THE MURDER OF THE BLACK DAHLIA

Nicknamed "the Black Dahlia," Elizabeth Short was brutally murdered in Los Angeles in 1947, her
body was cut in half and severely mutilated. The Black Dahlia's killer was never found, making
her murder one of the oldest cold case files in L.A , and the city's most famous crime.

Short was born in Hyde Park, Boston, Massachusetts, the third of five daughters of Cleo and
Phoebe May Short. She grew up in Medford, a Boston suburb. Her father managed miniature
golf courses until the 1929 stock market crash, when he lost most of his money. One day in 1930,
he parked his car on a bridge. As he disappeared and none talked about him again, many
believed that he had committed suicide by jumping off the bridge into the water. Phoebe moved
with her family into a small apartment in Medford and worked as a bookkeeper to support them
financially. It was not until she received a letter of apology from her husband that the family
learned that he was alive and living in California.

Early in 1943, Short and her father moved to Los Angeles because she wanted be actress or
model in Hollywood.

WHEN AND WHERE

In the morning of January 15, 1947, Short's naked body was found in two pieces on a vacant lot
on the west side of South Norton Avenue, midway between Coliseum Street and West 39th
Street in Leimert Park, Los Angeles.

POSSIBLE SUSPECTS

MARK HANSEN

Mark Hansen, a nightclub and theater owner, had known Elizabeth Short while she was in Los
Angeles. Hansen allowed Elizabeth to live at his home on several occasions between May and
October of 1946. Ann Toth, who was Hansens girlfriend at the time, shared a room with
Elizabeth Short in a house close to Hansens nightclub called the Florentine Gardens.

On January 8, 1947, Elizabeth Short called Mark Hansen in Los Angeles from San Diego. Mark
Hansen was one of the last people to speak to Elizabeth Short before her disappearance on
January 9, 1947. When the LAPD interrogated Hansen on his conversation with Elizabeth, he
made several contradictory statements.

The Examiner received a package from Elizabeths killer on January 24, 1947. The package
included Elizabeth Shorts birth certificate, photographs, business cards, and an address book
with Mark Hansen on the cover. Hansen told the LAPD that the address book had belonged to
him, yet he had never used it. The Los Angeles District Attorneys files also indicated that Hansen
tried to seduce Elizabeth at one point, yet she refused him. However, no official charges were
ever brought against Hansen, and he died of natural causes in 1964.

ROBERT M. RED MANLEY

Robert M. Red Manley was the last person seen with Elizabeth Short before she disappeared.
Because of this, he was the LAPDs first suspect in the Black Dahlia case. Manley had picked
Elizabeth up from San Diego on January 8 and had dropped her off at the Biltmore Hotel in
Hollywood on January 9. That was the last time anyone saw Elizabeth Short before her body was
found.

Manley was detained on January 20, 1947. However, Manley was soon set free for his solid alibi
for January 14 and 15 and for passing two lie detector tests.

CLOE SHORT

His father was also suspected of murder, because of the poor relationship they had when they lived together
a few years ago. He did not want to go to the morgue to recognize his body.

GEORGE HODEL

Doctor George Hodel first came under policy scrutiny in October 1949 when he was accused of
molesting his fourteen-year-old daughter, Tamar Hodel. Three witnesses testified at trial that
they had seen Hodel having sex with his daughter. Hodel was later acquitted of the sexual assault
charges in December 1949. The molestation case led the LAPD to include Hodel in the suspect
list for the Black Dahlia case.

The LAPD put Hodel under surveillance from February 18, 1950 to March 27, 1950. They installed
two microphones in his home, which were monitored by eighteen detectives. They wanted to
see if Hodel would make any comments to insinuate that he was involved in Elizabeth Shorts
murder. Most of the transcript is dull at first, with Hodel having sex, berating his secretary, and
talking about money problems. However, on February 19, 1950, there is something horrific in
the recording.

