The Aftermath

Background

ON FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2003, a national press conference was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, where my embargoed book, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder was publicly released. I announced the findings of my three-year investigation into the murder of Elizabeth Short, known to the world as the Black Dahlia. It was my painful task that day to inform the print and television media that the murderer was my own father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, whom I further believed to be a serial killer, responsible for a series of unsolved murders of lone women in Los Angeles during the mid-to-late 1940s.

The weeks and months following that announcement have been some of the most challenging of my life, full of conflict, discovery, and reward. My book has become a coast-to-coast bestseller, and my personal life filled with acclamation and denigration. I am not surprised. These are the trappings of controversy. I expected there to be heat in the kitchen.

What I did not expect, and was not prepared for, was a subornation of the truth and investigative facts post-publication. Despite the international coverage of my story as news, with major print articles in Newsweek, People magazine, the Associated Press running the story in most U.S. cities, and massive radio and television coverage including major pieces on Dateline NBC, CNN, The Early Show, and ABC’s The View, neither the LAPD (my LAPD) nor any Los Angeles newspapers have conducted any investigative follow-up.

In the days preceding the publication of Black Dahlia Avenger, columnist Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times, armed with information provided by me, conducted his own investigation into the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office. Meeting with DA Steve Cooley, Lopez obtained permission to review hitherto unexamined secret Dahlia investigation files that had lain dormant for over fifty years. Following the book’s release, Lopez wrote two articles in his weekly column confirming not only that Dr. Hodel was indeed a named, identified suspect in the Black Dahlia murder, but also revealing for the first time that transcripts of covert electronic surveillance recordings still existed from a forty-day wiretap of our Franklin Avenue residence in 1950. These transcripts included statements and admissions by George Hodel implicating himself not only in the Black Dahlia murder but in other crimes as well.

At the same time, the editor of the Los Angeles Times requested an assessment by their “in-house Dahlia expert,” copy editor Larry Harnisch* who after a forty-five minute review of my 500-page investigation opined that it was “preposterous,” and was quoted in the first Lopez article equating my conclusions to “seeing Jesus’ face in a tortilla.”

Despite their own columnist’s extraordinary findings and revelations, and despite the statement by Head Deputy District Attorney Stephen Kay that “the Black Dahlia case has been solved,” the L.A. Times has since then chosen to ignore the story, and has conducted no follow-up investigation.

The LAPD Cold Case Files

Based on my own findings, plus Head Deputy DA Steve Kay’s own conclusion that my father was in fact the Dahlia killer, I was confident that LAPD would take swift action. When asked about what I thought the department’s reaction would be, I remained strongly optimistic, expecting that any day they would announce that they were reopening the case. As of this writing, I am still waiting. I am told that LAPD detective Brian Carr, the sole keeper of the LAPD Dahlia files for the past nine years, has neither read my book nor made any effort to examine the DA’s Dahlia files. According to my sources, Carr has refused all requests for information regarding the case, indicating that, “it is open and the LAPD files are closed.” Detective Carr’s seemingly arrogant attitude and position are of serious concern.

Steve Lopez’s April 13, 2003, article provided new information from LAPD files. He indicated that a confidential source revealed that Dr. Hodel was named in a secret memo as being the suspect in the murder of his secretary. That crime was identified in chapter 31 as a “Jane Doe” murder before Lopez’s confirmation of its existence from LAPD records. LAPD authorities have so far refused to release the name of Hodel’s murdered secretary or the date of the crime.

It is LAPD’s firm position that until the revelation of this secret memo, found during a search of their files in April 2003, today’s detectives, including Brian Carr, had no previous knowledge that Dr. George Hodel was a suspect. The department’s knee-jerk response to the information was that they would “check out his fingerprints.”

The L.A. District Attorney Hot Case Files

After almost a full month with no activity or response by LAPD detectives, I requested and was granted permission by District Attorney Steve Cooley to view the Dahlia files myself. To his credit, Cooley kept his word to “whenever possible, grant an open-door policy,” a major shift from previous administrations’ policies.

In mid-May 2003, I spent a full day at the L.A. County DA’s Office reviewing all the Dahlia Files. Further, I was permitted to copy those documents, which I am now able to make part of the public record. What I found only confirms, in almost every respect, what I have previously claimed, namely that my father was the prime suspect in both the Elizabeth Short murder and that of Jeanne French, known as the “Red Lipstick murder,” and was a suspect in numerous other murders of lone women of that time. The Dahlia documents further substantiate, as I alleged, that from 1947 to 1950 LAPD obstructed justice, sanitized LAPD files, and perpetuated a cover-up of the facts—a cover-up that continues to this day.

DA Investigative Documents

The following documents are only a small part of the entire DA case files from 1949 and 1950. They are not LAPD files but rather represent the DA’s separate attempt to reinvestigate what the 1949 grand jury believed was a cover-up by some LAPD officers of the 1947 murders of Elizabeth Short and Jeanne French.

In late 1949, at the specific order of the grand jury, district attorney’s investigator Lieutenant Frank Jemison was placed in charge of reinvestigating the entire Black Dahlia murder. Certain LAPD homicide detectives, who were familiar with the almost three-year-old cold case, were assigned to assist Lieutenant Jemison and provide him with intelligence information and brief him on previous (1947–49) investigative findings.

These documents had been locked in a vault at the district attorney’s office for over fifty years, where they were secreted in 1951 by Lieutenant Jemison, by order of his Bureau of Investigation chief, H. Leo Stanley. It is believed that no one has seen or examined them since, and the first to gain access, open, and peruse them—however cursorily—was Steve Lopez.

There are hundreds of documents in that file; only those directly relating to my father as a suspect, or information pertinent to the murders, will be examined here.

Electronic Surveillance of the Hodel Residence

This district attorney’s “Investigator’s Progress Report,” dated February 27, 1950, provides additional documented evidence that as of mid-February of that year, Dr. George Hodel was the prime suspect in the murder of Elizabeth Short.

Exhibit 67

The handwritten report above reads as follows (all spellings and punctuations as they appear in the original).

BRIEF STATEMENT AS TO RESULTS TO DATE: (indicate present status if being brought to trial at this time)

On Feb. 15, 1950 the undersigned investigator, working with Sgts Stanton & Guinnis from the LAPD crime lab, installed two microfones in the home of Dr. Geo. Hodel. The microfones were connected to a wire recorder located in the basement of the Hollywood Station of the LAPD thru telefone lines leased from the Pac. Tel. & Tel. Co. Trouble was experienced with both the equipment installed in Hodel’s home and with the telefone lines. This trouble was not rectified until approx 2:00, Feb. 18. No inteligible conversation was heard over the system until that time.

Signed--David E. Bronson

This form reveals that the DA investigators were not simply conducting a “phone tap” and listening to conversations in a van outside the residence, but had surreptitiously entered my father’s residence, concealed microphones in his bedroom, leased hard-lines from the phone company, and run them from the basement of our residence at 5121 Franklin Avenue to the basement of the police station at Hollywood Division—a distance of 2.4 miles—where DA investigators monitored conversations between my father and his guests for almost six weeks, until Father fled the country in late March 1950.

The DA “Hodel File”

A thousand hours of surveillance recordings were obtained by DA investigators. The twenty-four-hour surveillance, collected on “41 wire-spools,” covers forty days. Only “highlights” of these conversations were summarized in the detectives’ log. This log, labeled the “Hodel File” and consisting of 146 typewritten pages, contains only partial, excerpted entries made by the on-duty monitoring detective, along with his notations and admonition to “listen to wire-recording for complete statements.”

What follows is a selection of pages from the “Hodel File” as it was prepared in 1950. No alterations or changes have been made to the selected passages. All notes, spellings, and punctuations are as they appear in the original log.

