The Chilling Black Dahlia Murder Revisited

This week on a special episode of TNT's Unsolved True Crime BuzzFeed, I'm the Gentleman, we've been asked to take a closer look at a case we previously covered, the infamous Black Dahlia Murder. I Am the Knight is a new TNT limited series inspired by the incredible true story of Fauna Hotel, a teenage girl abandoned at birth who makes a discovery about her past that leads her to question everything. Her search for her identity takes her to the heart of an unsolved

murder

. Hollywood's most infamous, the Black Dahlia and one of the main suspects in the case in this episode we will take a new look at the

murder

, the suspects and the pile of evidence that is still not enough to solve this case, you cannot hide the truth, Too bad this was before your time. the show, so you may not have seen this episode.

I have not done it. Do you know the case at all? The Black Dahlia The Hollywood Killer and it's scary it's scary there was a movie I think it's a show too oh yeah TNT I'm the night in The point I'm trying to get across was a little lower because it was one of the first episodes in which you did your little power points, you know, it's okay, there's no need to go back. I'm just saying now we've been given the opportunity to dive deep, yeah I've got my goggles on I'm ready to dive deep I've got a scuba tank baby we're going to dig around 10am. m. on January 15, 1947.

Betty Persinger was taking her three-year-old daughter on a morning errand to the shoe repair store near what is now the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles when they passed an empty lot on Norton Avenue Persinger remember the quote I looked to my right and saw this very dead white body, my god it was so white it didn't look like anything. more than perhaps an artificial model, it was so white and separated in the middle and a difficult start to this story. There's a reason we're going to get into the gruesome details of this because they'll come in handy, you got it.

We are not pleased with this. We are not sick, yes, no, no, why are you looking at me with that accusatory look? Yes, sometimes I worry a little. Yes, the body of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short was lying on her back and naked. Split in half at the waist, she was in a strange pose with her eyes open, her hands over her head, her elbows bent and her legs stretched out apart. She had been hit on the head and pieces of flesh had been cut off at the corners. from the mouth. There were cuts three inches long. No matter how bloody the scene was, there was no blood.

It seemed like the body had been drained and washed before being placed where it was found. Betty Persinger went to a nearby house and called the police to report the body. Persinger. then He continued with his errand. I wouldn't go get my shoes repaired after that. I'd say if I saw something as traumatic as this I'd probably need to go home, but it's strange to be the first person on the scene because when you call, you'll be the first suspect, usually well, she won't commit a gruesome murder. I am his way of repairing her. Don't underestimate anyone, if history has taught us anything.

Don't underestimate anyone. Anyone can murder anyone. Can you murder Julia Child? Do you think she could murder if you pressure her? Yes, I think you could murder if you pressure her. I don't know if today I found out that you've murdered someone. I wouldn't be too surprised, I think because someone told you right after. Identifying the body by fingerprints with the help of the FBI, Los Angeles police began circulating a flier in hopes of obtaining more information that described short as date 5 feet 6 inches 118 pounds

black

hair green eyes very attractive teeth bottom bad nails chewed too quickly end of quote eventually more information began to emerge about the woman originally from Medford Massachusetts Elizabeth Short moved to Hollywood, some say in hopes of achieving stardom, like many actresses, she had worked as a waitress and cashier and dealt with periods of unemployment while struggling to land a minor gig. roles, that's Hollywood, that's Tinseltown, you moved here from Chicago with the same hopes of stardom, yeah, you took an improv comedy class too, right?

I did it to meet people, you follow the Wi-Fi PlayBook in Los Angeles. Oh, one hundred percent and I will. I'll tell you what I knew. Some of the most insufferable people had an improv class. I can't believe it but they also met me and I wish no one was okay, it was common at the time for newspapers to give nicknames to murders. In some cases, newspapers called her The Black Dahlia due to reports that she often wore elegant

black

clothing and had striking dyed black hair. The autopsy of the body provided a

chilling

glimpse of the shorts' final moments.