Lieutenant Frank Jemison of the Los Angeles District Attorneys office wrote the report to the
Grand Jury, dated February 20, 1951. In the report, he noted that Lillian DeNorak, who had lived
with George Hodel, identified Elizabeth Short as one of his girlfriends. She also said that Hodel
had spent some time around the Biltmore Hotel, where Elizabeth had been dropped off before
she went missing. Tamar Hodel stated that her mother, Dorothy Hodel, told her that her father
had been out partying on the night of the murder and stated, Theyll never be able to prove I
did that murder.

EXPLAINATION OF THE CRIME SCENE

Local resident Betty Bersinger discovered the body at about 10:00 a.m. while she was walking
with her three-year-old daughter.Bersinger initially thought she had found a discarded store
mannequin.When she realized it was a corpse, she rushed to a nearby house and telephoned
the police.

Short's severely-mutilated body was completely severed at the waist and drained entirely of
blood.The body obviously had been washed by the killer. Her face had been slashed from the
corners of her mouth to her ears, which created an effect, the Glasgow smile. Short had several
cuts on her thigh and breasts, where entire portions of flesh had been sliced away.The lower
half of her body was positioned a foot away from the upper, and her intestines had been tucked
neatly beneath her buttocks. The corpse had been "posed," with her hands over her head, her
elbows bent at right angles, and her legs spread apart.
Detectives found a cement sack nearby containing watery blood. There was a heel print on the
ground amid the tire tracks.

There were ligature marks on her ankles, wrists, and neck. The skull was not fractured, but Short
had bruises on the front and right side of her scalp, with a small amount of bleeding on the right
side, consistent with blows to the head. The cause of death was determined to be hemorrhaging
from the lacerations to her face and the shock from blows on the head and face.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NEWS

The murder of the black Dahlia had great impact in the media, for the brutality with which it was
assassinated.
Following Short's identification, reporters from William Randolph Hearst's Los Angeles Examiner
contacted her mother, Phoebe Short, and told her that her daughter had won a beauty contest.
It was only after prying as much personal information as they could from Phoebe that the
reporters told her that her daughter had been murdered. The newspaper offered to pay her
airfare and accommodations if she would travel to Los Angeles to help with the police
investigation. That was yet another ploy since the newspaper kept her away from police and
other reporters to protect its support for the investigation.

The Examiner and another Hearst newspaper, the Los Angeles Herald-Express, later
sensationalized the case. They described the black tailored suit Short was last seen wearing as
"a tight skirt and a sheer blouse." They nicknamed her as the "Black Dahlia" and described her
as an "adventuress" who "prowled Hollywood Boulevard."

CONCLUSIONS

George Hodel died in 1999. In 2003 Steve Hodel, George Hodels son, published the book Black
Dahlia Avenger; A Genius for Murder. In the book, he claims that his father had committed the
Black Dahlia murder and other unsolved murders at the time. Steve Hodel says that he started
his investigation into his father when he saw two photographs in his fathers photo album that
resembled Elizabeth Short. However, the Short family insists the photographs are not of her.
Steve later learned that one of the girls photographed was a former friend of his father, yet the
woman in the second photograph is still unidentified.

After reviewing the information in Black Dahlia Avenger, the Head Deputy D.A. Stephen Kay
proclaimed that the Black Dahlia case had finally been solved. However, others noted that Kay
formed his conclusion by believing all of Steve Hodels statements as established facts instead
of treating them as hunches. Detective Brian Carr was the LAPD officer in charge of the Black
Dahlia case during the time of Steve Hodels briefing. Carr could not believe Kays response and
stated that if he ever took a case as weak as Steve Hodels to a prosecutor, he would be laughed
out of the office.

Despite mixed opinions on his theory, Steve Hodel maintains a website where he continues to
update information on the Black Dahlia case.

PERSONAL APRECIATION
The Black Dahlia case may be the most infamous unsolved crime for Los Angeles to date.

This was a murder that shook the society of that time, by the cruelty with which it was tortured
and killed. In which, the press had an important participation, generating controversy on the
possible assassins