THE BLACK DAHLIA

INTRODUCTION

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Many flock to Los Angeles in the hopes of becoming a movie star in some breakthrough role. Young, aspiring stars work long hours in the hopes of reaching stardom like certain actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio. Elizabeth Short was believed to be an aspiring actress at the time of her death, but she sadly did not see that future for herself. Her murder, dubbed as the Black Dahlia Murder, remains one of the most famous unsolved murders in the world.

OCCURRENCE

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On the morning of January 15th, 1947, Betty Bersinger and her three year old daughter discovered the grisly body of Elizabeth Short. Bersinger initially described the body as very pale, almost looking like a mannequin. Short’s body was severed in half at the waist, her intestines were tucked underneath her lower body, and her mouth had 3 inch slashes at each end to her ears. She was also missing parts of her flesh. Short’s body was positioned in a very strange and particular way; her arms were above her head at right angles, and her legs were spread out. Her upper and lower body were about a foot away from each other.

Despite the brutality of her murder, absolutely no blood was found at the crime scene. In fact, Short’s body was completely drained of blood.

The autopsy of Short’s body indicates that she may have been bound and tortured as she had markings on her legs and wrists. Furthermore, Short suffered a concussion and hemorrhaging during her murder. The cuts Short had on her torso and mouth were very clean, making people initially suspicious that an individual with surgical skills committed the murder. Her entire body was also cleaned by her murderer with gasoline in an attempt to remove any fingerprints.

A few days after her body’s discovery, a mysterious envelope appeared that was addressed to several Los Angeles newspapers. When the police confiscated the envelope, they found that it was cleaned with gasoline. The inside of the envelope contained Short’s birth certificate, an address book, business cards, photographs, and a few other documents. Police concluded that this letter must have been sent directly from the killer. Many more letters followed this initial one, all signed with the name “Black Dahlia Avenger.” Another piece of evidence that appeared was a mysterious pile of clothing found near Venice. The clothing contained a suicide note stating that “To whom it may concern: I have waited for the police to capture me for the Black Dahlia killing, but have not. I am too much of a coward to turn myself in, so this is the best way out for me. I couldn't help myself for that, or this. Sorry, Mary.” The identity of whoever wrote this note remains a mystery.

Police began contacting the men that were listed in the address book found in the envelope but to no avail. The majority of them only briefly met with Short through a date or other outing. Over 300 USC medical students were also investigated by the FBI, but again, nothing came out of it. Eventually, the frenzy over the murder began decreasing, and with no new evidence, the investigation also began to stall. With over 500 confessions to the crime, the majority of which have been deemed false, the mystery continues on, but several prominent suspects have stood out from the bunch.

THEORIES

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This case has a plethora of suspects; there are at least 30+ viable suspects who may have committed the crime. However, for this article, I will present only one suspect. The amount of evidence against this particular suspect is quite alarming; thus, many believe this person to be the murderer that day.

Dr. George Hodel is one of the most infamous people highly suspected of being the Black Dahlia murderer. Dr. Hodel was a wealthy doctor in Los Angeles who specialized in sexually transmitted diseases. He came under intense scrutiny when his daughter, Tamar Hodel, accused him of molesting her and having sex her with. Dr. Hodel was acquitted of those charges even though there were witnesses who confirmed Tamar’s statements. Steve Hodel, Dr. Hodel’s son, also discovered two photos of an unidentified woman amongst Dr. Hodel’s belongings. The woman strongly resembles Short. A host of other evidence also points to Dr. Hodel.

Bags that Dr. Hodel ordered to his home a week prior to Short’s murder were apparently found at the crime scene. Additionally, one eyewitness statement claimed to have seen a suspicious black car driving around the scene at the time of its discovery. Dr. Hodel drives a black car very similar to the description. The LAPD also wiretapped Dr. Hodel’s home for some time, and some of the transcripts apparently described the sounds of a woman who may have been attacked in the basement of the house. Despite this, the tapes of the wiretapping operation were never found; it is widely believed that they were purposefully discarded as the LAPD at the time was notorious for its corruption. Some more recent evidence came to light in 2012. Soil samples taken from the Hodel’s household tested positive for human remains, but it is not definite whether these human remains are at all linked to the Black Dahlia.

Perhaps some of the strongest evidence against Dr. Hodel is that there are two other murders he may have also committed. A few weeks after Short’s murder, Jeanne French was found dead in a very similar fashion to that of Short. French’s body was found very oddly posed - similar to how Short’s body was discovered. The words “Fuck you B.D.’ were written with red lipstick on French’s body. The initials B.D. are widely interpreted as meaning Black Dahlia.

The second murder occurred in the Philippines. After Short’s death, Dr. Hodel moved to the Philippines and settled there. Not long after his move, a woman was found murdered, and the crime scene was reportedly about a half a mile from where Dr. Hodel lived. The woman was reportedly found split in half, similarly to the way Short’s body was split in half.

As a result of the mounting evidence against Dr. Hodel, it is highly believed that he is the Black Dahlia killer. However, there has been no absolutely conclusive evidence that points to Dr. Hodel. For instance, one of the letters sent by the murderer to Los Angeles newspapers had a partial fingerprint. When the FBI tested the fingerprint, it had absolutely no matches to any fingerprints on their database, which would have included Dr. Hodel’s fingerprints. Despite this, Steve Hodel strongly believes that his father was the perpetrator of the crime.

Dr. George Hodel died in 1999, and with his death, his accounts and memories of the event also disappeared. Since so much time has passed since the incident, it is likely that this murder will remain officially unsolved, but to some such as Steve Hodel, the murder has already been fully solved.

SOURCES

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Black Dahlia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dahlia)

I know who killed the Black Dahlia: my own father (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/26/black-dahlia-murder-steve-hodel-elizabeth-short)

Black Dahlia (https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/black-dahlia)

The Black Dahlia (http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1867198_1867170_1867291,00.html)