February 6, 2025 • 20 mins
today i will be covering The Black Daliah case ,
the murder of elizabeth short , a young woman looking for fame and love , but instead was brutally murdered , and to this day , nobody knows who the murderer was
the murder of elizabeth short , a young woman looking for fame and love , but instead was brutally murdered , and to this day , nobody knows who the murderer was
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Bizarre Podcast. On this episode,
we're going to be talking about a murder which took
place way back in nineteen forty seven to a lady
named Elizabeth Short aka the Black Dahlia. This story is fascinating.
It's a murder case that has never been sold, so
don't be expecting to have closure by the end of
(00:20):
this episode because we won't have it. But nonetheless, it's
a fascinating story. I just love that time period. I
love watching movies that I set in that time period.
You know, about the mob and police corruption, all those
types of things.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Absolutely lit love it.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I was actually watching La Confidential Starn Russell Crow, and
I think that's what prompted me to actually cover this story.
It reminded me of it for some reason, even though
that movie has not really got anything to do with
this case at all, but it was set in that
period of time, and the Black Dahlia is in that
period of time, and it just kind of sparked my
memory of this case, and I thought, you know what,
(00:54):
I'd like to cover that. So here it is, without
further ado, I give you The Black Dahlia.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Enjoy.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
On the morning of January the fifteenth, nineteen forty seven,
the dead body of a naked woman was discovered in
a vacant lot in the neighborhood of Lemurt Park, a
neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, which nowadays is the location
of a row of houses, but back in nineteen forty
seven it was mostly an undeveloped area. The body was
discovered by a mother who was taking her child for
an early morning walk when she stumbled upon the body,
(01:32):
which had been brutally seven and half. The bottom half
of the body had been lay approximately about a foot
away from the top half of her body, and her
intestines had been removed and neatly folded and placed under
a buttox, and her skin was a pallid white, so
white in fact, that upon first inspection the mother who
was walking her child.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Misted up the body for a manequin.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
The reason for the pallid white skin was because the
body had been drained of all of its blood, and
the dead woman had been giving a glasgow smiled. This
is where the face is slash from the corner of
the mouth to the ears. Her thighs and breasts had
also been slashed, and the dead woman had been posed
in the following way, with her hands over her head,
her elbows bent at right angles, and her legs spread apart.
(02:13):
It wouldn't be long before the body was identified. The
woman's name was Elizabeth Short, but is more widely known
by her nickname the Black Dahlia. Elizabeth Short was born
on July the twenty ninth, nineteen twenty four, in Medford, Massachusetts.
In Boston and was the third of five daughters. Elizabeth's
(02:34):
father built miniature golf courses, but her times were ahead
when he lost his servings in the nineteen twenty nine
stock market crash and was believed to have committed suicide
when his car was found abandoned on the Charlestown Bridge. However,
in nineteen forty two, Elizabeth's mother received a letter of
apology from her apparently dead husband, who had actually left
to start a new life in California. In December of
(02:56):
the same year, eighteen year old Elizabeth Shorts set out
to reconnect with her father, who she had not seen
since she was six years old, but unfortunately this reconnection
was not to be and she moved out in January
after many arguments with her father. Now after this, Elizabeth's
life was a little bit chaotic. Elizabeth was somewhat of
a drifter, and it seemed that she liked men, especially
(03:17):
military men and men with money, and she certainly did
dress to impress. It was also rumored that she lived
with an Earth Force surgeon at some point, who may
or may not have abused her. In nineteen forty three,
she was arrested for underage drinking and was sent on
by the juvenile authorities, but instead she ended up in Florida.
Whilst in Florida, she met an Earth Forced pilot who
(03:38):
she apparently had decided she was to marry. Unfortunately, her
husband to be was killed in an her craft accident,
but she also claimed to have lost a baby who
belonged to this man, But the relationship was later turned
out to be false, as it was later discovered that
Elizabeth was also writing to many other men confessing her love.
It seemed like she was desperate to meet a husband,
(04:01):
someone to maybe look after her, someone to care for her.
