On January 15, 1947, the body of Elizabeth Short, age 22, was found brutally murdered in a vacant lot in Los Angeles, California. Police searched everywhere for the killer, but he was never found. There are many theories as to who murdered this young, budding actress, but the mystery still remains along with the disturbing facts surrounding the case.
The Body
The discovery of Elizabeth Short’s body was a horrifying sight for the L.A. police. Her body had been completely drained of blood and cut in half at the waist. Her mouth was cut open, towards her ears, giving her a gruesome Joker smile. There was evidence that she was tortured. There were cuts on her breasts and thighs. In some areas, chunks of her flesh had been removed.
To add to the horror, the murderer had bathed and scrubbed her body before posing it in the empty lot where it was found. The once beautiful young woman had been desecrated in the most ruthless, vile manner. [SOURCE 1]
Evidence Destroyed
Before detectives reached the scene of Elizabeth Short’s body, the area was already filled with curious bystanders, reporters, and photographers. The entire scene was carelessly being trampled and evidence was being destroyed.
Upon arrival, the detectives cleared the area and took fingerprints off of Elizabeth’s body. They could tell that this was not the scene of the crime, but that her body had been deliberately left there, posed in a sexually explicit position.
Elizabeth’s body was then transported to the medical examiner who was able to find the cause of death, “hemorrhage and shock due to concussion of the brain and lacerations of the face.” She had died a very painful and awful death before the murderer cut her body in half. No semen was found. [SOURCE 3]
The Werewolf Murder
It was common for newspapers to give thrilling names to murder cases in the mid 1900s. Giving cases monikers was done to sensationalize the crime, sell more newspapers, and feed the public’s interest.
Before this case became known as the Black Dahlia Murder, it was called the Werewolf Murder because of how the body was mutilated.
How the name Black Dahlia came about is disputed. A popular belief is that it came from the popular movie, The Blue Dahlia, that was released in 1946. Another source says it comes from the black flowers Elizabeth Short wore in her hair, her black hair, the black clothing she wore, and that she may have gotten the nickname before she was murdered.
Whatever the source, Black Dahlia was far more popular than Werewolf Murder. It drew more attention to the victim instead of drawing attention to what was done to her body. [SOURCES 2, 9]
Last Seen Alive
Elizabeth Short loved the nightlife. She also had plenty of boyfriends. One of her boyfriends, Robert “Red” Manley, was a married man with a pregnant wife at home.
On January 8, 1947, Red picked up Elizabeth and took her to a hotel. He rented out the room for the night and the two of them went out on the town. When they returned, Red slept in the bed and Elizabeth, saying she didn’t feel well, slept in a chair.
The next day, Red dropped her off at Biltmore Hotel in Hollywood so she could meet up with her sister. He left while she was making phone calls in the hotel’s lobby. She disappeared afterwards, leaving Red and a few hotel employees as her last witnesses.
Elizabeth Short was missing for six days before her body turned up. There were rope marks on her wrists and ankles. Investigators at the scene believed she had been tortured for days before being dumped. [SOURCE 3]
“Here is Dahlia’s Belongings”
There have been many cases in the past where the murderer has made contact with either the newspapers or the police department. This may have happened in the Black Dahlia case, as well, when the Los Angeles police received a package in the mail.
A letter was included with the package. It was “written” out of letters cut from newspapers and said, “Here is Dahlia’s belongings. Letter to follow.”
The package contained a number of little items, such as Elizabeth’s baggage check from when she arrived in San Diego with a Marine she was seeing. There was an address book, also believed to have belonged to her.
A second letter arrived and read, “Here it is. Turning in Wed. Jan. 29 10 am. Had my fun at police. Black Dahlia avenger.”
The assumed killer never showed up to turn himself in, but he did send a third letter: “Having changed my mind. You would not give me a square deal. Dahlia killing justified.” [SOURCE 10]
Confessions To Murder
After the news of Elizabeth Short’s death hit the papers, numerous people stepped up to confess to the crime. The police even received two confessions from two different people in one day. The first was the man, a restaurant porter, who phoned the police saying that he couldn’t take the pressure any longer and that he killed the Black Dahlia. A few hours later, a woman phoned the police and claimed that Elizabeth Short had stolen her man and she killed her in retaliation.
