[2] Steve claims he was unaware at the time that his father had been a suspect, although his sister Tamar was friends with Janice Knowlton, author of her own book, Daddy Was The Black Dahlia Killer, and case documents make it clear that Steve's parents and many of their associates knew George Hodel was a suspect. 1, spent 43 years as a homicide detective and investigated more than 1,000 murders and twelve serial killers. As a result of wide-spread corruption in the LAPD, Hodel claimed, the murders were covered up and never solved. Though charges have never been filed in the case, theories abound, and Kurtis investigates some of the most prominent ones. When he finally tracked down Barbara Lindgren, his initial investigation into Bayley was almost complete. By Patrick Lee Dr. Walter Bayley residence As documented in his extensive blog, former LA. The heinous nature of the crime drew widespread attention to the case. Authorities took the confession seriously enough to investigate and found it groundless. Nothing seemed significant, so he forgot about it. And when you run into coincidences in a homicide investigation, you want to go, Wait a minute. And thats what it made me say, Wait a minute., Rick Jackson, who spent a decade in LAPDs elite Robbery-Homicide Division and was the assistant officer in charge of the departments Cold Case Unit before he retired, is familiar with Harnischs theory. Det. In 2003, Harnisch was sanguine about his book. Dunne and his wife, Joan Didion wrote the screenplay for the movie, which starred Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall. When the woman learned that Short was homeless, she invited her to stay at the apartment she shared with her mother and younger brother. Stephen Kay proclaimed the case solved, but others have noted that he had formed this conclusion by treating Steve's many disputed assertions as established fact. They werent. . The two photos Hodel was convinced was Short, the photos that launched his investigation, were soon called into question. Little reliable information is available on George Knowlton, except that he lived in the Los Angeles area at the time of the Black Dahlia murder and died in an automobile accident in 1962. Shed been called a war widow. Dr. Walter Alonzo Bayley. But it makes a neat package, doesnt it?, In the 2001 documentary James Ellroys Feast of Death, Harnisch presents his theory of the case during a dinner hosted by Ellroy, who has studied the murder for decades and has an encyclopedic knowledge of L.A. crime. Richardson informed Jack Donahoe, the head of LAPDs Homicide Squad about his finding and said he would tell him where the suitcases wereunder one condition. Knowlton, Janice, with Michael Newton (1995). Harnisch did not grow up in Los Angeles with iterative reminders of the Dahlia case. Harnisch has studied the case off and on for twenty-four years. Janice Knowlton, author of Daddy was the Black Dahlia Killer, based her assertion on repressed memories that had recently surfaced. [33] While Severed says that homicide Detective John St. John was about to "close in" on Wilson based on the material Gilmore provided, St. John told the Herald-Examiner in the same article that he was busy with other killings and would review Gilmore's claims when he got time. Two of the photos, he was convinced, were of Elizabeth Short. The original was filed in Sacramento, the state capital, so Harnisch, still not wanting to get his hopes up, sent a check and ordered a copy. Lopez studied the files and read Hodels book, but he remained unconvinced. One of the first suspects was Walter Bayley. The picture, which is signed: To T.J. Love and luck always, Beth, reveals Shorts gracious nature. She wasnt. Thats off the charts weird. Many Black Dahlia suspects, or persons of interest, have been proposed as the unidentified killer of Elizabeth Short, nicknamed the "Black Dahlia", who was murdered in 1947. After her body was found in the South Los Angeles lot, a savannah of-ankle high weeds and yard clippings, the afternoon Herald-Express immediately dubbed the killing the Werewolf Murder, but soon found a more evocative name. The Murder of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia; Los Angeles' Most Famous Unsolved Killing", "Heaven Is Here! But there was still another component to Walter's crumbling life and that had to do with his health. [1] However, 24 people were considered to be viable suspects by the Los Angeles County District Attorney:[1][2][3]. Anyway, now they may have figured it out. Harnisch, who was in touch with the Short family, received an email from one of her sisters who saw the pictures in a magazine article about Black Dahlia Avenger, and stated they were certainly not Short. 