The Black Dahlia
If you asked a Hollywood producer to create the perfect murder mystery you'd have to believe it would play out pretty similar to the case that started me down the road of all things morbid and macabre,the case of Elizabeth Short "The Black Dahlia".
Everything about the case screams "Hollywood",a beautiful but troubled wannabe actress,a string of potential perpetrators and a crime scene so gruesome and over the top that even after more than 50 years it is still talked about by those unfortunate enough to have seen the images.
Born July 29th 1924 in Boston,Elizabeth Short was going to end up famous one way or another.
Somewhat of a wandering spirit,she never seemed to stay in one place for any great length of time.
This was due in part to doctors orders to move to a warm climate during the harsh winter months following lung surgery during her teenage years.
At 18 she decided to move Vallejo and live with her estranged father whom she had last seen at 6 years old.After only 2 months with her father Elizabeth moved to live with friends while she worked at Camp Cooke.It was here that it appears her love of men in uniform started.After an abusive relationship with a sergeant,Short was once again on the road and this time she was headed to Santa Barbra,the place that would give us the now legendary mug shot of a young Elizabeth Short,arrested for underage drinking.
After going against authorities orders to go home,Elizabeth fled to Florida where she would meet Major Gordon,an Air Force officer whom Short would claim had proposed to her while he was recovering from a crash and whom would go on to pass away after being involved in yet another plane crash.Although it is hard to disprove, the mother of the fallen officer would go on to say that she was unaware that Elizabeth was romantically involved with her son,let alone engaged to be married.It appears he may just be another name on the list of men that Elizabeth either believed she was in a relationship with or flat out lied and said she was.
Next was Los Angeles and what appears to be a very tumultuous time prior to her murder.Short found it hard to hold down a steady job during this time and often reverted to going on dates just for a free meal.Most of this period was spent living in a nightclub with multiple other women but she was forced to leave after a fight over rent.
A string of meetings with "mystery men",multiple sightings of her looking distressed and disheveled and even a fearful meeting with a female officer mere hours before her demise.
It appears that Short may have known she was running out of time or had accidentally got on the wrong side of the wrong people but I doubt even Elizabeth Short knew just how horrific her future was about to become.
On the morning of the 5th of January 1947 the aspiring actresses body was found in an empty lot near South Norton Avenue.Originally believed to be a mannequin by Betty Bersinger,the police were left horrified upon discovering that the supposed discarded mannequin was in fact the brutally disfigured body of Elizabeth. Aggie Underwood,a local reporter,would be the first to collected photographs of the scene.He deemed them so gruesome that he had them edited before being published.
The images he took are as shocking today as they were 70 years ago.
Short,who was unrecognizable had been cut in two and carefully posed by her killer.
Her blood had been completely drained from her body and she had received numerous other wounds before having the area between her second and third lumbar vertebrae severed with the precision of a surgeon.The face of the beautiful young woman was now slashed so her mouth resembled that of a clowns in full make up,due to stitches being placed on her face to close the wound during the autopsy there is a misconception that she was given a Chelsea Smile.
On the morning of the 5th of January 1947 the aspiring actresses body was found in an empty lot near South Norton Avenue.Originally believed to be a mannequin by Betty Bersinger,the police were left horrified upon discovering that the supposed discarded mannequin was in fact the brutally disfigured body of Elizabeth. Aggie Underwood,a local reporter,would be the first to collected photographs of the scene.He deemed them so gruesome that he had them edited before being published.
The images he took are as shocking today as they were 70 years ago.
Short,who was unrecognizable had been cut in two and carefully posed by her killer.
Her blood had been completely drained from her body and she had received numerous other wounds before having the area between her second and third lumbar vertebrae severed with the precision of a surgeon.The face of the beautiful young woman was now slashed so her mouth resembled that of a clowns in full make up,due to stitches being placed on her face to close the wound during the autopsy there is a misconception that she was given a Chelsea Smile.
Her right breast had also been attacked by a scalpel,removing tissue to leave muscle exposed.
There were several slices above her pubic hair and again on her thighs,they resembled an x and o grid.A tree branch had been inserted into her vagina (Short suffered from Infantile Genitalia,a condition that led her being unable to have sexual intercourse without great pain.) and had been beaten with a blunt object. One of the most degrading parts of her torture was being forced to eat her own feces after defecating due to shock.
