EP 81 | More Than The Black Dahlia: The Last Days of Elizabeth Short (part two)

Elizabeth Short grew up in Medford, Massachusetts. Her story has the most brutal of endings. Elizabeth's death has been twisted and exploited for nearly eight decades, transforming a young woman searching for her place in the world into the infamous "Black Dahlia." Beyond the gruesome headlines lies a more poignant truth – Elizabeth was simply searching for belonging in post-war America when her life was brutally cut short in January 1947.

Elizabeth's story begins with abandonment during the Great Depression when her father faked his suicide, leaving her mother Phoebe to raise five daughters alone. Coming of age during World War II, Elizabeth witnessed profound social transformation as women entered the workforce and Hollywood's Golden Age created dreams of opportunity that drew her westward. Her nomadic existence in Los Angeles – moving between hotels, apartments, and boarding houses – reflected her struggle for stability in a city that promised much but delivered little.

The medical precision of her murder points to a killer with anatomical knowledge, possibly connected to a medical school. Her body was bisected using a surgical technique called hemicorporectomy, completely drained of blood, and meticulously cleaned – all suggesting methodical expertise rather than frenzied violence. This clinical approach connects to a disturbing pattern of unsolved murders of women in Los Angeles between 1943-1949, raising questions about a possible serial killer targeting vulnerable women.

Among the numerous suspects, Dr. George Hodel emerges as particularly compelling – a well-connected physician named as a prime suspect by a 1949 grand jury. His own son, former LAPD detective Steve Hodel, believes his father responsible not only for Elizabeth's murder but potentially for other unsolved cases from that era.

Elizabeth deserves to be remembered as more than just a gruesome case study. She was a young woman with hopes and dreams, searching for her place in a world recovering from war. Her story reminds us of our responsibility when exploring true crime – to honor victims by recognizing their humanity first, separating sensationalism from truth, and treating their stories with the dignity they deserve.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction & Live Show Updates
• 2:15 Elizabeth Short's Early Life
• 6:30 Growing Up During the Great Depression
• 9:53 Elizabeth's Nomadic Existence
• 21:45 The Last Known Sighting
• 29:30 The Gruesome Discovery
• 32:10 The Unsolved Murders of Women
• 43:23 Media Exploitation & Family Suffering
• 45:36 The Investigation & Prime Suspect

Transcript

Anngelle Wood: 0:00

Well, hello, my name is Anngelle Wood and this is Crime of the Truest Kind. On this show I talk about Massachusetts and New England crime stories, history and advocacy. It is always my focus because all too often they are lost in their own story, exploited by the same people who claim to advocate for them. Not everybody in the true crime space is a nice guy. We had a tremendous show at Off Cabot in Beverly, mass a couple weeks ago. It sold out, all seats were taken. It sold out, all seats were taken. I am thrilled and grateful and I've said from the very beginning, from the first show that I booked, if 20 people showed up I'd be happy and surprised, but I'd be happy. There will be more live shows. New Hampshire that's in the plan, looking for appropriate venues on the South Shore. Thank you, those of you who have emailed me, I owe you a reply. Thank you, the show at Off Cabot was recorded.

Anngelle Wood: 1:26

I need to finish reviewing the audio and I will share it in an episode. This is episode 81, part two. Please listen to episode 80 if you have not. We talk about the legacy of Elizabeth Short and the decades after her gruesome murder. The public's fascination with her case remains strong. Yet there has been no clear answer to who did this or who else they may have done it to. So yes, this is episode 81, part two.

