The Black Dahlia – One Of America’s Eeriest Crimes To Date

Hollywood is a place that can make or break your career. Thousands of talented individuals from all over the globe move to the city of angels every year. They are chasing their dreams and doing their best to become international superstars. But before that happens, most of them work low-paying jobs and go to auditions in their free time. 

Elizabeth Short was a young woman seeking fame, but her name is known not because of her acting talent. Instead, she was a victim of a mysterious Los Angeles murderer who remains anonymous even today. So let’s explore Hollywood’s most gruesome crime and examine the events that led to Elizabeth’s murder, as well as the aftermath. 

Who Was Elizabeth Short? 

Before we dive deeper into the case of Black Dahlia, we have to look at the life of the woman herself – Elizabeth Short. She was born on July 29, 1924, in Boston, Massachusetts, as the daughter of Phoebe Mae Sawyer and Cleo A. Short. Elizabeth had four sisters and lived a comfortable middle-class life until the stock market crashed in 1929. Cleo A. Short lost all his money and decided to take his life by jumping off a bridge the following year. Phoebe Mae Sawyer realized she needed to become the breadwinner, so she started working as a bookkeeper. 

Not much is known about Elizabeth’s childhood except that she had asthma as a teenager. She spent some time in Miami, Florida, with her relatives because the climate was suitable for her respiratory disease. With that said, Elizabeth Short never graduated from high school. Her mother would later say that Elizabeth always planned to move west and become a famous Hollywood actress. Considering she had a striking bone structure and gorgeous curly hair, the odds were in her favor. 

Later on, Elizabeth’s father would be back in the picture. It turned out he didn’t commit suicide. Instead, he faked his death and hid in California. When she was eighteen, Elizabeth moved to Vallejo, California, to live with her dad. They agreed she could stay at his place for free if she did chores around the house. But the two would argue constantly. Elizabeth packed her things and moved out at the beginning of 1943. She spent only three weeks with her dad. 

Elizabeth knew how to be independent, so she quickly found work at a military base in the post exchange. Her coworkers instantly liked her because she was honest, a bit naïve, and charming. The men from the military base noticed her too. Unfortunately, Elizabeth lived with an air force sergeant who would occasionally physically assault her. 

That didn’t sit well with rebellious Elizabeth. Instead, she frequented clubs in Santa Barbara. In September 1943, she got arrested at a bar for underage drinking. Her fingerprints were taken, and Elizabeth was sent back to the east coast. 

Elizabeth then fell in love with Major Matthew Michael Gordon Jr. while staying with her relatives in Florida. He was deployed to Southeast Asia just a couple of weeks later, but the two remained in contact. Elizabeth told all her friends that Gordon planned to marry her when he got back home. Unfortunately, Gordon died in a plane crash just days before World War II ended. Elizabeth was devastated by the news and wanted to leave Florida immediately. After traveling for a while, she returned to Los Angeles in 1946. 

Feeling like it was the perfect time for her to become famous, Elizabeth spent most of her time attending various parties in Hollywood. Meanwhile, she worked as a waitress and rented a room on the famous Hollywood Boulevard. Elizabeth, then, suddenly decided to leave for San Diego. 

The reasons behind this trip are still a mystery since Elizabeth didn’t know anyone in that city. But she was charming and quickly made friends wherever she went. Elizabeth chatted with a cashier who invited her to stay in her apartment. According to the cashier, Elizabeth was out every night and even found a boyfriend. His name was Robert Manley, who was 25 years old and had a family of his own. He was the one who drove Elizabeth back to Los Angeles in January 1947. 

The Gruesome Discovery 

Elizabeth Short was back in Los Angeles on January 9, 1947. According to Robert Manley, she requested to be dropped off at the Biltmore Hotel. Elizabeth mentioned that her sister was in town, and the two planned to meet later that day. The hotel staff did confirm they saw a woman matching Elizabeth’s description in the hotel lobby, making phone calls. She supposedly left around 10:00 PM. 

Early in the morning on January 15, 1947, Betty Bersinger walked around her neighborhood, Leimert Park, with her three-year-old daughter. There were plenty of undeveloped and vacant lots on Norton Avenue, and Betty saw a broken store mannequin in one of them. She quickly realized it was a lifeless and dismembered body. Terrified, Betty ran to the nearest phone and called the police. 

