The Black Dahlia Murder.

“I had a premonition Miss Short was in trouble.”

Sullenly beautiful Elizabeth Short was thought to be the personification of the Hollywood Dream. Her neighbours often remarked that she would "go somewhere" and "escape the poverty" in Los Angeles. However on the 15th January 1947, Elizabeth Short became famous for all of the wrong reasons.

The temperatures were unusually low and frost blanketed the streets of Los Angeles in the January of 1947, when a mother and her child stumbled upon what was thought to be a broken mannequin in the Leimert Park Neighbourhood. Initially thought to be a dummy because of the pristine condition of the body, it was soon realised that this was the nude, posed and mutilated corpse of 22 year old aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, a local of Boston (Massachusetts) that had moved to the area with aspirations to become a Hollywood Actress. Her hair was freshly washed and still wet and her body drained and scoured clean of any blood, however her injuries were terrifying.

Elizabeth's body was found at approximately 11:38am in the
Leimert Park Neighbourhood, Los Angeles on the 15th
January 1947.

Posed, almost seductively, with her arms lain above her head, Elizabeth Short had been neatly severed in two. Her mouth had been cut ear to ear to form a disturbing smile, there were rope marks around her limbs and a chunk of flesh had been taken from her leg and inserted inside her vagina. A neat cut drew a line from her pubic area to her navel and she had been severely beaten. Her liver lay just visible hanging from her trunk and there were various criss-crossed slits to her internal organs, as well as her hips and stomach.

Elizabeth's murder was described as one of the most
frenzied and sadistic that LA had ever seen

There was a chunk of flesh missing from her right breast, and her left was covered in scratches and abrasions. By all accounts, Elizabeth Short’s murder was one of the most frenzied and sadistic that Los Angeles had ever seen. 

Amongst the obvious notable characteristics of Elizabeth’s murder, she was also the first murder victim to be identified using Soundphoto (an earlier form of faxing) as her fingerprints were forwarded to the FBI on the afternoon of the 15th January. 

It took the FBI only 56 minutes to identify the body as Elizabeth Short, using fingerprints from a previous underage drinking charge that she had faced in Santa Barbara 4 years prior.

Immediately the case hit the media and did not leave the front page of newspapers until 2 months later. Journalists began to nickname the victim "The Black Dahlia", due to an account from a Pharmacist that advised police that Elizabeth would frequent the area around his pharmacy, dressed in an all black two piece bathing suit and accompanying overclothes. The Pharmacist told police that men had swarmed around her and gave her the nickname that would follow her even in death. The name, we can assume, was inspired by The Blue Dahlia, a film that was showing at the time.

Elizabeth was beaten badly and
numerous cuts were found across
her body, most notably was the
"smile" carved into her face.

Elizabeth was described as a white, American female of 22 years. Standing at 5"6 and weighing 118lbs, she had black hair and piercing green eyes and was often labelled a pretty young woman within the media. Amongst the various contusions on her body she had damaged lower teeth and her nails were bitten down. 

The police initially tried to create a timeline of Elizabeth's steps on the night of her murder, however due to the rope marks around her wrists, it was not difficult to assume that Elizabeth was held and tortured for a period of time prior to her death. Police therefore began pursuing any information of Elizabeth's whereabouts on the week prior to her body being discovered.



Eventually, a profile of Elizabeth on the night that she was last recognised was developed. Last seen leaving a car outside of the Biltmore Hotel on the 9th January 1947, The Black Dahlia wore a black suit with a white blouse and, over this, a black coat without a collar. On her feet were black suede shoes paired with nylon stockings (one of these shoes and her handbag were later found discarded in a bin a few miles away from Elizabeth's resting place). Images of the attractive young woman when she was alive were released to the public in the hopes that her striking features would be memorable to somebody that could assist investigations.

Numerous "confessions" were received by the LAPD,
however the majority were deemed a hoax.

A "Rolling Stone", Elizabeth's often nomadic lifestyle made tracing leads difficult, alongside the fact that police received 13 separate mailings from self confessed "murderers" in the initial few months of investigation. This meant that suspects were hard to come by and even harder to differentiate between.








A logical move was to trace the owner of the vehicle that Elizabeth was seen getting out of when she was last seen. Robert "Red" Manley was kept in custody for questioning, where he admitted to knowing Elizabeth and to seeing her on more than one occasion. He stated that he was "testing his love" for his wife by picking up other women and collected Elizabeth from San Diego on the 9th January, dropping her off at the hotel at which she was last seen. Despite the questionable circumstances, Manley delivered a sound alibi and managed to pass two polygraph tests so was cleared from the investigations.