Exhibit 68

1950 Hodel residence bugging transcripts (146 pages)

HODEL FILE

FEBRUARY 18, 1950

SPOOL #1	OFFICER CROWLEY (LAPD) ON DUTY
12:30A	Radio plane. Lady sobbing. Hodel asked, “Do you know Charles Smith. Did you know Mr. Usher?”. Hodel mentioned something about during trial. Mentioned what housekeeper knows. “Did you know ? committed suicide”? “Does your husband know your here. Where were you going? (He was questioning her and it sounded like he was repeating her answer as if writing down her answer)
1:15A	Lady reciting poetry. Hodel says something about an affair with Dr. Hodel. “Relax. Let’s finish these two.”
2:00P SPOOL #2	F. Hronek (DA’s office) on duty J. McGrath (DA’s office) on duty
4:20P	Noise around the house. Woman asking for Operator several times. Sounded as though she was crying.
7:35P	Conversation between two men. Recorded. Hodel and man with a German accent had a long conversation; reception was poor, and conversation hard to understand. The following bits of conversation, however, were overheard. Hodel to the German - “This is the best pay off I’ve seen between Law Enforcement Agencies. You do not have the right connection made in the D.A.’s office.” General conversation between the two - “Any imperfections will be found. They will have to be made perfect. Don’t confess ever. Two and two is not four.” Much laughter. “Were just a couple of smart boys”. More laughter.
	Hodel then - in exact detail - explained to the German about his wife being stopped on Wednesday morning by McGrath and Morgan of the District Attorney’s office when they stopped her going up her steps to the house on Franklin. It should be noted that every question asked of Mrs. Hodel was repeated verbatim by Hodel to this German. He then began to explain to the German about his recent trial - making statements that “They’re out to get me. Two men in the D.A.’s officer were transferred and demoted because of my trial.” Hodel then explained about his being questioned at the D.A.’s office on Wednesday morning, and told in great detail as to questions perpounded to him at that time. One statement made to the German was as follows: “Supposin’ I did kill the Black Daliah. They couldn’t prove it now. They can’t talk to my Secretary anymore because she’s dead.” . . . One point of the conversation was also “Have you heard from Powers”.
8:20P	Sounded as though the two men went down steps and entered the basement and began digging. Something was referred to “Not a trace”. It also appeared as though a pipe was being hit.
8:25P	Woman screamed.
8:27P	Woman screamed again. It should be noted that a woman was not heard before the time of screaming since 6:50PM. She was not in any conversation, and not heard of again until the time of letting out these two screams.
NOTE:	Officer Crowley, LAPD, arrived for duty at 7:45 PM while the above mentioned conversation was taking place. His log is as follows:
7:45P	Hodel talking to a man with an accent, possibly German. “Telephone men were here. Operator ? Realize there was nothing I could do put a pillow over her head, and cover her with a blanket. Get a taxi. Call Georgia Street Receiving Hospital right away. Expired at 12:39. They thought there was something fishy. Anyway, now they may have figured it out. Killed her. Maybe I did kill my Secretary* . . .
FEBRUARY 19, 1950	SPOOL #5
12:00P	Officer Jemison DA’s office
3:30P	Hodel - “Read thru this, then we can discuss it more intelligently. Hodel laughs. “It has some coverage. I’m selling my art collection Monday and Tuesday, and I’m then taking off for Asia.” Kenny* - “I am in process of breaking up with my wife of 15 years. No children”. Hodel - “I have 3 boys. You’ll see them later. Dorothy lives here a while, and then takes off”.
FEBRUARY 22, 1950	SPOOL #9
2:00A	OFFICER BRECHEL (LAPD) ON DUTY
2:10A	Hodel and Ellen enter room.† Hodel - “Will you leave that light on there, I’m just a little nervous”. . . . Hodel has conversation with Ellen - asks if something is too difficult. Hodel says he is worried.
2:25A	. . . Ellen admires a Chinese box. Hodel says a manchurian princess gave it to him. He
2:27A	says he is going to sell it.
2:29A	Ellen wants to stay with him, he tells her to go to bed, she can stay with him tomorrow.
2:32A	Movements around room. Low conversation unable to make out. Deep breathing. Hodel and Ellen probably having intercourse.
2:40A	Ellen says she wants to go now. Hodel says she should have gone to her room. He is pretty well tired. Sounds indicates movements on bed.
2:45A	Deep breathing. Movements on bed. Definite sounds of climax of intercourse. Hodel sighs loudly and passionately.
2:49A	Hodel and Ellen talking. Ellen wants him to stay with her all night. She begs him. He says no, he is tired.
FEBRUARY 22, 1950
10:30A	Put on SPOOL #10
12:00NOON	MORGAN ON DUTY
12:35P	Telephone rang — Hodel - “Oh yeah Power - are you in town - good - things are sort of busy right now for the next ten days - we’re tapped now again - well there is pretty much going on regarding yourself and me - I was questioned about you and so forth - maybe you can find out - Don‘t you know someone up there? Maybe you can find out what the hell is going on up there. I would like to see you in person when we get a chance - what’s your phone? That’s your new phone? (Ends) “OK - so long”.
FEBRUARY 24, 1950	SPOOL #14
4:00P	HRONEK, DA’S OFFICE ON DUTY
4:25P	Phone rings - Hodel answered - Ellen took over - still talking about the citizenship, Ellen, didn’t I tell you not to tell people things over the telephone. Hodel ordered Ellen not to answer any questions over the telephone. . . . Ellen said something about the FBI investigating us.
FEB. 26, 1950
8:00P	Crowley, LAPD on duty
8:45P	SPOOL #19
9:20P	Water running in bathroom, and lady says something about bath tub.
9:30P	Hodel - wisecracks. Hodel - “a peculiar people, the Persians, the country produces no virgins. They fuck all day in a violent way, and at night they practice sexual perversion.”
9:55P	Put on Spool #20
FEBRUARY 27, 1950
12:00A	Door bell rings. Ellen goes to door. Hodel say - Come in. . . .
12:10A	Hodel - You made the headlines today or tomorrow. Man - I made the headlines?
12:11A	Hodel - Like Hitler said. Hodel - you’re a rich man. Hodel - I can see you beating her up. . . . Man – “(Laughing) Suspicion. Hah. In one place I am a composer of poetry or opera, a hot tempered erratic woman - We’ve got to get out of here and get some fun for a change.
12:25A	Hodel - Well anyway, she hasn’t said she’d committed incest or killed the Black Dahlia, (other man has an accent - talking about this country) . . .
(Spool #21 put on between 12:30A and 12:35A)
1:57A	Brechel, LAPD on duty
4:15A	. . . She (Ellen) is helping him to undress. She wants some love tonight, but he refuses her. He wants to sleep alone.
4:22A	Hodel tells Ellen not to argue with him while Dorothy is around. Tells her how to act in company of Dorothy as Ellen then goes to her room, she appears to be angry with Hodel because he sent her to her room without allowing to have any love.
FEBRUARY 28, 1950
4:00P	Snyder over to McGrath, D.A.’s office
5:40P	Changed to spool 24
6:10P	Lt. Frank Jaminson phoned, said Hodel moving furniture out – if Bug is found or all furniture moved phone him at CR 14917. His name is pronounced (JAMINSON) any time, day or night.
March 1, 1950
Spool #25
8:00A	Morgan relieves Brechel
10:30A	. . . (This Spool #25 and following should be checked with federal income tax man in the future as Hodel’s income tax is computed with this man, and it looks like they are about to “take” Uncle for a few bucks.)
10:35A	. . . Conversation about auction-something about FBI. Hodel “I had an offer in Hawaii” . . . Conversation about Mrs. Hodel, alimony, support of children . . .
Spool 26
11:22A	Wire changed to Spool #26
11:30A	Morgan requested Bimson to check cars parked in front of Hodel residence.
12:00P	Walter Sullivan relieves Morgan
12:05P	. . . (Spools 25 and 26 and 27 will prove very interesting to income tax investigators)
2:30P	Start Spool #28. . . .
8:00P	Meyer, LAPD, on duty.
11:37P	Phone rang. Hodel answered - Whoever he was talking to he said, “Don’t say anything over the phone - it is tapped - said he had there phone number, and would call tomorrow - said he would have to go out to call - checked but would not repeat number on phone. Said it is WE 1670 and he knew name of Street. Would have phone people check — said if he said phone number “They” would be out and bother them — that is what “They” always do. When Hodel hung up, Ellen asked him how he knew — Hodel said he was just talking. . . .*
March 2, 1950
SPOOL 29—12:30P Spool No. 29 put on
3-3-50
(Spool #29)
1:30A	Brechel, LAPD on duty
4:10A	Hodel and Ellen have conversation in Spanish. They are in bedroom having sex intercourse or something, probably perversion. Sounds like he got another blow-job.
3-3-50	SPOOL 30—12:00P Changing reel-Sullivan, D.A.’s office on duty.
12:00P	Phone rings, Hodel answers, “Let me look and see”.
12:07P	Lady talked (recorded) “I owe 4 times 75.00, that’s 300.00 (Possibly his wife) “I have to pay my rent or get out”.
12:15P	Conversation with woman continues. Relative to her expenses and the childrens.
12:28P	More conversation (recorded) Hodel “I’ve lost money every year”. Talking about what money she’s earned. Hodel discusses his losses “$6,000,00 in 1946, “I sold the clinic to pay for the losses of that year. Now, I must sell the house. Hodel - something about pennitentiary.
1:11P	Started recording. She’s talking about the children. Much racket. Hodel talks about having wife and children with him again.
3-4-50	(Spool #31)
12:00P	Sullivan Relieves Morgan
1:21P	Phone rings. Hodel answers (recorded) “You’re talking over a tapped line. Oh yes, it’s been tapped for a long time. I’ll be home for the next hour. Be sure and come.
2:45P	Man still talking (recorded) talking to Hodel about some woman. Mentions Barbara Sherman. Dorothy Black (?) . . .
2:55P	SPOOL #31 runs out.
3:26P	Hodel to man “In about 2 or 3 weeks I’ll probably be on way abroad.
3-6-50
12:00noon	Snyder – D.A.’s office on duty
No wire
No recording
3:10P	(. . . Belle and Bimson playing back recordings)
8:00P	Wean, LAPD, on duty.
8:25P	Woman leaves - man enters - talks with Hodel about moral of Spanish girls. Hodel tells man he should have seen his Chinese collection which was worth $100,000.
3-10-50	(Meyer, LAPD on duty at 8:00P, 3-9-50. Spool #?)
12:15A	One or two men and about same amount of women - Talking to Hodel. Hard to understand - something about a place in Mexico not too far from Arizona - good roads - something about a Whore House, or sanatarium. One man seems to be a doctor. Talking about she at Camarillo. Hodel - “She was going to shoot me and commit suicide “Tamara” (way it sounded) . . .
8:00A	J. McGrath, D.A.’s office on duty. . . .
12:25P	Sgt Belle - said he has found out the man with the German accent is one Baron Herringer - a supposed ex-German - Baron. The two new girls are Vilma (age 19) and Sonia (age 15) . . .
3-14-50	(Spool #37)
8:00A	J. McGrath, D.A.’s office on duty
8:15A	Using a pretext - determined Hodel is back from Mexico.
3-17-50	(Spool #37)
7:55P	Mayer, LAPD, on duty. . . .
11:30P	. . . Hodel and man with accent - talking recorded - hard to hear. Hodel says probably they are watching me, talks about selling some of his stuff at an auction - says someone don’t know anything to tell. Hodel said something about getting married again - talks about place in Mexico. . . .
3-18-50	(Spool #37)
12:40A	Hodel - “Do you think those “Bastards” will try to bring action because I am renting rooms”. Hodel says “Do you think we could hire some girl to find out what they are doing”.
1:00A	Man with accent left.
3-21-50
8:00A	J. McGrath, D.A.’s office on duty
10:55A	Hodel phones someone about $50.00 a month he paid some woman “Said I’m in trouble” . . .
3-22-50	(Spool #38)
12:00P	Sullivan, D.A.’s office on duty
1200P-
4:00P	Bimson, Belle, and Sullivan listening to past recordings as Hodel has been out for the entire day.

[SKH—N.B.: Officers reference conversation material on separate spools as follows:]

	SPOOL #26—5-9 talk of trial 9-40 much talk of juggling figures. Spool #27 13-15 - talk about deducting some money as repayment of loans to father and son. 18-22—wire bad Skip—listen from 40 on to 46 to 48—very interesting (cut this spool off at 50 the end is loose).
Spool #37
3-5	Conversation regarding tax case and Dahlia
5-17	Conversation regarding code and mailing—have to be careful—income tax starts at 15 on Spool #25
3-25	(Spool #38)
8:00P	Meyer, LAPD, on duty. . . .
11:10P	Hodel and Baron (man with accent) came in talking low-can’t hear (recording) . . . Sounded like Hodel said something about Black Daliah. Baron said something about F.B.I. Then talked about Tibet - sounded like Hodel wants to get out of the country. Mentioned passport - Hodel giving Baron dope on how to write to Tibet. Hodel talking about Mexico . . . Hodel seems afraid about something. Hodel says his Sanatarium - if he got it started in Mexico - would be “Safe”.
Mar 26, 1950 (Spool #39)
12:00A	SPOOL ran out – changing – talking about women.
12:07A	Not much talk - still recording. Hodel says he wants money and power - talking about China - talking about selling some of Hodel’s paintings or something. Hodel talking about picture police have of him and some girl - thought he had destroyed them all - wire quit at 50 - new one going on - not much talk.
Spool 40
1:50A	Sounds like Baron left - don’t know if there is anything on these records or not.