Officially cut short, she died of bleeding and hit marks on her legs, wrists, neck. and right thigh suggested she had been tied up under torture the cuts to the corners of her mouth were made while she was still alive she had also suffered a concussion from blows to the head reports say the cuts were clean which raised suspicions from the principle that someone with surgical skills may have been responsible. I also like something scary. Yes, if you look at all the creepy details that are disturbing, it's that whoever did this had surgical skills. This wasn't committed by someone you know who just picked up a knife. the hardware store this is someone who knew what he was doing, he knew anatomy, sure, that will be important later in the case, okay, I wouldn't want to be a detective, I have no aspirations to be a lawyer, some of the most disgusting things.

I've ever heard that it's disgusting, yes, it's much easier to sit behind a desk like we are, yes, the gory details and proximity to Hollywood glamor make murders in shorts become a great story that makes front page headlines in Los Angeles for a full time. Fueling this feeling was the apparent killer. Nine days after her body was found, an envelope arrived at the Los Angeles examiner's offices containing a few short belongings, including her social security card, birth certificate photographs, and a address book. Some pages were missing. All items were cleaned of fingerprints with gasoline and the envelope was addressed with cut-out letters taken from movie advertisements.

In total, 13 letters were sent to the police and the press taunting them as the investigation unfolded, many signed by the Black Dahlia Avenger. dealing with a big hole here, the mafia was all over the city, you got dirty cops, the whole city is dirty, yeah, greedy, corrupt, maybe that's why that woman went to get her shoes repaired, she's probably the fifth dead body there was seen that week. That other thing we should talk about is that the address book was missing some pages, which means the killer could have been in his address book. Yeah, he probably knew her for a while.

There were many suspects throughout the investigation. It was estimated that hundreds were questioned and acquitted. Police contacted about 75 men listed in the address book that was sent to the Los Angeles examiner. Most of them said they had met briefly out to dinner or a movie, but things had ended before continuing during the case, the FBI investigated approximately 300 USC medical school students, although it appears not Nothing came of this, at one point fingerprints were found on one of Dalia's letters sent to the police, the FBI raced to match these prints with an identity, but the fingerprints were not in their files, so no They were able to find a match.

The case was finally closed after more than 70 years. I think there are three main suspects worth examining. The first is a salesman and former army musician, Robert Redman Lee. Her relationship with Short began about a month before Short was murdered when Manley saw her outside a bus station in San Diego and asked her if she wanted a ride. According to Manly, Short wouldn't talk to him at first, but he was persistent and she eventually got involved. her car for the next month Manley would take short appointments when she was in the city of San Diego when the place where Short had been staying in San Diego suddenly fell through, she contacted Manley and asked him to come pick her up.

Manley said they then both stayed platonically at a teller in Pacific Beach, after which Manly took them both to Los Angeles. There, he says, he took her to the Biltmore Hotel and left her there around 6:30 p.m. on January 9, as far as the investigation could go. to determine that this is the last place Short was seen alive six days before his body was discovered, when questioned by police, he manfully declared his innocence and voluntarily submitted to polygraph tests, both of which indicated that he was telling the true years later, in 1954, doctors administered pentotol sodium to manil. at one point it was thought to be a truth drug that would induce honesty and I questioned him about the case again.

It seemed that Manly was innocent. Didn't they determine that that is nonsense? He is a Professor Snape. It's not real. I wonder what the effects are. You know we should, uh, we should inject you with all the truth serum and then ask you if you think ghosts are real. Do you think I'm lying about that? Sometimes I make you lie to yourself. Hmm, now I know this is It's not the season for that, it's not the season, Manly died on January 9, 1986 after an accidental fall in his apartment in Anaheim, California, 39 years to the day she saw him for last time alive at the Biltmore.