With a lack of immediate substantial suspects, police began to look more closely into the way that the body was left at the scene. Elizabeth's body was not only cut in half, but it was cut with such precision and care that the police thought only somebody with medical knowledge could have performed such a dissection. This led to police requesting a list of medical students enrolled into the closest medical school and on the 6th March 1947 this was received, however nobody on this list was to be investigated as a suspect.

Here the slit from the top of the genitals
to naval can be seen.

The LAPD even explored the possibility that the murder could have been committed by a female, despite this being almost unheard of at the time. Rumours circulated that The Black Dahlia was murdered by a female lover, which was the reason why on her torso was a long slit from the top of her pubic area to her belly button. It was speculated that this was a territorial mark of Elizabeth's secret lover, who was enraged at Elizabeth's many boyfriends at the time, however nothing substantial ever came of this lead.


At it's highest, the list of The Black Dahlia suspects hit 22 men, it has now dwindled down to 11 active suspects, despite the case being considered cold for many years. Although there are many suspects, the majority of them seem to be substantial and hold no notable characteristics or investigative information that would hold them accountable for Elizabeth's death, except for a couple.

It took over two years since the body was found for police to find their next serious suspect after Robert Manley, a young man that had sparked the interest of the police, when he began writing to LAPD psychologist, Paul De River, under his alias "Jack".  Jack initially stated his concerns that a friend of his "Jeff" may have committed the murders, and described a, possibly hypothetical, situation in which Jeff may have murdered the Black Dahlia in a motel room and left her body in Leimert Park. Of course, police had received numerous letters which were determined to be hoax's, however this one was different.

Police had purposely kept two details of the murder away from the newspapers, two details that only the killer would have known (one of these details is that the chunk of flesh that was removed from Elizabeth's thigh was actually the sight of a rose tattoo, it is believed that the killer would have removed this to stunt identification of his victim). "Jack" was able to reel off numerous facts about the murder, facts that, according to De River, were not even known by police. Using information that he had gained from "Jack" through back and forth letter writing, De River and the LAPD were able to track down "Jeff" and determine that he played no part in the murder, nor was even in Los Angeles at the time of The Black Dahlia's death. All eyes immediately turned to Jack.

Leslie Dillon had previous experience as a
mortician's assistant and a notable interest
in psychologically disturbed killings.

Jack, it was discovered, was actually a frequently unemployed young man from San Fransisco, named Leslie Dillon. Dillon, who was addicted to prescription drugs and often recruited women as prostitutes in his time as a pimp on the streets and trailer parks of Los Angeles, had previous experience as a mortician's assistant. Dillon agreed to meet with De River to discuss theories about the murder, and perhaps the possibility that Leslie Dillon was in fact at the scene where The Black Dahlia was heinously tortured and murdered.

De River and an entourage of undercover police officers picked Dillon up and drove him to a secure location where the murder was discussed in detail and, unbeknown to the subject, a full psychological assessment was performed on the suspect. It was concluded that "Jeff" appeared to be an alternative personality that Dillon had created in order to deal with his crimes.

Dr. De River would go on to categorically state that Leslie Dillon would be capable of murder and should be considered the main suspect in Elizabeth Short's death, however things became messy and Dillon, seemingly feeling the walls closing in on him, dropped a note on to the streets of the secure location at which he was held, stating that he needed a lawyer. Police were unable to gather enough evidence to formally charge Leslie Dillon with the crime and he was released. Dillon later tried to sue the police, however his civil case was dropped when charges for a previous crime for which he should have been sentenced for where brought to light.

Still to this day, there is no timeline for the whereabouts of Leslie Dillon on the period between the 9th January and the 15th January 1947. It is very strongly believed that, had police followed proper protocol and in turn collected the evidence needed, Dillon would have been convicted for the murder of Elizabeth Short, however the corruption of the LAPD in the 1940's is something far too extensive to address.

At this moment in time, the second likely suspect seems to be the late Dr. George Hodel.

