November 25, 2024 • 43 mins
Los, Angeles, CA | In the shadowy landscape of 1940s Los Angeles, one murder would captivate and horrify a nation. Elizabeth Short—forever immortalized as the Black Dahlia—represents more than just a gruesome crime. She was a young woman whose tragic end became a dark legend, a mystery that has haunted investigators and true crime enthusiasts for generations. We’re peeling back the layers of sensationalism and diving deep into the forensic details, cultural context, and shocking evidence that might finally answer the question: Who killed Elizabeth Short?
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📚 In a world where anyone can publish anything and skip giving credit to their sources, we do right by the many historians, journalists, and experts who made this episode possible by citing their work. Our key sources for this episode are listed below. A complete list can be found on our website.
-Eatwell, Piu. Black Dahlia, Red Rose: The Crime, Corruption, and Cover-Up of America's Greatest Unsolved Murder. Liveright. Kindle Edition. Publication Date: 2017
-Hodel, Steve. Black Dahlia Avenger II: Presenting the Follow-Up Investigation and Further Evidence Linking Dr. George Hill Hodel to Los Angeles' s Black Dahlia and other 1940s Lone Woman Murders. Thoughtprint Press. Kindle Edition. Publication Date: 2014
-https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/the-black-dahlia
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, this is Leah and this is April.
Today we are diving into one ofLA's darkest chapters the
brutal murder of Elizabeth Short, known to the world as the
Black Dahlia.
Her shocking death in 1947inspired a media frenzy, but the
full, chilling story is rarelytold.
While this case remainsofficially unsolved, evidence
(00:22):
from an unexpected source hermost likely killer's own son has
us thinking case closed.
This is Dark City, season 1,los Angeles.
We're recording in persontogether, yay, for the first
time in a while.
I don't know why I said inperson together.
That's redundant.
I don't know how long it's been, though, since probably before
(00:46):
the podcast festival, I thinklast, I think so yeah.
I'm so glad I picked thegrittiest case ever too
Fantastic we're going to messtogether.
This is Famous Unsolved CasesWeek, because did you realize
thatflix just dropped a newseries on john bonnet ramsey?
(01:09):
I saw that yes, I never gotinto that case oh, it was so
interesting.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I don't know when or like what I watched on it, but
this was like a long time agoand all the like.
Who killed jean benet and?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
there's so, and there's so many books and
there's so many documentaries.
There's endless things on itlike a theory.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
It was her brother.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
There's a theory, it was her dad, yeah, she and her
mom, I mean so I don't know howI got sucked in, because when
the first, the first time around, I did not get sucked into this
case back when it came out inthe late 90s, I just didn't.
I just remember thinking, oh,that's a beautiful little girl,
that's tragic.
And then it just felt like.
(01:56):
It felt like it was just kindof an excuse for so many people
to make money off of a tragedy.
And it didn't feel.
It just didn't feel genuine allthe time.
And I think, before I sayanything else, I also want to
just note she seemed like thesweetest little girl and I feel
like that age, I don't know.
That part just gets reallydropped out of it.
(02:17):
And all of the pictures of herat the pageants which are there.
They're a lot, but most of thetime she just ran around like a
normal child, yeah, so I endedup listening to a few different
podcasts on it and now I have atheory, but I want you to watch
it.
It's just crazy when you getsucked in, but some of these
(02:38):
cases, like this one, jack theripper, for example where there
are just details that just suckyou in and you just want to know
what happened.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Our entire family has watched a lot of Jack the
Ripper.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Really, oh my gosh, that's a little separate.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
At one point we had to turn it off because it was
like I don't know, ourdaughter's a little too young
for some of that information andthings were a little general
for a while.
And then it like got to a pointwe were like, yeah, we got to
cut it, but we've, the boys areolder, so like we've watched
(03:16):
some stuff with them.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
That one I didn't get into because it was so grisly
and also because it's so oldthat I felt like that they're
never going to solve it.
So many people have gonethrough it and if I, obviously,
if I don't think I have a chanceof solving it, which I don't
like, the Doheny alleged murderor suicide in.
(03:39):
Greystone Mansion.
When we covered that one, how Iwas like, let's delay for a day
.
I just want to look at one morepiece of information.
Well, with the Black Dahliacase, I probably so.
I started researching this whenthe idea of this podcast was
just like this ill-formed thingin my head and I ended up
(04:02):
reading maybe a couple thousandpages on it.
But because it was so long agoand of course, I didn't polish
up the script until recently, itwas harder because I'd
forgotten so many things andyeah realize there's just.
There's so much here.
I personally think it is solved, but I also do think there's a
lot of compelling reasons towonder but, ultimately conclude
(04:27):
a few other suspects were notthe real killer in this case,
but it is.
It's Jack the Ripper, but evenmore horrific, believe it or not
.
So this is a rough run.
Before we get into the partsthat are really, really rough,
I'll warn everybody in advanceif you want to skip ahead, but
(04:47):
there's really no way around it.
It's a brutal, brutal crime.
Our story begins in LeimertPark, which today is a very
dense, dynamic neighborhood.
It's south of downtown and justa few minutes drive west of
Exposition Park and the NaturalHistory Museum, which are two
landmarks that people who knowthe area fairly well will
(05:10):
recognize.
It was once described by LAWeekly music critic Jeff Weiss
as, quote the left bank of early90s underground hip-hop.
And I have to throw this funpiece of trivia in because there
is nothing fun about the restof this episode.
So, before we watch the sun inthe last rays, before it sets
(05:33):
behind the mountains, I'm goingto share this little piece.
Do you remember that song bySki-Lo?
I wish, yeah, I wish I was alittle bit taller, yeah.
So that video most if not allof it, was shot in Lamer Park,
and there's a famous scene wherehe's he's rapping or he's
walking around the fountain andsinging, and so that is.
(05:55):
That was shot at Lamer PlazaPark.
So just to give you a sense,when I was looking at background
I saw that and I thought, oh, Ihave to talk about that even
though it's such a somber topic.
So that's it.
There's no more happiness fromhere on out.
Going back to the 1940s, whereour story starts, leimert Park
(06:20):
looks nothing like it does today.
It started out as a plannedmaster community in the late 20s
, designed for whitemiddle-income families, so it's
a segregated neighborhood, likeso many in Los Angeles,
unfortunately at the time,something that I felt I had to
note because it is very muchpart of a dark chapter of Los
(06:40):
Angeles as of 1948, though, theydid do away with segregation,
at least in this area.
On January 15th 1947, a youngmother by the name of Betty
Bersinger was passing one ofthese lots on 39th Street and
Norton Avenue, pushing herthree-year-old daughter in a
stroller, when she noticedsomething very odd not too far
(07:03):
away from the sidewalk.
When she noticed something veryodd not too far away from the
sidewalk, she is looking at whatappears to be a mannequin that
has been broken into and thereis a swarm of black flies
buzzing around it.
Her immediate thought is if anykids pass this, they will be
frightened by it.
So she goes to call the policeto have them check it out.
(07:28):
However, the first people toshow up at the scene are
actually not the police.
The first people to show up aremembers of the press.
How did they find out?
So this story is also a storyof how competitive and honestly
awful some of the journalisttactics were at this time.
(07:49):
To surface salacious storiesthat would help sell papers.
Journalists would monitorpolice scanners to surface
stories.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Oh, isn't there a saying like I don't know if it
ble, don't know if it bleeds?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
it.
If it bleeds, it leads.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, absolutely.
And this story sold a lot ofpapers.
What the journalists and, soonafter, the police who show up,
find is beyond fathomable.
What is lying in the lot is nota mannequin, but a woman who
(08:29):
has been neatly bisected at thewaist.
Trigger warning you might wantto skip forward a few minutes.
Yes, it's going to take a fewminutes to talk about what had
happened to this woman, and it'sabsolutely not for the faint of
heart.
I'm going to give a prettyvivid description of how the
(08:50):
victim was found and all thatshe endured, both during and
after her death.
But I do have to share thesedetails though, because they
will lend later to why certainpeople were suspected of being
the killer and others weren't.
It also just goes to show howvicious and awful and targeted
(09:12):
this was.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, like, and the degree of how bad it was Right.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Right, I don't think there are many.