In nineteen forty six, Elizabeth found herself in Los Angeles
working as a waitress, with dreams of one day becoming
an actress. Little did she know that on the nine
fifth January. The following year, her face would be plastered
in many a newspaper, her name in black and white
under the headline former Medford girl found slain. Betty Berzinger
(04:29):
was the name of the woman who was out walking
her child that morning when.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
She discovered Elizabeth's body.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
After Betty reported the crime, they call to investigate went
over the police radio, which also went over the shortwave
radio that belonged to some reporters, and they made it
to the scene before the police. Upon arrival, the reporters
were obviously shocked at the grouse on find of Elizabeth's body,
being seven and two and displayed in such a way,
but they had a job to do and they immediately
(04:55):
started to snap the grou some pictures of Elizabeth's severed
body that would be censored on the front page of
the newspapers and for many years to come. For example,
when the very graphic photographs of elizabeth Shorts mutilated body
did hit the front page, the gruesome slashes to the
face were herbrushed by an artist and also a sheet
was drawn over Elizabeth's body. It was years before the
(05:17):
public actually saw the actual photos of the dead body
of Elizabeth short that are now widely available all over
the internet and in many a book.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Like I said before, the body lay severed in half,
with the face cut open from each side of her
mouth up to her ears, which suggested that this was
a frenzied attack and it was most likely carried out
with a knife whilst she was still alive, although the
cause of death was determined to have been due to
hemorrhaging from the blows to the head and the cuts
to her face. Her eyes were half open and a
(05:48):
body both half s lay in such a way that
must have been purposeful, with the legs spread and the
bottom half of the body lay about a foot away
from the top side of the body, and the arms
were placed above her head. The way the body d
he was displayed was almost like a macab piece of art.
Not far from the body there was an empty cement
bag with bloody water inside. This was definitely the bag
(06:10):
that was used to carry.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
The body in.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
The body itself had been soaked in water and no
blood was on the ground, suggesting that the murder took
place elsewhere. It is thought that maybe the dismemberment of
the body had been carried out in a bathtub. The
police also found tire tracks and a heel print on
the ground. The very next day, the autopsy was underway
and brought forward more shocking details to an already Grewsome
(06:33):
crime scene ligature marks were found on Elizabeth's wrist, neck,
and ankles, suggesting that she was tied up at some point,
and she also had lacerations to her breast's right forearm,
lower left side of the chest, and knife wounds to
the pubic area and upper legs. She had also had
bruising to the right and left hand side of the scalp,
and her stomach was filled with feces, meaning that she
(06:56):
was most likely forced to eat it. The way the
top half of the body had been severed from the
bottom half suggested that the killer had a background in surgery,
as it was so cleanly and expertly done. This also
suggested that the cuts inflicted to the face and the
rest of the body may have been performed by someone different,
someone like I said before, who may have inflicted these
(07:16):
cuts upon Elizabeth in a frenzy, But the separation of
the bottom half of the body from the top half
of the body seemed to have been done by someone
who had medical training, which would later prompt the police
to interview over three hundred medical students. There were also
telltale signs that Elizabeth may have been raped, although tests
were done looking for the presence of sperm, but none
(07:37):
were found. But burn in mind that the body had
been washed by the killer before it had been dumped. Now,
at this point, after finding the body, the police had
no idea who this young woman was, and after running
her fingerprints, they were in luck she was actually on
file after being arrested a few years back for underage drinking. Now,
Elizabeth's mother wasn't immediately contacted by the police because the
(08:00):
media got their first. The newspapers got in the first
and contacting the mother. But the way they did this,
the way that they informed her that a daughter was dead,
was in the most despicable way you could ever imagine.
The Los Angeles Examiner were one of the first newspapers
to try and gather as much information on Elizabeth's short
as they could, and like I said, they went about
(08:22):
it impossibly the most disrespectful, terrible way possible. They actually
rang Elizabeth's mother, who at this point had no idea
that a daughter was actually dead. Now, instead of informing
the mother that a daughter was dead, they instead told
her that Elizabeth had won a beauty competition. And they
actually asked the proud mother to provide them with as
much information as she could on her own daughter. And
(08:45):
then when they decided they had as much information as
they could get out of her, it was only then
that they informed this poor woman that a daughter was
in fact dead, that a daughter had been brutally murdered
in the worst possible way you could ever imagine. Now,
after Elizabeth's mother was informed that a daughter was dead,
the Los Angeles Examiner offered a flyer over to identify
(09:08):
the body. However, this was not done out of kindness.
This was done to ensure that Elizabeth's mother was in
the pocket of the newspaper, so that if there was
a story to be had from a mother, they would
have it first.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
There was no kindness whatsoever. It was purely business.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Now nowadays we know that the murder is referred to
as a Black Dahia murders, but it wasn't always this way. Initially,
the papers were referring to the crime as the werewolf murders,
and this obviously did not stick and a few days later,
the paper started using the nickname the Black Dahlia. Now,
the name was actually a play on words from the
nineteen forty six movie called The Blue Dahlia, and the
(09:48):
nickname the Black Dahlia was actually given to Elizabeth by
friends because of a long black hair and stunning looks.