Hodel had an extremely questionable past, with numerous rumours of sexual assault surrounding him, it was even testified by three people that they had seen him having sex with his 14 year old daughter, however somehow he was able to continue living an extravagant life until his death in 1999. It was when Hodel was acquitted of one of those sexual assault cases in 1949 that he was highlighted as a suspect of The Black Dahlia Murder and his home was "bugged" by the LA Police Department in the hopes that this often arrogant man would brag about his time spent with Elizabeth Short. Elizabeth is reported to have been one of Hodel's
"girlfriends" and he was known to have spent time around the Biltmore Hotel, the place at which Elizabeth was last seen alive.

Amongst the transcript, Hodel was heard saying "Supposin' I did kill the Black Dahlia. They couldn't prove it now. They can't talk to my secretary anymore because she's dead." A phrase which still haunts those of us that have been taken in by this case. The secretary mentioned died of an overdose, and strangely Hodel was at the scene when she died and appeared to have burnt some of her belongings before the police arrived. Despite this, the case was dropped due to a lack of evidence, but it was well known that Hodel's secretary was planning to blackmail him before her death, and this is the most likely reason for her fatal demise.

The images of the women which Steve Hodel believes to be
Elizabeth Short.

Dr. George Hodel's son, Steve Hodel has dedicated much of his life to the investigation of The Black Dahlia Murder, and to ensuring that his father is named as the heinous figure which killed young Elizabeth Short in the January of 1947. The most well known part of his investigations are the study of images of Elizabeth Short compared with images of unknown women found in George Hodel's home. Experts used the positioning of moles on Elizabeth's body to match them up with moles and markings on the bodies of the unknown women in the images, however the comparisons were to draw
 inconclusive. 


Despite his lack of evidence and the lack of faith from the LAPD, Steve Hodel has released a number of books about the murders and keeps updated an extremely interesting website about his progress in solving the murder of The Black Dahlia (http://stevehodel.com/). Steve has helped create reconstructions of Elizabeth's last night in his childhood home and has even uncovered secret doorways in the home that lead to places that he believes had been Elizabeth's torture chamber and eventually, the place in which she died.

Despite there being so many strong suspects of this case (I have mentioned just a couple above), the LAPD are reluctant to spend further time on this case and even more reluctant to posthumously charge anybody with the murder of Elizabeth Short, therefore it seems as though we may never have answers. I know for certain that I have my own beliefs as to who committed this horrific crime and I do not doubt that you will too. I hope that Elizabeth's family, both past and present, manage to find peace despite the lack of justice that they must feel every day, knowing that it is likely that Elizabeth's killer will never be sentenced for the torture, mutilation and murder of their family member.

Elizabeth's remains are now buried in Piedmont Funeral Services and Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California and the LAPD are still taking any possible leads on 877-ASK-LAPD, should any arise.

Thank you kindly for taking the time to read Elizabeth's story and for contributing to her family's search for justice.

The Boy in the Box - 25th February 1957

"A boy loved more in death than in life". America's Unknown Boy's death is a mystery which resonates with the world 60 years on. He has, thus far, laid in three graves, none of which could be inscribed with a name.

**This post will contain graphic images and descriptions of the unknown boy post mortem - please proceed to read at your own discretion.

Discovery

It was the 25th February 1957 when a student, Frederick Benosis reported stumbling across what he initially believed to be a discarded doll. He admitted that he had made this discovery a day before whilst spying on young women in a local school, but was anxious about telling police why he was in the area. It was later found out that the body was discovered before this, by a man checking on his illegal muskrat traps, but was not reported, again for fear of police asking why the witness was there.

The young boy's body was initially mistaken for a doll when it was discovered
the 24th February 1957.

The "doll" was discovered to be a young boy of a fair complexion with blue eyes and light to medium brown hair, aged approximately  3-7 years old. He had been stripped naked and wrapped with his arms gently crossed across his body in a flannel blanket inside a cardboard box, which was found to belong to a baby's bassinet purchased from a JC Penny's store. Just a few feet away from the box was a blue cap, the cap appeared to be in men's sizing, however had paper stuffed in it as though it was worn by somebody who was too small for it.








The boy's body revealed a heartbreaking past. Covered in black bruises from head to toe, the body had telltale signs of physical abuse. Standing at 3ft3" and weighing just 30lbs, the boy was severely malnourished and an autopsy revealed that the boy had not eaten 3-4 hours before his death. There was a brown substance in his oesophagus which suggested that he had vomited shortly before he passed away. The young boy had surgical scars on his ankle and groin and an L-shaped scar beneath his chin. He still had all of his baby teeth and pathologists suspect that he may have had a chronic eye ailment.