The detectives were on the scene right away. They immediately noticed a couple of details. For instance, the unidentified woman was killed somewhere else because there wasn’t a drop of blood anywhere around her. Whoever committed this crime took their time mutilating the body because she was cut in half, with body parts arranged neatly in the grass. It was clear that the killer was sending a message. 

The killer took large portions of Elizabeth’s flesh and nearly cut off one of her breasts. But perhaps the most horrifying part was her face. The corners of her mouth were slashed to her ears, and she had deep cuts on her forehead. 

The vacant lot was examined in detail, and the investigators found some tire tracks and a partial footprint. The body was still unidentified and for autopsy. The examiner confirmed that the person who killed the young woman used a technique called hemicorporectomy. 

Additionally, the body was completely drained of blood. It was determined the woman died from hemorrhaging due to the violent blows to her head and face. The examiner suspected she was also sexually assaulted, but no traces of bodily fluids were found. The report mentioned that the body was thoroughly cleaned, very likely with gasoline. Elizabeth died on the 14th or 15th of January. 

The Identification and Investigation 

Considering the murder happened in the 1940s, the investigators didn’t have a DNA database or state-of-the-art forensic technology. But they sent the woman’s fingerprints to Washington using a Wirephoto. It was a version of a fax machine used in the United States during that time. The FBI found Elizabeth’s fingerprints taken after the arrest in Santa Barbara, and finally, the police had the name. 

Los Angeles Examiner got involved in the case almost immediately. They were the ones who broke the news to Elizabeth Short’s mother about her daughter’s death. Furthermore, the Examiner’s articles eventually led to the nickname, The Black Dahlia. But most interestingly, the Examiner was in contact with someone claiming to be Elizabeth’s killer. 

On January 21, 1947, an unidentified caller contacted the editor of the Examiner. He announced he would send the newspapers some of Elizabeth’s belongings in the mail. They also mentioned they would turn themselves in after some time. Three days later, a postal worker noticed a suspicious package addressed to the Examiner. It was almost hard to miss because it featured the cut-and-paste letters on the outside. 

Inside were Elizabeth’s photos, business cards, birth certificate, and address book. Everything was wiped clean with gasoline, but investigators pulled a couple of fingerprints. Unfortunately, they were destroyed in transit and couldn’t be analyzed. Furthermore, the police discovered a handbag and one shoe on Norton Avenue. The items were cleaned with gasoline, suggesting a connection to the murder. 

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Police Department conducted a thorough investigation on everyone involved with Elizabeth. They even questioned Manley, the man from San Diego who drove Elizabeth to Los Angeles, but he passed the polygraph. In the end, more than 150 suspects were interviewed after the murder, and law enforcement couldn’t find their killer. 

The Examiner continued to receive letters from the self-proclaimed killer, and the communication heightened the media interest in the case. False claims were published to make the murder even more sensational. Individuals who allegedly knew Elizabeth were willing to give interviews and provide exaggerated details about her life. 

The surgical precision of Elizabeth’s wounds led the investigators to conclude that a doctor or a student of medicine was behind the murder. They even interviewed students from the University of Southern California Medical School, but again, it led them nowhere. 

Suspects and Theories 

Quickly, the murder of Elizabeth Short became a cold case. There was an attempt to reexamine the evidence back in 1949 and interview even more people connected to her. It didn’t provide the investigators with the results they wanted. However, the case became incredibly popular, resulting in numerous theories and a list of potential suspects in the decades to come. 

Perhaps the most wide-known speculation is the one introduced by Steve Hodel, a former LAPD detective. After going through some of his father’s belongings, he noticed a woman who looked eerily similar to Elizabeth Short in one of the photos. Dr. George Hill Hodel died in 1999 and was unable to answer any questions. But he had surgical knowledge, and analysis confirmed handwriting similarities with the letters sent to the Examiner. 

Another theory emerged in 2017 and it involved Leslie Dillon, a bellboy who worked as an assistant to a mortician. According to the author, Piu Eatwell, Dillon killed Elizabeth Short in Aster Motel. The murder was ordered by Mark Hansen because Elizabeth was a threat to his scheme of robbing hotels. 

At this point, it’s hard to know if we’ll ever get to the truth. Likely, whoever killed Elizabeth Short is long gone, but hopefully the advancements in technology will reveal the killer’s identity in the following years. One thing is for sure – the case of the Black Dahlia is still very present in the media today.