Anngelle Wood: 2:07

The Last Days of Elizabeth Short was victimized over and over again, as is often the case with victims of crime, and their families are too. Elizabeth Short was a young woman searching for belonging. Where did she fit in? Her upbringing in Medford, next to Boston, started out relatively normally. Her salesman, dad Cleo, and homemaker, mom Phoebe, settled there in 1927. Living from Maine where Phoebe grew up, and Virginia, the oldest of their five daughters, was born and it just occurred to me, virginia was likely named after Cleo Short's home state. Then came Dorothea, elizabeth, elnora and youngest sister, muriel. I say a relatively normal beginning because in early 1930, after Cleo Short lost everything in the Wall Street crash of 1924, he disappeared. Yep, his car was found abandoned on the Charlestown Bridge, that once rickety old bridge connecting Charlestown to the North End. It's been rebuilt and renamed. Listen to episode 80. It's been rebuilt and renamed. Listen to episode 80. When his car was found abandoned, his family believed he was really dead. Phoebe Short and her five daughters were left to face the unknown. The US was in the throes of the Great Depression deep and wide, the greatest in the history of the United States and the modern industrial economy. It wore on Thousands of banks closed, leaving people penniless. That's what happened to Cleo Short and the Short family.

Anngelle Wood: 3:59

The end of Prohibition came in 1933, in large part because it failed. Despite lasting 13 years, it did a lot of damage. It never ended alcohol production and consumption, it just pushed it underground. An entire black market grew. Bootleggers, distillers, conmen, wise guys and gangsters they all flourished. Speakeasies rose in popularity, not unlike these speak-softly shops in England and Ireland in the 19th century. The name said it all Patrons were to speak softly to avoid detection. That all came to an end in 1933 under the terms of the 18th Amendment. The liquor trade was mainstream again, yahoo.

Anngelle Wood: 4:43

Joblessness had been alarmingly bad and people had turned to encampments, growing populations of shantytowns. Shelters were built out of salvaged materials. Under President Hoover, these so-called towns were also known as Hoovervilles. Poverty and hunger rampant. People waited in bread lines hoping for something to eat. People were selling apples on street corners for five cents. Oh, it was bleak.

Anngelle Wood: 5:19

And this is what Cleo Short left his family to face alone. He got to disappear. I could not say whether that was ultimately good for the short women. I don't have any real evidence of what kind of man he was. We do find out a little bit later on when Elizabeth goes to see him. And we do know some parents are better apart than together. But I will say this Phoebe, she was a goddamn hero.

Anngelle Wood: 5:49

In the last episode I talked about the earlier years, how Elizabeth grew up in Medford, then spent winters in Miami, how one day her mother got a call from her dead husband who was actually alive and living in California Lucky him Alive. The whole entire time she was struggling during the worst times. Growing up in days of war and dire economic times, one would have to be resourceful. Elizabeth came of age during World War II, when life in America was dramatically altered. We were a changed nation. The war effort touched every aspect of daily life and citizens rallied to support our soldiers. In May of 1941, the federal government began selling bonds to help finance World War II. Celebrities and government officials would endorse them. I talked a lot about this time in American history when I discussed the Coconut Grove fires of Boston. Those episodes are available for you to listen to right now. Well, after this one, go listen to those Events like the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, for example.

Anngelle Wood: 7:04

Events like the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, for example, those helped drive sales. No-transcript, it's the meeting of patriotism and propaganda. At the same time, there was no frivolous spending. Americans were rationing resources Sugar, meat, fuel, rubber all in limited supply. Citizens used ration books and stamps to purchase essentials. Families turned to victory gardens or war gardens, a vegetable garden planted during wartime to help supplement food supplies. It helped to support the war efforts and to boost morale. We saw families growing their own food and it helped free up resources, reducing demand on commercial food production and packaging and transportation, all of which were being reserved for the war effort.

Anngelle Wood: 8:07

And then we saw the change in the workplace. With men fighting overseas, women were entering the workforce in unprecedented numbers, a period that marked a significant shift in gender roles. Rosie the Riveter became an icon, symbolizing women leading the charge in production, taking critical roles in the industry's vital to the war effort, and widespread propaganda campaigns were developed to encourage unity and boost that morale. Posters, films and radio programs emphasized patriotism and the importance of sacrifice for the greater good. Racism was rampant, despite large numbers of black Americans contributing significantly to the war effort. The Double V campaign emerged, advocating for victory against fascism abroad and against racism at home. This was all happening as Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated to internment camps.