[SKH—N.B.: Final entry to HODEL FILE is as follows:]

3-27
1:00A	Everyone left.
2:00A	All quiet. Good nite.

The L.A. County District Attorney’s massive “Hodel File” ends on this date. It is believed that George Hodel fled the country in the hours or days immediately following this last entry.

It is obvious from the officers’ log entries that these are only the most general of summaries of George Hodel’s recorded conversations. However, even without benefit of the detailed information contained on the “41 spools,” we find in these transcripts hard evidence, including statements and admissions, implicating him in the murder of Elizabeth Short, as well as the poisoning death of his own (unnamed) secretary.

In addition, George Hodel provides us in these transcripts with direct statements confirming his connection, influence, and payoffs to law enforcement. (“This is the best payoff I’ve seen between Law Enforcement Agencies. You do not have the right connection made in the D.A.’s office. Two men in the D.A.’s office were transferred and demoted because of my trial.”)

In these forty days before Father flees the country we hear him becoming more and more desperate and fearful. Clearly the DA net, with Lieutenant Jemison in charge, is closing. We also learn that during this period my mother, Dorothy Hodel, had been interviewed by DA investigators, and that her verbatim questions were provided to George Hodel. He too is questioned, by both the DA’s investigators and the FBI. (No info is in the files on those interviews.) He voices his suspicion to callers that his “phone lines are tapped” and arranges to continue conversations from a safe line, or meet them in person. George Hodel talks of opening a sanatorium in Mexico (most likely for the triple purpose of running a whorehouse, treating venereal disease, and performing abortions). He informs friends that he is leaving the country by the end of March, saying, “I am in trouble.” On the last day and in the last hours of the electronic surveillance he makes additional damning statements to his German friend, Baron Herringer,* that include mention of “the Black Dahlia,” pictures the police have of him and some girl (likely Elizabeth Short), which he thought he had destroyed, and more talk of the FBI.

In addition to the electronic surveillance and transcripts, my review of the DA files provided further dramatic evidence of Father’s connection to other victims. The files, through both crime reports and photographs, reveal that DA investigators were looking at George Hodel in connection with not just the Black Dahlia murder, but also other crimes, including the murders of: Jeanne French, real estate agent Gladys Kern, and actress Jean Spangler, all of which I linked to my father in this book—well before I gained access to the DA files.

Unkefer-Short-Hodel-Lenorak Connections

On January 16, 1947, the day victim “Jane Doe Number 1” was identified by the FBI as Elizabeth Short, Santa Barbara policewoman Mary Unkefer was one of the first important witnesses contacted by LAPD in the Black Dahlia investigation. Why? Because Officer Unkefer had direct and extended contact with Elizabeth Short after Elizabeth’s September 1943 arrest for “minor possession.” The L.A. Daily News of January 17, 1947, under the headline: “Identify victim as Hollywood resident,” detailed Officer Unkefer’s connections:

She (Elizabeth Short) had been a clerk at the Camp Cooke post exchange near Santa Barbara and was picked up for drinking with soldiers in a cafe there.

Policewoman Mary Unkefer of the Santa Barbara police department took the girl to her own home to live with her for nine days.

“We put her on the train for her home, and several times later she wrote to me from there” Miss Unkefer recalled. One of her letters said: “I’ll never forget you thank God you picked me up when you did!”

Incredibly, from information contained in these DA documents, we only now discover that Mary Unkefer—who in 1943 had been directly responsible for rescuing Elizabeth Short from a dangerous environment—in January 1950 drove from Santa Barbara to Dr. Hodel’s Franklin Avenue residence and there removed another young female victim from harm’s way. Unkefer, after safely returning the victim, whose name was Lillian Lenorak,* to Santa Barbara, typed a letter to Los Angeles DA investigators, describing Dr. Hodel’s suspected involvement in multiple crimes, including subornation of perjury and felony assault. Here for the first time is that remarkable letter, published in its entirety, exactly as it was typed:

Jan. 30-50

Dist. Attorney’s Office	209 W. Valerio St.
Los Angeles, Calif.	Santa Barbara, Calif.

Dear Sir:

I am sorry I missed the Gentleman from your Office on Wednesday. I work at odd hours & I arrived at home about ten minutes after your Man left for work Los Angeles.

I had expected to come to Los Angeles early this week as I had business to attend to there but find it is not necessary for me to make the trip except to give you what information I can regarding the Woman whom I brought to Santa Barbara from the home of Dr. Hodel on Franklin Ave.

Mrs. Hamilton (Mother of the young Woman) asked me to go to Los Angeles to get her & her Baby. I called Dr. Hodel before I left Santa Barbara to make sure the Patient was at his home & there would be no chance of me running into a snag when I got there as it was night & I was not prepared to have to look for her. Dr. Hodel told me that it was very necessary for her to be removed from his home that same evening as he intended to put her in an Institution in Los Angeles if she was not immediately taken back to Santa Barbara. He informed me that two of her Friends were there & that they would return to Santa Barbara with Lillian to keep her from becoming too much of a problem on the way.

When I arrived at the Franklin address (I took a young Woman with me) I sensed something wrong as soon as I entered the building. The Dr. seemed very anxious to tell me that the Girl was in a bad mental condition & that she had attempted suicide. I asked where the parties were who were going to ride to Santa Barbara with me & he said he could not get in touch with them at that time, but when I assured him that I would not take the Girl with me unless her Friends would go along, he then called the Woman (Karoun Tootikian) who came to his home & said she would go with me. Two young men volunteered to drive another car & follow me to see that I got the Girl safely home. Joseph Barrett, who lives at the same address on Franklin & another young man Friend who was not interested in the case, except that he offered to drive Barrett up here & then take the Woman & the other man (Joe Barrett) back to Los Angeles.

When I asked to see Lillian Dr. Hodel explained that I had no need to worry about her giving me trouble on the way to Santa Barbara. He stated that he had given her a large enough dose to keep her asleep for three hours. With the aid of the Mexican maid* (who looks like a half-wit or a hop-head), we packed Lillians clothes & it was about ten P.M. before we got away from his home. Dr. Hodel & Joe Barrett took Lillian to my car, holding her up on both arms. That wakened her & she began to tell us about the Dr. She talked a great deal about her relations with him & she stated that she was very much afraid of him. She said she had witnessed an abortion performed on his own little Girl & then she stated that he had threatened to have her Child taken from her if she did not testify in his favor in Court. She said he knew of some of her foolishness in connection with a Man called Charles, & that he (the Dr.) was holding that over her. She said that she had never attempted suicide & that she had never cut her wrists or her hands. She stated that the Dr. constantly gave her drugs & that when she wakened the cutting had been done. While I was in the Dr’s sittingroom waiting for the Woman who was to drive with us, I asked the Dr. what had caused the Girl to go haywire so suddenly. He said it was a great deal to do with some case she had in Court. It was not until Lillian wakened & told us how she had perjured herself in Court for the Dr. that I realized what case it was that had caused her so much worry. There were scratches & bruises on her forehead & arms. Her (three-year old) baby said the Dr. knocked his Mommie down & made Mommie cry hard.

On the way north, the car with the young men in, drove behind us & it was after I left Lillian at the Phyco. Ward at the Gen. Hospital that I had a chance to talk to Joe Barrett. He stated emphatically that there was nothing wrong with Lillian except what had been brought on by the cruel treatment received from Dr. Hodel. He stated that he knew Lillian had perjured herself at the trial because the Dr. had her under his influence. He stated that the relations between the Dr. & his Child were terrible & were worse than I had any idea. He stated that the Dr. boasted that the $15,000.00 he paid Jerry Geisler was used to influence the Dist. Attorney & that was how the Dr. was cleared of the charge against him. He stated that Lillian had fallen in love with Charles & that Charles was an assistant to another Dr. a Friend of Hodel. When I asked Barrett where this Charles was now living, he stated that he had ‘taken off’ after the Dr’s trial & was in San Francisco. Lillian stated that she had a very guilty mind after the trial & told Hodel that she was going to tell the Dist. Attorney that she had lied on the witness stand, & that Dr. Hodel told her if she squeeled that he would name Charles & the other Dr. as being the ones who performed the operation. Joe Barrett spoke of Dr. Hodel as being a real ‘NO GOOD GUY’.

I visited Lillian at the Hospital on Sunday (yesterday). She seemed glad to see me & stated that she would like to tell me all about the true facts concerning the Dr’s activities & the trial but she stated she knew he would have her done away with as well as her Baby. She said she would like to have told the men from your office all about it but she said she was not sure if you were her Friends & she was just PLUMB SCARED to tell for fear he would carry out his threat to have her Boy taken from her & to have her committed to an insane Institution.

This morning I went to the hearing at the Phycho. Ward & it was determined that she is mentally upset. The Dr. said a deal of the condition was brought about from the strain of the trial. Both Drs. Stated that they felt she should have medical care. So she is to be taken to Camarillo State Hospital for treatment.

My personal opinion is that if the feeling between her & her Mother was not so strained, she might have been given a chance to go home & be taken care of by her Mother. There seems to have never been love between those two. The Mother takes the attitude that she is going to MAKE Lillian do things the way she (Mother) wants them & the Girl seems just as determined that she is not going to be always treated as a Child. Hence there is fireworks between them.

Joe Barrett & Karoun Tootikian were here from Los Angeles to attend the hearing. Joe has had a good chance to talk to Dr. Hodel & he knows the Dist. Attorney’s Office is interested in the case. He seems to be afraid he might be questioned about the trial because his whole attitude was changed. He now speaks of the Dr. as ‘not a bad fellow, with plenty of worries of his own’. He spoke & acted as though he is sorry he opened his mouth the night I brought Lillian home from Los Angeles. Karoun Tootikian’s address is 2211 S. Highland, Dancing Teacher.

I do not know that this information will be of any help to you. It is about all I could tell you if I came down personally. But if there is anything I can do to help in anything that is good & sincere, I am at your service.

Very Sincerely Yours,

Mary H. Unkefer

George Hodel and Charles Smith, the Abortionist

Additional documents found in the DA Dahlia file include a memo prepared by Walter Morgan, and sent to his superior, Lieutenant Frank B. Jemison. On page 5 of these notes, additional independent confirmation of Lillian Lenorak’s allegations was found. Morgan’s notes summarize an interview he and Lieutenant Jemison had with witness Mildred Bray Colby, during which she provided information that supported the charge that George Hodel’s friend and colleague Charles Smith was directly involved in the abortion of my half-sister Tamar and that a “payoff” had been made by my father. The memo reads as follows:

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

TO:

LIEUTENANT FRANK B. JEMISON

IN RE:

NOTES TAKEN ON JEANNE FRENCH AND BLACK DAHLIA MURDERS

FROM:

INVESTIGATOR WALTER MORGAN

DATE:

AUGUST 30, 1950

Page 5

3/20/50, #30-1268, Field with Lt. Jemison to 4629 Vista Del Monte (Midred Bray Colby) - 7X6316 at Doc’s on Ventura Blvd. (Lincoln Continental, green) - 42R966 (woman waived at party in 7X6316).

