysteries to date! I think it is a super interesting one and I hope you guys agree.

Elizabeth Short (aka the Black Dahlia) was born on July 29th, 1924 in Boston, Massachusetts.  After turning 18, Elizabeth moved around California (living with her father and alone) and eventually to Florida, but once again ended up more permanently in California in the late 1940s.

On January 9th, 1947, Elizabeth is dropped off by a boyfriend at the Biltmore Hotel in LA.  She was then seen at a cocktail lounge down the street later that night.  These are the last two instances Elizabeth Short was seen alive.

On January 15th, 6 days later, Betty Bursinger is taking a walk with her daughter.  As she walks down the rather underdeveloped street, she sees what she originally assumes to be a mannequin in one of the empty lots.  Once getting closer, she realized it was no mannequin, it was the body of Elizabeth Short.  The scene was absolutely brutal: Elizabeth had been completely cut in half at the waist, completely drained of blood, naked, and her mouth had been slashed at each end, leading to a Joker-like smile.  The body had also been cleaned and posed.  During the autopsy, many other disturbances were found (I’ll spare you the details) and confirmed evidence of sexual assault.  The technique used to cut Elizabeth in half was also extremely well done, indicating that the murderer had a medical background and/or past experience.  The official cause of death was brain hemorrhaging (due to a concussion) and shock from facial lacerations (luckily, I guess, the severing was post-mortem).

The press caught hold of the murder, leading it to be such a well-known case.  After being dubbed as the Black Dahlia, Elizabeth’s murder was covered in every news paper possible.  This led to an anonymous call and sending of a letter containing Elizabeth’s birth certificate and other personal belongings to one of the reporters from the killer.

The police went through hundreds of leads from this letter, but none ever stuck.  Another letter was sent announcing a scheduled confession from the killer at a later date, but this never came to fruition.

Other leads came up, but none panned out, and the murderer of the Black Dahlia was never discovered.  Many theories exist surrounding the identity of the killer, but it has remained unsolved.

I’m not going to include a photo this week, as they are quite graphic.  But this is an extremely interesting case and I hope you guys look up some of the theories, as they are super interesting.