Anngelle Wood: 9:06

Let this be a lesson we cannot rewrite our history. We must see it in all its sad truth. Despite how sad and depressing this all was, people found ways to escape through radio broadcasts and films, swing and jazz music more popular than ever. Hollywood played a role, making war movies and entertaining the soldiers through the USO. I could see why a young woman whose life was anything but normal how they might daydream. There was no real evidence that Elizabeth set her sights on stardom, but I'd be willing to say it wasn't completely unfounded. It was Hollywood's golden age, a period of opulence and immense influence and innovation in cinema From the late 20s into the 60s. There is a romanticism to it and it is exactly why Elizabeth reached cult-like status as this beautiful young starlet, tragic murder victim. The Black Dahlia and tabloids they love a good scoop and to churn out grisly headlines.

Anngelle Wood: 10:19

Elizabeth's life had been called transient Nomadic sounds more dignified. Called transient, nomadic sounds more dignified. A life that began as a teenager, with those trips back and forth to Florida. That helped ease her respiratory trouble. That made her move to California attractive, we know she went to Vallejo once she learned her father was actually alive was actually alive. She got work at the Air Force Base, slowly making her way south, first to Santa Barbara where she'd be arrested for the crime of underage drinking. That sent her back to Massachusetts but to Florida, and then eventually she made her way back to California.

Anngelle Wood: 11:04

Elizabeth would spend the last six months of her life in the Los Angeles area hustling waitressing gigs. To cover her rent she had a number of roommates, one of whom was Marjorie Graham. Reportedly, the two stayed at the Hawthorne Apartments, then the Figueroa Hotel in downtown LA, which was a hostel back in the late 40s. In her last days Elizabeth stayed in a room behind the Florentine Gardens nightclub on Hollywood Boulevard. The sound of that Hollywood Boulevard. It sounds so glamorous. But Elizabeth lived lean, moving between hotels and apartments, boarding houses, even at private homes, staying for free if she could or paying as little as possible. I mean, money seemed elusive for her. At one time she shared a two-bedroom apartment in Hollywood with eight other women. Even that setup was tough to afford and she kept out of the landlord's way when rent was due.

Anngelle Wood: 12:04

Elizabeth was a nomad. She had nothing keeping her anywhere. I believe that was driven by sadness. Let's unpack that. Her father went missing, assumed dead, when she was young. She barely knew him. She and her mother and sisters are left essentially destitute. Who knows what adolescence was like, hard I bet. She had some boyfriends, I'm sure, and courting was a thing in the 1940s. She met a military man. After her stay with her father went badly. That man was said to be abusive. She left. When she returned to Florida she met the man she was going to marry, though he died tragically just as the war was ending. Of course she was very sad about that. Later she comes to long beach to see another friend.

Anngelle Wood: 12:56

It is difficult to know what is true, given the 78 years since her murder. So much of her story has been embellished, so much creative licensing of the truth, her gruesome end and its place in the romanticism of old Hollywood. It is a mystery that still weighs heavily in our collective crime curiosities. Who was the last known person with Elizabeth? It is believed to be a man named Robert Red Manley.

Anngelle Wood: 13:28

With Elizabeth is believed to be a man named Robert Red Manley. He is someone she met while she was bunking with Dorothy and Olvera French at their apartment in San Diego in December of 1946. They weren't close friends from what I can tell, and they were kind enough to let her stay. But a night it turned into weeks and Red, he was a traveling salesman, a married traveling salesman something he did not share with Elizabeth, no doubt. And she was a beautiful young woman with pale porcelain skin, bright eyes and the blackest black hair. Now, if you must know, that was my nice and easy box shade of black I used back in the day. I had often referred to it as Nikki Sixx black. For those of you in the know, and me being me, I had to know when it first was on the market. Was it something that Elizabeth would have used? Clairol's Nice and Easy made at-home hair coloring revolutionary accessible, more affordable than the salon To the salon. More importantly, the hair colorist box color is a goddamn nightmare. In 1965, the Clairol company expanded its home hair color line with the introduction of Nice and Easy, the first shampoo-in hair color with the tagline the closer he gets, the better you look. Same could be said about a three-martini lunch.