Jemison (to Colby): Did you know that Charlie Smith was a friend of Dr. Hodel’s?

Answer:

Yes. Smith made frequent trips to San Francisco for tea.

Jemison:

Did you know that he has been operating girls from San Francisco for abortions?

Answer:

No. But I wouldn’t put it past him.

Jemison:

Is this a picture of him?

Answer:

Yes. That’s him all right. Smith said that some day he was going to fix Tamar. He was going to cut a chunk out of the calf of her leg and fry it and eat it in front of her eyes and then puke it up in front of her face.

Jemison:

Did you ever hear Smith mention the Black Dahlia?

Answer:

No.

Jemison:

Did you ever hear Hodel mention the Black Dahlia?

Answer:

No. The last night I was with Charlie Smith we went to a show. We got into Hollywood about 2:00 o’clock, somewhere on Franklin near Normandie.* He went in a house somewhere on Franklin. After he came out we stopped by a place to eat and during the time we were eating he pulled out an envelope that contained at least $1,000 in money. Before he went in I know he didn’t have any money.

Jemison:

What date was that?

Answer:

December 29, 1949.† His birthday was December 28. That’s how I know. He didn’t know how much he had in the envelope. When he came out he asked if there were any cars cruising around and I said that there were, and he sure got nervous and said, “Let’s get out of here.” There was another time when Smith parked on Wilshire and he came out with over $100.00 in new bills. The last time I was with him he got mad and threatened to hit me and said that the only reason why he wouldn’t is that it would kill me if he hit me—State 4526

DA Investigator’s Telegram Re: Charles Smith

This Western Union telegram was sent to L.A. County DA investigator Bill Snyder on March 14, 1950, by then San Francisco district attorney Edmund G. Brown (who would be elected governor of California eight years later). The handwritten notation on it reads:

In regards to friend of Hodel, Smith abortionist.

The text of Brown’s telegram reads:

REGARDING CHARLES W. SMITH HAVE YOU CHECKED WITH SACRAMENTO FOR REGISTRATION AND DRIVERS LICENSE IF SO WHAT DO THEY DISCLOSE REGARDING AGE COLOR ETC=

EDMUND G. BROWN DISTRICT ATTORNEY

This telegram demonstrates that just thirteen days before George Hodel fled the country, the DA investigators were attempting to identify and locate his “friend and known abortionist connection,” Charles Smith. It is doubtful that they were successful in their search, since no subsequent interview with Smith was found in the DA file.

DA Investigator Lieutenant Frank Jemison and the Elizabeth Short and Jeanne French Murder Investigations

I learned from the DA Dahlia files that Lieutenant Jemison was officially assigned the duty of reinvestigating the Short and French murders by the 1949 grand jury on October 13, 1949—one week after the arrest of Dr. George Hodel for incest. LAPD chief of police W. A. Worton assigned homicide detectives Ed Barrett and Finis A. Brown to assist Lieutenant Jemison, as well as Officer Jack Smyre from Internal Affairs Division.*

Exhibit 69

Lieutenant Jemison’s investigation into the Short/French murders was massive and his documentation of the facts extremely detailed. The early months of his investigation (October 1949 through January 1950) show him familiarizing himself with the “old” LAPD investigation (1947–49) and many investigative hours were spent by Jemison and his subordinates in an effort to rule in or out one Leslie Dillon, who had been investigated, named, and arrested by the LAPD Gangster Squad as the “prime Dahlia suspect.” Ultimately, Jemison (despite ongoing protestations from the Gangster Squad detectives) would be successful in establishing that Dillon was in San Francisco at the time of the Elizabeth Short murder, and he was eliminated as a suspect.

In February and March of 1950, as shown in the transcripts of the electronic surveillance on the Franklin House, Lieutenant Jemison was totally focused on Dr. George Hodel as the prime suspect in the murder of Elizabeth Short. These newly released documents confirm what my book alleges, namely that Dr. Hodel was in fact the “wealthy Hollywood man” initially described in the December 7, 1949, Los Angeles Examiner article “Dahlia Motel Angle Probed by Grand Jury.” (That article has a man fitting George Hodel’s description checking into the East Washington Boulevard Hotel with Elizabeth Short, as “Mr. and Mrs. Barnes,” just days before her murder. His identity is further confirmed by the later article, “Murder Cases Reopened by District Attorney” (Los Angeles Times, April 1, 1950), and a companion article in the Los Angeles Daily News of March 31, 1950, which was headlined: “DA Stalks Mutilation Killers.” These articles, as discussed in previous chapters, show Lieutenant Jemison describing the suspect as a “wealthy Hollywood man” and link the suspect to the Jeanne French murder and the 1947 disappearance of the bloody clothing from the LAPD evidence lockers. Rebutting Lieutenant Jemison, LAPD deputy chief Thad Brown informed the press that “the clothing belonged to a short-lived suspect in the case, never was recorded as evidence because its owner was absolved of any connection with the crime two weeks after it occurred.”

Given the sudden and unexpected termination of the electronic surveillance at the Franklin House on March 27, 1950, plus Father’s recorded statement on that date to a visitor that he “is in trouble” and further mentions of “the Black Dahlia,” “the FBI,” and his “passport,” we can assume that George Hodel on that date fled, or was about to flee, the country.

Four days later, on April 1, 1950, the Times article appears to confirm Father’s sudden disappearance. That article opens with the sentence: “District Attorney’s investigators are now searching,” [italics mine] for a man they believe to be a “hot suspect” in the three-year-old murder of Mrs. Jeanne French.”

Lieutenant Frank Jemison’s Interview with Dorothy Hodel

The DA files also contain a transcribed interview between Lieutenant Jemison and my mother, Dorothy Harvey Hodel, which took place at her residence on the Santa Monica pier on March 22, 1950, just five days before her ex-husband is believed to have fled the country. At the time of this interview, Mother was unemployed, was in the process of being evicted for owing $300 in back rent, and was solely dependent upon Father for her court-ordered alimony, amounting to $200 a month.

Exhibit 70

DA transcript of Dorothy Hodel interview

As can be seen in the interview, she remained totally uncooperative and stonewalled all of Jemison’s efforts to implicate Father. The importance of this interview lies not what we learn from my mother but what we learn from Lieutenant Jemison’s questions, namely that George Hodel and Elizabeth Short were indeed acquainted and had been seen together at the Franklin House before her murder, and that George Hodel, in a drunken state “on or about the time of the murder,” stated, “They will never be able to prove I did that murder.”*

Here are excerpted portions of that transcript:

Lt. Jemison:

I will show you a photograph of Beth Short, Santa Barbara No. 11419 and ask you whether or not you have ever seen that young lady in your life?

Dorothy Hodel:

No, I never have.

Lt. Jemison:

Did you have a conversation with Dr. Hodel about the murder of Beth Short?

Dorothy Hodel:

No, unless we mentioned it when it was in the papers, but I don’t like to read about things like that. I can’t say for sure that I have never mentioned her name to him, but it may have been in passing.

Lt. Jemison:

Did he ever tell you, “They can’t pin that murder on me”

Dorothy Hodel:

No, to the best of my knowledge he didn’t and doesn’t know her.

Lt. Jemison:

On or about the date of her murder, January 15, 1947 do you remember being out until 4:00 in the morning with George Hodel and coming in slightly intoxicated? Now, that’s three years ago.

Dorothy Hodel:

Well, I think I explained before we never went on drinking parties because I don’t drink because of certain tendencies to drink too much and particularly if I were near him I would not drink because from a medical point of view he does not approve of my drinking and I don’t know that I understood the question.

Lt. Jemison:

Well, the information that I have is that he was quite intoxicated himself and at that time on that occasion stated that they couldn’t pin the Black Dahlia murder on him.

Dorothy Hodel:

No. No, that isn’t true.

Lt. Jemison:

Do you remember ever telling Tamar that?

Dorothy Hodel:

No.

Lt. Jemison:

Did you ever tell Tamar that Dr. George Hodel was out the night before the murder with Beth Short at a party?

Dorothy Hodel:

No, I was living at my brother’s house at the time. We were not living at the same house. I wouldn’t know what he was doing.

Lt. Jemison:

What was your brother’s address at that time?

Dorothy Hodel:

2121 Loma Vista Place.

Lt. Jemison:

Has anybody ever told you that Dr. George Hodel had Beth Short over to his home?

Dorothy Hodel:

No.

Lt. Jemison:

Nobody has ever told you that?

Dorothy Hodel:

No. No one has ever told me that.

Lt. Jemison:

For your information her photograph has been identified by certain persons as resembling the young lady that was over to his house prior to the murder. You never heard anything about that?

Dorothy Hodel:

I never did.

Lt. Jemison:

As a matter of fact you are on quite a friendly relation aren’t you, with Dr. George Hodel?

Dorothy Hodel:

We are friends.

. . .

Lt. Jemison:

I show you Sheriff’s Photograph B 119364 and will ask you if you recognize that?

Dorothy Hodel:

Yes.

Lt. Jemison:

Who is that?

Dorothy Hodel:

Dr. George Hodel.

Lt. Jemison:

Now in view of the fact that the District Attorney’s office is interested in contacting all persons that might know something about whether or not Dr. Hodel had anything to do with this murder, I now show you a photograph of a nude girl and ask you if you recognize who that girl is. In other words, we want to know her name and where we can contact her?

Dorothy Hodel:

There is something familiar about her face. I think she may have been some model or something.

Lt. Jemison:

Did you ever hear Dr. Hodel say anything more about the details of this murder of Beth Short about the body or anything about it?

Dorothy Hodel:

No, I never heard him discuss it at all.

Lt. Jemison:

Well, if you look back on the events that took place about the time of the murder, did you have any reason to suspect that Dr. Hodel might have had something to do with it?

Dorothy Hodel:

None whatever.

Lt. Jemison:

Let me advise you that we do have information that he did associate with Beth Short, and as you know the last place she was seen alive was at the Biltmore Hotel in the evening of January 9, 1947.

Exhibit 71

Dorothy Hodel:

I didn’t know that.

Suspect Vehicle

In our review of the serial crimes, including the kidnappings, rapes, and murders, that occurred in the years before George Hodel fled the country in late March 1950, we know that in numerous crimes, witnesses repeatedly describe the suspect vehicle as being a “black sedan.”

On January 16, 1947, the Los Angeles Examiner printed the map below showing the location where Elizabeth Short’s body had been posed, along with the information that witnesses had seen a black sedan parked near the body for approximately four minutes.