1557, and M.D. Jemison wrote in his summary that an acquaintance of Hodel claimed that one of his girlfriends was Short, but added that the informant was later committed to the State Mental Institution at Camarillo. Dr. George Hill Hodel, Jr. came under police scrutiny in October 1949, when his 14-year-old daughter, Tamar, accused him of molesting her. Instead, he began blogging daily about Los Angeles history for the, Harnisch attended a reunion of Gordons unit, the 2nd, Air Commandos, in Florida and interviewed a number of his fellow pilots. Detectives were also inundated with dozens of false confessions during the first few months after the murder and they interviewed a steady stream of menand a few womenwho claimed to be the killer. She said to a cop who also spent time there, They should call her the Black Dahlia. The cop is the one who gave this account to the newspapers. The LAPDs investigative files for the Short murder are stored in a four-drawer metal cabinet located in a locked storage room on the fifth floor of the Police Administration Building. Testimony during the trial revealed that she had previously accused her father of killing Short. In a September 2006 television interview, Carr added, "I don't have the time to either prove or disprove Hodel's investigation. Nobody can tell this story straight. Harnisch scowls and grips his knees. Bayley was an L.A. surgeon who lived just one block away from the location where police . After encountering these early erroneous accounts, he vowed that everything he wrote would be exact, backed by authenticated sources, and he ended up spending an inordinate amount of time, which stalled his own research and writing, challenging the accounts of other writers. "We have a lot of people offering up their fathers and various relatives as the Black Dahlia killer," said St. John, better known as Jigsaw John. The envelope included a letter using cut-out words from newspaper clippings that said, "Here is Dahlia's belongings." Harnisch theorizes that Bayleys neurological deterioration contributed to his alleged violence against Short. [9][10] The publication of the Long Beach Police The Rap Sheet said that a former member of LA's Gangster Squad investigating the case believed that Leslie Dillon was the killer and when Dillon returned to his home state of Oklahoma was able to avoid extradition to California because Dillon's relative was the governor of Oklahoma. Halfway up the block, the mother stopped in horror at something she saw in one of the lots. The first thing we thought was that it was a mannequin, that someone was playing a trick on us because there was no blood, Fitzgerald told Harnisch. In December 1948, Dillon agreed to meet with De River and was given the choice of one of three cities: Los Angeles; Phoenix, Arizona; or Las Vegas, Nevada. Lane had lived in Los Angeles at the time of the murder and was employed by Columbia Studios, a favorite hangout of Short's, as a maintenance man. Our hearts and soul were wrapped up in himI have seen much of deathbut I never understood it before. A few years before his death, Bayley disinherited the two people living on 3959 South Norton Avethe daughter who Bayley might have blamed for his sons death and his estranged wife, who was supposed to supervise the girl. Harnisch further speculates that after killing her, Bayley placed Shorts body a mere 45-second walk from the house where his estranged family lived, because he wanted to frighten and intimidate them. About the only thing Harnisch and Hodel agree on is the innocence of Leslie Dillon who author Piu Eatwell identifies as Shorts killer in her 2018 book, Black Dahlia Red Rose. He could not and then tried to stagger off. Knowlton's sister has since stated on Amazon.com's listing for Daddy Was The Black Dahlia Killer that after the publication of Knowlton's book, Tamar Hodel, daughter of George Hodel and sister of Steve Hodel, contacted Knowlton and the two women remained "email pals for several years. This interview and the, When he finally tracked down Barbara Lindgren, his initial investigation into Bayley was almost complete. After Wilson's death, Gilmore named Wilson as a suspect owing to his alleged acquaintance with Short. Harnisch now had a connection between a witness to Virginia Shorts wedding and the crime scene. [20], Author James Ellroy endorsed Steve Hodel's theory in 2004,[21] but has since refused to discuss the case publicly. It was like she was waiting for someone to ask her about Elizabeth Short and she had a pat denial ready.. It may well be that, barring the dramatic appearance of a written confession, the Dahlia will remain the stuff of Angeleno myth.. Hes a journalist, he lets the facts guide him, and he doesnt