Anngelle Wood: 14:56

Elizabeth made a plan with Red to return to Los Angeles. He picked her up at the French's apartment in San Diego on January 8th. They drove up the coast and stayed overnight at a motel, something I found strange, given the trip is just two hours. He has said that nothing happened and that she slept in her clothes, interesting that she would, seeing as she was very particular about the care of her wardrobe. January 9, 1947 is a pivotal date. They made their way to Los Angeles. There, elizabeth checked her bags at the bus depot in downtown LA. Where was she going? Was she about to leave Los Angeles on a Greyhound bus the next day? Was it for Boston, as one story suggested? Was it up north, where her sister Virginia lived? Whatever the case, it's said that Red didn't want to leave her in such a sketchy neighborhood, so he drove her to the Biltmore Hotel about 10 minutes away.

Anngelle Wood: 16:04

Here is where there are a few versions. I mean, in Elizabeth Short's case there are a number of versions. There have been books written with fictionalized accounts, so over these years the truth has become lost. One account Elizabeth told Red she was meeting her sister. What sister? Was it Virginia, who lived hundreds of miles away in the Bay Area? Was it one of her other sisters who might be visiting from the East Coast. Another version is that she told Red she was going to Berkeley to stay with her sister. It's Red who said he stayed with her in the hotel lobby for a while. He says he left her at 6.30 pm on January 9, 1947, and then made his way back home.

Anngelle Wood: 16:49

There is even a discrepancy as to when she left the Biltmore Hotel. Here's where it ends, or the lore begins. Witnesses at the Biltmore say she was last seen making calls from the phone bank in the Biltmore Lobby, now known as the Rendezvous Room. One account is that a car came and picked her up and she was never seen alive again. Another account is Elizabeth exited the hotel lobby, turned on to Olive and vanished. Businesses claimed her presence on that last night. The Crown Grill a few blocks down the bar at the storied Cecil Hotel, both of which are heavily disputed. People want to attach Elizabeth Short to the Cecil Hotel, but there's no evidence she ever went there. It could be both good and bad for a business.

Anngelle Wood: 17:41

Tragedy tourism has grown largely in popularity, don't we know? Dark tourism, morbid tourism, visiting places associated with death and disaster, also related to trauma tourism Whatever you want to term it, it is real. People flock to historical sites of genocide and war Chernobyl, auschwitz, fukushima, pompeii, hiroshima. In Nola, for example, you could do a walking tour of the St Louis Cemetery no 1, where the tomb of the eternally famous voodoo queen Marie Laveau can be found. She died in 1881, but her legend has endured. Her graves, of which there are more than one, are the most visited in the world. Oh, nola is rife with lore and I love it there. The Museum of Death is there, one of two. The other is in Hollywood, naturally, oh, and it's graphic. It is not for the faint of heart. And the Los Angeles Museum has a themed event featuring exclusive photos of Elizabeth as the Black Dahlia. Of course, and trauma, tourism is a real moneymaker. There are, as you'd guess, los Angeles true crime tours with stops at the Cecil Hotel, where Richard Ramirez was said to have stayed at the height of his murderous crimes. One story is that he would come back to the Cecil covered in blood and stripped down in the hallways.

Anngelle Wood: 19:12

The house, or the villa of the Menendez family where they lived and where the parents were murdered is on a murder map 722 North Elm Drive, beverly Hills. That mansion is enormous, sold in 2024 for $17 million. Oh, and it is extraordinary, google it. As is the condo where Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman were found murdered. It was so popular to Lucky Lou tourists that the new owners got the address changed it was 875 South Bundy Drive. They changed it to 879 South Bundy Drive and it looks very different from the outside, though after Ron and Nicole were killed it took many years for that condo to sell, it eventually did.

Anngelle Wood: 20:03

Many such homes are magnets for true crime trauma tours. Think the Amityville House, lizzie Borden's house, which is now a B&B you can stay there. The Connecticut House from the Conjuring and because of this attention many of them get destroyed. The Lanza home in Newtown, connecticut. John Wayne Gacy's death trap, the entire apartment building where Jeffrey Dahmer once lived, the home on Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon where Sharon Tate was murdered. That destruction didn't happen right away, though. The final resident of the original house, trent Reznor. He rented the home in 1992 and set up a recording studio there where much of the band Nine Inch Nails' 1994 record the Downward Spiral, was recorded. Marilyn Manson also worked on Portrait of the American Family there. Marilyn Manson has proven to be garbage now, but I did really love that early stuff. Trent Reznor left the home in 1993, and it was torn down three years later.

