CA CA - Elizabeth Short 'Black Dahlia', 22, Los Angeles, 15 Jan 1947

[Gunther Toody]

I haven't read much about the case but some seem to think a George Hodel was the killer.
Did he have a motive?

 

[tahoetess]

to keep her quiet I think and I think he also just liked to slice and dice.. I also think he did not like women taking money from him, he had a lot of pressure on him at the time....I think there is a lot to this story

 

[STANDREID]

I don't see any compelling evidence that Dr. Hodel ever set eyes on Short, in fact by the end of 1946, she was a tragic individual, not much above a street person, who was in deteriorating health and that the doctor would not likely have considered associating with.

 

[chlban]

I don't see any compelling evidence that Dr. Hodel ever set eyes on Short, in fact by the end of 1946, she was a tragic individual, not much above a street person, who was in deteriorating health and that the doctor would not likely have considered associating with.

I agree. Have never bought the theory, but then I tend to be skeptical of people writing books to call out their fathers at serial killers as in the Zodiac case.

Profitable, but very suspicious, IMO.

 

[Aleph]

The handwriting looked similar.


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[STANDREID]

I just found this eerily similar 1947 murder case today.

https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/margaret-treese/

 

[neesaki]

Small detail, but in an autopsy photo it shows the soles of her feet were dirty, as though she were walking barefoot outdoors.

Interesting too that the basement in Hodel's house had a dirt floor.

The basement had never been finished and since the floor was still dirt, soil samples were taken.

According to forensic anthropologist Arpad Vass, PhD, a pioneer in chemical analysis of human decomposition, those samples are 'consistent' with Steve Hodel's theory of homicide victims buried in shallow graves 70-80 years ago.

'The soil came up positive for human remains because there are a number of human specific markers,' said Vass from his laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...r-victims-included-infamous-Black-Dahlia.html

 

[gregjrichards]

"She was found tortured and cut in half, her face horrifically mutilated by the psychotic sadist who left her remains on a sidewalk for a mother and her child to find.

It was a murder obscene enough to shock even jaded Los Angeles to the core and the spectre of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short still lingers to this day.

She became known as 'The Black Dahlia,' a title alluding to the mystery of her death, her choice of clothes and her head of distinctive raven hair.

The killing, unsolved for seven decades, was used as a macabre morality tale for girls like Elizabeth who went to Hollywood in the 1950s to seek their fortune.

It is this narrative that author Piu Eatwell believed helped Elizabeth's killer walk free after he was ordered to "get rid of' her by a Hollywood businessman with links to both the criminal underworld and the LAPD - who she claims helped to cover up the case.

Elizabeth was found on January 15, 1947, her body horrifically disfigured after her death."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/tortured-hacked-half-drained-blood-11161233

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Has this man - Jack Dillon been named as the killer before? Haven't read the thread yet, I'd heard of this case but didn't know all the sickening details, particular the ones which had been withheld from the public about the tattoo and pubic hair. Nasty.

WARNING - GRAPHIC incl autopsy pics

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5012767/Black-Dahlia-killer-revealed-new-book.html

 

[gregjrichards]

Black Dahlia killer unmasked: Notorious case of aspiring starlet who was cut in half and had 'Joker smile' carved into her face is finally solved, despite 'cover-up by LAPD'

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

*Elizabeth Short, 22, was found gruesomely murdered in 1947 in Los Angeles, gaining national attention and was dubbed the Black Dahlia

*The aspiring starlet's body was severed, her stomach filled with feces and her body was completely drained of blood

*The horrendous murder has not been officially solved, although a break came in 1948 when Leslie Dillon was seduced out of hiding and revealed himself
He knew pieces of information that was never made public, including that Short's rose tattoo had been cut out from her leg and inserted in her vagina
But despite this evidence, Dillon was never prosecuted and detectives never had 'headway with their investigation' because of corruption within the LAPD

*It's suggested that the case was never solved because Dillon worked for Mark Hansen, a wealthy and powerful Hollywood man with ties to the police
Hansen had known Short as she lived in a house he owned and is said to have grown tired of her pestering him for money so he told Dillon to take care of her
The case against Dillon is made in Piu Eatwell's new book Black Dahlia, Red Rose: The Crime, Corruption, and Cover-Up of America's Greatest Unsolved Murder

Warning graphic images at link

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...a-killer-revealed-new-book.html#ixzz4wWxcaOMD

 

[Tony1902]

I don't remember ever reading anything about the Astor Motel murder site. Is this the first time it was ever discussed in print?

 

[marsyao]

Black Dahlia killer unmasked: Notorious case of aspiring starlet who was cut in half and had 'Joker smile' carved into her face is finally solved, despite 'cover-up by LAPD'

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

*Elizabeth Short, 22, was found gruesomely murdered in 1947 in Los Angeles, gaining national attention and was dubbed the Black Dahlia

*The aspiring starlet's body was severed, her stomach filled with feces and her body was completely drained of blood

*The horrendous murder has not been officially solved, although a break came in 1948 when Leslie Dillon was seduced out of hiding and revealed himself
He knew pieces of information that was never made public, including that Short's rose tattoo had been cut out from her leg and inserted in her vagina
But despite this evidence, Dillon was never prosecuted and detectives never had 'headway with their investigation' because of corruption within the LAPD