I don't think there are manythat are like this ever.
Yeah, so here we go.
So first, it's no wonder Bettymistook this woman for a
mannequin, because she does notlook real.
She has been completely drainedof blood and washed.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
That tells me it's somebody that knows what they're
doing.
Yes, okay, keep going, becausewho would know how to do that?
Anyways, uh-huh, there's thattells me like it's somebody that
knows what they're doing.
Yes, okay, yes, keep going,because who would know how to do
that?
Anyways, uh-huh, most of usnormal people don't.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
There's a lot like that.
There's no blood at this crimescene, at least where her
immediately where her body is,her body was moved.
Her body has been moved.
Her face is framed by blackhair which contrasts sharply
with her pale skin.
She had been bisected at thewaist, as I mentioned, but her
(10:12):
upper and lower halves wereseparated by about a foot 12
inches.
Her arms were raised above herhead, bent at the elbows, and
her legs were spread apart.
Her face had been gruesomelycut from ear to ear in a
chilling glasgow smile.
So think it makes me think of,like the joker yes, exactly,
(10:34):
exactly.
I wonder where the name glasgowsmile came from.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
I don't know is she on her back or is she face,
she's face up.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
yes, so she's, so she's lying, or so she's lying
on her back, so you can see herface.
I'm glad Betty did not realizeit was a person.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Oh, could you imagine ?
And she had her three-year-oldin a stroller.
No, how horrifying.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
I would have not have been able to keep my cool.
My three-year-old would haveprobably been traumatized and
remembered that.
So I would not want to be theperson.
But it's not surprising though,just given it's weird to say
this, but it's otherwise in animmaculate condition, in the
sense that it's been cleaned andarranged in a certain way, that
(11:22):
it's been cleaned and arrangedin a certain way.
Her right breast had beenremoved, and it just gets worse
and worse.
Some of her organs andintestines had been removed as
well and placed neatly.
I hate describing it that way,but that's how it?
was underneath her body.
The deliberate and stagedpresentation suggests the killer
(11:47):
wanted her body to be foundedthis way and it created this
haunting theatrical display.
Sure, now the newspapers, atthis time they did not take
pictures of it and print, thankgod.
But they did put a blanket overit and they printed those
pictures Like they just touchedit up which is you would not
(12:09):
have that today.
If you really want to go, look,there are pictures out there of
the body.
I personally did not feel theneed to, but they're.
They're there as a quick breakbecause I know that's a lot to
digest.
I'm just going to mention thepress is just walking freely
(12:31):
through this scene right now.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
With the police officers.
I know contaminating it and Iknow forensic science is not
exactly advanced as far as liketesting fibers and all kinds of
other things you could find atthe crime scene.
But it's like guys, aren't youworried they might step on
something or move something?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
that could be a critical piece and didn't you
say, they were there first, thepress was there first yes so
like they were probably trompingall over, like you're not gonna
get footprints, you're notgonna yeah, yeah, right, they
did get one, at least one laterthat we'll talk about.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I'm not going to tell you all the things that were
found in the crime scene,because they're going to be more
important when we talk aboutwho could have done it.
Okay, but yes, it's, it's.
It's just insane to me how thepolice and the press work
together.
It is like the Wild West You'regoing to see.
Now, closer inspection and anautopsy of the body would reveal
(13:34):
even more horrifying details.
In his book, the Black DahliaAvenger, author Steve Hodel
reports that quote.
The autopsy report describes avictim who endured a horrific
and painful death at the handsof a suspect or suspects who
took the infliction of physicalpunishment to the extreme.
(13:57):
The young woman was trussed andbound by her hands and feet,
was tortured, initially by thekillers inflicting minor cuts to
her body and to her privateparts, then cutting away her
pubic hair, which he would laterinsert into her vagina.
She was then beaten about herentire body.
She was forced to endure theoverwhelming humiliation of
(14:18):
being made to eat either her ownor their fecal excrement.
Finally, she was beaten todeath and her face and body were
viciously lacerated and defiled, and I'll just say there were
pieces of her body that were cutup and put other places and I'm
(14:41):
just not going to go into.
It's really graphic, yeah.
The victim's official cause ofdeath was blunt force trauma to
the head and face.
It was also determined that shewas sodomized and the killer
had performed a post-mortemhysterectomy.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Which makes me think that this person had a problem
specifically with females.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
That this person had a problem specifically with
females, and I mean potentiallythis one specifically.
It just feels like it's very,it's very targeted and Steve
Hodel, he's going to come up alot later, but he had said that
too.
That was his impression.
Is that it?
It just it seems like it's sotargeted, and this person just
(15:32):
had an extreme hatred for women.
I mean, this is very much anattack of what makes a woman a
woman, right?
So, okay, I'm really glad we'repast that rough part.
I don't think we'll ever bethat graphic again.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
And why the right breast.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
I don't I don't Is there a theory.
You know that's a good question, okay, it's a good question,
but I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
I was like what's on the right side?
What happened on the right side?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I don't know, I don't , I don't know it.
Okay, yes, so the way that itwas posed and the way it looked
although I don't think it coversthat part is really important
in one of the theories.
Later, forensic anthropologistDr Elizabeth Murray has a
(16:19):
history of forensic sciencecourse on the Great Courses Plus
.
It's a site where you can watcha lot of courses by different
professors and different topicsand I totally nerd out on it all
the time, but not really allthe time because my time's
limited, but she has a reallygood course and she analyzed the
Black Dahlia crime and onething she said that stayed with
(16:41):
me is she often would get askedwhat has surprised you the most
about these scenes and she saidto her it's what one human could
do to another human being.
And I think that that is justthe case with this.
Yeah, it's like a monster.
Um did what they did.
Now the victim unfortunatelyhas no id and no purse.
(17:06):
So the police find that theyhave not just one but two
mysteries they have to solveFirst, the identity of the woman
and second, who her killer was.
Now the first mystery is easyenough to solve.
The press is super eager to helpidentify the victim and I wish
(17:26):
I could say it was because ofthe goodness of their own hearts
.
They are very much motivated by.
I want to break this storyfirst.
If you get the identity first,then you can figure out a lot of
details before they're outscooping the competition.
True crime reporters were oftenfaster than the police at
(17:47):
getting to key pieces ofevidence and locating people.
In Pugh Eatwell's book BlackDahlia, red Rose, there is a
really great detail on thecharacters and competition of
the local papers for this story.
I'm not going to get into ithere because the story in and of
itself of the main crime isenough, but I'll give you little
(18:09):
glimpses here and there of whatthat was like, high level.
William Randolph Hearst, a nameyou probably recognize, was the
owner of the Herald Express andthe Los Angeles Examiner, which
competed amongst themselves,and then they also competed
fiercely with the Los AngelesTimes and the Los Angeles Daily
(18:29):
Mirror, which were both owned bya competing force in media real
estate, billionaire HarryChandler.
You may recognize the name,harry Chandler, if you recall
from our episode on LA StolenWater.
Do you remember how there was abunch of leaders that got
(18:50):
insider knowledge?
on where the alley aqueductwould terminate in the San
Fernando Valley.
So they stacked up a bunch ofland and made a profit.
Yes, he was one of those.
To summarize, there is a lot ofcompetition and that drives a
lot of behavior that I woulddescribe as helpful and or
horrible, and so you know howmuch is at stake here.
(19:11):
The Los Angeles Examiner'sextra edition, published on
January 15th, the day that thiswoman was found, had the
headline Fiend Tortures KillsGirl.
That edition sold more copiesthan the edition that covered
the bombing at Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Really Yep?
Is it because, like, somethinghas happened within their
community?
You hope?
You hope that they're like ohmy gosh, this happened in my
community, right, and maybe withthe other, like you're gonna
have other sources television,radio, like right maybe it was
(19:54):
also just really salacious someof the stuff they printed?
Speaker 1 (19:57):
I don't think they would.
Newspapers are very muchdigital entities right now, but
they wouldn't get away printingwith what they did and how they
did.
They're like right the way thiswoman was talked about, like
you can see so much sexism, thefact that they published a
picture with a blanket over herit.