Anngelle Wood: 21:17

Many of the sites associated with Elizabeth, like the Biltmore, the location of the LA Herald-Examiner, one of the newspapers of the time, the location of the LA Herald-Examiner, one of the newspapers of the time and one that was credited with breaking the story about her murder there's the Florentine Gardens, hollywood Boulevard, the bus terminal where she left those bags, hotel Figueroa that was the YWCA hostel back then. Elizabeth was known to have stayed there in the first few months she arrived in Los Angeles. By the way, you can check if your house is stigmatized in any way. Enter your address in diedinhousecom. Though spoiler, you will be charged if you want the answer. We know how she was found. That is part of the hollywoodized legacy.

Anngelle Wood: 22:12

On january 15th 1947, a mother out walking with her child found initially what she thought was a mannequin. Wouldn't that be your first thought? No one would expect to find the mutilated body of a young woman in an empty lot in the lemur park area of los angeles. The los angeles times wrote this she was face up, a few inches from the sidewalk, just north of the middle of the block, her blue eyes open, although other information says they were green. Her hands were over her head with her elbows bent at right angles. Her knees were straight and her legs were spread. Flies were hovering around the body. She was missing her intestines. She was slashed across the face from ear to ear in a crude Glasgow smile, as it has been called, named for the roving razor gangs of 20th century Scotland who would leave a lasting impression and permanent reminder of those whose wrath they had incurred. It is a feature co-opted as the Chelsea Grin. Why would someone do such a thing to a harmless young woman? Well, they wanted to.

Anngelle Wood: 23:28

She was brutalized Cuts and bruises, whole sections of skin had been removed. She had been hacked at Part of her breast. She was drained of all of her blood and her body was completely cleaned. It is believed she was alive when her face was cut. She died, in part at least, of shock. She had ligature marks on her wrists, ankles and her neck, indicating she had been gagged and bound for some time, and she did have evidence of sexual assault. Samples were taken from her body for testing for the presence of semen, but there was no positive result. Her autopsy, which I had believed remained sealed in LA County, did show a cerebral hemorrhage, a brain bleed, a brain bleed. The coroner ruled she had died 10 to 12 hours before being found. She was clearly tortured and killed somewhere else.

Anngelle Wood: 24:34

The most shocking of all is that she was severed in two. The lower half of her body was positioned a foot away from her upper half with her intestines tucked neatly under her buttocks. She was in two pieces. It was a medical technique that was taught in the 1930s called a hemicorporectomy, a radical surgical procedure that involves the amputation of the body below the waist, including the legs, the genitalia, pelvic bones and the rectum all the important business. It is a procedure typically performed as a last resort for patients with severe and life-threatening conditions advanced pelvic cancer, severe infection. How one would survive that, I do not know. Her lower half was removed by transsectioning the lumbar spine between the second and third lumbar vertebrae, severing the intestine at the duodenum or the first part of your small intestine where the digestion process begins. I'm not a doctor. Surprise, there was very little bruising along the incision line. That suggested that it was done after death. She had a gaping laceration that measured 4.25 inches in length that ran from her belly button to her pubic bone region. The cuts in her face extended from the corners of her lips region. The cuts in her face extended from the corners of her lips, one measured three inches on the right and two and a half inches on the left. Her cause of death is she bled out and the shock from her face being cut, the blows to her head and face that caused a cerebral hemorrhage. Head and face that caused a cerebral hemorrhage.

Anngelle Wood: 26:28

Because of all this, the newspapers were going shithouse. The story of a young woman found bisected in a field oh, as sick as it sounds, that got everybody excited. Reporter Agnes Aggie Underwood was first on the scene. Oh, and she was a badass. She racked up so many achievements and awards. She was writing for the then Los Angeles Herald Express, one of the city's oldest newspapers. Newspapers would merge names with hyphenates, but that's a longer story than I even want to get into, though I will tell you. I read up on all the many Los Angeles newspapers of the time.

