“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.
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| 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.
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| Elizabeth was beaten badly and numerous cuts were found across her body, most notably was the "smile" carved into her face. |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
 |
| Here the slit from the top of the genitals to naval can be seen. |
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.
"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. |
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.