(20:19):
It was a very it was a verydifferent time in a very
different environment.
Yeah, we're not there's.
Oh my gosh.
The LAPD was able to get thevictim's fingerprints and they
airmailed them over to the FBIin Washington DC for
(20:41):
identification.
However, the city editor at theLos Angeles Examiner, jimmy
Richardson, realized he actuallycould get an ID quicker.
The Examiner had a proprietarycommunication network that was
essentially a primitive faxmachine.
The paper used this then tosend the prints over to the FBI,
(21:04):
so it would arrive much fasterthan the airmailed copy.
And within 56 minutes this isincredible.
Within 56 minutes of receiptthey had an ID.
Wow, and that is insaneconsidering this is 1947 and
they have over 100 millionprints at the time.
Oh my gosh, I know.
(21:25):
The victim was ultimatelyidentified as 22-year-old
Elizabeth Short.
It turns out that she was inthe FBI's system twice.
In January 1943, elizabeth hadapplied at the commissary of the
Army's Camp Cook in California.
Seven months later she wastaken into custody by the Santa
(21:45):
Barbara police for underagedrinking, and I'll note here the
mugshot of her when she wastaken into custody for drinking.
When people think aboutElizabeth Short or the nickname
the Black Dahlia, they'reusually thinking of this picture
because her hair is all wild.
It's very unsettling and I'mnot going to.
(22:07):
I'll post pictures of her onour social media.
She's very striking striking,but it's I.
I feel like people need tothink more consciously about the
sort of photos they release ofthe victims, because it's like
they're picturing her in likeher most awful state.
Yeah, and it's like you know,with JonBenet Ramsey, like we
(22:29):
mentioned before, like thepictures of her in the pageants
that were the ones we all saw,which is not like the same as
just a little girl who's livingher life.
And it becomes a very differenttype of story.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Well, it's catchy and flashy, you know yes.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah, yes, exactly, you know.
Yes, yeah, yes, exactly,exactly.
Unless, of course, like we'retalking about some of our
villains from our past episodes,like griffith or the
rockefeller imposter.
In that case, you don't get aglamour shot, while post
whatever.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, I mean I was wondering she's 22.
I don't remember when I gotlike my first fingerprint
clearance card, but I didn'trealize that until you do that
or have an encounter with thepolice or something like that,
that they'll have no record ofyou.
Like I had no idea.
(23:21):
I just always thought when Iwas a kid, like they just know.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
In the case where you have a victim of a crime that
needs to be identified dentalrecords in her case, I don't
believe there were any, sothat's but that's another,
another way.
Yeah, with Elizabeth identified, the next step is to notify her
family.
Again, the Los Angeles examineris the first to find
(23:52):
Elizabeth's mom, a woman namedPhoebe Short, who is living
across the country in Medford,massachusetts.
Jimmy instructs his reportersto call her mom and extract as
much information from her aspossible before revealing her
daughter was dead.
Oh my gosh, that is like cruel.
No, but listen to what they saywhen the reporters call her.
They told her that they werecalling because their daughter
(24:16):
won a beauty pageant.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
That was like heartbreaking to listen to.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
And her mom is, of course, excited and is gushing
about her and her hopes and herdreams of being a star, and then
they finally break the news.
Oh, that is so messed up.
I don't know how thatconversation went from there.
But All of those people, I hopesome bad karma came your way.
(24:45):
I can't even.
That is terrible.
Yes, holy cow.
Okay, and can you imagine goingfrom?
Oh, my daughter just won thiswonderful thing.
She'd gone to LA to try to makeit in Hollywood.
To no, actually she died theworst possible death you can
(25:06):
imagine.
But let's talk more aboutElizabeth and her background.
Elizabeth was born on July 24th1924 in Hyde Park,
massachusetts, to parents Phoebeand Cleo Short.
She went by the name Betty inher younger years and then, I
think, like late teens, it wasBeth.
A lot of sources refer to heras Elizabeth.
(25:27):
I'm just going to call herElizabeth from here on out.
I don't know if that's theright choice.
Sorry, elizabeth Short,wherever you are.
Elizabeth was the third of fivegirls born to the couple.
Even from a young age, shealways wanted to be a star in
Hollywood, so you can imagineagain how her mom was so excited
(25:49):
when she found out she'd wonthis award.
She was always impeccablydressed and she was really
well-liked.
People really just had nicethings to say about her.
Growing up she was prone to itsounds like manic depressive
tendencies, but then especiallyfor the depressive episodes,
(26:12):
though I think they're prettyunderstandable given how heavy
the stuff she's dealing with.
Her childhood was marked by atragedy in 1930.
Her father, cleo, vanished.
His car was found abandoned ina vacant parking lot near the
Charleston Bridge.
His body was never found and itwas just assumed it was like a
(26:35):
Depression-era suicide becausethere were a lot at that time.
But it actually turned out hefaked his death and abandoned
his family and he wouldeventually ask Phoebe to get
back together with him and thankGod she said no, which is so
brave in the 40s.
(26:56):
Having five girls oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
But, again.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Elizabeth dropped out of high school her sophomore
year.
Elizabeth dropped out of highschool her sophomore year and
then okay.
So the timeline from there,from her mid-teens to 22 years
of age, when she's found they'revery hard to follow.
In those six years she livedlike a lifetime.
(27:21):
This was a period that wasmarked by a lot of instability,
a lot of different places shelived, a lot of different people
she was coming into contactwith.
Some sources are prettyconsistent about some of the
major life events during thisperiod and some are not, and I
think the big takeaway from allof this is just it was a very,
(27:43):
very unstable, not always happy,to say the least time, and all
of that made her someone I couldsee a predator preying upon,
like that left her vulnerable,kind of.
Exactly Okay, and because therewere so many people in and out
of her life.
That's why it was so hard totry to figure out who would have
(28:07):
done this.
I cannot imagine the resourcesthat were spent on this
investigation.
Yeah, because between all ofthe people they had to go
through and clear, and all ofthe tips they were getting and
all of the coverage, it was alot.
And it's tragic too becausethere were other women that were
(28:29):
dying of pretty horrific deaths, like kind of around this
period, and they didn't getnearly the same amount of
attention, which unfortunatelyis the case in these crimes.
In these crimes, one thing thatwas the sort of backdrop to her
(28:50):
major geographic decisions areshe had an acute bronchial
condition that the doctorsthought was probably
tuberculosis.
So living in Massachusetts,especially in the cold winters,
is not ideal for that.
So she suffered quite a bit.
So she would move to Miami andthen back to Bedford, I think,
(29:14):
when weather was better there'sdifferent reports and then later
on she made her way, obviously,to California and to the Los
Angeles area.
She moved to Miami because itwas a warmer climate and she
made a living by being awaitress.
And it was in Miami that shemet and fell in love with Flying
Tigers pilot Major Matt GordonJr, who was stationed at this
(29:37):
location.
This relationship shows there'sa lot of potential delusion and
obsessiveness that can come withher relationships.
So she would sometimes write tohim three times a day.
Then again, it's the 40s, sopeople write letters all the
time.
I don't know.
He was ultimately killed in anairplane crash in India, but she
(30:04):
told people that they had beenmarried.
But then later, when the policewere investigating her death
and they talked to his mother,she said no, that never happened
, they were never engaged.
How old was she when?
Speaker 2 (30:18):
she had a relationship with him.
I don't know.
Okay, I don't think of it.
She was still pretty young.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Yeah, yes, this is where, like this is like where I
wanted to pound my head because, like, one source would say one
thing, one say another so I'mjust gonna say like, look, they
were in love, she was in love,she was delusional, probably
okay at one point.
At one point, elizabeth went tolive with her dad in Vallejo,
california, which is insane thatshe would want to see him again
(30:47):
.
But then again it is her dad.
Sure, that arrangement lastedlike three weeks.
Her father expected her this iswhat he said.
I expected her to take care ofme and take care of the
household, which I canunderstand to a certain extent,
because he's giving her a placeto live and she's technically
old enough to do things on herown.
(31:11):
Yeah, but she's starting todisplay this habit of she goes
out a lot.
She's keeping late hours.