There are numerous strange factors about the way that the body was found, for example, one of the boy's hands and both of his feet were wrinkled, as if he had been submerged in water for a long period of time either before or shortly after his death. His nails had been neatly trimmed and his hair crudely cut and, as a result, chunks of hair covered his body suggesting that this may have been done following his death. The boy had deep bruises all over his body and is thought to have been laid in the box for 2-3 days to 2-3 weeks. The cause of death was determined to be multiple blows to the head.

Police immediately started scouring Missing Children's reports from the months prior to the discovery, looking for reports of a child that matched the boy's description, however no matches were found, it seemed as though the boy had no family to miss him. The hat found close to the body was traced to a store in the area and the storekeeper could distinctly remember the male that bought it, however with no payment information, there was no way to trace the male's identity.

Unfortunately, it seemed as though the only way to find the person that murdered the boy, was to first uncover his identity, which was becoming much more difficult than the police first thought. Fingerprint databases were searched however no matches could be found for the young child. The police became increasingly more creative with their methods, ensuring that all gas bills in the months following the child's discovery were printed with information about the case and desperate appeals for witnesses to come forward. Police even went as far as to dress the young boy and photograph him sat up to emulate his appearance as it would have been when he was alive.

These images were circulated far and wide and numerous calls came in, however as the investigation progressed, the hundreds of leads the police had dwindled to just a few, which were usually theories rather than actual evidence-based leads.

One anonymous call was from a male who stated that he had driven past the crime scene (it is unclear when) and saw a woman and a boy stood beside their car with the trunk open. The man, thinking that they may have broken down, stopped and offered to help them but the woman and boy simply ignored the man until he drove away. This witness testimony could not be substantiated by evidence.





Five months after the unknown boy's discovery, and no closer to solving this crime, police made the controversial decision to bury the boy. On the 24th July 1957, in a Potter's Field close to Mechanicsville and Dunk Ferry Road (a site for the burial of unidentified bodies) the boy was laid to rest. His gravestone simply read "Heavenly Father, Bless this Unknown Boy, February 25, 1957".

The grave was later exhumed in 1998 so that DNA could be extracted from the victim's tooth. The DNA gathered was unfortunately too small for any matches to be made and the body was re-buried in on at the Ivy Hill Cemetery on the 11th November 1998, his new headstone reading "America's Unknown Child, Dedicated November 11th 1998". His old gravestone lay at the bottom of his grave.

Theories and Suspects. 

Throughout the 60 years that this case has been open there have been thousands of theories and suspects identified. Unfortunately I cannot relay them all to you, however below are a selection of the ones that I find to be most interesting/have the most media interest.

Frederick Benosis

As with most cases, the person unfortunate enough to stumble across the crime scene became a main suspect in the case. Frederick Benosis reluctant admission that he had actually discovered the child a day before he called police raised suspicion in many, however after extensive questioning and even a voluntary polygraph test, his name was cleared of any suspicion and his profile wiped from the case.

"M's Theory"

In February 2002, an Ohio psychiatrist contacted police to advise that one of her clients wished to provide some evidence about the case of the Boy in The Box. The woman, referred to throughout the case as "M", was reported to be a business woman from Cincinnati. She claimed that the unknown boy was named Jonathon and was sold to her mother in 1954 He was subsequently put through years of physical and sexual abuse. "M" claimed that on the night of the boy's death, he had eaten baked beans which he vomited in the bath a few moments later. "M"s mother reportedly erupted into a fit of rage, throwing the boy against the floor, which resulted in the head injury that killed him.

"M" was interviewed by detectives on the case in May 2002. "M" recalled being brought up in a wealthy area in Ohio, in a home in which she was regularly sexually abused by her mother. She recalled being 10 years old when she drove with her mother to collect Jonathon from a nearby orphanage, where she believes that money was exchanged for his life. In "M"s opinion, Jonathon was bought for the sole purpose of being sexually abused by her mother.

Allegedly, Jonathon was left to live in the basement of the house, with a cardboard box as a bed and the house's drain as a toilet. The young boy was hidden from visitors to the house and was under no circumstances allowed outside.