Now that sounds like a coincidence, an accidental fall. the anniversary of the last time he saw someone he was accused of murdering, oh, so you think that maybe he was remorseful and you jump. I'm not saying it could go beyond a coincidence, that's all I'll say or the thing is if I live in Anaheim and I have a balcony and I smoke cigars because it's the 80's and I grew up in Hollywood in the 40's and 50's , yes, yes, I am addicted to every substance known to man and I am out there. my balcony in Anaheim it's a miracle I'm not going to go through that thing any day of the week well you have the fireworks to keep you on the balcony Oh, from Disneyland in 1997 for the 50th anniversary of the murder, LA Times interviewed Ralph Osdol , the last living detective from the original investigation, as they will claim that within weeks he found the man he believed to be the killer, as Dahl had received some tips in a description of a man witnesses noticed near the empty lot where discovered Short.

Other witnesses described seeing a black car around dawn when Dale found a man matching that description whose car that had recently been repainted also looked like the one described because since Dale had no hard evidence and only had a hunch to go on, he didn't. He was able to confront his suspect, but in 1997 he believed that this mysterious man was the Black Dahlia Killer. Great insight provided by Dale, not a big fan of this one here. He is the last living detective from the original investigation. He spent 50 years rubbing his nose. on him and now at the end he's like yeah I knew who he was all along I can't tell you his name but I know if that's true bad detective yeah the third and final suspect is well known even to those who just They do it casually. familiar with the case dr.

George Hodel Many who worked on the case over the years believe they interacted with the real killer at some point. Perhaps no one feels stronger than Steve Hodel after retiring as an LAPD homicide detective and having worked more than 300 murder cases. Steve Hodel published his investigation stating that the murderer was a certain George Hodel, the detective's father, this is juicy. Can you imagine being a detective working hard on this case? He has a big board and suddenly he picks up the board thread and where am I putting this on a photo of my father, I know well that he was not assigned to the case, this is something he took on after he retired, interesting, okay, his father too , as you'll soon find out, was a bit of a troublemaker and it made sense why he would suspect his father. being capable of something horrible George Hodel was a wealthy Los Angeles doctor described as a handsome, well-connected man with a high IQ George was in charge of a venereal disease clinic in Los Angeles that supposedly gave him knowledge about the sex life of people ranging from local sex workers to the city's elite, while George was not a practicing surgeon, he was reported to have breezed through medical school, where he had studied to be one, yes, I was murdered after death of George at the hotel, his son Steve found two photos of a woman whom Steve believed to be Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, began investigating and came to believe that his father was in a romantic relationship with Short and that they had been seen together in a hotel in downtown Los Angeles,so George's son is looking through his father's photo albums and comes over. through two images that look strikingly similar to Elizabeth Short.

Now I will say that I have not seen any confirmation that they are actually Elizabeth Short. Did they search them for a ransom? I saw a couple of experts get passed over, but no one said conclusively. yeah, but they also didn't conclusively say no, they're a little more revealing than that photo of the back of Amelia Earhart's head that you tried to pass off like I didn't say I tried to pass off, okay, that wasn't mine . you see his face in these things, although we do, you see his face hmm yes, you have his profession that gives him a unique insight mm-hmm and then you have these photos and then you have the claims that they had been seen together in places No so obviously he knew her, at least George Hodel would have had the necessary medical training to produce the surgical mutilation performed on the shorts body and that is just the beginning.

Steve has suggested that George is also responsible for the murder of Jean French which occurred just three weeks after Shorts on February 10, as Short French received blunt force trauma to the head and his body was also found in a strange position in a vacant lot early one morning. French's body bore the initials B D, possibly thought to represent the black

dahlia

written in red. lipstickYes, yes, B D, sure, yes, I'll take it. Did you send any letters after that? No, but BD's actual writing will come into play. The handwriting on the notes supposedly sent by the killer after the murder match the hotels' handwriting.

Analysis performed by a forensic expert hired by Steve Hodel, that expert also believed that the initials BD written on Gene French's body matched George Hotels' handwriting, that obviously comes with the disclaimer that he was a handwriting expert hired by the person who purported the theory, yes. but if they are corrupt I don't see why this person would help in the miscarriage of justice, of course that doesn't make any sense to me, if you are a writing expert you have to do the best you can, yeah how many? What jobs are you getting? I don't know if this is strange either, but I think it has more weight because it is his son who is accusing.