And may I add, by pure coincidence, the plot of
that movie actually revolved around the murder of a w Now,
finding any kind of lead on the murder was proving difficult.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
There were many.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
People actually calling the police claiming that they did kill Elizabeth.
But these were just false confessions, and there were so
many of them, people who just wanted to be in
the limelight for five minutes. They would confess to the
murder even though they had nothing at all.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
To do with it.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And I actually believe that the police referred to these
kind of people who did this as confessing SAMs. It
was kind of like a slang term used by the
police at the time. And obviously these false confessions by
these confessing SAMs were actually hindering the investigation somewhat. But
on January the twenty first, the phone call was received
by the editor of the Examiner from someone claiming to
(10:40):
be the killer. The person on the phone claimed that
they were prepared to turn themselves in, but not just yet,
and that the examiner should look out.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
For a parcel that would be delivered very very soon.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Arriving in the post three days later, the examiner received
a manila envelope and inside was the following Elizabeth's birth certificate,
business cards, photographs, and an address book with the name
mark Hansen embossed on the front cover. No clues or
fingerprints had been found on the envelope, as it had
been wiped with gasoline by whoever had sent it.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
And on that very same.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Day, a handbag and a blue sweede shoe that belonged
to Elizabeth was found on a garbage can in an
alleyway a few miles away from the crime scene, and
once again both have been wiped with gasoline. On March
the fourteenth, for suicide note was found inside a man's
shoe that lay with a pile of clothing by the ocean.
The note claimed to be from the killer, who had
decided to commit suicide rather than turn himself in. Whoever
(11:37):
wrote that note and left a clothing remains a mystery.
The case to this day is still shrouded in mystery
and remains unsolved, although there are plenty of suspects. On
December nineteen, nineteen forty six, the year before Elizabeth was
found murdered, Dorofe French was closing up the Aztec Theater
after the last showing, only to discover a woman asleep
(11:59):
in the front row. It was Elizabeth, and she told
Dorothee that she had no where to sleep and had
no money.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Dorothy took pity.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
And allowed Elizabeth to come home and stay with herself
and her mother while she tried to find work in
a place to stay. Elizabeth stay with the Frenches was
only supposed to be for a day or two, but
days turned into weeks, and even though Elizabeth assured the
Frenches that she was in fact looking for work, it
would seem that all she was interested in was going
out and dating men and sleeping all day on the
French's couch, whilst her clothing was thrown all over the
(12:29):
living room and the pungent smell of perfume lingered in
the air, and Dorothy and her mother would find themselves
tiptoeing around their own house so they wouldn't wake up Elizabeth,
who was sleeping all day on the couch, and as
you can imagine, things got a little bit tense in
the household, and eventually Dorothy would find herself slamming the
door as she left, hoping that it would wake Elizabeth up.
(12:49):
The Frenches also noticed that Elizabeth always seemed to be
in a nervous state, as though she was hiding out
in the home. This become abundantly clear one day when
a man and a knocked on the door whilst another man.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Waited in the car.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Elizabeth seemed to become frightened and insisted that she did
not want to see them, and no one answered the door. Instead,
they waited for the mysterious visitors to get back in
the car and drive away. After this, Elizabeth became frightened
and refused to talk about the people at the door,
and two days later she left with a mystery man
who the Frenches only knew as Red.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Now.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
The man known as Red was named Robert Manley. He
was a married salesman and had recently become a father
to a baby boy, and he was suspected number one
in the killing of Elizabeth Short because in her last
days he was seen with her quite a lot driving
her from location to location and maybe a little bit more.
You see, Manly had been dating Elizabeth despite being married
(13:48):
and being the father of a newborn baby, and on
the ninth of January, he drove her from San Diego
to Los Angeles and left her at the Biltmore Hotel.
According to Manley, on the drive to Los Angeles, Elizabeth
looked worried and seemed to be checking to see if
there were anyone following them. This was one week before
her mutilated body was found. Manley was questioned and even
(14:09):
given a polygraph test, which he passed with flying colors,
and he was cleared of the murder, but he did
provide confirmation that some shoes and a handbag that was
recovered from the dump were in fact Elizabeth's. Now, even
though Manley was cleared of the murder, it totally ruined him.