Later on, the police came totalk to him as part of the
investigation into her death,and this is terrible.
Her father said basically Ihaven't seen her in a long time.
(31:33):
It had been years since shelived with him and he made it
very clear he wanted nothing todo with the investigation.
Wow, horrible man.
Oh my gosh, when she was 18,she worked at Camp Cook in
California, so remember thefingerprints that they found.
It was from that position.
Her former boss at Camp Cook,inez Keeling, described her as
(31:55):
beautiful and charming, but alsoshy.
She was voted the Camp Cookcutie of the week or year, or
something like that this is likea very dated thing?
yes, absolutely, and inezkeeling said, though, unlike
other girls, she wasn't crazyabout dating the servicemen.
She always refused.
(32:17):
Some sources say she was datinga sergeant there at some point.
Either way, it was rumored thathe assaulted her and all of a
sudden he was court-martialedand he left the base and she was
gone pretty soon after, so thedetails on that are really okay
sketchy now.
However, you know, as killingremembers her, from here on out
(32:43):
something changed and shebecomes a very different person.
I think about this like in thecontext of the 40s and women not
having a lot of options and ifyou didn't get married you
couldn't always get hired to dosomething, and she's she's still
an aspiring hollywood star.
Yeah, she drifted around a lotin her late teens and early 20s,
(33:04):
like across the map.
In the summer before she wasfound dead in Leimert Park in
1946, she was being put up in afully furnished apartment by her
boyfriend, gordon Ficking, andtheir relationship, though, was
interesting because it was likeon his way out, but he was
paying for her at this residence, and meanwhile she was being
(33:26):
visited by a lot of men.
This is a pattern.
I think it started probably nottoo long before this time, and
then would go on up until herdeath, but there are a lot of
men every place she lives.
I don't think she was.
It was said she's not a sexworker.
She's not an escort, but I thinkjust she's broke and she's not
(33:50):
working.
So I kind of feel like theywere her meal ticket or they
would, you know, pay for her,give her a place to stay.
I'm sure some she probably wasgenuinely interested in, yeah,
but she was also seen aroundthis time frequenting a
drugstore, soda fountain that'sso 40s, yeah, in lacy black
(34:11):
clothes which I mean I don'tknow they could be.
They could be things we'd lookat today and be like that's not
a big deal.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Right yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
This might have been where she got the name, the
nickname the black Dahlia.
There's a lot of conflictingstories on how this was.
There was, like a movie calledthe blue Dahlia that came around
at that time.
The person who either ran orworked at the drugstore soda
fountain where she would hangout at the boys, the men she
would hang around with, calledher black Dahlia, and so when
(34:45):
the newspapers found that theywere with, called her Black
Dahlia, and so when thenewspapers found that they were
like, oh, we're taking that,that's a great nickname.
And dahlias they're like how doI describe them?
They're like geometricperfection.
They're these beautiful flowersthat grow, I'm sure, in a lot
of places, row, um, I'm sure ina lot of places, but in los
(35:07):
angeles they're known as thewinter rose because they only
bloom in um, like january.
February is usually where theylast.
So, like in our yard right now,I can see like the buds coming
from our tree that has dahliason it and they're just really
beautiful flowers I always like.
When I saw her for the firsttime, she has curly hair.
This beautiful curly hair.
I beautiful curly hair.
I thought is it like areference to like the dark hair
(35:28):
and the way?
Speaker 2 (35:28):
that's what I always thought fall, yeah, I always
thought it was like from herlooks right, I know I know by
the end of the summer of 1946her relationship with gordon.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
I think I said ficking.
It should be fickling, that washis name, okay who kept her?
up in that fully furnishedapartment.
It was pretty much over.
So this is August.
She moved up to Los Angelesfrom there, so this is placing
her in the Los Angeles area.
She stayed with a few otherfemale roommates but there were
a lot of issues we'll get intolater when we get into the
(36:03):
theories about who might havecommitted the crime.
And also she couldn't pay rentso soon she found herself
homeless again.
She's found on December 8th bya young woman named Dorothy
French sleeping in a movietheater sleeping in a movie
(36:27):
theater and Dorothy feels sorryfor her and she seems like, you
know, just a normal person who'sprobably down on her luck.
No warning signs, except for thefact that obviously she doesn't
have a roof over her head.
So she invites her to come staywith her and her mother.
Now, during this time that shestayed there, which is pretty
much up until like early January, she kept claiming she's
(36:51):
looking for a job, but mostlyshe lounged around and wrote
letters.
She claimed she was married toMajor Matt Gordon, who she said
was killed in a plane crash.
So again this is coming up andshe had a child by him, but that
child had died.
So she was like spinning thistale and stuff like that.
(37:16):
That makes it so hard toinvestigate her.
Then, on January 8th, she ispicked up by a man by the name
of Robert Manley, also known asRed for short, who takes her up
to the Los Angeles area.
He is a 25-year-old.
(37:36):
This is not a job that existstoday.
He's a 25-year-old pipe clampsalesman.
Pipe clamp yeah, okay, okay.
Those random involved jobs.
Pipe clamp salesman, pipe clampyeah, okay, okay, that was
random and bullshots.
Somebody's gotta do it and it'srobert manley.
His, he's.
He's not single, he has a wife,um, and he also has a
(38:01):
four-month baby at home.
But here he is with Elizabethand this is also going to be why
he is going to become the topsuspect in this case.
One thing I do want to saywe'll whittle down the list to
something manageable, butaccording to pew eat, well, a
(38:25):
police report noted that therewere at least 50 men at the time
of her death that she knew thatthey had to investigate and she
had been seen with at least 25of them in the 60-day period
preceding her death.
And again, I mean, she's not asex worker, she might be an
escort?
I don know, but there were justso many people that she.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
It just like it makes you wonder what was going on.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Yeah, she's just splitting about here and there.
I mean she's very lost, it'svery clear yeah.
According to the report, thisis such a this is such an
indication of the time.
It was said she was a tease.
I feel like that did not agewell.
Yeah, Really just think this isa young lost woman who doesn't
(39:13):
really have family she can relyon and she's just trying to get
by any way she can.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
It sounds like Exactly, you know, she's using
what she's got to be able tosurvive Right?
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Yeah, I think it's obviously highly risky.
In a lot of ways, she's reallybrave, because she could have
just given up and gone home.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Oh for sure I was thinking that, exactly as you're
telling me some of these things, I'm like man, I would have
just gone home and I don't careif I have to live in the closet.
That's the only space that mymom has for me.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
I couldn't do this on my own, and I suppose what's
hard about that, too, is becauseof Massachusetts, because she
had that lung condition.
Yeah, it would be hard, butit's obvious she would not have
a hard time getting married,which was a route that a lot of
people take, but she refused todo that.
A route that a lot of peopletake, but she refused.
(40:08):
She refused to do that.
Before we move on, though, Ihave to ask you to guess april.
How many people do you thinkconfessed to this crime?
Speaker 2 (40:19):
oh, I bet, because it was so salacious.
Oh my gosh, okay, okay, I'mgoing to say at least 100.
I don't know if that's too manyor not enough.
I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
It's a multiple of five.
It's multiplied by five.
Really, Uh-huh, oh my gosh.
500 people.
Oh what 500 people would everever say that they did something
like this?
Those 500 people.
Oh what 500 people would everever say that they did something
like this?
Those 500 why?
Speaker 2 (40:49):
why would you want to be that person?
You want your 15 minutes offame, I guess, but like, what a
horrific thing to be like.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Yeah, that was me, you have at least 500 seriously
messed up people, plus thekiller and however many more in
this area.
It's when I read that number Iwas just like where are these
people living, I'm sure the copswere like, oh crap, this case
is horrible.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
And then, when that happened, they were probably
like I hate my job.
Yes, probably like I hate myjob.
Like now you have to swordthrough all the muck and get
everything out of the way, andhow do you even solve the case?
Speaker 1 (41:32):
I guess you don't really, because here we are, but
how do you break it to theperson?
We're sorry to let you knowlike we have rejected your
application to be you are notthe killer, you are not.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
And what a waste of, like, resources and money.