I think it might be less because one against blood, well, it might show personal vendetta if this guy had a bad childhood, which is strong, but this wasn't even a whole, he's not a good father. Evidence was found that the hotel sent 50-pound bags of concrete to his house for remodeling on January 9, 1947, the last day, Short was seen alive and less. More than a week before her body was found, Hodel's son claimed that similar bags were found near the shorts' body that police speculated could have been used to transport the shorts' body from the car to the parking lot.

Additionally, George was driving a black 1936 Packard that resembled the descriptions of the black car that had been seen at dawn near the empty lot the body was found in shorts Steve's investigation pointed out similarities between the house in shorts the body was found body and the works of George's supposed friend, the surrealist artist Man Ray, the arms of the

dahlia

s were placed above his head. Not unlike the Man Ray photograph possessed by the MoMA Minotaur in that the grooves in the mouths of the dahlias, they could have been inspired by the artists who painted the Observatory era.

The lovers, according to Steve George, idolized Man Ray and wanted to be artists. Could the Black Dahlia have been George's? Sick attempt at art, one of George Tamar Hotel's daughters recalled that her father would throw big parties at his Hollywood-adjacent home with guests like Man-ray and movie stars. Tamar also claimed that she had posed for nude photos for Man Ray when she was a child after running away from home in 1949. Tamar reported her father to the police telling them that he had tried to teach her about oral sex at the age of eleven, that he had offered her her friends for sex when she was 14 and that George himself had had sex. with her, if this man is not a murderer, he is obviously a bad man, yeah, this guy is very surprised that these kids didn't get together and just kill his father, well, one of them said, hey, maybe he did I will charge with murder, no, I understand.

Yes, as a side note, at age 15, Tamar gave birth to a girl in San Francisco, that girl at the wildlife hotel would be adopted by a family in Nevada and wouldn't know the story of her biological grandfather until much later. , when he would conduct his own investigation. I know who her father is. I'm not saying this is what happened, but it's possible that Tamar, since she claims George had sex with her at age 14 and gave birth to a baby at age 15, is possibly the father of that baby. which is the wildlife hotel could have been George, his grandpa, oh this guy is a real piece of Ryan, do you see why I said Steve Hodel may have a conflict of interest now, yeah, now I understand?

I thought you were like oh oh, he's a monster, yeah, he's a, he's a monster, yeah George Hodel was eventually acquitted of incest charges after several other family members testified that Tamar was lying. There are those who have stated, however, that the family might have been motivated to do so because George was the breadwinner in 1950. A few years after the black dahlia murder, George Hodel moved or perhaps fled to the Philippines, perhaps Perhaps not coincidentally, a woman murdered in Manila in 1967 was also found bisected and posed in a vacant lot, just as Steve claims that at the time George Hodel was living just half a mile away from I'm Z in 2012.

Steve Hodel visited his childhood home with a production crew, another former police officer and a search dog that detected the smell of human decomposition in several places on the property. like the Le path at the back of the house, according to Dr. Arpad Vass, a prominent forensic anthropologist who helped pioneer the chemical analysis of human decomposition, this does not technically indicate that the remains are located where the search dog made sense because the markers that the dog detects can move caused by water and other forces over the decades, however, VAS itself analyzed a soil sample taken from the alley behind the house and found that it was positive for human remains, although the sample indicated a death that occurred between 20 and 100 years ago, most likely.

It's beside the point, but I always feel bad for those dogs that sniff out dead bodies all day. Yeah, I mean, that's definitely not preferable to having to sniff out cocaine, cocaine, those dogs after hearing about George Hodel's theory. LA Times reporter Steve. Lopez went to the Los Angeles district attorney and was given access to case files and grand jury documents. In the files he found a photo of George Hodel that listed him among 21 other suspects. Lopez also found records indicating that Los Angeles police had introduced listening devices into hotels without detection. and he listened to hotel for 40 days in 1950, shortly before leaving for the Philippines, the recordings no longer exist, but transcripts of the recordings remained in the district attorney's files.