After being identified by the use of Soundphoto scans of her prints that had been sent to Washington and put through their database the tabloid frenzy began.One of the more shocking tales comes from a reporter who rang Elizabeth's mother and claimed she had won a pageant so he could ask her questions only to tell her that her daughter had been brutally murdered.
It was the papers against the police as both battled for scoops and information.The papers got the upper hand when contacted by a man claiming to be Shorts killer,the Los Angeles Examiners' editor James Richardson was the man who received the call.Richardson was informed that the self confessed killer planned to turn himself in to police but only after a chase.More importantly though,the killer planned to sent the editor some of Elizabeth's personal items.
Surprisingly,on January 24th a parcel was received by the Examiner that did in fact contain items belonging to Elizabeth.Photographs,a birth cert,a bunch of random pieces of paper with notes scrawled on and most importantly an address book. The address book belonged to the owner of the nightclub that Short had been living in,one Mark Hansen.A single page had been torn from the book and the entire contents cleansed with gasoline in an effort to destroy finger prints.
Although prints were salvaged despite the efforts of the killer,these prints were damaged while on their way to be tested,thus destroying one of the best chances the police had to potentially catch the murderer.
Hansen would be questioned over the following days and despite witnesses claiming that Hansen and Short had fought just before her murder Hansen was cleared of suspicion.He would also positively identify a handbag and pair of shoes that were found in a restaurants trash near the dump site.
Police would use the address book to continue their questioning but after more than 150 suspects were questioned police still had no solid leads.
Seemingly following through on his word,the killer again delivered a letter to the Examiner,claiming he would turn himself in to police on January 29th at 10 in the morning at a location never publicly revealed. Whether or not the man calling himself The Black Dahlia Avenger was ever going to follow through on this letter is unknown but later that day a final letter would be received,this time stating that the murder was justified and that he was fleeing due to no chance of getting a square deal.
There were several slices above her pubic hair and again on her thighs,they resembled an x and o grid.A tree branch had been inserted into her vagina (Short suffered from Infantile Genitalia,a condition that led her being unable to have sexual intercourse without great pain.) and had been beaten with a blunt object. One of the most degrading parts of her torture was being forced to eat her own feces after defecating due to shock.
After being identified by the use of Soundphoto scans of her prints that had been sent to Washington and put through their database the tabloid frenzy began.One of the more shocking tales comes from a reporter who rang Elizabeth's mother and claimed she had won a pageant so he could ask her questions only to tell her that her daughter had been brutally murdered.
It was the papers against the police as both battled for scoops and information.The papers got the upper hand when contacted by a man claiming to be Shorts killer,the Los Angeles Examiners' editor James Richardson was the man who received the call.Richardson was informed that the self confessed killer planned to turn himself in to police but only after a chase.More importantly though,the killer planned to sent the editor some of Elizabeth's personal items.
Surprisingly,on January 24th a parcel was received by the Examiner that did in fact contain items belonging to Elizabeth.Photographs,a birth cert,a bunch of random pieces of paper with notes scrawled on and most importantly an address book. The address book belonged to the owner of the nightclub that Short had been living in,one Mark Hansen.A single page had been torn from the book and the entire contents cleansed with gasoline in an effort to destroy finger prints.
Although prints were salvaged despite the efforts of the killer,these prints were damaged while on their way to be tested,thus destroying one of the best chances the police had to potentially catch the murderer.
Hansen would be questioned over the following days and despite witnesses claiming that Hansen and Short had fought just before her murder Hansen was cleared of suspicion.He would also positively identify a handbag and pair of shoes that were found in a restaurants trash near the dump site.
Police would use the address book to continue their questioning but after more than 150 suspects were questioned police still had no solid leads.
Seemingly following through on his word,the killer again delivered a letter to the Examiner,claiming he would turn himself in to police on January 29th at 10 in the morning at a location never publicly revealed. Whether or not the man calling himself The Black Dahlia Avenger was ever going to follow through on this letter is unknown but later that day a final letter would be received,this time stating that the murder was justified and that he was fleeing due to no chance of getting a square deal.
Unfortunately,it seems the case will likely never be solved as most of the evidence has either been lost or destroyed and what little remains is know in the LAPD museum and testing for DNA has been refused in recent years.What little chance there was of bringing the twisted killer to justice has been lost to time and it seems that the death of Elizabeth Short will forever leave a blood stained mark on the world of murder mysteries.
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