And I know, oh man, like theeffort that they could have put
into the actual solving of thecase, but they couldn't, because
they're doing this instead,right?
Speaker 1 (42:06):
right, so we will not go over all 500.
We'll go through a handful ofthose plus.
The killer starts communicatingwith the police and we're this
is like jack the ripper almostwell, there's parallels?
I guess there are.
Yeah, this was very, verytargeted.
(42:28):
More crucial pieces of evidencewill come forward and, yeah, it
won't be as brutal.
I don't think we won't have todescribe the crime scene again.
Um, so there's that.
Thank you for listening and welook forward to telling you the
(42:48):
second part of the story in acouple of weeks.
Bye, thank you.
Hello, this is Leah and this is April.
Today we are diving into one ofLA's darkest chapters the
brutal murder of Elizabeth Short, known to the world as the
Black Dahlia.
Her shocking death in 1947inspired a media frenzy, but the
full, chilling story is rarelytold.
While this case remainsofficially unsolved, evidence
(00:22):
from an unexpected source hermost likely killer's own son has
us thinking case closed.
This is Dark City, season 1,los Angeles.
We're recording in persontogether, yay, for the first
time in a while.
I don't know why I said inperson together.
That's redundant.
I don't know how long it's been, though, since probably before
(00:46):
the podcast festival, I thinklast, I think so yeah.
I'm so glad I picked thegrittiest case ever too
Fantastic we're going to messtogether.
This is Famous Unsolved CasesWeek, because did you realize
thatflix just dropped a newseries on john bonnet ramsey?
(01:09):
I saw that yes, I never gotinto that case oh, it was so
interesting.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I don't know when or like what I watched on it, but
this was like a long time agoand all the like.
Who killed jean benet and?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
there's so, and there's so many books and
there's so many documentaries.
There's endless things on itlike a theory.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
It was her brother.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
There's a theory, it was her dad, yeah, she and her
mom, I mean so I don't know howI got sucked in, because when
the first, the first time around, I did not get sucked into this
case back when it came out inthe late 90s, I just didn't.
I just remember thinking, oh,that's a beautiful little girl,
that's tragic.
And then it just felt like.
(01:56):
It felt like it was just kindof an excuse for so many people
to make money off of a tragedy.
And it didn't feel.
It just didn't feel genuine allthe time.
And I think, before I sayanything else, I also want to
just note she seemed like thesweetest little girl and I feel
like that age, I don't know.
That part just gets reallydropped out of it.
(02:17):
And all of the pictures of herat the pageants which are there.
They're a lot, but most of thetime she just ran around like a
normal child, yeah, so I endedup listening to a few different
podcasts on it and now I have atheory, but I want you to watch
it.
It's just crazy when you getsucked in, but some of these
(02:38):
cases, like this one, jack theripper, for example where there
are just details that just suckyou in and you just want to know
what happened.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Our entire family has watched a lot of Jack the
Ripper.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Really, oh my gosh, that's a little separate.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
At one point we had to turn it off because it was
like I don't know, ourdaughter's a little too young
for some of that information andthings were a little general
for a while.
And then it like got to a pointwe were like, yeah, we got to
cut it, but we've, the boys areolder, so like we've watched
(03:16):
some stuff with them.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
That one I didn't get into because it was so grisly
and also because it's so oldthat I felt like that they're
never going to solve it.
So many people have gonethrough it and if I, obviously,
if I don't think I have a chanceof solving it, which I don't
like, the Doheny alleged murderor suicide in.
(03:39):
Greystone Mansion.
When we covered that one, how Iwas like, let's delay for a day
.
I just want to look at one morepiece of information.
Well, with the Black Dahliacase, I probably so.
I started researching this whenthe idea of this podcast was
just like this ill-formed thingin my head and I ended up
(04:02):
reading maybe a couple thousandpages on it.
But because it was so long agoand of course, I didn't polish
up the script until recently, itwas harder because I'd
forgotten so many things andyeah realize there's just.
There's so much here.
I personally think it is solved, but I also do think there's a
lot of compelling reasons towonder but, ultimately conclude
(04:27):
a few other suspects were notthe real killer in this case,
but it is.
It's Jack the Ripper, but evenmore horrific, believe it or not
.
So this is a rough run.
Before we get into the partsthat are really, really rough,
I'll warn everybody in advanceif you want to skip ahead, but
(04:47):
there's really no way around it.
It's a brutal, brutal crime.
Our story begins in LeimertPark, which today is a very
dense, dynamic neighborhood.
It's south of downtown and justa few minutes drive west of
Exposition Park and the NaturalHistory Museum, which are two
landmarks that people who knowthe area fairly well will
(05:10):
recognize.
It was once described by LAWeekly music critic Jeff Weiss
as, quote the left bank of early90s underground hip-hop.
And I have to throw this funpiece of trivia in because there
is nothing fun about the restof this episode.
So, before we watch the sun inthe last rays, before it sets
(05:33):
behind the mountains, I'm goingto share this little piece.
Do you remember that song bySki-Lo?
I wish, yeah, I wish I was alittle bit taller, yeah.
So that video most if not allof it, was shot in Lamer Park,
and there's a famous scene wherehe's he's rapping or he's
walking around the fountain andsinging, and so that is.
(05:55):
That was shot at Lamer PlazaPark.
So just to give you a sense,when I was looking at background
I saw that and I thought, oh, Ihave to talk about that even
though it's such a somber topic.
So that's it.
There's no more happiness fromhere on out.
Going back to the 1940s, whereour story starts, leimert Park
(06:20):
looks nothing like it does today.
It started out as a plannedmaster community in the late 20s
, designed for whitemiddle-income families, so it's
a segregated neighborhood, likeso many in Los Angeles,
unfortunately at the time,something that I felt I had to
note because it is very muchpart of a dark chapter of Los
(06:40):
Angeles as of 1948, though, theydid do away with segregation,
at least in this area.
On January 15th 1947, a youngmother by the name of Betty
Bersinger was passing one ofthese lots on 39th Street and
Norton Avenue, pushing herthree-year-old daughter in a
stroller, when she noticedsomething very odd not too far
(07:03):
away from the sidewalk.
When she noticed something veryodd not too far away from the
sidewalk, she is looking at whatappears to be a mannequin that
has been broken into and thereis a swarm of black flies
buzzing around it.
Her immediate thought is if anykids pass this, they will be
frightened by it.
So she goes to call the policeto have them check it out.
(07:28):
However, the first people toshow up at the scene are
actually not the police.
The first people to show up aremembers of the press.
How did they find out?
So this story is also a storyof how competitive and honestly
awful some of the journalisttactics were at this time.
(07:49):
To surface salacious storiesthat would help sell papers.
Journalists would monitorpolice scanners to surface
stories.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Oh, isn't there a saying like I don't know if it
ble, don't know if it bleeds?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
it.
If it bleeds, it leads.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, absolutely.
And this story sold a lot ofpapers.
What the journalists and, soonafter, the police who show up,
find is beyond fathomable.
What is lying in the lot is nota mannequin, but a woman who
(08:29):
has been neatly bisected at thewaist.
Trigger warning you might wantto skip forward a few minutes.
Yes, it's going to take a fewminutes to talk about what had
happened to this woman, and it'sabsolutely not for the faint of
heart.
I'm going to give a prettyvivid description of how the
(08:50):
victim was found and all thatshe endured, both during and
after her death.
But I do have to share thesedetails though, because they
will lend later to why certainpeople were suspected of being
the killer and others weren't.
It also just goes to show howvicious and awful and targeted
(09:12):
this was.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, like, and the degree of how bad it was Right.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Right, I don't think there are many.
I don't think there are manythat are like this ever.
Yeah, so here we go.
So first, it's no wonder Bettymistook this woman for a
mannequin, because she does notlook real.
She has been completely drainedof blood and washed.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
That tells me it's somebody that knows what they're
doing.
Yes, okay, keep going, becausewho would know how to do that?
Anyways, uh-huh, there's thattells me like it's somebody that
knows what they're doing.
Yes, okay, yes, keep going,because who would know how to do
that?
Anyways, uh-huh, most of usnormal people don't.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
There's a lot like that.
There's no blood at this crimescene, at least where her
immediately where her body is,her body was moved.
