Today I have chosen to discuss one of California’s most notorious unsolved murders that occurred in January of 1947. The victim Elizabeth Short, but you all may know her as The Black Dahlia.
It was a cold morning in Los Angeles the day of January 15th, 1947. Betty Bersinger was out for a walk with her three year old daughter. When approaching the corner of Norton and 39th, she spotted something white amongst the weeds in a vacant lot just a few feet from the side walk. At first she thought it to be a store mannequin, upon further inspection she discovered it was not a mannequin separated into halves like she thought, but rather a woman’s body that had been severed in half. Betty ran with daughter to a nearby house to call the police. *Warning this next paragraph is a bit graphic
Officers Frank Perkins and Will Fitzgerald arrived within minutes and they immediately called for backup. The LAPD made note that the body has been displayed in a twisted display of seductiveness, she was lying on her back with her arms raised over her shoulders and her legs were spread. Investigators believed due to the rope marks on her wrists, ankles and neck that she had been tied down and tortured for days. She had several cuts and abrasions on her body, her body had been cleanly sliced in half above the waist and her mouth had been sliced from ear to ear. Numerous cuts were in a crisscross pattern above her pubic area, and her pubic hair had been removed by hand. The strange part was that there was no blood present on the body and none around the body either, it was suspected that she was killed somewhere else and that her body was cleaned and dumped.
Her body was taken to the Los Angeles County Morgue. There an assisting managing editor for The Herald-Express named Warden Woolard was willing to assist the LAPD. He had just purchased a “Soundphoto” machine and he believed this would help in sending the woman’s fingerprints to the FBI. Captain Jack Donahoe liked the idea and promptly set it into motion. Soon after the victim was identified as 22 year old Elizabeth Smart who last resided in Santa Barbara, California.
So, who was Elizabeth Smart?
She was born July 29th of 1924 in Hyde Park, Massachusetts to Cleo and Phoebe Short. At the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929 Cleo left his wife and five daughters, ultimately faking his suicide by leaving his empty car near a bridge which left authorities to believe that he had jumped to his death into the river below. Phoebe was left to raise her daughters on her own, working multiple jobs. Phoebe received a letter from Cleo one day apologizing saying he was in California, but wanted to come home to her. She refused to see him.
Elizabeth known also as “Betty,” “Bette,” “Beth,” grew up to be a beautiful girl. She had the reputation of always acting more mature for her age and looking older than she was. Elizabeth loved movies, the theater allowed an escape from her everyday boring life. When Elizabeth was older her father Cleo offered for her to live with him, she knew she wanted to be a star so she packed up and headed for California.
Elizabeth and her father eventually had a falling out and he kicked her out mid 1943. On September 23, 1943 she had a run in with law enforcement for the first and only time (this later helped identify her body with her prints on record) Elizabeth was underage at the time when she and a group of friends became rowdy at a restaurant, the cops were called, and she was booked, but never charged. The arresting officer felt sorry for her and arranged for her return back to Massachusetts, but Elizabeth didn’t stay there long and found her way back to Hollywood, California.
Over the next couple years Elizabeth worked miscellaneous modeling jobs, but felt discouraged. She wanted to get married, and had a few serious suitors that were in the military. Unfortunately they didn’t work out as one was deported and the other was killed in action.
Elizabeth ended up in San Diego, California and there she became friends with a woman named Dorothy French. Dorothy had found Elizabeth sleeping in one of the seats where she worked at the Aztec Theater. After she found Elizabeth, Elizabeth had told her that she left Hollywood because it was too difficult to get a job due to the actor’s strikes happening. Dorothy offered her to stay at her mom’s home for a few days, which ended up being more than a month long stay.
Elizabeth continued her late-night partying and dating habits. She became interested in Robert “Red” Manley, a salesman from LA that at the time had a wife who was pregnant at home. Red admitted that he was attracted to Elizabeth, but nothing ever happened between the two of them. They saw each other on-and-off for a few weeks. One day Elizabeth asked him for a ride back to Hollywood, in which he agreed to take her. On January 8th, 1947 he picked her up from the French household, he paid for a room that night and the two partied together. When the two of them returned to the hotel, he claims that he slept on the bed while Elizabeth slept in a chair.