One thing that I find incredibly interesting about this theory is that "M" distinctly recalled the days after the boy's death, and especially her mother trimming the boy's hair to conceal his identity, cutting his nails and wrapping his naked body in a blanket from their home. The pair then drove out into Philadelphia to find a suitable, secluded place the hide the boy's body. Whilst unloading the body from the trunk, a male pulled up and asked if they needed assistance. "M" was told to stand by the registration plate to cover it and to ignore the man until he left. This bares an odd resemblance to the anonymous witness testimony mentioned earlier, which the Philadelphia Police Department adamantly claim was never released as public information.

Despite this theory eerily matching so much of the evidence already corroborated in the case, "M"s mental state cast doubt over her testimony and there were quiet suspicions that she may have fabricated the story. Investigations began into "M"s claims, however after 6 months the Philadelphia Police Department and Montgomery County District Attorney's Office accepted the fact that they could find no substantial evidence to back up the woman's claims. Tests were also ran in the basement of "M"s home, where the boy that she named as Jonathan was allegedly kept for 3 years, however nothing of relevance to the case was found.

One thing that I find odd about this theory is that there are rumours that "M" informed her psychiatrist of this story in 1989, 13 years before it was relaid to the Philadelphia Police Department in 2002. I find it difficult to believe that, even in the late 1980's there were no ethical rules which would encourage the psychiatrist to speak up about what she had been told or encourage "M" to speak to police.

Steven Craig Damman

In 1955 two-year-old Steven Craig Damman and his baby sister Pamela disappeared from a storefront in Long Island NY, where he had been left in his stroller. Pamela was found a few yards away from the store, however Steven remains missing to this day.

As Steven was also a young boy of a fair complexion, brown hair and blue eyes, police explored the idea that he may have been the Boy in the Box. X-rays were performed along with footprint matches and Steven's medical records were reviewed. Two of many distinctive features Steven has are a recognisable freckle on the back of his calf and medical records showed that he had medical intervention for some issues with his kidney growth. Unfortunately, the unknown boy did not have the same freckle, and the autopsy showed no organ problems or treatment.



The Foster Home

Around 1.5 miles away from the site the boy was found was a foster home ran by a couple named Arthur and Catherine Nicoletti and Catherine's daughter, Anna Marie Nagle. The family had experienced the heartbreak of losing a child many times, with Anna Marie giving birth to three stillborn children. Her fourth child was electrocuted in a freak accident on an amusement ride and this would be a clear motive for wanting to take care of children in need in the way that they did. The foster home housed up to 25 children at one time and the children would stay with the Nicoletti's for anything from a few weeks to a few years. When this case initially opened, there were five boys and three girls in residence at the home, and, after accounting for each of the children, Police did not believe the foster home to be of any suspicion.

Later in the investigation however, psychic Florence Sternfield was asked to comment on the case, and she directed police towards a large house that had a log cabin in the vicinity of it that would have children associated with it. Police searched the area surrounding the body and came across the Nicoletti home which was a large house with a log cabin which the children would sleep in during the summer. Florence was taken to Philadelphia and, without prompting, was able to lead police from the site of the body to the foster home.

The Nicoletti's suspiciously left their history of foster care behind, sold their house and moved away. Someone from the Philadelphia Police Department had the initiative to attend the auction and viewing of the house and was able to identify a similar blanket to the one that the boy was found wrapped in and a bassinet which would match the box that the boy laid in. The house also had a small lake at the back of it and it was theorised that the boy's wrinkled hand and feet could have been something to do with this body of water. Theories became more and more elaborate but many were based around the idea that the Boy in the Box was the illegitimate son of Anna Marie. This theory was later substantiated by the marriage of Arthur Nicoletti to his stepdaughter Anna Marie, and his refusal to take a polygraph test to assist police. Arthur and Anna Marie finally agreed to be interviewed in 1998 however nothing incriminating was said and, to this day, there is no solid evidence to support this theory.

Police Contact Details

This case is one that I first discovered in my early teens and has stayed with me ever since. As well as being a heartbreaking and cruel matter, I think that it really highlights the advancements in police technology and I truly believe that if this boy was to be discovered today, we may have been able to give him a name, a past and most importantly, justice.

Should you have any information regarding this case, please contact the Philadelphia Police Department Homicide Unit on 215-686-3334. Alternatively you may contact Detective Tom Augustine on 215-686-3334. 




I very much hope that, as distressing as this case may be, you have enjoyed this post and will keep the Boy in the Box in your thoughts. Thank you for your time, Lyd. 

The Deep Freeze Murder - 30th December 1957

Anne Noblett - 30th December 1957.