His wife left him due to his infidelity, and he
fell into a depression and eventually found himself in an
(14:31):
asylum for the insane.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Where he committed suicide.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
But Manly wasn't the only suspect in the Black Dahlia case.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
There were plenty.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
More suspects were a plenty, but unfortunately, nothing really shed
light on the case, especially as most of the people
that came forward were actually liars false confessions. The LPD
called these people confessing Sam's. Like I said before, they
were mainly homeless people or drunks down in outsorts who
simply wanted a roof over their heads and confessing to
(15:01):
a murder was a show way to be locked up
in a nice, warm building for the night. Even an
Army corporal turned himself in for the murder. He claimed
that he was bar hopping with Elizabeth and blacked out,
only to come around and a flashbacks of himself killing Elizabeth.
But other witnesses proved that the corporal was in fact
in New Jersey on the date that the murder took place,
(15:22):
and the LPD knew that most relying as they had
certain information about the crime that only they knew about,
and all of the confessing Sam's had absolutely no clue.
A former detective named Steve Holdall published a book in
two thousand and three titled Black Dahlia Avenger The True Story,
and in this book he claims that his own father,
George Holdell, who was a doctor, may have killed the
(15:45):
Black Dahlia. Steve claimed that he found photographs in his
father's possessions of his father and Elizabeth. He also came
to the conclusion that due to the fact that his
father was a doctor and would have had the skill
to separate the top end of the body from the
bottom in such a way, then he may have just
done the killing himself. And also Steve claimed that his
father's handwriting was very similar to the letter that was
(16:08):
sent to the newspapers by the so called killer. And
Steve also found a receipt for bags of cement which
was dated a little before Elizabeth Shaw's death. And if
you remember, Elizabeth's body was actually carried to the crime
scene in cement bags. And it was also revealed that
George Holdall was actually on the suspect list and the
FBI had actually bugged his house and apparently they heard
(16:31):
a woman scream at some point. Also, George Holdle had
been heard saying some odd things over the phone. What
I'm about to read you is the transcript from one
of those conversations that George Holdle had on the phone
when he was being tapped. Now, burn in mind, some
of this doesn't make sense. I'm presuming that some of
the recordings weren't very clear. Supposing I did kill the
(16:56):
black Dahlia, they can't improve it now. They can't talk
to my secretary anymore because she's dead. They thought though
was something fishy anyway. Now they may have figured it
out killed her. Maybe I did kill my secretary. Doesn't
quite make sense in all the parts, but I'm guessing
that the recording wasn't clear. Maybe, and that's why we
(17:18):
only got little bits of the conversation. And it wasn't
only George Holdall's son who believed that he could have
been the killer. His daughter also believed that he could
have been the killer after she accused him of raping
her way back in nineteen forty nine. But like most
of the suspects on this list, it.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Still remains unproven.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
And let's not forget the notebook that was found in
elizabeth belongings, which had the name Mark Hanson embossed on
the front. Now, Mark Hanson was a shady nightclub owner
and apparently he had a keen interest in Elizabeth, and
she had actually stayed with him for a few nights
but eventually turned him down flat. Maybe this was enough
to anger him to actually go and murder Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Maybe.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
But what you've got to remember is, if he did
murder Elizabeth, why would he provide the police with a
notebook with his name embossed on the front. It just
doesn't add up. There was also a theory that Elizabeth
may have become pregnant by newspaper publisher Norman Chandler, and
maybe Norman Chandler looked to a gangster called Bugsy Siegel
to kill her to keep it hush hush. This was
(18:22):
a hunch by the author of The Black Dahlia Files
by Donald H. Wolf, the book that I've actually used
to research this topic, and it is a very very
good book, and I do recommend you read it in
full if you want to know a little bit more
about the case of the Black Dahlia. And like I
said before, there are so many suspects, so many theories
on who the killer could be. In many ways, the
(18:44):
Black Dahlia murders remind me a lot of the Jack
the Ripper murders, which as a vast amount of amateur
Slouth's following the case trying to solve the murder that,
in my opinion, will possibly never ever be solved. And
let's not forget the conspiracy theories that maybe the police
actually knew who the killer was and they were keeping
it under wraps. They were keeping it secret, protecting someone.
(19:05):
Maybe these sad reality is that we may never know
who the killer or killers of Elizabeth's Short was, and
this case may always be a mystery. The nickname the
black Dahlia was given to Elizabeth before she actually died,
and it is said that the black Dahlia symbolized Elizabeth's
beauty and that's why people named her the black Dahlia.