Earlier in this book I described riding around in my father’s Army jeep as an eight-year-old boy in 1949, accompanying him on his “house calls.” Even after all these years, that is a strong and certain memory. As a boy, and from later family conversations, I knew that my father owned and drove another car during those years, which he called “Tar Baby,” because it was black. However, since I did not know or remember its year, make, or model, I decided to exclude this fact from my book, feeling the information would detract from my objectivity as an investigator.

Thanks to the detailed documentation in the newly released DA files, we can now confirm that at that time Dr. George Hodel owned and drove a black Packard sedan California license plate number 3W 49 38.

I quote directly from the surveillance log of DA investigator Walter Morgan:

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

TO:

LIEUTENANT FRANK B. JEMISON

IN RE:

NOTES TAKEN ON JEANNE FRENCH AND BLACK DAHLIA MURDERS

FROM:

INVESTIGATOR WALTER MORGAN

. . .

(page 3)

2-23-50, #30-1268, Stakeout on Hodel - 3W 49 38 - Hodel’s black Packard sedan. Tailed to Western and Wilshire, Glendale and Temple, Hollywood and Gower, Hollywood and Sycamore. Picked up wife on corner, looked over old pierced arrow - parked around the corner. Tailed to 8482 Wilshire, Art of the Orient Auction Gallories [sic] where Hodel entered at 4:55 p.m. Tailed to Wilshire and Hamilton, Wilshire and Camden; Hodel stopped on Camden for a few minutes. Tailed to Warner and Wilshire. Then back to his home.

3-3-50, #30-1268, 3W 49 38 in Hodel’s garage.

This vehicle, registered to George Hodel, matched not only the car seen leaving the Elizabeth Short crime scene the morning of January 15 1947,* but also the one frequently described by witnesses and surviving victims in many of the other crimes summarized earlier in the book. To cite just a few: the kidnap/rape of Sylvia Horan by a “suave stranger, driving a black vehicle”; the car described by friends of Jean Spangler, who saw her just hours before her disappearance “with a clean-cut man in his thirties in a black sedan” in the parking lot of the Hollywood Ranch Market (directly across the street from Man Ray’s residence); downtown L.A. murder victim Rosenda Mondragon, who had been seen getting into a stranger’s “dark-colored” vehicle at 2:00 A.M. at Mission and Main Streets, just hours before her vicious murder; and the 1947 Jeanne French “Red Lipstick Murder,” where the victim entered the suspect’s “1937 black sedan.”

Exhibit 72

The Gladys Kern Homicide

District attorney’s documents and logs reveal that investigators, along with the Short and French murders, were also actively attempting to link a suspect to the murders of Gladys Kern (1948) and Jean Spangler (1949).

On the following page is a copy of one of those documents, the handwritten note found in connection with the Hollywood murder of Gladys Kern.

Kern Murder Note, February 17, 1948

This hand-printed note was mailed to the police and press by the murderer of Gladys Kern, who as noted in chapter 31, was found stabbed to death in Hollywood.

This note, written before her body was discovered on February 17, 1948, was left in the same downtown mailbox as a note sent by the “Black Dahlia Avenger” on January 24, 1947. (The mailbox location was two blocks from Dr. Hodel’s medical office at 7th and Flower streets.) I here identify the handwriting on this note as that of my father. Forensic handwriting expert Hannah McFarland has independently examined the writing and compared it to known samples, and it is her opinion that it is “highly probable” that the note was written by Dr. George Hill Hodel. (This is the highest level of determination, absent comparison of the original document.) This evidence, added to the already overwhelming circumstantial case previously compiled in the Kern investigation (composite, murder weapon ID, witness statements, etc.) should leave no doubt that George Hodel did in fact commit that murder as well.

“Close It!”

In the days immediately preceding the publication of Black Dahlia Avenger I met and had lunch with former DA investigator Walter Morgan, the partner in 1950 of Lieutenant Frank Jemison. I gave him a copy of the book, and thanked him for coming to me with the information on the “bugging” of our Franklin House. During that lunch, he clarified a misunderstanding on my part. From our previous interview, I was under the impression that Lieutenant Jemison had gone to the press with the information that LAPD had destroyed the bloody clothing belonging to the “wealthy Hollywood man” (Dr. Hodel). In reality, a reporter present at the DA’s office overheard Jemison talking angrily and loudly to his fellow DA investigators about the LAPD’s destruction of the suspect’s bloody clothing, which as discussed earlier was related to the Jeanne French murder. This reporter broke the story the following day. Here is how Morgan put it to me:

Exhibit 73

There was this guy, Emerson was his name. He was a newspaperman. We were at the office. Jemison was talking and raising his voice, and Frank got too vocal. This Emerson guy had big ears and overheard Frank’s conversation, and it got into the newspapers. I tried to hold Frank back but he was the excited type.

After this leak to the press, Jemison’s boss, Captain H. Leo Stanley, was quoted in the same article expressing full support for his lieutenant, stating, “His investigators remain unconvinced that a bloody shirt and trousers found in the home of an acquaintance of Mrs. French have been fully eliminated as a clue to the murder.”

In my original interview with Walter Morgan, prior to the publication of Black Dahlia Avenger, he unequivocally stated that this leak was the reason Jemison was taken off the case. In Morgan’s words:

On the Jeanne French murder, Jemison accused the LAPD of hiding some bloody clothes, or getting rid of some bloody clothes from a locker. They called that the Black Dahlia number two. The accusation made headlines the next day, so the DA just took him right off the case.*

The DA didn’t give a damn if we knew who murdered Jeanne French at that point. We thought we were making some progress, and Jemison thought he had a good suspect, but when he said that about LAPD, that was it.

Clearly, the orders came down from “on high”: close the Dahlia and Red Lipstick murders and return the cases to LAPD! Lieutenant Jemison, armed with more than enough “reasonable cause” to arrest Dr. George Hodel, and about to do so, was now ordered by his superiors to close it out. How is that done? How does the investigating officer, with reasonable cause to arrest the suspect for the two murders, go overnight from imminent arrest to case closed? By simply ignoring and omitting the investigative facts and evidence, and in his final report, writing four paragraphs on the prime suspect—George Hodel—with an exculpatory spin, and returning the case to LAPD, after inserting a disclaimer, attempting to wash clean his and his fellow officers’ hands of any investigative responsibility.

Here in his own typewritten words from the DA files are excerpts from Jemison’s twelve-page closing report. Though it deals with twenty-two separate suspects, we have established that by February 1950 his office was totally focused on “Suspect No. 10,” Dr. George Hill Hodel. Despite the fact that he has solved the Dahlia and Red Lipstick murders, with proof that LAPD detectives destroyed connecting physical evidence [bloody clothing], Lieutenant Jemison nevertheless “follows orders.” As he knows in his own mind and heart that Dr. Hodel is the actual killer, Jemison’s conscience will not allow him to commit an outright lie to paper (i.e., exonerating Hodel), so the best he can do as a good soldier is to include a statement “tending to eliminate Hodel.” Reading between the lines, especially in Lieutenant Jemison’s last paragraph, one can detect his frustration and disgust.

Suspect 10. Doctor George Hodel, M.D., 5121 Fountain Avenue,* at the time of this murder had a clinic at East First Street near Alameda. Lillian La Norak, [sic] who lived with this doctor said he spent some time around the Biltmore Hotel and identified the photo of victim Short as a photo of one of the doctor’s girlfriends. Tamara Hodel, fifteen year old daughter stated that her mother, Dorothy Hodel, had told her that her father had been out all night on a party the night of this murder and said, “They’ll never be able to prove I did that murder.” Two microphones were placed in this suspect’s home (see the logs and recordings made over approximately three weeks’ time which tend to prove his innocence. See statement of Dorothy Hodel, former wife.) Informant Lillian LeNorak has been committed to the State Mental Institution at Camarillo Joe Barratt [sic], a roomer at the Hodel residence cooperated as an informant. A photograph of the suspect in the nude with a nude identified colored model was secured from his personal effects. Undersigned identified this model as Mattie Comfort,* 3423-1/2 South Arlington, Republic 4953. She said that she was with Doctor Hodel sometime prior to the murder and that she knew [N.B.: The handwritten word “nothing” was inserted by unknown writer after typed report prepared, which totally reverses the meaning of the sentence. See insert—SKH] about his being associated with victim. Rudolph Walthers, known to have been acquainted with victim and also with suspect Hodel, claimed that he had not seen victim in the presence of Hodel and did not believe that the doctor had ever met the victim. The following acquaintances of Hodel were questioned and none were able to connect this suspect with this murder: Fred Sexton, 1020 White Knoll Drive; Nita Moladoro, 1617-1/2 North Normandy; Ellen Taylor, 5121 Franklin Ave; Finley Thomas, 616-1/2 South Normandy; Mildred B. Colby, 4629 Vista Del Monte Street, Sherman Oaks, this witness was a girl friend of Charles Smith, abortionist friend of Hodel; Tarin Gilkey, 1025 North Wilcox; Irene Summerset, 1236-1/4 North Edgement; Norman Beckett, 1025 North Wilcox; Ethel Kane, 1033 North Wilcox; Annette Chase, 1039 North Wilcox; Dorothy Royer, 1636 North Beverly Glen. See supplemental reports, long sheets and hear recordings, all of which tend to eliminate this suspect.

Exhibit 74

1950 Jemison typed summary as it currently appears in DA file.

[Final paragraph]

The Beth Short murder has been at all times the responsibility of the Los Angeles Police Department Homicide Division. After the undersigned testified before the 1949 Grand Jury hearings, this Grand Jury requested the 1950 Grand Jury to continue their investigation into this murder along with that of Jeanne French. Deputy District Attorney Fred Henderson, advisor to the 1950 Grand Jury, advised the undersigned that a progress report on the investigation of these murders would be required from time to time. The undersigned advised Deputy Chief Thad Brown of this and it was agreed that the case would never be assumed by the District Attorney’s Office [italics mine] that all of the files and evidence would remain with the Los Angeles Police Department Homicide Division and that temporarily, undersigned would assist in this investigation. Chief of Police Worton, when interviewed, approved this plan. Copies of all statements and reports were given the Los Angeles Police Department for their files [italics mine]. See reports and statements for names of various officers working with undersigned. On October 3, 1950, the Grand Jury apparently had lost interest in these murders as they had not summoned undersigned for progress reports and Chief of the Bureau of Investigation, H. Leo Stanley advised the closing of the investigation.

CLOSED

LT. FRANK B. JEMISON, Investigator

The closing paragraph leaves no further doubt: it is the “smoking gun” that proves that all references showing that Dr. George Hill Hodel was the prime suspect in the Elizabeth Short and Jeanne French murders have been “sanitized” and removed from LAPD files.