Anngelle Wood: 27:06

Aggie took several of the photos from the scene where Elizabeth was found. It is ghastly. Detectives also found a heel prints, along with tire tracks at the scene. A bag of cement nearby that had what was called watery blood in it. Elizabeth would be ID'd by her fingerprints. They were wired to the FBI for positive identification. It was that Santa Barbara arrest with a mugshot. Her prints were in the system, whatever the system looked like then, and a 1947 might have entailed a carrier pigeon. In a special bulletin issued by the Los Angeles police upon learning her identity, they were seeking information about Elizabeth Short from January 9th when she arrived back in Los Angeles, through January 15th when she was found dead in that field. The description of what she was wearing a black suit, fluffy white cardigan stocking, suede heels, small two-handled purse, white gloves, full-length beige coat and last seen at the Biltmore it included that she had bad bottom teeth and her nails were chewed down to the quick.

Anngelle Wood: 28:27

The attention to the story went beyond simply a piqued interest. Newsies were having a field day scrawling body headlines. They took great pains to coin sexy nicknames like the White Gardenia Murder, the Red Hibiscus Murder and somewhere in there was the Werewolf Murder. It wasn't until someone discovered the story of the girl who visited the drugstore lunch counter on Long Beach, a riff on the film the Blue Dahlia, where Elizabeth was affectionately called Black Dahlia. It worked for the headlines because it was mysteriously exotic. The press had gone bananas writing of the sexed fiend slaying girl found slashed in two.

Anngelle Wood: 29:08

Mutilated girl found in LA torture slaying. Then the suspect of the week. There were many who were questioned or straight up confessed. Pretty much everyone was a suspect. But to put a name on it, the Black Dahlia murder. Well, that moved a shit ton of papers. All of it is disturbing. There was someone out there brutalizing women.

Anngelle Wood: 29:36

Elizabeth could not have been the first, and Los Angeles has produced a number of serial murderers. It is worth considering that there are more than a dozen unsolved murders of young women in the Los Angeles area between 1943 and 1949. In 1949, a Los Angeles County grand jury was tasked with investigating the failure on the part of law enforcement to solve the cases. Let's walk through those. July 27, 1943. July 27, 1943, 41-year-old Ora Elizabeth Murray was found beaten and strangled to death in the parking lot of the Fox Hills Golf Course in Culver City. October 12, 1944, 20-year-old Georgette Bauerdorf was found by the cleaning person in her West Hollywood apartment. Her body was floating face down in an overflowing bathtub.

Anngelle Wood: 30:41

February 10th 1947, shortly after Elizabeth, 44-year-old Jean Nettie French was discovered in West Los Angeles on Grandview Boulevard nude, badly beaten on her stomach written in lipstick badly beaten on her stomach. Written in lipstick Fuck you, bd. And the letters Tex. Below it. Now, of course, the initials BD that led people to think Black Dahlia and Tex who knows? This was decades before the Manson killings.

Anngelle Wood: 31:06

March 12, 1947. The nude body of 43-year-old Evelyn Winters was found in a vacant lot of an abandoned rail yard in Norwalk, california, along the Los Angeles River. She was beaten, strangled, last seen leaving the Albany Hotel in Los Angeles. May 4, 1947. Dorothy Montgomery, age 36, was found at 10.30 in the morning in a vacant field under a pepper tree in Florence, graham, california. She was strangled, beaten and naked. She had been missing since 9.30 the previous evening when she left to pick her daughter up from a dance recital. Title May 12, 1947. Laura Trelstad, 39 years old, discovered by the oil company patrolman in an oil field on Long Beach Boulevard. She had been sexually assaulted, strangled with a belt and thrown from a vehicle.

Anngelle Wood: 32:03

July 8, 1947. Rusenda Mondragon, age 21. Her naked body was discovered by a postal clerk in a gutter near Los Angeles City Hall. She was strangled with a stocking. She was 21.