Seventeen year old Anne Theresa Noblett was described by her father as a young girl with "no cares or worries whatsoever". Growing up as the only daughter to relatively affluent parents, Anne spent her teenage years studying at Watford Technical College and attending Rock'n'Roll dance lessons with friends.
It was upon her return from one of these lessons that Anne met a fate which would devastate her family and remain unknown 60 years on.

Profile

Anne was described as a shy, home-loving girl, whose disappearance came as a huge shock to her parents. Her younger brother, Hugh Noblett, described Anne as a "much-loved, gentle and caring sister" and her timid and harmless demeanour was referenced often by her family throughout the investigation of her murder.

She planned to return to her family home on the day before New Year's Eve in 1957 after leaving a dance lesson at the nearby Lourdes Hall. She told her friends "I'll see you on Friday" and made her way to her home of Marshalls Heath on the 391 bus from Harpenden. When she got off the bus, she began the walk up the country lane to her house, which was when a local girl named Shirley Edwards passed Anne whilst riding her scooter. This would be the last time that Anne was seen alive.

Circumstances

Within hours of her disappearance, people took to the winding country roads of Marshalls Heath to search for Anne to no avail. It was a month later, on the 31st January 1958, when R.A.F Aircraftsman Hugh Symonds and his younger brother Brian discovered the body of Anne whilst walking their dog in the woods. It is reported that Anne was discovered with her glasses on and it appeared that she had been stripped and redressed (from numerous buttons of her blouse being fastened incorrectly). This, and the fact that there were no apparent ill motives towards Anne, resulted in many people assuming that the motive was one of a sexual nature. From the information I have found it is likely that Anne died from asphyxiation and no wounds or signs of struggle were discovered on her body. In fact, Hugh Symonds and many police officers mentioned that Anne simply looked to be asleep.

One thing that baffled police was that the spot in which Anne was found was scoured on New Year's Eve by police and tracker dogs, and again on a later date by 300 appointed soldiers and local volunteers. Symonds stated that the body could be visible from up to 20 yards away, could it be possible that Anne's body was undetected by the hundreds of people searching for her body whilst in plain sight?

Searches for Anne's body began on New Years Eve, and 300 British soldiers were part of the search team. 

Perhaps even more baffling was the temperature of Anne's body, which police at the scene described as "fantastically cold". Of course, a decaying body left outside in the peak of the winter months would be cold, however, winter in Marshall's Heath that year was a notably mild one. This factor, and the way that Anne's body seemed to appear from nowhere, led Home Office Pathologist Dr. Francis Camps to suggest that the body of Anne Noblett had been preserved in a deep freezer for a good portion of the time that her body had been missing.

Police focused on this suggestion, perhaps as this was their only initial lead. The New Scotland Yard Murder Squad were called in to assist investigations and weather reports were analysed to rule out the possibility that Anne could have froze simply from being laid outside. Police searched all establishments with deep-freeze equipment within an approximate 30 mile radius. Searches were extended to poultry farms, factories and even, quite disturbingly, ice cream vans. The Deep Freeze theory began to spiral out of control and perhaps became too much for police. An unknown company executive told police that any vehicle could harbour low enough temperatures to have frozen the body simply by plugging an electric cable into the vehicle. He stated that a body could even be frozen in a bed by utilising sticks of dry carbon dioxide. Police exhausted all enquiries and the case of Anne Theresa Noblett's murder remains unsolved.

Throughout the investigation and up to 40 years after Anne's death, police would receive calls from a man who claimed to have information about the murder, and even admitted to the killing, however he would hang up before ever providing the information he claimed to have. The police were not the only people to receive these calls, Anne's mother was plagued with calls from people claiming that they murdered Anne, however many of them were believed to be hoaxes and no notable leads were followed. Hugh Symonds, the man who found Anne's body, was forced to sleep with a shotgun underneath his bed after he received a call stating that the caller would be over to "get" his son for discovering the body.

Theories/Notable facts

Perhaps the most looked towards theory as to why Anne's body was so cold is that her body was indeed kept in a deep freezer, however when police suggested searching buildings and houses in the area, the killer panicked and returned her to the woods. Her body could have been frozen for thousands of reasons, examples of such are preserving the body for sexual reasons; organ harvesting; or even the beginnings of Ed Gein type paraphernalia (Ed Gein was arrested on the 16th November 1957 for murder and stealing from graves in order to build a "woman suit" to reignite his late mother's presence, coincidentally this was 1.5 months before Anne Noblett's disappearance). Sadly, there are far too many possibilities and unless her killer is found, we will never know.