(19:26):
But after death, the Black Delia took on a whole
new meaning and it's quite fitting that she was named
after a black flower that simply doesn't exist nowadays. The
black flower can symbolize sophistication and elegance, intrigue and mystery,
betrayal and sadness, and of course death, and if anything,
(19:47):
being given the name the black Dahlia actually foreshadowed the tragedy.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
That was in store for Elizabeth Short.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other,
and I will see you all very very soon.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Bye bye, guys,
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Bizarre Podcast. On this episode,
we're going to be talking about a murder which took
place way back in nineteen forty seven to a lady
named Elizabeth Short aka the Black Dahlia. This story is fascinating.
It's a murder case that has never been sold, so
don't be expecting to have closure by the end of
(00:20):
this episode because we won't have it. But nonetheless, it's
a fascinating story. I just love that time period. I
love watching movies that I set in that time period.
You know, about the mob and police corruption, all those
types of things.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Absolutely lit love it.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I was actually watching La Confidential Starn Russell Crow, and
I think that's what prompted me to actually cover this story.
It reminded me of it for some reason, even though
that movie has not really got anything to do with
this case at all, but it was set in that
period of time, and the Black Dahlia is in that
period of time, and it just kind of sparked my
memory of this case, and I thought, you know what,
(00:54):
I'd like to cover that. So here it is, without
further ado, I give you The Black Dahlia.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Enjoy.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
On the morning of January the fifteenth, nineteen forty seven,
the dead body of a naked woman was discovered in
a vacant lot in the neighborhood of Lemurt Park, a
neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, which nowadays is the location
of a row of houses, but back in nineteen forty
seven it was mostly an undeveloped area. The body was
discovered by a mother who was taking her child for
an early morning walk when she stumbled upon the body,
(01:32):
which had been brutally seven and half. The bottom half
of the body had been lay approximately about a foot
away from the top half of her body, and her
intestines had been removed and neatly folded and placed under
a buttox, and her skin was a pallid white, so
white in fact, that upon first inspection the mother who
was walking her child.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Misted up the body for a manequin.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
The reason for the pallid white skin was because the
body had been drained of all of its blood, and
the dead woman had been giving a glasgow smiled. This
is where the face is slash from the corner of
the mouth to the ears. Her thighs and breasts had
also been slashed, and the dead woman had been posed
in the following way, with her hands over her head,
her elbows bent at right angles, and her legs spread apart.
(02:13):
It wouldn't be long before the body was identified. The
woman's name was Elizabeth Short, but is more widely known
by her nickname the Black Dahlia. Elizabeth Short was born
on July the twenty ninth, nineteen twenty four, in Medford, Massachusetts.
In Boston and was the third of five daughters. Elizabeth's
(02:34):
father built miniature golf courses, but her times were ahead
when he lost his servings in the nineteen twenty nine
stock market crash and was believed to have committed suicide
when his car was found abandoned on the Charlestown Bridge. However,
in nineteen forty two, Elizabeth's mother received a letter of
apology from her apparently dead husband, who had actually left
to start a new life in California. In December of
(02:56):
the same year, eighteen year old Elizabeth Shorts set out
to reconnect with her father, who she had not seen
since she was six years old, but unfortunately this reconnection
was not to be and she moved out in January
after many arguments with her father. Now after this, Elizabeth's
life was a little bit chaotic. Elizabeth was somewhat of
a drifter, and it seemed that she liked men, especially
(03:17):
military men and men with money, and she certainly did
dress to impress. It was also rumored that she lived
with an Earth Force surgeon at some point, who may
or may not have abused her. In nineteen forty three,
she was arrested for underage drinking and was sent on
by the juvenile authorities, but instead she ended up in Florida.
Whilst in Florida, she met an Earth Forced pilot who
(03:38):
she apparently had decided she was to marry. Unfortunately, her
husband to be was killed in an her craft accident,
but she also claimed to have lost a baby who
belonged to this man, But the relationship was later turned
out to be false, as it was later discovered that
Elizabeth was also writing to many other men confessing her love.
It seemed like she was desperate to meet a husband,
(04:01):
someone to maybe look after her, someone to care for her.