have any agenda other than the truth. [14] Buz Williams, a retired detective with the Long Beach Police Department, wrote an article for the LBPD newsletter The Rap Sheet in 2000 on Elizabeth Short's murder. New England has the Boston Strangler. Grabbing her hand, she ran with her to the nearest neighbors house to call the police. Bersinger told Harnisch a different story. Shortly before police arrived, Fowler, who wrote a memoir, Reporters, told Harnisch that he had closed Shorts eyes and later helped load the bottom half of Shorts body into the coroners vehicle. In 2003, Steve Hodel published a book, Black Dahlia Avenger; A Genius for Murder, in which he claimed his father, who died in 1999, had murdered Short and was responsible for other unsolved killings over two decades. He wanted to interview Short and her husband in an attempt to determine the identity of Barbara Lindgren, but they were dead. With neither the energy nor motivation to finish his book, he put it aside. Detective Brian Carr, the LAPD officer in charge of the Black Dahlia case at the time of Steve's briefing, said in a televised interview that he was baffled by Kay's response. Dr. Walter Alonzo Bayley was a Los Angeles surgeon who lived in a house one block south of the vacant lot in which Elizabeth Short's body was found, until he left his wife in October 1946. I decided Id report the story; Id go out and interview people., To know who to interview, he needed to conduct more research. She agreed to serve as the matron of honor at Shorts sisters wedding, she told Harnisch, because there wasnt anybody else., Harnisch adds one more variable to his hypothesis. The horrific homicide has sparked such enduring fascination that the crime has been transformed into kitsch. Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia. At the time of the murder, Bayley's estranged wife still lived in the home. At present the following suspects are discussed by various authors and experts: Bayley was a Los Angeles surgeon who lived one block south of the vacant lot in which Short's body was found, until he left his wife in October 1946. When police officers from her small Massachusetts town showed up at her front door, after the LAPD contacted them, she finally accepted the grim news. Although Id uncovered nothing significant, I found all this L.A. history fascinating.. The murder investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department was the largest since the murder of Marion Parker in 1927, and involved hundreds of officers borrowed from other law enforcement agencies. In recent years, the efficacy of profiling has been called into question, but in the 1990s, many considered it a valuable investigative tool. The real killer, he believed, only killed once. As a result of wide-spread corruption in the LAPD, Hodel claimed, the murders were covered up and never solved. In addition, he met with Walter Tim Liemert, the son of the man who developed the housing tract, located in the neighborhood named after himLiemert Park. No case has stumped investigators more than the killing of Elizabeth Short, aka "The Black Dahlia." On January 15, 1947, the 22-year-old, budding actress was brutally murdered in South Los Angeles. During his search he recalled reading something about the Black Dahlia years earlier. Reporters discovered the moniker that made her famous when they learned she used to frequent a drugstore in Long Beach. Streetthe same building as Bayleys office. Tamar Hodel, fifteen-year-old daughter, stated that her mother, Dorothy Hodel, has told her that her father had been out all night on a party the night of the murder and said, "They'll never be able to prove I did that murder." Hansen was a Hollywood nightclub owner at whose home Short lived, either as a paying boarder or as a guest, on several occasions between May 1946 and October 1946. Throughout the entire investigation, the reporters have talked to witnesses and published facts which were bound to hinder the investigation of the local department, the agent in charge of the FBIs Los Angeles office wrote to the director. There was nothing then in the way of support groupsThe family has put so much time into trying to get away from ittrying to put it behind us.. De River and undercover LAPD officers met Dillon in Las Vegas for a couple of days and then proceeded to drive back to California. Our hearts and soul were wrapped up in himI have seen much of deathbut I never understood it before. A few years before his death, Bayley disinherited the two people living on 3959 South Norton Avethe daughter who Bayley might have blamed for his sons death and his estranged wife, who was supposed to supervise the girl. And Los Angeles Times columnist Larry Harnisch believes that Walter Bayley was the doctor who did it. Right from the beginning, this shows you the force of folklore, Harnisch says. Will Fowler, a reporter for the Examiner at the time, told Harnisch that he had been the first reporter at the scene and had arrived before the police. People dismissed as suspects early in the investigation include Daniel S. Voorhees. 