Her body has been moved.
Her face is framed by blackhair which contrasts sharply
with her pale skin.
She had been bisected at thewaist, as I mentioned, but her
(10:12):
upper and lower halves wereseparated by about a foot 12
inches.
Her arms were raised above herhead, bent at the elbows, and
her legs were spread apart.
Her face had been gruesomelycut from ear to ear in a
chilling glasgow smile.
So think it makes me think of,like the joker yes, exactly,
(10:34):
exactly.
I wonder where the name glasgowsmile came from.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
I don't know is she on her back or is she face,
she's face up.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
yes, so she's, so she's lying, or so she's lying
on her back, so you can see herface.
I'm glad Betty did not realizeit was a person.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Oh, could you imagine ?
And she had her three-year-oldin a stroller.
No, how horrifying.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
I would have not have been able to keep my cool.
My three-year-old would haveprobably been traumatized and
remembered that.
So I would not want to be theperson.
But it's not surprising though,just given it's weird to say
this, but it's otherwise in animmaculate condition, in the
sense that it's been cleaned andarranged in a certain way, that
(11:22):
it's been cleaned and arrangedin a certain way.
Her right breast had beenremoved, and it just gets worse
and worse.
Some of her organs andintestines had been removed as
well and placed neatly.
I hate describing it that way,but that's how it?
was underneath her body.
The deliberate and stagedpresentation suggests the killer
(11:47):
wanted her body to be foundedthis way and it created this
haunting theatrical display.
Sure, now the newspapers, atthis time they did not take
pictures of it and print, thankgod.
But they did put a blanket overit and they printed those
pictures Like they just touchedit up which is you would not
(12:09):
have that today.
If you really want to go, look,there are pictures out there of
the body.
I personally did not feel theneed to, but they're.
They're there as a quick breakbecause I know that's a lot to
digest.
I'm just going to mention thepress is just walking freely
(12:31):
through this scene right now.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Oh, my gosh.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
With the police officers.
I know contaminating it and Iknow forensic science is not
exactly advanced as far as liketesting fibers and all kinds of
other things you could find atthe crime scene.
But it's like guys, aren't youworried they might step on
something or move something?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
that could be a critical piece and didn't you
say, they were there first, thepress was there first yes so
like they were probably trompingall over, like you're not gonna
get footprints, you're notgonna yeah, yeah, right, they
did get one, at least one laterthat we'll talk about.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
I'm not going to tell you all the things that were
found in the crime scene,because they're going to be more
important when we talk aboutwho could have done it.
Okay, but yes, it's, it's.
It's just insane to me how thepolice and the press work
together.
It is like the Wild West You'regoing to see.
Now, closer inspection and anautopsy of the body would reveal
(13:34):
even more horrifying details.
In his book, the Black DahliaAvenger, author Steve Hodel
reports that quote.
The autopsy report describes avictim who endured a horrific
and painful death at the handsof a suspect or suspects who
took the infliction of physicalpunishment to the extreme.
(13:57):
The young woman was trussed andbound by her hands and feet,
was tortured, initially by thekillers inflicting minor cuts to
her body and to her privateparts, then cutting away her
pubic hair, which he would laterinsert into her vagina.
She was then beaten about herentire body.
She was forced to endure theoverwhelming humiliation of
(14:18):
being made to eat either her ownor their fecal excrement.
Finally, she was beaten todeath and her face and body were
viciously lacerated and defiled, and I'll just say there were
pieces of her body that were cutup and put other places and I'm
(14:41):
just not going to go into.
It's really graphic, yeah.
The victim's official cause ofdeath was blunt force trauma to
the head and face.
It was also determined that shewas sodomized and the killer
had performed a post-mortemhysterectomy.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Which makes me think that this person had a problem
specifically with females.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
That this person had a problem specifically with
females, and I mean potentiallythis one specifically.
It just feels like it's very,it's very targeted and Steve
Hodel, he's going to come up alot later, but he had said that
too.
That was his impression.
Is that it?
It just it seems like it's sotargeted, and this person just
(15:32):
had an extreme hatred for women.
I mean, this is very much anattack of what makes a woman a
woman, right?
So, okay, I'm really glad we'repast that rough part.
I don't think we'll ever bethat graphic again.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
And why the right breast.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
I don't I don't Is there a theory.
You know that's a good question, okay, it's a good question,
but I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
I was like what's on the right side?
What happened on the right side?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I don't know, I don't , I don't know it.
Okay, yes, so the way that itwas posed and the way it looked
although I don't think it coversthat part is really important
in one of the theories.
Later, forensic anthropologistDr Elizabeth Murray has a
(16:19):
history of forensic sciencecourse on the Great Courses Plus
.
It's a site where you can watcha lot of courses by different
professors and different topicsand I totally nerd out on it all
the time, but not really allthe time because my time's
limited, but she has a reallygood course and she analyzed the
Black Dahlia crime and onething she said that stayed with
(16:41):
me is she often would get askedwhat has surprised you the most
about these scenes and she saidto her it's what one human could
do to another human being.
And I think that that is justthe case with this.
Yeah, it's like a monster.
Um did what they did.
Now the victim unfortunatelyhas no id and no purse.
(17:06):
So the police find that theyhave not just one but two
mysteries they have to solveFirst, the identity of the woman
and second, who her killer was.
Now the first mystery is easyenough to solve.
The press is super eager to helpidentify the victim and I wish
(17:26):
I could say it was because ofthe goodness of their own hearts
.
They are very much motivated by.
I want to break this storyfirst.
If you get the identity first,then you can figure out a lot of
details before they're outscooping the competition.
True crime reporters were oftenfaster than the police at
(17:47):
getting to key pieces ofevidence and locating people.
In Pugh Eatwell's book BlackDahlia, red Rose, there is a
really great detail on thecharacters and competition of
the local papers for this story.
I'm not going to get into ithere because the story in and of
itself of the main crime isenough, but I'll give you little
(18:09):
glimpses here and there of whatthat was like, high level.
William Randolph Hearst, a nameyou probably recognize, was the
owner of the Herald Express andthe Los Angeles Examiner, which
competed amongst themselves,and then they also competed
fiercely with the Los AngelesTimes and the Los Angeles Daily
(18:29):
Mirror, which were both owned bya competing force in media real
estate, billionaire HarryChandler.
You may recognize the name,harry Chandler, if you recall
from our episode on LA StolenWater.
Do you remember how there was abunch of leaders that got
(18:50):
insider knowledge?
on where the alley aqueductwould terminate in the San
Fernando Valley.
So they stacked up a bunch ofland and made a profit.
Yes, he was one of those.
To summarize, there is a lot ofcompetition and that drives a
lot of behavior that I woulddescribe as helpful and or
horrible, and so you know howmuch is at stake here.
(19:11):
The Los Angeles Examiner'sextra edition, published on
January 15th, the day that thiswoman was found, had the
headline Fiend Tortures KillsGirl.
That edition sold more copiesthan the edition that covered
the bombing at Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Really Yep?
Is it because, like, somethinghas happened within their
community?
You hope?
You hope that they're like ohmy gosh, this happened in my
community, right, and maybe withthe other, like you're gonna
have other sources television,radio, like right maybe it was
(19:54):
also just really salacious someof the stuff they printed?
Speaker 1 (19:57):
I don't think they would.
Newspapers are very muchdigital entities right now, but
they wouldn't get away printingwith what they did and how they
did.
They're like right the way thiswoman was talked about, like
you can see so much sexism, thefact that they published a
picture with a blanket over herit.
(20:19):
It was a very it was a verydifferent time in a very
different environment.
Yeah, we're not there's.
Oh my gosh.
The LAPD was able to get thevictim's fingerprints and they
airmailed them over to the FBIin Washington DC for
(20:41):
identification.
However, the city editor at theLos Angeles Examiner, jimmy
Richardson, realized he actuallycould get an ID quicker.
The Examiner had a proprietarycommunication network that was
essentially a primitive faxmachine.
The paper used this then tosend the prints over to the FBI,
(21:04):
so it would arrive much fasterthan the airmailed copy.
And within 56 minutes this isincredible.