One thing that I found extremely interesting whilst researching this case were the apparent findings of biologists who were asked to provide a timeline. Biologists studied the growth of snowdrop plants and ferns underneath Anne's body, and compared this to the growth of the plants in the area surrounding it. They concluded that the growth of the plants was stunted by around two weeks and, on this basis, Anne's body must have been lain in her final resting place for at least a fortnight. This adds another layer to the mystery of Anne's death - if her body was in her final resting spot for two weeks, why was her body so cold when the winter was so mild? Could the Met Office's information be incorrect? Or was Anne's body possibly moved and returned to the spot in the woods? It is also important to note that police found no drag marks around Anne's body.

There are also no clear motives for Anne's death. Yes, as previously noted, Anne's clothes seemed to have been buttoned up incorrectly and Anne's family made it very clear that this is not something that Anne would do, however there were no physical signs of sexual assault. Anne did not have a boyfriend and was not noted to have had any enemies.

It seems as though the only way that we will find out the true circumstances surrounding Anne's death is if we ever find her killer.

Present Position

As I write this, police have launched a 60 year anniversary appeal for any further information surrounding Anne's death. They have urged anybody who saw anything suspicious around the time of Anne's death to come forward, no matter how insignificant the information may seem. Should you have any information, please contact the Hertfordshire Constabulary's non-emergency number 101 or their incident room on 01707 355666. Alternatively you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or through their website www.crimestoppers-uk.org (submissions are anonymous).

It seems as though the investigation surrounding Anne Noblett's death became more and more complicated and perplexing as each new lead was discovered, however I hope that Anne's family will finally find peace and some form of justice from the new appeal. Anne's gentle nature was referenced throughout almost all of the sources I have used to research and I am glad to have given a moment of remembrance and reflection to an often forgotten about young lady and the story around her unfortunate death.


Thank you for reading, Lyd.

Author	Huw Wales
Article title:	Herts police appeal to solve a murder committed nearly 60 years ago
Website title:	hertfordshiremercury
URL:	http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/news/hertfordshire-news/police-appeal-information-solving-hertfordshire-969794

Article title:	Police teased by mystery caller about murder case
Website title:	Watford Observer
URL:	http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/search/5780741.Police_teased_by_mystery_caller_about_murder_case/

Article title:	The mystery of the 'Deep Freeze' murder
Website title:	BBC News
URL:	http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-42341980

Article title:	The ‘Deep Freeze’ Murder Ann Noblett, 17, of Marshalls Heath
Website title:	Stalbansreview.co.uk
URL:	http://www.stalbansreview.co.uk/nostalgia/crimelibrary/annenoblett/

Author	Nina Morgan
Article title:	Unsolved murder of 17-year-old: 60th anniversary police appeal
Website title:	Herts Advertiser
URL:	http://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/anne-noblett-anniversary-murder-appeal-after-body-found-in-whitwell-1-5329699

Article title:	[Unresolved murder] In a mild January 1958, the frozen body of 17-year-old Anne Noblett was found in Hertfordshire woodland. Who was behind the 'Deep Freeze' murder? • r/UnresolvedMysteries
Website title:	reddit
URL:	https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/7kdaq6/unresolved_murder_in_a_mild_january_1958_the/

An Introduction to Unsolved...

Welcome to Unsolved, a blog dedicated to the exploration and discussion of the many murder cases which have unfortunately ran cold throughout the decades. I plan to bring light to some of the most heinous crimes which may have been forgotten by mainstream media, and allow a moment of remembrance for those unidentified victims whose lives, and names were taken by those who have never experienced retribution for their crimes.

I plan to explore the circumstances of each case, potential suspects and theories surrounding them. This blog is purely created for the purpose of providing information and sharing opinions/theories, however if you do feel that you have any information that could contribute to the conclusion of a case, I will include the contact information of the relevant police force at the end of each post.

Comments are ALWAYS welcome, however please be respectful and considerate of the victims, suspects and their families. All research is performed by myself and all opinions are my own and will be stated as the same.

I am so excited to share my passion for investigative journalism with you, and hope to create a safe space for discussion and debate, in which we can pay respect for the lives of those who have unfortunately not yet received justice.

My first post will (hopefully) be published on the 1st January 2018. Enjoy!

Thanks for your time, Lyd.