Anngelle Wood: 32:19

October 2, 1947. Lillian Dominguez, age 15. Attacked walking home with her sister and a friend in Santa Monica. A man approached them and proceeded to stab her in the heart with a stiletto blade. A week later, on October 9th, a note was found written on the back of a business card stuck under the door of a furniture store. The message, written in pencil, read I killed the Santa Monica girl. I will kill others.

Anngelle Wood: 32:48

February 14th 1948. Gladys Kern, a 42-year-old real estate agent in Los Angeles, was found stabbed in the back with a hunting knife in a vacant house she was showing in Las Feliz. June 13th 1949. Louise Springer, 35-year-old cosmetologist, was found murdered in the backseat of her husband's convertible along a street in south-central Los Angeles. Her killer had fashioned a garrotte from a clothesline and she was also sexually assaulted with a stick.

Anngelle Wood: 33:21

August 18, 1949. Mimi Boomhauer, age 48, was last heard from when she called a friend from her home in the 700 block of Neem Road in Los Angeles Neem Road, a very posh area of Bel Air. Five days after she disappeared, mimi's white handbag was discovered in a phone booth at a grocery store in Los Angeles. She was never seen or heard from again. October 7, 1949, 26-year-old Jean Spangler left her Los Angeles apartment telling her sister-in-law she was going to meet her ex-husband before going to work on a film set where she worked as an extra. She was last seen alive at a grocery store several blocks from her home. Two days later, her tattered purse was discovered in a remote area of Griffith Park, not even six miles away from her home. Two days later, her tattered purse was discovered in a remote area of Griffith Park, not even six miles away from her home. Inside was a letter addressed to Kirk and mentioned seeing a doctor Interesting fact with the mention of Kirk. Gene Spangler had worked on a film with the now late actor Kirk Douglas. He too was questioned and cleared, but Gene Spangler has also never been seen again. As for Elizabeth's family, well, they suffered again.

Anngelle Wood: 34:43

As soon as Elizabeth was positively identified through her fingerprints, reporters from the Los Angeles Examiner descended. Owned by William Randolph Hearst, he was known for his aggressive and unethical methods of yellow journalism. Language has certainly changed, but the newspaper business Not so much. American newspapers frothed at the mouth with sensationalism, exaggerating details of crimes or flat-out making them up. Ethics Phooey Means nothing, phoebe Short heard from them at home in Medford. The press had many questions about her 22-year-old daughter, elizabeth, who they deceitfully said had won a beauty contest in Los Angeles. After drawing as much personal information as Phoebe would offer, she was then told the actual fate of her daughter. The paper then offered to fly Phoebe to Los Angeles and put her up so she could assist with the murder investigation. More bullshit. They didn't want her to talk to anyone, they wanted her for themselves. The exclusive information. They wanted the scoop.

Anngelle Wood: 35:54

Both the Examiner and another Hearst newspaper, the Herald Express, further sensationalized the case, creating the false narrative of Elizabeth wearing tight clothes and sheer tops, spinning the black Dahlia into a wild serial dater. One such story, calling her an adventurous who prowled Hollywood Boulevard On January 17th, the Los Angeles Times called her case a sex fiend slaying. Sex fiends showed up a lot in the 40s, as did sex degenerate in the 40s, as did sex degenerate. Phoebe and her daughters were taunted by reporters, no doubt, and this story sure did bring out a lot of creeps and fiends and degenerates. Days after the discovery of Elizabeth in that field, on January 21st, a person claiming to be the killer called James Richardson, editor of the Examiner, congratulating him on their coverage of the Black Valley case, saying he would turn himself in but to expect some souvenirs of Beth Shore in the mail. I call her Elizabeth, but many of the pieces, particularly right around the discovery, address her as Betty Orbeck.

Anngelle Wood: 37:11

Three days later, a suspicious manila envelope arrived, addressed to the Los Angeles Examiner and other Los Angeles papers. The words cut and pasted from newspaper clippings, with a message on the front that said here is Dahlia's belongings letter to follow. Inside were contents that had been skillfully cleaned with gasoline. Not unlike how she was found, it contained Elizabeth's birth certificate photos, business cards, names written on pieces of paper and an address book with the name Mark Hansen embossed on the cover. Mark Hansen, we would learn, is one of the homeowners where Elizabeth and some of the other young women had been known to stay.