Within 56 minutes of receiptthey had an ID.
Wow, and that is insaneconsidering this is 1947 and
they have over 100 millionprints at the time.
Oh my gosh, I know.
(21:25):
The victim was ultimatelyidentified as 22-year-old
Elizabeth Short.
It turns out that she was inthe FBI's system twice.
In January 1943, elizabeth hadapplied at the commissary of the
Army's Camp Cook in California.
Seven months later she wastaken into custody by the Santa
(21:45):
Barbara police for underagedrinking, and I'll note here the
mugshot of her when she wastaken into custody for drinking.
When people think aboutElizabeth Short or the nickname
the Black Dahlia, they'reusually thinking of this picture
because her hair is all wild.
It's very unsettling and I'mnot going to.
(22:07):
I'll post pictures of her onour social media.
She's very striking striking,but it's I.
I feel like people need tothink more consciously about the
sort of photos they release ofthe victims, because it's like
they're picturing her in likeher most awful state.
Yeah, and it's like you know,with JonBenet Ramsey, like we
(22:29):
mentioned before, like thepictures of her in the pageants
that were the ones we all saw,which is not like the same as
just a little girl who's livingher life.
And it becomes a very differenttype of story.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Well, it's catchy and flashy, you know yes.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah, yes, exactly, you know.
Yes, yeah, yes, exactly,exactly.
Unless, of course, like we'retalking about some of our
villains from our past episodes,like griffith or the
rockefeller imposter.
In that case, you don't get aglamour shot, while post
whatever.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, I mean I was wondering she's 22.
I don't remember when I gotlike my first fingerprint
clearance card, but I didn'trealize that until you do that
or have an encounter with thepolice or something like that,
that they'll have no record ofyou.
Like I had no idea.
(23:21):
I just always thought when Iwas a kid, like they just know.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
In the case where you have a victim of a crime that
needs to be identified dentalrecords in her case, I don't
believe there were any, sothat's but that's another,
another way.
Yeah, with Elizabeth identified, the next step is to notify her
family.
Again, the Los Angeles examineris the first to find
(23:52):
Elizabeth's mom, a woman namedPhoebe Short, who is living
across the country in Medford,massachusetts.
Jimmy instructs his reportersto call her mom and extract as
much information from her aspossible before revealing her
daughter was dead.
Oh my gosh, that is like cruel.
No, but listen to what they saywhen the reporters call her.
They told her that they werecalling because their daughter
(24:16):
won a beauty pageant.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
That was like heartbreaking to listen to.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
And her mom is, of course, excited and is gushing
about her and her hopes and herdreams of being a star, and then
they finally break the news.
Oh, that is so messed up.
I don't know how thatconversation went from there.
But All of those people, I hopesome bad karma came your way.
(24:45):
I can't even.
That is terrible.
Yes, holy cow.
Okay, and can you imagine goingfrom?
Oh, my daughter just won thiswonderful thing.
She'd gone to LA to try to makeit in Hollywood.
To no, actually she died theworst possible death you can
(25:06):
imagine.
But let's talk more aboutElizabeth and her background.
Elizabeth was born on July 24th1924 in Hyde Park,
massachusetts, to parents Phoebeand Cleo Short.
She went by the name Betty inher younger years and then, I
think, like late teens, it wasBeth.
A lot of sources refer to heras Elizabeth.
(25:27):
I'm just going to call herElizabeth from here on out.
I don't know if that's theright choice.
Sorry, elizabeth Short,wherever you are.
Elizabeth was the third of fivegirls born to the couple.
Even from a young age, shealways wanted to be a star in
Hollywood, so you can imagineagain how her mom was so excited
(25:49):
when she found out she'd wonthis award.
She was always impeccablydressed and she was really
well-liked.
People really just had nicethings to say about her.
Growing up she was prone to itsounds like manic depressive
tendencies, but then especiallyfor the depressive episodes,
(26:12):
though I think they're prettyunderstandable given how heavy
the stuff she's dealing with.
Her childhood was marked by atragedy in 1930.
Her father, cleo, vanished.
His car was found abandoned ina vacant parking lot near the
Charleston Bridge.
His body was never found and itwas just assumed it was like a
(26:35):
Depression-era suicide becausethere were a lot at that time.
But it actually turned out hefaked his death and abandoned
his family and he wouldeventually ask Phoebe to get
back together with him and thankGod she said no, which is so
brave in the 40s.
(26:56):
Having five girls oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
But, again.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Elizabeth dropped out of high school her sophomore
year.
Elizabeth dropped out of highschool her sophomore year and
then okay.
So the timeline from there,from her mid-teens to 22 years
of age, when she's found they'revery hard to follow.
In those six years she livedlike a lifetime.
(27:21):
This was a period that wasmarked by a lot of instability,
a lot of different places shelived, a lot of different people
she was coming into contactwith.
Some sources are prettyconsistent about some of the
major life events during thisperiod and some are not, and I
think the big takeaway from allof this is just it was a very,
(27:43):
very unstable, not always happy,to say the least time, and all
of that made her someone I couldsee a predator preying upon,
like that left her vulnerable,kind of.
Exactly Okay, and because therewere so many people in and out
of her life.
That's why it was so hard totry to figure out who would have
(28:07):
done this.
I cannot imagine the resourcesthat were spent on this
investigation.
Yeah, because between all ofthe people they had to go
through and clear, and all ofthe tips they were getting and
all of the coverage, it was alot.
And it's tragic too becausethere were other women that were
(28:29):
dying of pretty horrific deaths, like kind of around this
period, and they didn't getnearly the same amount of
attention, which unfortunatelyis the case in these crimes.
In these crimes, one thing thatwas the sort of backdrop to her
(28:50):
major geographic decisions areshe had an acute bronchial
condition that the doctorsthought was probably
tuberculosis.
So living in Massachusetts,especially in the cold winters,
is not ideal for that.
So she suffered quite a bit.
So she would move to Miami andthen back to Bedford, I think,
(29:14):
when weather was better there'sdifferent reports and then later
on she made her way, obviously,to California and to the Los
Angeles area.
She moved to Miami because itwas a warmer climate and she
made a living by being awaitress.
And it was in Miami that shemet and fell in love with Flying
Tigers pilot Major Matt GordonJr, who was stationed at this
(29:37):
location.
This relationship shows there'sa lot of potential delusion and
obsessiveness that can come withher relationships.
So she would sometimes write tohim three times a day.
Then again, it's the 40s, sopeople write letters all the
time.
I don't know.
He was ultimately killed in anairplane crash in India, but she
(30:04):
told people that they had beenmarried.
But then later, when the policewere investigating her death
and they talked to his mother,she said no, that never happened
, they were never engaged.
How old was she when?
Speaker 2 (30:18):
she had a relationship with him.
I don't know.
Okay, I don't think of it.
She was still pretty young.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Yeah, yes, this is where, like this is like where I
wanted to pound my head because, like, one source would say one
thing, one say another so I'mjust gonna say like, look, they
were in love, she was in love,she was delusional, probably
okay at one point.
At one point, elizabeth went tolive with her dad in Vallejo,
california, which is insane thatshe would want to see him again
(30:47):
.
But then again it is her dad.
Sure, that arrangement lastedlike three weeks.
Her father expected her this iswhat he said.
I expected her to take care ofme and take care of the
household, which I canunderstand to a certain extent,
because he's giving her a placeto live and she's technically
old enough to do things on herown.
(31:11):
Yeah, but she's starting todisplay this habit of she goes
out a lot.
She's keeping late hours.
Later on, the police came totalk to him as part of the
investigation into her death,and this is terrible.
Her father said basically Ihaven't seen her in a long time.
(31:33):
It had been years since shelived with him and he made it
very clear he wanted nothing todo with the investigation.
Wow, horrible man.
Oh my gosh, when she was 18,she worked at Camp Cook in
California, so remember thefingerprints that they found.
It was from that position.
Her former boss at Camp Cook,inez Keeling, described her as
(31:55):
beautiful and charming, but alsoshy.
She was voted the Camp Cookcutie of the week or year, or
something like that this is likea very dated thing?
yes, absolutely, and inezkeeling said, though, unlike
other girls, she wasn't crazyabout dating the servicemen.