Through this document, Lieutenant Jemison was creating his own CYA (Cover Your Ass), making it abundantly clear that he was ordered to close the case by his superior, H. Leo Stanley, and turn over all reports and interviews to LAPD chiefs Thad Brown and W. A. Worton.

Lieutenant Jemison’s legacy to Los Angeles was to lock and secure a copy of the “Hodel File” in the DA’s vault, which the fair-minded, fair-handed district attorney Steve Cooley would, some fifty-three years later, unlock and make public.

Elizabeth Short/George Hodel Photographs

Since this book was published, most readers found the circumstantial evidence against Dr. George Hodel exceptionally compelling before the discovery of the DA Dahlia files, which confirm that Dr. Hodel was indeed the prime suspect.

A vocal few (mostly Dahlia “theorists” who have either written their own book or have gone public with accusations naming other suspects) have attacked my investigation based on the fact that they do not believe that the photographs taken by Father, and found in his album of “loved ones,” are of Elizabeth Short.

I decided from the start that I would not and will not get into any “pissing contest” with these “theorists.” The top photograph from Dr. Hodel’s family album is compared to her Santa Barbara booking photo. The bottom photo is from the crime-scene DA files, and the only modification I have made is to airbrush over the facial lacerations in order to spare the victim’s family members and readers that horrific sight. Incredibly, the pose, with the angle of the head and face and the outstretched left arm, is nearly identical in position to my father’s photograph.

Exhibit 75

Dr. George Hodel photo album

Elizabeth Short booking photo, 1943 age 19

Dr. George Hodel photo album

Elizabeth Short crime scene, 1947 (lacerations airbrushed)

Is the above photo, found in my father’s album, the same young woman? I believe it is. I leave it to my readers to make their own judgment.

The fact is, with the discovery of the DA files the question of whether the photograph is or is not Elizabeth Short has become a moot point. Lt. Jemison, in his 1950 investigative files independently and unequivocally corroborated the fact that George Hodel and Elizabeth Short were acquainted and dated. He reported that multiple witnesses placed Elizabeth Short and George Hodel together prior to her murder.

The Public Comes to Me

My motive in writing Black Dahlia Avenger has always been to get the truth out before the public. My goal was—and remains—to inform. As a result of the media exposure the book has received, the public has responded generously through e-mails to my website (Blackdahliaavenger.com), letters to my publisher, and at my personal appearances and book signings. Approximately 95 percent of these responses have been overwhelmingly positive, not only about my findings but about me and my family members, especially my half-sister, Tamar. My hope was that once the public became informed some new and important information would surface. Of the many instances in which that did happen, I present here six separate incidents involving seven individuals. Each of these seven people came forward, unsolicited, with new and compelling information. They spoke out because they care about the truth.

I suspect that in the coming months more people will surface with further evidence. The simple fact is, the “riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” has been unwrapped and will forever remain open for all to see.

-1-

We know from LAPD reports, joint tissue studies by Dr. Lemoyne Snyder and LAPD criminalist Ray Pinker, and from the FBI dossier, that all experts were united in the belief that the murder of Elizabeth Short was committed by a skilled surgeon. However, in the past, these statements have been presented as broad generalizations, lacking medical specifics. In July 2003, professor and surgeon Dr. Michael Keller, after reading my book, and examining crime-scene photographs, contacted me and provided his own far more specific and detailed insights. Here is his professional opinion, to be added to the weight of evidence that a surgeon committed the crime.

24 July, 2003

Steve —

From the information in your book, I feel in fact that Ms. Short’s murderer did in fact have medical training and not just knowledge. Several reasons:

1—To remain calm enough to completely transect a human torso with its inevitable spillages of blood, stool, gastrointestinal content and urine would have required (I think) someone who had seen it all before. This person knew where he was going.

2—The photos of the scene and the morgue which I looked up on the Net appear to show a very clean procedure. Surgeons make bold clean incisions thru each layer of tissue with the correct amount of pressure to divide only the tissues they are attending to. The uninitiated—laypersons—usually underestimate the amount of pressure it takes just to divide skin, let alone an intervertebral disc. Their procedures often result in cuts that are serrated at the ends from going over the tissue repeatedly. We derogatorily call these “Staging Laparotomies—going thru the skin in stages.” Additionally, amateurs often skive the incisions. Their cuts go thru skin at an angle to the horizontal plane so that one edge is “feathered” and the other appears peeled.

3—The killer here was educated enough not to attempt going thru the bones of the lumbar spine. He was savvy enough to locate and divide at the disc space. Even at that, it takes tremendous will and a very sharp instrument to divide the spinous ligaments and the thick paravertebral muscles. An amateur would probably have left hack marks on the vertebral bodies as he “casted about” for the interspace.

4—There appeared to be a willful attempt to perform or simulate the performance of a hysterectomy which at that time would have been done through a lower vertical midline as the photos appear to show. That was a medical decision.

5—We have no reason to doubt the police medical examiner as his report precedes the cover-up and actually indicts a medical person.

6—I believe medical knowledge would have been necessary to prolong the torture phase without killing the victim prematurely, but then again Dahmer apparently was able to trephine some of his victims and keep them alive. Still, in all, the Dahlia case seemed as though it may have been a prolonged “dance”—more skill needed.

7—Finally I think a surgeon’s hand would have been required to recontour the body in just such a way that it reproduced Man Ray’s The Minotaur—knowing where and how much to cut. This is less of a point but I feel that there is still credence here.

Overall I feel no reason to doubt your case and in fact, taken together, if the killer was not Dr. Hodel then it must certainly have been another such professional.

Besides, as a teacher of students and both surgery and family practice residents, I am aware that their initial attempts at incisions end up as stated in #2 above. It requires about one to two years of steady practice to develop the feel of scalpel against various tissue. Persons with innate surgical ability are rare. Most of us must repeatedly experience the tactile sensations to develop the right “feel”.

Exhibit 76

1942 diploma wherein President Franklin D. Roosevelt certified Dr. George Hill Hodel as a Public Health surgeon

What I have stated is based on 20 years of surgical practice and education of young doctors. In my personal opinion, however, I am comfortable with your assertions and do believe the Dahlia was a professional work.

Sincerely,

Michael Keller, M.D.

-2-

During a book signing at a bookstore in Torrance, California, a woman asked me, “Do you think that Fred Sexton was involved in these crimes?” My answer to her was a qualified “yes.” I explained that while the circumstantial evidence connecting him to some of the crimes was insufficient for the DA to state that he would charge him along with George Hodel, I was nonetheless convinced of his participation based on various crime scene signatures, composite drawings, and witness descriptions. The woman’s response shocked and silenced the room. “So do I,” she replied. “Fred Sexton was my stepfather, and he molested me when I was eleven years old.”

Since that night, I have met with this woman and her mother (names withheld to protect their privacy), who was married to Fred Sexton during the mid-to-late 1960s. They lived in Mexico and in Los Angeles, and the mother, a beautiful soul and highly successful artist, detailed for me her life with Sexton. After the molestation of her daughter, Sexton fled to Mexico, where he emptied their joint bank accounts (a very substantial amount of money, in fact a lifetime of savings earned solely by her). This woman, his second wife, obtained a divorce in the United States, while Sexton remained safe and untouchable in Mexico. At age sixty, Fred Sexton would marry a girl still in her teens, and live in comfort and security from his ex-wife’s funds, while this extraordinary woman would remain in the United States, try to pick up her life, provide love and comfort to her traumatized daughter, and attempt as best she could to move forward and away from the darkness that was Fred Sexton. These disclosures, coming as they do from two highly reliable and closely related victims of Fred Sexton, further expose and corroborate his criminal nature, both as a violent abuser of women and as a child molester.

-3-

After a book signing at an Orange County, California, bookstore, I was approached by a man who identified himself (and showed me his credentials) as a retired commander (and thirty-eight-year veteran) with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, Commander Thomas M. Vetter. He had read my book, complimented me on my investigation, and told me that in 1962 he was personally present during a conversation between then undersheriff James Downey and famed LASD captain of detectives J. Gordon Bowers, the subject of which was the Black Dahlia murder. In the course of their discussion Downey informed Bowers that the “Black Dahlia case was solved. The suspect was a medical doctor in Hollywood involved in abortions.”

-4-

Immediately after completing an interview at a well-known Los Angeles–based radio station, KNX, I was approached by engineer and production supervisor Raul Moreno. Mr. Moreno told me he had read my book, was convinced of its accuracy, and had been anxious to meet me, because he had some important information to offer that would confirm my own findings. To establish his credibility, he told me he was an LAPD reserve officer, a Los Angeles historian, and had helped research and put together some of LAPD’s historical writings. He went on to say that he was a personal friend of actor Jack Webb, who performed for decades as Sergeant Joe Friday on Dragnet. As a child he had acted in several Dragnet episodes, and as an adult he had remained friends with Webb. As proof of this, he removed from his wallet an LAPD police ID card with Webb’s picture on it, including his famous “Badge 714,” which he informed me had been given to him by Webb. Then came the shocker:

In 1982 I had a conversation with my longtime friend, Jack Webb.* We somehow got on the subject of the Black Dahlia murder. Webb told me that “you know the Black Dahlia murder was solved.” I asked him what he was talking about, and he told me that his good friend LAPD Chief Thad Brown had told him the case had been solved. Thad Brown told Webb that “the suspect was a doctor in Hollywood who lived on Franklin Ave.”

“Are you sure that Jack Webb told you that Thad Brown said, ‘on Franklin Avenue’?” I asked. “Absolutely, he replied. “That is why I know your information is correct. Jack Webb said that LAPD chief Brown told him, ‘the Dahlia suspect was a doctor on Franklin Ave.’”

-5-

LAPD Sergeant Harry Hansen, initially assigned to the 1947 Dahlia crime-scene investigation as partner to Finis Brown (brother of Deputy Chief Thad Brown), would eventually become the Dahlia’s most famous detective after Efrem Zimbalist Jr. played him in the 1975 NBC-TV dramatization Who Is the Black Dahlia?

After the publication of Black Dahlia Avenger, I was contacted by Harry Hansen’s granddaughter, who informed me that she had read my book. After some correspondence back and forth, we decided to meet. She and her husband invited me to lunch at their San Fernando Valley home, a short distance from Los Angeles. After lunch, Hansen’s granddaughter brought out a box full of papers and files belonging to her grandfather, and allowed me to look through them to see if they contained any important additional information about the case. As a result, I made two important discoveries. First, I learned that Harry Hansen had been with LAPD much longer than I had realized. He attended the police academy in 1926 making him definitely one of the “old guard.” Hansen retired in 1968 after forty-two years of service. Second, and most important, was the discovery that among his personal effects, Hansen had preserved a packet of photographs. Mixed together in this single packet were crime-scene and autopsy photographs from the following three homicides: Elizabeth Short, Jeanne French, and Louise Springer. As we know, my own investigation had produced extensive evidence that my father was the perpetrator of all three crimes. Do these fifty-four-year-old photographs, secreted in Harry Hansen’s attic for these many decades, inform us from beyond the grave that he also believed these crimes were the work of one man?