In nineteen forty six, Elizabeth found herself in Los Angeles
working as a waitress, with dreams of one day becoming
an actress. Little did she know that on the nine
fifth January. The following year, her face would be plastered
in many a newspaper, her name in black and white
under the headline former Medford girl found slain. Betty Berzinger
(04:29):
was the name of the woman who was out walking
her child that morning when.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
She discovered Elizabeth's body.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
After Betty reported the crime, they call to investigate went
over the police radio, which also went over the shortwave
radio that belonged to some reporters, and they made it
to the scene before the police. Upon arrival, the reporters
were obviously shocked at the grouse on find of Elizabeth's body,
being seven and two and displayed in such a way,
but they had a job to do and they immediately
(04:55):
started to snap the grou some pictures of Elizabeth's severed
body that would be censored on the front page of
the newspapers and for many years to come. For example,
when the very graphic photographs of elizabeth Shorts mutilated body
did hit the front page, the gruesome slashes to the
face were herbrushed by an artist and also a sheet
was drawn over Elizabeth's body. It was years before the
(05:17):
public actually saw the actual photos of the dead body
of Elizabeth short that are now widely available all over
the internet and in many a book.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Like I said before, the body lay severed in half,
with the face cut open from each side of her
mouth up to her ears, which suggested that this was
a frenzied attack and it was most likely carried out
with a knife whilst she was still alive, although the
cause of death was determined to have been due to
hemorrhaging from the blows to the head and the cuts
to her face. Her eyes were half open and a
(05:48):
body both half s lay in such a way that
must have been purposeful, with the legs spread and the
bottom half of the body lay about a foot away
from the top side of the body, and the arms
were placed above her head. The way the body d
he was displayed was almost like a macab piece of art.
Not far from the body there was an empty cement
bag with bloody water inside. This was definitely the bag
(06:10):
that was used to carry.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
The body in.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
The body itself had been soaked in water and no
blood was on the ground, suggesting that the murder took
place elsewhere. It is thought that maybe the dismemberment of
the body had been carried out in a bathtub. The
police also found tire tracks and a heel print on
the ground. The very next day, the autopsy was underway
and brought forward more shocking details to an already Grewsome
(06:33):
crime scene ligature marks were found on Elizabeth's wrist, neck,
and ankles, suggesting that she was tied up at some point,
and she also had lacerations to her breast's right forearm,
lower left side of the chest, and knife wounds to
the pubic area and upper legs. She had also had
bruising to the right and left hand side of the scalp,
and her stomach was filled with feces, meaning that she
(06:56):
was most likely forced to eat it. The way the
top half of the body had been severed from the
bottom half suggested that the killer had a background in surgery,
as it was so cleanly and expertly done. This also
suggested that the cuts inflicted to the face and the
rest of the body may have been performed by someone different,
someone like I said before, who may have inflicted these
(07:16):
cuts upon Elizabeth in a frenzy, But the separation of
the bottom half of the body from the top half
of the body seemed to have been done by someone
who had medical training, which would later prompt the police
to interview over three hundred medical students. There were also
telltale signs that Elizabeth may have been raped, although tests
were done looking for the presence of sperm, but none
(07:37):
were found. But burn in mind that the body had
been washed by the killer before it had been dumped. Now,
at this point, after finding the body, the police had
no idea who this young woman was, and after running
her fingerprints, they were in luck she was actually on
file after being arrested a few years back for underage drinking. Now,
Elizabeth's mother wasn't immediately contacted by the police because the
(08:00):
media got their first. The newspapers got in the first
and contacting the mother. But the way they did this,
the way that they informed her that a daughter was dead,
was in the most despicable way you could ever imagine.
The Los Angeles Examiner were one of the first newspapers
to try and gather as much information on Elizabeth's short
as they could, and like I said, they went about
(08:22):
it impossibly the most disrespectful, terrible way possible. They actually
rang Elizabeth's mother, who at this point had no idea
that a daughter was actually dead. Now, instead of informing
the mother that a daughter was dead, they instead told
her that Elizabeth had won a beauty competition. And they
actually asked the proud mother to provide them with as
much information as she could on her own daughter. And
(08:45):
then when they decided they had as much information as
they could get out of her, it was only then
that they informed this poor woman that a daughter was
in fact dead, that a daughter had been brutally murdered
in the worst possible way you could ever imagine. Now,
after Elizabeth's mother was informed that a daughter was dead,
the Los Angeles Examiner offered a flyer over to identify
(09:08):
the body. However, this was not done out of kindness.
This was done to ensure that Elizabeth's mother was in
the pocket of the newspaper, so that if there was
a story to be had from a mother, they would
have it first.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
There was no kindness whatsoever. It was purely business.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Now nowadays we know that the murder is referred to
as a Black Dahia murders, but it wasn't always this way. Initially,
the papers were referring to the crime as the werewolf murders,
and this obviously did not stick and a few days later,
the paper started using the nickname the Black Dahlia. Now,
the name was actually a play on words from the
nineteen forty six movie called The Blue Dahlia, and the
(09:48):
nickname the Black Dahlia was actually given to Elizabeth by
friends because of a long black hair and stunning looks.