*It's suggested that the case was never solved because Dillon worked for Mark Hansen, a wealthy and powerful Hollywood man with ties to the police
Hansen had known Short as she lived in a house he owned and is said to have grown tired of her pestering him for money so he told Dillon to take care of her
The case against Dillon is made in Piu Eatwell's new book Black Dahlia, Red Rose: The Crime, Corruption, and Cover-Up of America's Greatest Unsolved Murder

Warning graphic images at link

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...a-killer-revealed-new-book.html#ixzz4wWxcaOMD

Nah, don't believe it, whenever a case could not be solved because of some kind of conspiracy theory, I lost interest,

 

[Pettibon Junction]

Nah, don't believe it, whenever a case could not be solved because of some kind of conspiracy theory, I lost interest,

Same. Dillon was brutalized by DeRiver and the police. He was as much a victim as anyone. With this new theory, we’re getting too close to “royal conspiracy” territory for my liking.


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[STANDREID]

It's hard for me to believe this crime was a one-off, that is, unless the killer committed suicide during some ensuing lucid moment.

 

[Bargle]

Me as well. It just seems to scream serial killer.

 

[Baudelaire]

It's hard for me to believe this crime was a one-off, that is, unless the killer committed suicide during some ensuing lucid moment.

I have watched one of the many doccies and once read a book where a chapter was devoted to her.
I have seen the pictures taken at the scene.

I read most of this thread as well. I have never read Steve's book.

I visited Larry's site. He has a map of LA circa 1947/8.

Any hunter or butcher back then could tell you exactly where to break the spinal cord to carry a kill or a side of beef over the shoulder.

I think that was done to carry the corpse from the point of killing to where he dismembered her.

How many butcher shops were in that area at the time? Or how many butchers lived close to that plot of land.

She may have been gone for 5 days, but she may not have been alive for 5 days.

Bruising does mean pre death but the scratches and cuts could be from being forced to walk through a wooded area, possibly at night when she would not have been able to see branches and avoid them.

The killing has the marks of a lust murder. I think people are thrown off by the violence and hatred which are the marks of a serial killer.

However, I think this man had it in for Elizabeth only.

She left a hotel with a man, that man took her to a wooded area possibly a cabin with a deer hide close by.

There he hit her and beat her. The beating might have killed her then.

Or he beat her, left and came back the following night or the night thereafter.

At that point he kills her. But he cuts her spinal cord to carry her over his shoulder, so perhaps he takes her to a third location for the dismemberment.

The third location would be close to where she was found because he had already driven around and looked for a spot to dump her.

He cuts her up and then he does a few strange things to make it look like overkill, such as slicing the mouth, cutting off the tattoo. The only thing he does that means anything is taking off the right breast.

He staged her very carefully and I can't help thinking that the placement of the torso was not accidental. Was he trying to make her shorter?

I don't know, but it is a very interesting case.

 

[folieadeuxnola]

The Black Dahlia Never Dies

On a September night in 1943, a Santa Barbara police officer worked the camera for a routine mug shot. Staring into the lens was a 19-year-old female arrested at El Paseo Restaurant’s bar for underage drinking.

The resulting black-and-white photograph, with the young woman’s dark, curly hair framing a face both defiant and vulnerable, has since become iconic.

It’s the face of Elizabeth Short, known now as the Black Dahlia, who was brutally murdered in Los Angeles shortly after World War II. The 1947 crime grabbed national headlines when her body was found surgically bisected at the waist, drained of blood and bizarrely mutilated. The murder remains unsolved.

 

[S05E22]

South Pasadenan 10.29.18 longread
Black Dahlia Murder: Retired LAPD detective reveals
new evidence pointing to prime suspect — his father

 

[Betty P]

South Pasadenan 10.29.18 longread
Black Dahlia Murder: Retired LAPD detective reveals
new evidence pointing to prime suspect — his father

That article contains some substantial evidence against Hodel. The DA actually bugged his home and recorded him talking about Elizabeth Short's murder and how his secretary couldn't testify against him since she mysteriously died. They also recorded sounds in Hodel's home of a woman being beaten and screaming, probably in the basement (shudder). His son makes a pretty good case against the father. George Hodel was a dangerous person, already a known rapist who stood trial for impregnating his own teenage daughter.

ETA: According to the article, the Lt Jemison file was found at LAPD that confirmed George Hodel was the primary suspect in the murder.

 

[YESorNO]

Informant's Reference to 'GH' May Be Black Dahlia Clue
Steve Hodel says initials refer to his physician father, who he thinks is the legendary killer

Nov 2, 2018

"(NEWSER) – A retired Los Angeles detective who's long claimed to have solved one of the most vile murders in American history says he has new evidence pointing the finger squarely at … his father. Steve Hodel has spent decades researching the 1947 murder of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, dubbed the Black Dahlia, and specifically George Hodel's links to it. An initial suspect who died in 1999, George Hodel hosted Hollywood stars for extended stays at the family's Los Feliz mansion, reports the South Pasadenan. Perhaps most incriminating, he was also a surgeon skilled in hemicorporectomy, the process of cutting a body in two without hitting bone. Short's body, found expertly drained of blood in a vacant LA lot, was treated in just such a way. But Steve Hodel argues a newly surfaced letter identifying the killer as "GH" offers yet another clue..."

Informant's Reference to 'GH' May Be Black Dahlia Clue
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