She always refused.
(32:17):
Some sources say she was datinga sergeant there at some point.
Either way, it was rumored thathe assaulted her and all of a
sudden he was court-martialedand he left the base and she was
gone pretty soon after, so thedetails on that are really okay
sketchy now.
However, you know, as killingremembers her, from here on out
(32:43):
something changed and shebecomes a very different person.
I think about this like in thecontext of the 40s and women not
having a lot of options and ifyou didn't get married you
couldn't always get hired to dosomething, and she's she's still
an aspiring hollywood star.
Yeah, she drifted around a lotin her late teens and early 20s,
(33:04):
like across the map.
In the summer before she wasfound dead in Leimert Park in
1946, she was being put up in afully furnished apartment by her
boyfriend, gordon Ficking, andtheir relationship, though, was
interesting because it was likeon his way out, but he was
paying for her at this residence, and meanwhile she was being
(33:26):
visited by a lot of men.
This is a pattern.
I think it started probably nottoo long before this time, and
then would go on up until herdeath, but there are a lot of
men every place she lives.
I don't think she was.
It was said she's not a sexworker.
She's not an escort, but I thinkjust she's broke and she's not
(33:50):
working.
So I kind of feel like theywere her meal ticket or they
would, you know, pay for her,give her a place to stay.
I'm sure some she probably wasgenuinely interested in, yeah,
but she was also seen aroundthis time frequenting a
drugstore, soda fountain that'sso 40s, yeah, in lacy black
(34:11):
clothes which I mean I don'tknow they could be.
They could be things we'd lookat today and be like that's not
a big deal.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Right yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
This might have been where she got the name, the
nickname the black Dahlia.
There's a lot of conflictingstories on how this was.
There was, like a movie calledthe blue Dahlia that came around
at that time.
The person who either ran orworked at the drugstore soda
fountain where she would hangout at the boys, the men she
would hang around with, calledher black Dahlia, and so when
(34:45):
the newspapers found that theywere with, called her Black
Dahlia, and so when thenewspapers found that they were
like, oh, we're taking that,that's a great nickname.
And dahlias they're like how doI describe them?
They're like geometricperfection.
They're these beautiful flowersthat grow, I'm sure, in a lot
of places, row, um, I'm sure ina lot of places, but in los
(35:07):
angeles they're known as thewinter rose because they only
bloom in um, like january.
February is usually where theylast.
So, like in our yard right now,I can see like the buds coming
from our tree that has dahliason it and they're just really
beautiful flowers I always like.
When I saw her for the firsttime, she has curly hair.
This beautiful curly hair.
I beautiful curly hair.
I thought is it like areference to like the dark hair
(35:28):
and the way?
Speaker 2 (35:28):
that's what I always thought fall, yeah, I always
thought it was like from herlooks right, I know I know by
the end of the summer of 1946her relationship with gordon.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
I think I said ficking.
It should be fickling, that washis name, okay who kept her?
up in that fully furnishedapartment.
It was pretty much over.
So this is August.
She moved up to Los Angelesfrom there, so this is placing
her in the Los Angeles area.
She stayed with a few otherfemale roommates but there were
a lot of issues we'll get intolater when we get into the
(36:03):
theories about who might havecommitted the crime.
And also she couldn't pay rentso soon she found herself
homeless again.
She's found on December 8th bya young woman named Dorothy
French sleeping in a movietheater sleeping in a movie
(36:27):
theater and Dorothy feels sorryfor her and she seems like, you
know, just a normal person who'sprobably down on her luck.
No warning signs, except for thefact that obviously she doesn't
have a roof over her head.
So she invites her to come staywith her and her mother.
Now, during this time that shestayed there, which is pretty
much up until like early January, she kept claiming she's
(36:51):
looking for a job, but mostlyshe lounged around and wrote
letters.
She claimed she was married toMajor Matt Gordon, who she said
was killed in a plane crash.
So again this is coming up andshe had a child by him, but that
child had died.
So she was like spinning thistale and stuff like that.
(37:16):
That makes it so hard toinvestigate her.
Then, on January 8th, she ispicked up by a man by the name
of Robert Manley, also known asRed for short, who takes her up
to the Los Angeles area.
He is a 25-year-old.
(37:36):
This is not a job that existstoday.
He's a 25-year-old pipe clampsalesman.
Pipe clamp yeah, okay, okay.
Those random involved jobs.
Pipe clamp salesman, pipe clampyeah, okay, okay, that was
random and bullshots.
Somebody's gotta do it and it'srobert manley.
His, he's.
He's not single, he has a wife,um, and he also has a
(38:01):
four-month baby at home.
But here he is with Elizabethand this is also going to be why
he is going to become the topsuspect in this case.
One thing I do want to saywe'll whittle down the list to
something manageable, butaccording to pew eat, well, a
(38:25):
police report noted that therewere at least 50 men at the time
of her death that she knew thatthey had to investigate and she
had been seen with at least 25of them in the 60-day period
preceding her death.
And again, I mean, she's not asex worker, she might be an
escort?
I don know, but there were justso many people that she.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
It just like it makes you wonder what was going on.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Yeah, she's just splitting about here and there.
I mean she's very lost, it'svery clear yeah.
According to the report, thisis such a this is such an
indication of the time.
It was said she was a tease.
I feel like that did not agewell.
Yeah, Really just think this isa young lost woman who doesn't
(39:13):
really have family she can relyon and she's just trying to get
by any way she can.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
It sounds like Exactly, you know, she's using
what she's got to be able tosurvive Right?
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Yeah, I think it's obviously highly risky.
In a lot of ways, she's reallybrave, because she could have
just given up and gone home.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Oh for sure I was thinking that, exactly as you're
telling me some of these things, I'm like man, I would have
just gone home and I don't careif I have to live in the closet.
That's the only space that mymom has for me.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
I couldn't do this on my own, and I suppose what's
hard about that, too, is becauseof Massachusetts, because she
had that lung condition.
Yeah, it would be hard, butit's obvious she would not have
a hard time getting married,which was a route that a lot of
people take, but she refused todo that.
A route that a lot of peopletake, but she refused.
(40:08):
She refused to do that.
Before we move on, though, Ihave to ask you to guess april.
How many people do you thinkconfessed to this crime?
Speaker 2 (40:19):
oh, I bet, because it was so salacious.
Oh my gosh, okay, okay, I'mgoing to say at least 100.
I don't know if that's too manyor not enough.
I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
It's a multiple of five.
It's multiplied by five.
Really, Uh-huh, oh my gosh.
500 people.
Oh what 500 people would everever say that they did something
like this?
Those 500 people.
Oh what 500 people would everever say that they did something
like this?
Those 500 why?
Speaker 2 (40:49):
why would you want to be that person?
You want your 15 minutes offame, I guess, but like, what a
horrific thing to be like.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Yeah, that was me, you have at least 500 seriously
messed up people, plus thekiller and however many more in
this area.
It's when I read that number Iwas just like where are these
people living, I'm sure the copswere like, oh crap, this case
is horrible.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
And then, when that happened, they were probably
like I hate my job.
Yes, probably like I hate myjob.
Like now you have to swordthrough all the muck and get
everything out of the way, andhow do you even solve the case?
Speaker 1 (41:32):
I guess you don't really, because here we are, but
how do you break it to theperson?
We're sorry to let you knowlike we have rejected your
application to be you are notthe killer, you are not.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
And what a waste of, like, resources and money.
And I know, oh man, like theeffort that they could have put
into the actual solving of thecase, but they couldn't, because
they're doing this instead,right?
Speaker 1 (42:06):
right, so we will not go over all 500.
We'll go through a handful ofthose plus.
The killer starts communicatingwith the police and we're this
is like jack the ripper almostwell, there's parallels?
I guess there are.
Yeah, this was very, verytargeted.
(42:28):
More crucial pieces of evidencewill come forward and, yeah, it
won't be as brutal.
I don't think we won't have todescribe the crime scene again.
Um, so there's that.
Thank you for listening and welook forward to telling you the
(42:48):
second part of the story in acouple of weeks.
Bye, thank you.
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