A cutting guide.. good thought. Especially considering that sections of skin were removed (including one with the tic-tic-toe style crisscross cuts on it) ..
Practise cuts? Maybe.. That Betty was tortured prior to death is without doubt. She was missing for five days... Anyways, for those interested in the autopsy details and who don't want to risk viewing pics (I do not blame you one bit for that..) here's a detailed list of her injuries:
Bound feet and hands with rope or wire ligature
Strangulation to neck leaving ligature marks
Blunt force trauma to face and head
Scalpel lacerations (5 distinct incisions) to her upper lip
Surgically rounded scalpel lacerations to both sides of her mouth
Tic-Tac-Toe scalpel cuttings to the right thigh
Scalpel laceration/incision (2”
![Wink ;) ;)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
near the left nipple
Scalpel lacerations and cutting away of some pubic hair and insertion of it into anus
Cigar or cigarette burns (at least 8) to her back (BBM: this has been disputed, see link below).
Scalpel incision from umbilicus to supra-public area in imitation of a hysterectomy (4 ½”
![Wink ;) ;)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Scalpel incision and removal of large section of left thigh and insertion of it into vagina.
Surgical removal of right breast (Not believed recovered at autopsy –possibly retained by suspect as “trophy”
![Wink ;) ;)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Sexual anal-rape using unknown object. (Sodomy)
Surgical bisection of body (Hemicorpectomy) by incision through the intervertebral disks between the 2nd and 3rd lumbar vertebrae.
Washing and scrub down of nude body using coconut fiber brush
Ghastly, I know.. but the details suggest a LOT.
- That she was indeed held captive and tortured (so her killer had a quiet, private place to keep her).
- That the killer may have taken a trophy (very typical of sexual sadists).
- That the killer fancied himself a surgeon (or was one) - maybe a lesser medical job?
from
http://www.blackdahliaavenger.com/faq/FAQ76.pdf
And some interesting "myths" about the murder:
http://www.lmharnisch.com/myths.html
ETA: And those facial cuts happened while she was alive. Jeez. The more I read/remember about this case, the more I get a feeling that this killer was a/ obsessed with Betty and b/ could not handle rejection.
It was often said Betty was a 'tease' - not a prostitute, not the town bike, but more akin to the 'sugar babies' who these days so proudly advertise themselves on the internet to rich men as 'companions'. Some don't actually sleep with the men they meet.. or if they do, keep it very discreet. For many of the men, it's all about the ego boost of having a pretty girl hanging around at social functions.
Anyway. Betty was a 'man-izer' but not so much a *advertiser censored*. I can see some closet psycho she'd dated and ditched becoming quite obsessive and quite upset at continual refusals to date him again, while she's off with a string of others.. maybe he watches her do so.. until he snaps, abducts her, spends five days "wooing" her (while she's tied up in a basement or somewhere equally nasty) becoming more and more sick in the head when she fails to adequately fulfil his fantasy. Maybe she says something that triggers his deepest sense of inadequacy. Maybe she just won't smile for him.
On the last day, he loses it, slashes her up and kills her. Now he has all the power... he can do what he wants to her body, and she won't complain. He can punish her properly for not loving him, and she cannot object.
Then he cleans her up and drains her blood in the bath tub, takes her (in pieces, as she's stiffened in an odd position in the bath) in his car to a place he knows was familiar to her. People around here knew her - that'll show 'em what a *advertiser censored* she really was. He takes a few bits away for keepsakes - after all, he did love her, before he hated her... and she was his, in the end. But the whole world ought to know what a *advertiser censored* she was, and who the boss really is. Now they will.
(my head gets full of these narratives, I'm sure I'll have a different one tomorrow. This one seems a good fit, though, for the moment)