Months later, Christine Reynolds told the police that Elizabeth had lived with her for three weeks before the murder and that she killed Elizabeth because she left her for another woman. [SOURCES 6, 7]
A New Jersey Army corporal, Joseph Dumais, also made a confession of guilt. He claimed to have met Elizabeth Short and then chopped her up with a cleaver. The only problem was that she wasn’t dismembered with a cleaver and Dumais was seen in New Jersey at the time of the murder. [SOURCE 8]
The Other Bodies
After Elizabeth Short was found dead, other mutilated bodies of women were found and the newspapers believed that all these murders were committed by the same “maniac” who killed Elizabeth Short.
In the summer of 1947, several months after Elizabeth Short had been found, newspapers announced that the “Black Dahlia Killer Strikes Again.” The belief was that Elizabeth Short was the first of these murders.
The supposed seventh victim was a red headed young woman whose body was found mutilated and strangled. It was found near where Elizabeth Short’s body had been found.
In the summer of 1949, another women’s body was linked to the Dahlia murder. Louise Springer, age 28, was found strangled to death with a rope and pierced through with a tree branch. She was wrapped in a tarp and dumped in the trunk of her car.
The murderer was dubbed “California’s Jack the Ripper.” [SOURCES 4, 5]
Georgette Bauerdorf
In 1944, before the murder of Elizabeth Short, another young woman was found dead in Hollywood. Georgette Bauerdorf, a dancer who entertained servicemen, left work and drove home to her apartment. The next day the maid entered her room and found her body face down in a bathtub full of water.
A neighbor later confirmed that a scream and the words “Stop! You’re killing me!” were heard at around 2:30 am. Thinking it was a domestic argument, no police were called.
Bruises were found on her body, showing that she put up a fight, and a piece of cloth had been shoved down into her throat, cutting off her air. She had been raped. The killer had taken off with her car and left it abandoned after it had run out of gas. There was no further trace of the killer and Georgette’s death remains a mystery.
The murders of Elizabeth Short and Georgette Bauerdorf are often linked together. The killer was never found in both cases, both of the women were young and attractive, and both had been brutally raped. They dated military men and both were found dead in Hollywood. [SOURCES 11, 12]
The Cleveland Torso Murders
Also known as the Kingsbury Run Murders, thirteen victims were brutally murdered from 1934 to 1938. The killer was never found.
All of the bodies had been decapitated, some were decapitated while they were still alive. The first body was that of a woman’s, found on the bank of Lake Erie. Her head was missing and all that remained were half of her torso and her thighs. The rest had been cut off. A search yielded a few more pieces of her body.
The second body was male, decapitated, and drained of blood. Rope burns were found on his wrists. The third body was a woman, the fourth a male, and on it went for four years.
Because Elizabeth Short’s murder involved her being cut in half, some felt that the mysterious Cleveland, Ohio murderer made his way to California. [SOURCE 13]
George Hodel
The latest news in the Black Dahlia murder comes from the son of an original suspect. After the death of his father, Steve Hodel, a former LAPD detective, came out with the news that he believed his father was the murderer of Elizabeth Short.
His father, Dr. George Hodel, was one of the original suspects in the case, but was cleared of any wrong doing. Shortly after Steve turned 9, Dr. Hodel left his family and eventually moved to the Philippines.
Later on, Steve went through the boxes his father left behind and found a picture of a young woman who he believed was Elizabeth Short. He followed his suspicions that his father may have been the murderer and gathered evidence for well over a decade which he published in a book.
But Steve Hodel wasn’t the only person who thought dear dad was a murderer. Author Janice Knowlton also believed her father was the Black Dahlia murder and wrote a book about it. [SOURCE 14]
Sources:
2. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/don-black-dahlia-article-1.2498088
3. https://www.prairieghosts.com/beth.html
4. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/49566719?searchTerm=black%20dahlia&searchLimits=
5. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48595998?searchTerm=black%20dahlia&searchLimits=
6. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/49591739?searchTerm=black%20dahlia&searchLimits=
7. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/141113886?searchTerm=black%20dahlia&searchLimits=
8. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48489633?searchTerm=black%20dahlia&searchLimits=
9. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169369559?searchTerm=black%20dahlia&searchLimits=
10. http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/133916132/14722500
11. http://www.the-line-up.com/georgette-bauerdorf-unsolved/
12. http://malefactorsregister.com/wp/a-tinsletown-murder/
13. http://www.clevelandpolicemuseum.org/collections/kingsburyrun.html
14. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/26/black-dahlia-murder-steve-hodel-elizabeth-short