Anngelle Wood: 38:00

Authorities were able to pull several partial fingerprints from the package and get them to the FBI for testing. Nothing came of it, though. In the chain of custody the prints were damaged and unable to be analyzed for any real information about its sender Suspicious or just plain stupid. At the same time the examiner got that package, a pocketbook and a black suede shoe were discovered on top of a garbage can in an alley two miles from where she was found. Like the mailed items, these had also been wiped clean. The gasoline destroyed any fingerprints.

Anngelle Wood: 38:43

It is clear to authorities that this killer had skills in anatomy and dissection. Giving the accuracy of this work. Skills in anatomy and dissection, giving the accuracy of this work. Realistically, what are the chances someone with no medical training could wing such things? None, no chance. We didn't even have YouTube then. How did they fix stuff? And detectives knew to speak to students at the University of Southern California Medical School not only about the practice of dissection and bisection and the medical terms associated, but also about who may have raised some red flags back then. This reminds me very much of the case of Karina Homer, who was found bisected, one part of her recovered, little evidence, no crime scene. She was cleaned and discarded. Karina Homer's case remains unsolved.

Anngelle Wood: 39:35

The age-old question remains who did this to Elizabeth Short? There have been countless suspects, persons of interest in her case. I said it before. Several people even confessed or tried to. But one man fits into this gruesome puzzle George O'Dell. He was interviewed in connection with Louise Springer's murder and probably others. He was a well-connected physician and known in Los Angeles. He was, in a word, evil.

Anngelle Wood: 40:12

In October 1949, hodel's name was mentioned in a formal written report to the grand jury as one of five prime suspects in the Black Dahlia murder, but none of the named suspects were submitted to the grand jury for consideration for indictment. This came around the very same time that Hodel's teenage daughter, tamar, accused him of incest and impregnating her. He was acquitted after a wildly publicized trial. Surprise, surprise, two witnesses to the alleged abuse testified at the trial. A third recanted her earlier testimony and refused to come forward, one theory being that Hodel threatened her into silence. Tamar was accused of seeking attention and her testimony contradicted her case against her own father. This man, george Hodel, had a trail of victims. It is a very dark story and his own son, a former LA cop, says his father is responsible and has subsequently written a number of books. Look him up, steve Hodel.

Anngelle Wood: 41:22

The podcast called Root of Evil the true story of the Hodel family and the Black Dahlia is hosted by Yvette Gentile and Rasha Paccararo, two of George Hodel's great-granddaughters. It explores Elizabeth's murder, the Black Dahlia case and the Hodel family's connection, as does the companion TV series I Am the Night that aired on TNT. As for Elizabeth, she was laid to rest at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, california, near where her sister, virginia and her family live. Her mother, phoebe had said her daughter loved California and decided that would be the appropriate place to put her to rest. May Elizabeth Short rest in peace, because she did not get that peace in life. Telling her story is important because it has been hijacked over almost 80 years since she was found that day in that field.

Anngelle Wood: 42:23

The murder of Elizabeth Short from Medford, massachusetts, remains unsolved. From Medford, massachusetts, remains unsolved. Thank you for listening. My name is Angelle Wood. This is Crime of the Truest Kinds. Massachusetts and New England crime stories, history and advocacy focused always. I thank you, my listeners and supporters.

Anngelle Wood: 42:52

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Anngelle Wood: 43:16

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Anngelle Wood: 43:45

There's so much more about Elizabeth Short. So many books have been written about her, so many films have been made, documentaries, podcasts, many of which exploit her story. For many people, she's not a human being. She is a character, and we know that that's not true. She was a living, loving, breathing human being that, I believe, felt a lot of sadness for what she was dealt in life. I plan to release the off-cabot show audio as soon as I finish editing it, hopefully next week when I'm back from this trip. Alright, I must be going. Bye, everybody, bye. Lock your goddamn doors.