Red had an appointment the next morning, when he returned to the hotel to pick Elizabeth up around noon she informed him that she was going to return to Massachusetts, but needed to meet her sister at the Biltmore Hotel in Hollywood. Manley drove her there but didn’t stick around. He had an appointment at 6:30 P.M. and did not wait for Elizabeth’s sister to arrive. When Red saw Elizabeth last, she was in the hotel lobby making phone calls.
Red and the employees at the hotel were that last people to see Elizabeth alive. As far as the LAPD could tell her killer was the only one to see her after January 9th. She was missing for six days before her body was found the dreary morning of January 15th.
After her body was identified and her body was examined at the coroner’s office the official cause of death was hemorrhage and shock due to concussion of the brain and lacerations of the face.
Coming back to the Herald Express, the owner William Hearst was very wealthy and had reporters who discovered leads and valuable evidence in the case. He was willing to share this information with the LAPD, but for a price. That the paper would continue investigating clues and would be granted exclusive access and the LAPD would have all the information that they uncovered. While not happy about it Captain Donahoe was desperate for information and so he took the offer. 
January 17th, 1947 a photo of Elizabeth was on the front page, the paper referred to her as "The Black Dahlia" a name still around over 70 years later. Soon the paper was getting a ton of anonymous tips and reports which were then handed down to the LAPD. Most of these tips seemed to be hoaxes, there were many letters received, and some seemed to be from the murderer who was trying to taunt the detectives. They spent many hours trying to decipher the confusing letters, but most seemed to give false information. Because of the list of suspects and possible police corruption that took place, we could go down a rabbit hole in discussing it all. One that I find to be the most interesting is suspect George Hodel who was a successful doctor. In 2003 George Hodel's Son Steven Hodel a former LAPD homicide detective published a book called "Black Dahlia Avenger: A genius for Murder" In the book he claims that his father is the Black Dahlia murderer as well as being tied to other unsolved murders. After his fathers passing in 1999 he started his investigation. While going through his fathers belongings he came across two photographs in his fathers photo album in which one resembled Elizabeth. However her family insists its not her, he later learned it was a former friend of his fathers in one photo while the other is still not identified.
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| George Hodel |
In 1949 George Hodel was accused/acquitted of molesting his 14 year old daughter, which led to him being a suspect in the Black Dahlia case due to her injuries and it most likely being done by someone who had surgical experience. He was put under surveillance in early 1950. At that time two microphones were placed in his home to see if he would say anything about the murder. Most of the transcripts at the beginning only included him talking about money problems, belittling his secretary and having sex, but one day there was a recording of a woman screaming multiple times that wasn't heard before hand other than her screams. Later that same day he was recorded saying to a confidant "Realize there was nothing I could do, put a pillow over her head and cover her with a blanket. Get a taxi. Expired 12:59. They thought there was something fishy. Anyway now they may have figured it out. Killed her." Another day he was recorded saying "Supposin' I did kill the Black Dahlia. They couldn't prove it now. They can't talk to my secretary any more because she's dead."
The secretary referred to was Ruth Spaulding who died from a drug overdose, he was present when she died and even burnt some of her belongings before calling the police. He was a suspect in her death, but it was later dropped due to lack of evidence.
Lieutenant Frank Jemison of the LA District attorneys office wrote a report to the Grand Jury February 20th, 1951. He noted that a woman who had lived with George Hodel identified Elizabeth as one of his girlfriends and also said that he spent sometime at the Bitmore hotel where Elizabeth had been seen last. Some other things that tie him to the case is his black 1936 Packard was very similar to the descriptions of a black car that had been seen near the empty lot that same morning Elizabeth was discovered. He also had cement bags sent to his house for a remodel the day she went missing, similar bags were found near her body. Three years after Elizabeth's death he left the country to live in the Philippines where he remained until 1990.
There are so many theories involved with the Elizabeth Short "Black Dahlia" murder, with hundreds of articles about her and all that has gone on. Because of the many decades that have passed since her murder it makes the chances slim in ever solving her case or collecting any further evidence. Who knows if her murder will ever be truly solved.
Resources-
http://blackdahlia.web.unc.
https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/the-black-dahlia
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