Hello Everyone!

Just as a warning before you read too far, there will be gruesome and gory imagery (really gruesome). If anyone is uncomfortable with that, please don’t feel bad about leaving!

For my first post of this semester, I will be talking about the case of the Black Dahlia.

On the morning of January 15, 1947, a mother and her young daughter were taking a walk near the Los Angeles Leimert Park. They saw a figure lying in the grass, a few feet away from the sidewalk, one the mother thought was a mannequin upon first glance. The mother realized it was a corpse as they got closer and ran to call the police. The mannequin ended up being Elizabeth Short, a 22-year-old woman from Massachusetts who came to L.A. with hopes of becoming an actress. Those hopes were never realized.

Elizabeth Short’s Mugshots from an underage drinking arrest in 1943.

Elizabeth Short’s body had been severely mutilated. She was found fully naked, cleanly cut in half at the waist, her organs hanging out onto the grass. The top half was posed with her arms up above her head and her bottom half had her legs spread open. Her face was cut all the way from the corners of her mouth to her ears, giving her a ghastly grin akin to that of the Joker. Her breasts and thighs had multiple cuts and bruises in addition to the whole sections of skin that had been removed. She was drained of blood and scrubbed clean. Her autopsy results had concluded that the final cause of death was her lacerations and a brain hemorrhage from the repeated blows to her face.

(Just as a side note, I would not recommend looking up pictures of the crime scene or autopsy unless you have a pretty strong stomach. It’s pretty grisly.)

There is evidence showing that she was held captive for about 6 days before she was found. The last time anyone had seen her was on January 9th, and then her body was found on the 15th. Her autopsy revealed that “before she was killed, she had been forced to eat feces. Flesh and pubic hair had been shaved off her body and inserted into her vagina and rectum. Short’s uterus was removed” (Fitts).

The news of the heinous murder spread like wildfire in the media. Elizabeth Short became known as the “Black Dahlia”, presumably due to her dark hair and inclination for dark clothing. That moniker would soon become her identity to the nation. Black Dahlia was used to reference her more than her actual name. The case held strong in the media, reportedly keeping its front page spot in the local papers every day for two months.

A police bulletin from January 21st, 1947 seeking information on the murder.

An LAPD investigation ensued with assistance from the FBI. There was a vast number of false reports and confessions, one source reports that there were more than 50 men and women who went to the LAPD and claimed to be the killer (Crime Museum). The FBI conducted interviews across the country and ran records of potential suspects. All of the reports were just leading the detectives to grasp at straws.

A newspaper article about a man who signed a confession to the murder of Elizabeth Short.

The lack of evidence was not the only thing that hindered the investigation. There was a massive amount of media interference in the case. Detectives and officers at the LAPD said that reporters were walking all over evidence at the scene and withholding necessary information they received from calls to their offices. There was a point when reporters were in the LAPD station and freely answering the phones that could have had people with tips on the other end but they withheld the information.

In 2013, there was a crack in the ice of the Black Dahlia case. There was an article in the San Bernardino Sun that detailed an investigation conducted by Paul Dostie (a retired police sergeant), Steve Hodel (an author and former LAPD officer), and a police dog named Buster who had a keen sense of smell that was trained to be especially attuned to decomposing flesh. The investigation team uncovered incriminating evidence against none other than Dr. George Hill Hodel, the father of Steve Hodel.

Dr. Georgel Hill Hodel

The evidence Steve Hodel found while investigating after his father’s death was astounding, if not circumstantial. George Hodel was a doctor, so he would know enough anatomy to be able to perform a clean dissection and exsanguination. The hand-writing on the letters the murderer sent to the police and press bore a striking resemblance to the doctors. Graphologists (hand-writing experts) have examined the letters compared to Dr. Hodel’s determined that there was a strong likelihood that it was George but that it was deemed inconclusive in the end. George Hodel was even at the top of the LAPD’s suspect list at the time.

There have been other people who claim to have solved the case, there have even been other people who have claimed that one of their parents was the murderer. Steve Hodel’s investigation is the only one that the DA has acknowledged.

In 2001, Steve Hodel consulted Steven Kay, an acquaintance of his who worked with the LA Country DA office. Kay had responded saying that “if George were still alive, he would file two charges of murder against him” (Fitts). The second charge is related to the death of his secretary, Ruth Spaulding, of which George Hodel was also a suspect.

Another investigator from the Los Angeles Times, Steve Lopez, decided to write about the case after receiving a copy of Steve’s book. Lopez received access from the DA to a file that Lt Frank Jemison, an original officer on the case, had left in a safe in the basement of the DA’s office. The file contained “photographs, newspaper clippings and several hundred pages of typed interview notes” (Fitts).

Within the file was a transcript of a bug that was placed in George Hodel’s house in 1950. The transcript was mostly dull except for what was heard on the evening of February 19th, 1950.

At 8:25 pm the transcript noted,

“‘Woman screamed. Woman screamed again. (It should be noted, the woman not heard before the scream.)'” (Fitts).

Later that day, while Hodel was talking to a confidant, he said,

“’Realise there was nothing I could do, put a pillow over her head and cover her with a blanket. Get a taxi. Expired 12:59. They thought there was something fishy. Anyway, now they may have figured it out. Killed her'” (Fitts).

The transcript went on and gave one more telling moment,

“’Supposin’ I did kill the Black Dahlia. They couldn’t prove it now. They can’t talk to my secretary any more because she’s dead'” (Fitts).

Of course, the evidence is circumstantial and even if there were definitive, hard evidence, they wouldn’t be able to charge George Hodel because he’s dead. Did George Hodel kidnap and murder Elizabeth Short? We may never know. What we do know is that a beautiful young woman’s life was senselessly cut short by a monstrous act.

Elizabeth Short

What is your opinion on the case? Do you think George Hodel killed Elizabeth Short? Or did the actual perpetrator get away with murder?

Sources

Axworthy, Jon. “Has the Notorious Black Dahlia Cold Case Finally Been Solved?” The US Sun, The US Sun, 27 Oct. 2020, www.the-sun.com/lifestyle/1686376/has-the-black-dahlia-case-been-solved/.

Barcella, Laura. “Has the Black Dahlia Murder Finally Been Solved?” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018, www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/has-the-black-dahlia-murder-finally-been-solved-198247/.

“The Black Dahlia Murder.” Crime Museum, 16 Apr. 2019, www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/famous-murders/the-black-dahlia-murder/.

“Black Dahlia.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 8 Jan. 2020, www.biography.com/crime-figure/black-dahlia.

“The Black Dahlia.” FBI, FBI, 18 May 2016, www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/the-black-dahlia.

Chan, Melissa. “Unsolved Murders: The 6 Most Mysterious of All Time.” Time, Time, 30 May 2017, www.time.com/4788951/unsolved-murders-mysteries-list/.

Fitts, Alexis Sobel. “I Know Who Killed the Black Dahlia: My Own Father.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 26 May 2016, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/26/black-dahlia-murder-steve-hodel-elizabeth-short.

“Pin by James Page on Elizabeth Short Aka The Black Dahlia: Black Dahlia, Dahlia, Old Newspaper.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/184014334754586601/.