And may I add, by pure coincidence, the plot of
that movie actually revolved around the murder of a w Now,
finding any kind of lead on the murder was proving difficult.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
There were many.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
People actually calling the police claiming that they did kill Elizabeth.
But these were just false confessions, and there were so
many of them, people who just wanted to be in
the limelight for five minutes. They would confess to the
murder even though they had nothing at all.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
To do with it.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And I actually believe that the police referred to these
kind of people who did this as confessing SAMs. It
was kind of like a slang term used by the
police at the time. And obviously these false confessions by
these confessing SAMs were actually hindering the investigation somewhat. But
on January the twenty first, the phone call was received
by the editor of the Examiner from someone claiming to
(10:40):
be the killer. The person on the phone claimed that
they were prepared to turn themselves in, but not just yet,
and that the examiner should look out.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
For a parcel that would be delivered very very soon.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Arriving in the post three days later, the examiner received
a manila envelope and inside was the following Elizabeth's birth certificate,
business cards, photographs, and an address book with the name
mark Hansen embossed on the front cover. No clues or
fingerprints had been found on the envelope, as it had
been wiped with gasoline by whoever had sent it.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
And on that very same.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Day, a handbag and a blue sweede shoe that belonged
to Elizabeth was found on a garbage can in an
alleyway a few miles away from the crime scene, and
once again both have been wiped with gasoline. On March
the fourteenth, for suicide note was found inside a man's
shoe that lay with a pile of clothing by the ocean.
The note claimed to be from the killer, who had
decided to commit suicide rather than turn himself in. Whoever
(11:37):
wrote that note and left a clothing remains a mystery.
The case to this day is still shrouded in mystery
and remains unsolved, although there are plenty of suspects. On
December nineteen, nineteen forty six, the year before Elizabeth was
found murdered, Dorofe French was closing up the Aztec Theater
after the last showing, only to discover a woman asleep
(11:59):
in the front row. It was Elizabeth, and she told
Dorothee that she had no where to sleep and had
no money.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Dorothy took pity.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
And allowed Elizabeth to come home and stay with herself
and her mother while she tried to find work in
a place to stay. Elizabeth stay with the Frenches was
only supposed to be for a day or two, but
days turned into weeks, and even though Elizabeth assured the
Frenches that she was in fact looking for work, it
would seem that all she was interested in was going
out and dating men and sleeping all day on the
French's couch, whilst her clothing was thrown all over the
(12:29):
living room and the pungent smell of perfume lingered in
the air, and Dorothy and her mother would find themselves
tiptoeing around their own house so they wouldn't wake up Elizabeth,
who was sleeping all day on the couch, and as
you can imagine, things got a little bit tense in
the household, and eventually Dorothy would find herself slamming the
door as she left, hoping that it would wake Elizabeth up.
(12:49):
The Frenches also noticed that Elizabeth always seemed to be
in a nervous state, as though she was hiding out
in the home. This become abundantly clear one day when
a man and a knocked on the door whilst another man.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Waited in the car.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Elizabeth seemed to become frightened and insisted that she did
not want to see them, and no one answered the door. Instead,
they waited for the mysterious visitors to get back in
the car and drive away. After this, Elizabeth became frightened
and refused to talk about the people at the door,
and two days later she left with a mystery man
who the Frenches only knew as Red.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Now.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
The man known as Red was named Robert Manley. He
was a married salesman and had recently become a father
to a baby boy, and he was suspected number one
in the killing of Elizabeth Short because in her last
days he was seen with her quite a lot driving
her from location to location and maybe a little bit more.
You see, Manly had been dating Elizabeth despite being married
(13:48):
and being the father of a newborn baby, and on
the ninth of January, he drove her from San Diego
to Los Angeles and left her at the Biltmore Hotel.
According to Manley, on the drive to Los Angeles, Elizabeth
looked worried and seemed to be checking to see if
there were anyone following them. This was one week before
her mutilated body was found. Manley was questioned and even
(14:09):
given a polygraph test, which he passed with flying colors,
and he was cleared of the murder, but he did
provide confirmation that some shoes and a handbag that was
recovered from the dump were in fact Elizabeth's. Now, even
though Manley was cleared of the murder, it totally ruined him.
His wife left him due to his infidelity, and he
fell into a depression and eventually found himself in an
(14:31):
asylum for the insane.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Where he committed suicide.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
But Manly wasn't the only suspect in the Black Dahlia case.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
There were plenty.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
More suspects were a plenty, but unfortunately, nothing really shed
light on the case, especially as most of the people
that came forward were actually liars false confessions. The LPD
called these people confessing Sam's. Like I said before, they
were mainly homeless people or drunks down in outsorts who
simply wanted a roof over their heads and confessing to
(15:01):
a murder was a show way to be locked up
in a nice, warm building for the night. Even an
Army corporal turned himself in for the murder. He claimed
that he was bar hopping with Elizabeth and blacked out,
only to come around and a flashbacks of himself killing Elizabeth.