Lopez says that one of the transcripts had recorded Hotel saying a quote, assuming I killed the Black Dahlia they couldn't prove it now they can't talk to my secretary because she's a dead end, well you know, people don't usually say things thus, it sounds like dialogue written for a villain, something a normal person doesn't do. I'm not saying that another transcript describes what may have been the sound of a woman being attacked in the basement of the house according to a CBS 48 Hours special on the case. The investigation into possible too-short links with hotels was abruptly closed in 1950 with one of the principals.

Investigators say recordings taken at the hotel house eliminated him as a suspect. If that sounds suspicious to you, you're not alone. George's son claims that his father, through his connections and occupation, had knowledge of corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department and his ties to prostitution and abortion rings. and that the police took responsibility for the hotel to prevent their own dirty laundry from being aired; In fact, some Los Angeles police officers were notoriously corrupt in the early 20th century, and transcripts of bugs left at the hotel house also quote George's saying: This is the best reward.

I have seen among law enforcement agencies that I would like to make a connection in the DA's office and on the nose it sounds like it's George Hodel again, why does it always come back to the evidence being gone? What happened to the tapes that conveniently? It fell into the trash, well, seeing that these tapes say this about the LAPD, who is then in charge of the chain of custody of certain tapes, yeah, it makes sense, in a sense, to me, that those tapes disappear, yes, it's annoying, but again when you look. that and you see, oh the tapes went missing while in the custody of your establishment, that just makes you look bad, so regardless, they don't care, they don't care, yeah, the cops don't care.

I guess it doesn't lend credence to the corruption accusation according to the 48-hour investigation, the Los Angeles Police Department admits that much of the physical evidence in the black dahlia case is not in the files, it is not clear where is there or why it would be missing, quite clear. I understand that you know there is bureaucracy, you have to fill out forms. It goes places, oh, do we put that on this shelf or that shelf? I don't know, but they probably have some pretty good systems in place, yeah, the police, they should be able to keep track of this stuff if we could evaluate some of that.

That Shaima believes the LAPD is corrupt, wait not, while there is some doubt as to whether the photographs found in George's photo album are actually of the black dahlia or whether her handwriting matches the letter sent to the police and the press, there are enough reasons to be suspicious. without those leads to keep the lens focused on George Hodel after reviewing the hotel case Steven K, the then Los Angeles County deputy chief who had prosecuted murder cases for more than 35 years, stated that he believed the case had been resolved by speaking for himself, not the district attorney's office. quote he would have no reservations in bringing two charges of murder against dr.

George Hodel end of quote Steven K threw him on the team I mean, I congratulate him, but at the same time, George Hodel returned to the United States from the Philippines around 1990, he died in 1991 at the age of 91. I've always wondered since I found the fingerprints on that letter from Dalia. Can't you take little George's fingers and put him on the thing and see if they match up right? Now there are bones. Well, I'm sure they have George's fingerprints on file. Do they have to do it? Was he ever? They brought him in for whatever he was suspected of.

Yes, today the case is still open, but it has been decades since authorities actively investigated. Perhaps most frustrating is the sentiment expressed by John Douglas, former head of the FBI's Serial Crimes Division and one of the country's leading experts. In profiling violent crimes, Douglass points out that so much information can be gleaned from the killer's interactions and time spent with the body that today the crime would be very solvable, and the Black Dahlia murder captivated the nation and continues to fascinate scholars. detectives today. Black Dahlia simply the most infamous murder at the hands of dr. George Hodel or is there another answer lost in time for now the case remains unsolved what are you going to do charge George Hodel with two counts of murder according to the district attorney's chisel on his tombstone?

He is also a murderer. Yeah, I mean, maybe not. you know what you do part of justice is to impose penance on the person who did the right act surely there is no justice let everyone sleep well oh no way here we go yes another part of justice is that the living descendants of the people who committed the act against them could now find solace in that the real perpetrator has been pointed out place that is a good thing for the living descendants close look I am the night on TNT with Chris Pine that guy is fine he has nice eyes