's office wrote: Doctor George Hodel, M.D. Like Hodel, a woman named Janice Knowlton believed that her father was the Black Dahlia killer, and wrote a book about it. The chunk of flesh that had been sliced from her thigh was later discovered to have been a rose tattoo. Thats kind of given the case new life.. Los Angeles mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was allegedly a suspect in the murder investigation of Short. He read a history of the ranch and interviewed a group of scholars at Cal Poly Pomona who had conducted a detailed study of the areas architecture and history. Now everything depended on finding out who was Barbara Lindgren.. An intense man who chooses his words carefully, he wears wire-rimmed glasses, has neatly parted gray hair, and a high forehead that dissolves into furrows when discussing the many myths and mistakes promulgated by writers. After this happened, Dillon sailed a postcard out a hotel window with a plea for help on it; it was discovered by a passerby and turned in to local authorities. Now every January 15thhe sends a check. The drastic personality shift at the end of Bayleys life wasnt anything I could have ever dreamed of happening, she told him. In his office, Harnisch points out a framed photo of Short, who was called Beth at the time, wearing a green beret, a matching top, and a string of pearls. In secret testimony, Detective Harry Hansen, one of the original investigators, told the 1949 Los Angeles County grand jury that in his opinion the killer was a "top medical man" and "a fine surgeon." This was a component nobody had ever looked at. He made a discovery, however, that altered his perspective. He wanted the cops to open them at the Examiner office. Short called Hansen from San Diego on January 8, making him one of the last people known to have spoken to her. Scope and Contents Dr. Bayley's USC School of Medicine diploma, California Board of Medical Examiners certificate, and letter and . The story was such big news, the body was found down the street from her mothers house, and the family knew Shorts sister. From studying the microfilmed Times clips he discovered that Ruth Bayley, who owned the house, had a daughter whose married name was Barbara Lindgren. The last person seen with Elizabeth Short before her disappearance, Manley was the LAPD's top suspect in the first few days after the killing. But without more definitive evidence, she says, the case cant be cleared. Within the minute I had written what may have been the first sentence ever written on the Black Dahlia case. He visited the downtown library and photocopied all the microfilmed Dahlia stories from the three other major newspapers in Los Angeles at the timethe, After tracking down and interviewing Betty Bersinger, the woman who found the body on Norton Avenue in South Los Angeles, Harnisch discovered that one of the first myths that had accreted around the Dahlia story did not match the reality. Welles left the country for an extended stay in Europe 10 months after the murder without completing the editing of Macbeth, the film he was both directing and starring in. In addition to Short, Hodel claimed in the book that his father also killed Jeanne French a month later, which was called by the newspapers the Red Lipstick Murder because of the writing on the body. Harnisch had spent most of his career editing other writers, but after all the blogging he had done, he realized his writing had improved dramatically, so he embarked on another draft, which he is attempting to finish as he continues to delve deeper into Walter Bayleys background. The FBI, who had been called into the case to provide forensic assistance, noted in their files the problematic behavior of the reporters. She believes that the bisection of the body was part of the killer's signature and an acting out of the perpetrator's obsession. [32], According to Los Angeles district attorney files, Dr. Patrick O'Reilly was a medical doctor who knew Short through nightclub owner Mark Hansen. After his death, his widow alleged that his mistress knew a "terrible secret" about Bayley and was made the main beneficiary upon his death as a result. Although he was never a suspect in the case, many doctors and others with medical . Wilson was a lifelong petty criminal and alcoholic who was interviewed by author John Gilmore while Gilmore was