But other witnesses proved that the corporal was in fact
in New Jersey on the date that the murder took place,
(15:22):
and the LPD knew that most relying as they had
certain information about the crime that only they knew about,
and all of the confessing Sam's had absolutely no clue.
A former detective named Steve Holdall published a book in
two thousand and three titled Black Dahlia Avenger The True Story,
and in this book he claims that his own father,
George Holdell, who was a doctor, may have killed the
(15:45):
Black Dahlia. Steve claimed that he found photographs in his
father's possessions of his father and Elizabeth. He also came
to the conclusion that due to the fact that his
father was a doctor and would have had the skill
to separate the top end of the body from the
bottom in such a way, then he may have just
done the killing himself. And also Steve claimed that his
father's handwriting was very similar to the letter that was
(16:08):
sent to the newspapers by the so called killer. And
Steve also found a receipt for bags of cement which
was dated a little before Elizabeth Shaw's death. And if
you remember, Elizabeth's body was actually carried to the crime
scene in cement bags. And it was also revealed that
George Holdall was actually on the suspect list and the
FBI had actually bugged his house and apparently they heard
(16:31):
a woman scream at some point. Also, George Holdle had
been heard saying some odd things over the phone. What
I'm about to read you is the transcript from one
of those conversations that George Holdle had on the phone
when he was being tapped. Now, burn in mind, some
of this doesn't make sense. I'm presuming that some of
the recordings weren't very clear. Supposing I did kill the
(16:56):
black Dahlia, they can't improve it now. They can't talk
to my secretary anymore because she's dead. They thought though
was something fishy anyway. Now they may have figured it
out killed her. Maybe I did kill my secretary. Doesn't
quite make sense in all the parts, but I'm guessing
that the recording wasn't clear. Maybe, and that's why we
(17:18):
only got little bits of the conversation. And it wasn't
only George Holdall's son who believed that he could have
been the killer. His daughter also believed that he could
have been the killer after she accused him of raping
her way back in nineteen forty nine. But like most
of the suspects on this list, it.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Still remains unproven.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
And let's not forget the notebook that was found in
elizabeth belongings, which had the name Mark Hanson embossed on
the front. Now, Mark Hanson was a shady nightclub owner
and apparently he had a keen interest in Elizabeth, and
she had actually stayed with him for a few nights
but eventually turned him down flat. Maybe this was enough
to anger him to actually go and murder Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Maybe.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
But what you've got to remember is, if he did
murder Elizabeth, why would he provide the police with a
notebook with his name embossed on the front. It just
doesn't add up. There was also a theory that Elizabeth
may have become pregnant by newspaper publisher Norman Chandler, and
maybe Norman Chandler looked to a gangster called Bugsy Siegel
to kill her to keep it hush hush. This was
(18:22):
a hunch by the author of The Black Dahlia Files
by Donald H. Wolf, the book that I've actually used
to research this topic, and it is a very very
good book, and I do recommend you read it in
full if you want to know a little bit more
about the case of the Black Dahlia. And like I
said before, there are so many suspects, so many theories
on who the killer could be. In many ways, the
(18:44):
Black Dahlia murders remind me a lot of the Jack
the Ripper murders, which as a vast amount of amateur
Slouth's following the case trying to solve the murder that,
in my opinion, will possibly never ever be solved. And
let's not forget the conspiracy theories that maybe the police
actually knew who the killer was and they were keeping
it under wraps. They were keeping it secret, protecting someone.
(19:05):
Maybe these sad reality is that we may never know
who the killer or killers of Elizabeth's Short was, and
this case may always be a mystery. The nickname the
black Dahlia was given to Elizabeth before she actually died,
and it is said that the black Dahlia symbolized Elizabeth's
beauty and that's why people named her the black Dahlia.
(19:26):
But after death, the Black Delia took on a whole
new meaning and it's quite fitting that she was named
after a black flower that simply doesn't exist nowadays. The
black flower can symbolize sophistication and elegance, intrigue and mystery,
betrayal and sadness, and of course death, and if anything,
(19:47):
being given the name the black Dahlia actually foreshadowed the tragedy.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
That was in store for Elizabeth Short.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other,
and I will see you all very very soon.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Bye bye, guys,
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