Exhibit 77

Efrem Zimbalist Jr. & Lieutenant Harry Hansen (ret.) during NBC-TV production. Inscription reads:

“Harry—It is great being you, and being with you.

Fondest and best wishes to you both. Always—Efrem”

-6-

Geographical Profiling

In August 2003, I was contacted by Dr. Evan R. Harrington, professor of psychology, at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Dr. Harrington advised me he was conducting research into the geographic profile of the unsolved murders as outlined in Black Dahlia Avenger, using “Dragnet,” a geo-profile program originated by Dr. David Canter.*

Here is a partial description from Dr. Harrington on how the program functions:

Dragnet uses a relatively simple geometric formula to locate the likely residence of an offender based on the observation from numerous published studies that most crimes (including homicide and rape) occur close to an offender’s home. Dragnet uses a distance-decay function which locates an area closest to multiple crime locations entered as data in the program and describes this area as the highest probability for the home of the offender. Dragnet provides a color coded set of concentric bands around this center area, illustrating the relative probabilities for the location of the offender’s home.

The data used in his analysis consisted of both my Category I (definite) and Category II (probable) crime locations. As of this writing (mid-October 2003) Dr. Harrington has presented his results to the faculty at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and is preparing his findings for publication.

Here are his preliminary conclusions:

1)   Geographic-profile analysis using only the Category I crimes (7 murder drop-sites; Murray, Bauerdorf, Short, French, Kern, Boomhower, Spangler-purse, and Armand Robles assault/robbery) places the Franklin House, 5121 Franklin Avenue in the high probability zone.

2)   Geographic-profile analysis using the Category I and Category II crime scenes (4 murder drop-sites; Winters, Trelstad, Mondragon, and Springer, plus the Norton, M’Grew & Horan abductions) the Dragnet profile then switches the highest profile zone away from the Franklin House; and places the high probability zone, in an area of downtown Los Angeles, which encompasses Dr. Hodel’s medical office at 727 W. 7th St. (Data excluded from this analysis were the San Diego (Newton) and El Monte murders (Ellroy and Long) as well as the Jane Doe (George Hodel secretary) poisoning, due to lack of information as to where that crime occurred.)

Dr. Harrington in his preliminary report to me states:

In conclusion, Dragnet successfully identified both the Hodel residence and the Hodel medical practice as being in areas considered highest probability for the base of the killer(s).

Elizabeth Short—More Photographs

In February 2003, four original photographs of Elizabeth Short came up for auction on the Internet. The photographs were part of Elizabeth’s personal effects, which as noted were found by Examiner reporters in the luggage that she checked at the downtown bus station on January 9, just before Robert Manley drove her to the Biltmore Hotel. By mutual agreement between LAPD Captain Jack Donahoe and city editor James Richardson, the luggage was opened at the newspaper’s office.

These recently discovered photographs appear to suggest that the police and the press split the bounty, the Examiner retaining these four photographs. Several of these photographs were printed in biographical articles about Elizabeth in the weeks following her murder. The historical importance of the prints, and even the fact they were of Elizabeth Short, were forgotten over the decades, and the four photographs were sold as part of a larger collection when the newspaper closed its doors in the 1970s.

Exhibit 78

These four photographs, along with hundreds of other unrelated Examiner morgue photos, were purchased by a retail collector of old photographs and remained lost, until they were ultimately reidentified and purchased by a private buyer in the early 1990s. A decade later he decided to put them up for auction on eBay.

Recognizing the photographs’ historical and forensic importance, along with my strong personal interest, I set out to obtain them. The bidding was fierce, but fate was on my side, and in the final second I won out. My forensic examination of these photographs is pending further tests. In the meantime, however, I want to share these rare photographs with my readers. They are candid pictures of Elizabeth taken in happier times, mostly with boyfriends.

Not visible in these photographs are the handprinted names and a location written in blue ink, prior to 1947, that are at the bottom of each photograph. The notations read as follows:*

a.   “Beth Short—Tim”

b.   “Jax. Fla.”

c.   “Beth Short—Paul Morris”

d.   Shows reverse of photo c, which still contains remains of glue and black paper where reporters removed it from Elizabeth’s scrapbook. (Photos a, b, and e contain similar markings.)

e.   “Beth Short”

During my review of the DA’s files, I discovered a brief interview conducted by DA investigators with a young man who claimed to have met Elizabeth Short in Hollywood in late October, 1946. The report indicated that he had told her he was a photographer, and suggested he take some pictures of her. She agreed and they drove to the east side of Hollywood, where he shot the following pictures on the steps of John Marshall High School. (Note: Only two, poor-quality copies of the six photographs he took of Elizabeth were found in the DA files.)

The six photographs, all appearing to be originals, were discovered during a follow-up visit with Detective Harry Hansen’s granddaughter, Judy, in late September 2003. (As previously mentioned this box of Dahlia-related photographs came into her possession after the death of her grandfather.) Judy showed them to me, hoping they would further buttress my case.

To verify (as stated in the DA’s files) that these 1946 photos were indeed taken in Hollywood at John Marshall High School, I drove over to examine the site. Fortunately, despite the intervening fifty-seven years, little had changed there.

LAPD Crime Summary Briefing

On August 13, 2003, LAPD assistant chief of police Sharon Papa and deputy chief of detectives James McMurray invited me to speak and make an intelligence briefing before them and veteran detectives from the Robbery-Homicide Division, which included Detective Brian Carr, keeper of the Elizabeth Short “Black Dahlia” case file. The LAPD personnel present at the briefing consisted of one assistant chief, one deputy chief, one commander, two captains, three detectives from Robbery-Homicide Division (Carr, assigned to Major Crimes, and two detectives from the specialized unsolved Cold Case Unit), and one unidentified civilian consultant. Head Deputy DA Stephen Kay was also asked to attend, and he provided valuable legal insights and opinions as well as confirming before the department brass that, based on the evidence, were Dr. Hodel still alive, he would file two counts of murder (Elizabeth Short and Jeanne French). This two-hour presentation included an overall summary of my three-year investigation, along with the postpublication discoveries from the DA Dahlia/Hodel files. At the conclusion, I provided LAPD with the following list of thirty-one unsolved crimes. It is my professional opinion, based on my investigative findings, that George Hodel and Fred Sexton are the likely perpetrators of many if not most of these crimes. Most of the post-1950 crimes list are likely attributable to Fred Sexton; however, as indicated in the individual crime summaries, George Hodel cannot be totally excluded, given his occasional short business trips from Asia to the Los Angeles area over the years. I have prioritized them into three separate categories, followed by a chronological list of all the crimes:

Exhibit 79

Elizabeth Short, October 1946, Hollywood, California

Exhibit 80

Photographs a and b—According to witness statements in the DA’s file, these photographs were taken by him at John Marshall High School in October 1946.

Photographs c and d—Taken by author in October 2003 at John Marshall High School. Fortunately, the venue is unchanged.

In photograph c we see the same number of bricks, as well as the small brass seal on the first step. In photograph d we are able to match the unusual window motif.

CRIME CATEGORIES

I. Definite or extremely strong evidence

II. Probably connected, need to review crime files

III. Possibly connected, need to review crime files

Category I

1.   Ora Murray	7/27/43	(LASD)
2.   Georgette Bauerdorf	10/12/44	(LASD)
3.   Armand Robles	1/10/47	(LAPD)
4.   Elizabeth Short	1/15/47	(LAPD)
5.   Jeanne French	2/10/47	(LAPD)
6.   Gladys Kern	2/14/48	(LAPD)
7.   Mimi Boomhower	8/18/49	(LAPD)
8.   Jean Spangler	10/7/49	(LAPD)

Category II

1.     Sylvia Horan	2/3/47	(LAPD)
2.     Ica M’Grew	2/12/47	(LAPD)
3.     Evelyn Winters	3/11/47	(LAPD)
4.     Laura Trelstad	5/11/47	(Long Beach PD)
5.     Rosenda Mondragon	7/8/47	(LAPD)
6.     Marian Newton	7/17/47	(San Diego PD)
7.     Viola Norton	2/14/48	(Alhambra PD)
8.     Louise Springer	6/13/49	(LAPD)
9.     Jane Doe (Hodel Secretary)	1947–49	(LAPD)
10.   Geneva Ellroy	6/22/58	(LASD)
11.   Bobbie Long	1/22/59	(LASD)

Category III

1.     Loretta Robinson	8/5/43	(LAPD)
2.     Diane Sparkes (LAPD wife)	1/29/46	(LAPD)
3.     Irene Weeks	6/17/46	(San Bernardino SO)
4.     Gertrude Landon	7/10/46	(LASD)
5.     Naomi Cook	12/11/46	(LAPD)
6.     Mary Tate	1/18/47	(LAPD)
7.     Dorothy Montgomery	5/2/47	(LASD)
8.     Anna Diresio	5/12/47	(LAPD)
9.     Helene Jerome	8/27/58	(LAPD)
10–11. William Dorr & Ellen Criss	11/19/63	(LAPD)
12.     Karyn Kupcinet	11/28/63	(LASD)

Law Enforcement Agency Investigating:

LAPD	20
LASD	7
Long Beach	1
San Bernardino SD	1
San Diego PD	1
Alhambra PD	1
Total Crimes	31

CRIMES CHRONOLOGICAL

1.     Ora Murray	7/27/43	(LASD)
2.     Loretta Robinson	8/5/43	(LAPD)
3.     Georgette Bauerdorf	10/12/44	(LASD)
4.     Diane Sparks	1/29/46	(LAPD)
5.     Irene Weeks	6/17/46	(SBSO)
6.     Gertrude Landon	7/10/46	(LASD)
7.     Naomi Cook	12/11/46	(LAPD)
8.     Armand Robles	1/10/47	(LAPD)
9.     Elizabeth Short	1/14/47	(LAPD)
10.     Mary Tate	1/18/47	(LAPD)
11.     Sylvia Horan	2/3/47	(LAPD)
12.     Jeanne French	2/10/47	(LAPD)
13.     Ica M’Grew	2/12/47	(LAPD)
14.     Evelyn Winters	3/11/47	(LAPD)
15.     Dorothy Montgomery	5/2/47	(LASD)
16.     Laura Trelstad	5/11/47	(LONG BEACH PD)
17.     Anna Diresio	5/12/47	(LAPD)
18.     Rosenda Mondragon	7/8/47	(LAPD)
19.     Marian Newton	7/17/47	(SAN DIEGO PD)
20.     Viola Norton	2/14/48	(ALHAMBRA PD)
21.     Gladys Kern	2/14/48	(LAPD)
22.     Louise Springer	6/13/49	(LAPD)
23.     Mimi Boomhower	8/18/49	(LAPD)
24.     Jean Spangler	10/7/49	(LAPD)
25.     Jane Doe	1947–1949	(LAPD)
26.     Geneva Ellroy	6/22/58	(LASD)
27.     Helene Jerome	8/27/58	(LAPD)
28.     Bobbie Long	1/22/59	(LASD)
29.     Thora Rose	10/4/63	(LAPD)
30.     Ellen Criss/William Dorr	11/19/63	(LAPD)
31.     Karyn Kupcinet	11/28/63	(LASD)

During my August 2003 meeting with LAPD, it was all give and no take. By that I mean that no “inside information” relating to the Dahlia or any of the other crimes was provided me. Detectives would not even confirm the existence (or absence) of evidence in any of the murder investigations.