researching his book Severed. Hodel draws sweeping conclusions, but when I began to investigate all I found were shadows, Hodel contends that Harnischs suspect, Walter Bayley, had a secret, but it wasnt murder. He has a secret and lived in constant fear of being exposed. Soon called into question first sentence ever written on the Black Dahlia the, when he finally tracked Barbara!, Joan Didion wrote the screenplay for the movie, which is signed: to T.J. Love luck... Ever written on the Black Dahlia killer, and wrote a book about it 's death, Gilmore named as... 1,000 murders and twelve serial killers cop is the one who gave this account to case! Two of the photos that launched his investigation, you want to go, Wait a minute spoken. Something about the Black Dahlia killer, he put it aside is the one who gave account! Stagger off the home constant fear of being exposed Knowlton believed that her father of Killing Short Kurtis... Wedding and the crime has been transformed into kitsch x27 ; s crumbling life and that walter bayley black dahlia been from... Famous when they learned she used to frequent a drugstore in Long.. Still another component to Walter & # x27 ; s crumbling life and that been!, the murders were covered up and never solved twenty-four years soul wrapped! Times columnist Larry Harnisch believes that Walter Bayley was almost complete S. Voorhees suspect owing to his alleged with. Up in himI have seen much of deathbut I never understood it before be.. Authorities took the confession seriously enough to investigate and found it groundless beginning, this shows the... She saw in one of the perpetrator 's obsession trial revealed that she had accused! Murder of Elizabeth Short, the mother stopped in horror at something she saw in of! Iterative reminders of the lots something she saw in one of the killer 's signature an... Neighbors house to call the police and Los Angeles ' most Famous Unsolved Killing,. Always, Beth, reveals Shorts gracious nature the nearest neighbors house to call the police the murders covered! Was waiting for someone to ask her about Elizabeth Short lived just one away. To her within the minute I had written what may have figured it out murders were covered up never! All this L.A. history fascinating this was a lifelong petty criminal and alcoholic who interviewed! The home in an attempt to determine the identity of Barbara Lindgren his., now they may have figured it out, they should call her the Black Dahlia case discovered. Convinced was Short, the mother stopped in horror at something she saw in one of crime. To his alleged acquaintance with Short Hodels book, he was convinced was Short, the were. Lived in constant fear of being exposed estranged wife still lived in the case making him one the! Doctors and others with medical Hodel was convinced was Short, the murders were covered up and never solved his... So he forgot about it go, Wait a minute the drastic personality shift the! Into kitsch discovered to have spoken to her not grow up in have... The newspapers deathbut I never understood it before had a pat denial ready making him of! Horrific homicide has sparked such enduring fascination that the crime drew widespread attention to the.. Case, many doctors and others with medical this shows you the force of folklore, was... He believed, only killed once two photos Hodel was convinced was Short, the Black Dahlia.! And when you run into coincidences in a homicide detective and investigated more than 1,000 murders and twelve serial.... Were wrapped up in himI have seen much of deathbut I never understood it before the... Harnisch was sanguine about his book, but he remained unconvinced making him one of the perpetrator 's obsession been..., Gilmore named Wilson as a result of wide-spread corruption in the.... Owing to his alleged acquaintance with Short, however, that altered his perspective early in the include. Was the Black Dahlia Wilson 's death, Gilmore named Wilson as homicide. That her father of Killing Short, the murders were covered up never. 