I gave LAPD detectives a list of potential connecting evidence on many of the murders, specifically detailing potential DNA linkage of hair follicles and stamps (saliva) known to be retained as evidence in the Short, French, and Kern homicides. I advised detectives of the existence in my possession of “proof sheet papers” (my original 1949 Chinese Chicken drawing) that likely came from the same stock of proof sheet paper—owned by my Father—as the notes that were mailed to the police and press by the “Black Dahlia Avenger.” This and several other samples I advised were available for spectrographic analysis and comparison. I further informed those present of the newly discovered Kern note in my father’s handwriting, and I provided them with a color drawing of the Kern one-of-a-kind “jungle knife.” The new information summarized in this chapter, including photographic exhibits, was also provided each LAPD officer (except for the “new” photographs of Elizabeth Short, which did not come into my possession until October, 2003).

The only information I learned from my August 2003 LAPD meeting was that, as of that date, Detective Brian Carr had not read my book (he did acknowledge “skimming through it”), nor had he made any effort to review the DA’s Dahlia/Hodel files, some four months after their existence was revealed. At the end of my two-hour summary, assisted by Head Deputy DA Stephen Kay, it was clear that most of the command staff and officers present had been won over and were anxious for a department investigation to follow up on my findings. From my own observations, the only two dissenters—who appeared on the defensive throughout my presentation—were the commander of Robbery-Homicide Division, Captain Michelena, and his own detective, Brian Carr.

Now, months later, I have it on good authority that neither Carr nor any other LAPD detective has yet reviewed any of the DA files. This willful refusal on the part of Robbery-Homicide detectives to conduct any follow-up investigation, despite the fact that Detective Carr at the August briefing, in my presence, was directed by an assistant chief of police to “get over and inspect the DA files forthwith,” is perplexing, almost incomprehensible. Why would Robbery-Homicide Division detectives choose to ignore compelling evidence presented to them by a respected veteran homicide detective and one of the DA’s most respected prosecutors, in essence sitting on their hands?

The answer to these disturbing questions may prove to be as troubling as the questions themselves. I have heard from very reliable sources that most if not all of the Black Dahlia physical evidence is missing from the locked evidence storage room. This would include: the original Mark Hansen address book, the dozen or more notes and stamped envelopes, the hair follicles, the victim’s purse and shoes, and her identification papers originally mailed to the Examiner by the Black Dahlia Avenger. In addition, the status of the physical evidence on the Jeanne French and Gladys Kern homicides is not known.

The same sources have indicated to me that all fingerprint cards on Dr. George Hodel are also missing. Apparently, LAPD, LASD, FBI, and State Medical Board records—all of which should have his prints on file—do not have them!

If true, this could explain why today’s detectives are refusing to conduct any follow-up investigation. Action would bring answers, and those answers would force the department to shed light on a dark past.*

LAPD Crime Clearance—Case Solved

As a former LAPD homicide detective supervisor, I am fully aware of what the Department policy requires to clear a crime. There are two ways; (1) a crime can be cleared by arrest, or (2) in the event of the death of the perpetrator, it can be cleared “other.” How is this done? In the first example, the investigating detective, after filing his case with the DA, writes a follow-up report summarizing his investigation, closing with the fact that a felony count of murder was filed, and labels the report “Crime Cleared By Arrest.” (As a statistical reality, no verdict is required. So even if the defendant is found “not guilty,” the crime remains cleared or “solved.”) In the instance where the perpetrator is deceased, LAPD policy dictates that the crime be “Cleared Other.” This type of crime clearance does not require that a DA specify that he or she would file the case. It is a judgment call on the part of the investigating detective, who must establish the evidence supporting a clearance in his follow-up. The follow-up report and clearance is reviewed by his supervisor who approves or rejects the clearance. Either method of clearance results in the crime becoming formally classified as—SOLVED.

Based on the investigation presented in this book, there are three separate crimes that require no further investigation and by all LAPD recognized standards and policies can be cleared and classified as SOLVED. They are: The 1947 murders of Elizabeth Short (Black Dahlia), Jeanne French (Red Lipstick), and the 1948 murder of Hollywood real-estate agent Gladys Kern.

Based on LAPD’s demonstrated inactivity over the past several months, and fearing that the powers that be at Robbery-Homicide Division may prevail and no further investigation will ever be conducted,* I am forced into a highly irregular action.

Guided by my conscience and supported by my proven experience, training, and qualifications as a former LAPD homicide detective-supervisor, with full recognition that all the necessary objective criteria have been met; and, after considering all of the evidence, forensics, and exhibits presented pre- and post-publication of this investigation, as well as having received concurring and independent “case solved” legal opinions on the Black Dahlia murder from both active Head Deputy DA Stephen Kay and active LAPD Chief of Detectives, James McMurray, I here reclassify the murders of Elizabeth Short, Jeanne French, and Gladys Kern—CLEARED OTHER, CASES SOLVED.

LAPD Detective III Steve Hodel 11394 (ret)

November 2003

* Harnisch was interviewed for a 1999 documentary, Case Reopened: The Black Dahlia with Joseph Wambaugh, in which he presented his own theory. In the documentary Wambaugh concludes that Harnisch’s suspect, Dr. Walter Bayley, “could not have committed the crime.”

* This insertion of the 7:45 P.M. Officer Crowley log at a later time period, I believe, has resulted in a possible misinterpretation of the facts. It is my opinion that the 7:45 P.M. conversation is more likely a continuing part of my father’s 7:35 P.M. story being told to the German male, and may relate to the killing of his secretary, at another date, time, and location. (This however, does not explain the real-time screams of a woman some forty minutes later, or what became of her.)

*Officers report a conversation between George Hodel and “Kenneth Rexerall.” However, it is generally believed this was in fact Kenneth Rexroth, an acquaintance and friend of both my parents. Rexroth was a poet of some repute associated with San Francisco and the emerging “beat generation.”

†Ellen was our live-in housemade.

*It is obvious that Ellen’s question “How he knew?” relates to a possible phone tap. Father’s response to Ellen that “he was just talking” makes it clear that as of this date, he only suspected or assumed the phones were tapped, due to the intensified investigation and questioning coming from local and federal officers.

* Baron Herringer was obviously a close friend and confidant to my father, however, to date I have been unable to locate any further information as to his identity or relationship to my family.

* Through other DA documents, we know that Lenorak was a 1949 defense witness who testified at the Hodel incest trial, was an acquaintance of George Hodel’s, and when shown photographs of Elizabeth Short by DA investigators identified her as Hodel’s girlfriend.

* N.B.: This reference is to our housemaid, Ellen. —SKH

*Our Franklin House residence was 100 feet west of the corner of Franklin and Normandie.

†This was only five days after the jury acquitted Dr. Hodel of his incest charges.

* It is highly unusual to assign an IAD officer to a homicide investigation, and this underscores the likelihood that some LAPD brass, possibly Deputy Chief William Parker, then commander of IAD, suspected wrongdoing by officers. In addition, it would also keep Deputy Chief Parker up to date and “in the loop” on the DA’s ongoing investigation.

* Lieutenant Jemison in this interview paraphrases George Hodel’s statement as “They can’t pin that murder on me.” However, in Jemison’s typed investigative summary he gives the actual quote as, “They will never be able to prove I did that murder.”

* The original 1947 witness informed detectives that on January 15, 1947 at approximately 6:30 A.M., he observed, as noted, the black sedan stop for a four-minute duration, at the exact location where the body was later found. My recent review of DA autopsy information further tends to establish that Elizabeth Short was slain just a few hours previous (4:00 A.M.). This is based on the coroner notation that rigor mortis had not yet set in when officers arrived at the scene (10:50 A.M.).

* This would be District Attorney William E. Simpson, the same DA that was in office at the time of George Hodel’s incest trial and who it was alleged (per George Hodel’s boasting) was paid $15,000 through defense attorney Jerry Giesler to influence and assure Hodel’s acquittal.

* Jemison typo: should be 5121 Franklin Avenue.

* In approximately 1966 I accompanied my mother to an apartment on Sunset Boulevard, where she introduced me to “her good friend Mattie,” a beautiful black “actress/model” who at that time appeared to be about 50. It was clear from our short visit that she and Mother had known each other from the Franklin House years.

* Webb died in December of that year, at the relatively young age of sixty-two.

* Dr. Canter is the originator of geo-profiling and director of the Institute of Investigative Psychology at the University of Liverpool. His most recent book, Mapping Murder: Secrets of Geographical Profiling, was published in the U.S. in November 2003.

* This has been established by the author’s viewing archival photographs at the UCLA research center. The photographs show identical pictures before they were removed from Elizabeth Short’s original photo album.

* LAPD detective Brian Carr, in a November 15, 2003, television interview on Court TV, confirmed that he was unable to locate any fingerprints on Dr. George Hodel, and further informed the interviewer that the Black Dahlia evidence, which could be used for DNA comparison, “has disappeared.” While attending an LAPD book-signing event on November 22, 2003, I was informed by LAPD criminalist Ms. Elma Duke that two years earlier she had personally handled and reviewed all the Black Dahlia evidence, including the original letters and mailings. So either Carr is mistaken and the evidence does exist, or it has “disappeared” sometime between 2001 and today.

* Update, December 2011. Some eight years have passed, and there still has been no follow-up Investigation conducted by LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division. Detective Carr in a 2006 interview with Cold Case Files reporter Bill Kurtis, when asked “why nothing had been done?” stated that, “Due to a heavy case load I don’t have time to prove or disprove Hodel’s Black Dahlia investigation.” Carr retired from LAPD in February 2009.