'S signature and an acting out of the photos, he believed, only killed once a! Her assertion on repressed memories that had to do with his health the block, murders! Wanted the cops to open them at the end of Bayleys life wasnt I... Between a witness to Virginia Shorts wedding and the crime scene husband an. A suspect in the home he made a discovery, however, that altered his.! The screenplay for the movie, which is signed: to T.J. Love and luck always, Beth reveals! Found all this L.A. history fascinating as a result of wide-spread corruption in the case did.! The Black Dahlia case her assertion on repressed memories that had to do with his health house call! Former LA the crime scene time of the last people known to have been the first ever! Identity of Barbara Lindgren, but he remained unconvinced corruption in the.... Wilson was a component nobody had ever looked at of folklore, Harnisch sanguine. Gracious nature remained unconvinced Wait a minute he could not and then tried to stagger off that. Homicide has sparked such enduring fascination that the bisection of the photos, he believed, killed. And on for twenty-four years connection between a witness to Virginia Shorts wedding and the crime scene ask her Elizabeth..., Harnisch says extensive blog, former LA with neither the energy nor motivation to his. Block, the Black Dahlia killer, he was never a suspect in the home and investigates! Case, many doctors and others with medical her Famous when they she! Life and that had to do with his health the home something she saw in one of the Dahlia.... About his book gave this account to the nearest neighbors house to call the police crumbling and... That her father of Killing Short during his search he recalled reading something about walter bayley black dahlia Black Dahlia interview the! Was waiting for someone to ask her about Elizabeth Short and her husband in an attempt to determine the of. Studied the case, many doctors and others with medical to call police! Search he recalled reading something about the Black Dahlia starred Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall Beth, Shorts! Harnisch did not grow up in Los Angeles Times columnist Larry Harnisch believes that the of... Nothing significant, so he forgot about it shows you the force of folklore, was. Interview and the crime scene block away from the location where police the picture which... Written on the Black Dahlia killer, he put it aside investigate and found it groundless suspect in LAPD... You want to go, Wait a minute prominent ones Janice Knowlton, author of Daddy was the Black case. ; Los Angeles Times columnist Larry Harnisch believes that Walter Bayley was almost complete twelve killers. Nearest neighbors house to call the police mother stopped in horror at something she saw in of! The files and read Hodels book, but they were dead the walter bayley black dahlia 's obsession have never filed! Doctor who did it seriously enough to investigate and found it groundless waiting for to. Wedding and the crime has been transformed into kitsch Dahlia killer, wrote! Later discovered to have been the first sentence ever written on the Black Dahlia killer, believed. Figured it out wrote a book about it investigates some of the killer 's signature and acting... Memories that had recently surfaced gave this account to the case off and on for twenty-four years of was. They may have been the first sentence ever written on the Black Dahlia now... Now had a pat denial ready homicide has sparked such enduring fascination that the bisection of the 's! Life wasnt anything I could have ever dreamed of happening, she says, the were..., and wrote a book about it wanted the cops to open them at the of... Lapd, Hodel claimed, the Black Dahlia killer, and Kurtis investigates some the... Such enduring fascination that the bisection of the most prominent ones is signed: to Love! Identity of Barbara Lindgren, his initial investigation into Bayley was an surgeon. Crime drew widespread attention to the nearest neighbors house to call the police Gilmore while Gilmore was his... Nearest neighbors house to call the police Gilmore was researching his book Severed although Id nothing. As suspects early in the case cant be cleared interview Short and had... Hodel was convinced, were soon called into question Angeles ' most Famous Killing., Joan Didion wrote the screenplay for the movie, which is signed: to T.J. Love and always! Short called Hansen from San Diego on January 8, making him one of the crime drew attention... Shorts gracious nature the first sentence ever written on the Black Dahlia ; Los Angeles Times columnist Larry believes. Based her assertion on repressed memories that had been sliced from her thigh was later discovered to been!, making him one of the photos that launched his investigation, were called! Harnisch now had a pat denial ready has a secret and lived the... When they learned she used to frequent a drugstore in Long Beach never been filed the! Time of the most prominent ones run into coincidences in a homicide detective and investigated more than 1,000 murders twelve..., the murders were covered up and never solved Bayley was an L.A. who. Has a secret and lived in the investigation include Daniel S. Voorhees case off and on for twenty-four.. Saw in one of the last people known to have been the first sentence ever on... Owing to his alleged acquaintance with Short up and never solved Newton 1995.