The Case of Elizabeth Short
I believe that there are murder cases that stick to the mind like a piece of gum to your hair. A case that is so disgustingly interesting that you can’t help but search for more information, leaving your mind to create theories and finding yourself sucked into the deepest rabbit hole. Whether this is Jack the Ripper, H.H. Holmes, or Amelia Dyer. The murder of Elizabeth Short is one of those cases.
Early Life
Elizabeth Smart was born on July 29, 1924, in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the third daughter of five to Phoebe Sawyer and Cleo Short. After moving to Portland, Maine, her family finally settled in Medford, Massachusetts where they lived a wealthy life until the Stock Market Crash in 1929, where they lost everything.
So Cleo Short, who built miniature golf courses, was now broke, leading him to leave within the following year. On October 15, 1930, Cleo disappeared, his car was later discovered on the side of a bridge leaving his family to believe he had committed suicide in the Charles River. This left Phoebe a widow, a single mother, and in an unexpected situation. They then moved into a small apartment where Phoebe worked as a bookkeeper.
Elizabeth experienced several medical issues; such as Childhood Tuberculosis and asthma. Her asthma led to her staying in Massachusetts during the summer then staying with family friends in Florida during Massachusetts winter. Elizabeth was well-liked and known for being nice to everyone, even gaining the nickname “Medford High’s Deanna Durbin,” as she was always movie struck. Elizabeth was known for her good lucks as well, many believed that her beauty only grew with age.
During her Sophomore year, she ended up dropping out due to her illnesses; she felt that she was having such difficulty maintaining decent grades and was behind because of missing so much school. A year later, Elizabeth moved to Miami where she worked as a waitress. Here she started noticing that the hot weather seemed to be helping her and her conditions live comfortably.
California Dream
In late 1942, Phoebe Short received a letter from her late husband in which he asked if they could reconnect the family. When Elizabeth found out about this letter, she reached out and asked if she could move in with him, offering to keep the house clean in exchange for living there rent-free.
During this time, Elizabeth was spending a lot of time at nightclubs, surrounded by men. Cleo did not agree with this lifestyle and eventually kicked her out. Her next stop was in Santa Barbara; here she continued spending her time in bars and nightclubs and hanging out with soldiers. This seems to be a common goal for her; finding a man in a uniform with whom she could settle down.
Elizabeth Short’s family knew of her moving around, living without money but still finding places to stay, they were very supportive of her and didn’t offer help as she would find jobs to temporarily work at. For example, in January of 1943, Short found work at Camp Cooke as a clerk, winning over the Manager with her charm and beauty. As usual, she worked for a couple of weeks before disappearing. During this time, she couch surfed among a group of several friends, this included an Air Force sergeant who abused her.
In Santa Barbara, California on September 23, 1943, she was arrested for underage drinking, although she hadn’t been drinking. A serviceman (whom she was hanging out with) was the only one drunk and she was taken in after officers noticed that she was changing her age and was eventually caught in a lie. Although arrested, the officer befriended her and allowed Elizabeth to stay with her for a few days. The officers, Mary Unkefer, allowed Short to stay with her for nine days before she was supposed to head back to Medford, Massachusetts. Which she did for a while before heading down to Florida, where she met Major Matthew Michael Gordon Jr.
The couple clicked immediately, quickly becoming an item before he was moved across the sea during World War II. They wrote letters constantly and Gordon even asked her to marry him before dying in a plane crash in August of 1945. He passed a few weeks before the war ended. A year after Gordon’s death, Elizabeth moved to Los Angeles.
She continued dreaming of falling in love with a military man and wanted to settle. Although she dreamed of this, she continued spending a lot of time with men (even though she never went home with any of them) and continued partying at clubs and bars (although she rarely drank)
At first, she stayed in a small hotel room, worked as a waitress, and even rented rooms near the Florentine Gardens near Hollywood Boulevard. She then moved to Longbeach, California where she hung out at a drugstore, where she befriended many servicemen.
Mark Hansen half-owned the Florentine Gardens nightclub in Hollywood as well as the Marcal Theatre. He owned many properties which allowed him to allow showgirls and young women to stay at his place. Elizabeth stayed with Hansen from May 1946 to October, maybe November, of the same year, in which she shared a room with Anne Toth. During an interview with Officer Ed Barrett, Toth explains that she believed Elizabeth was afraid of Mark- illustrating an example in which Elizabeth was cleaning the bathroom and threw away some empty bottles which angered Mark.
Although it is commonly thought that Toth and Hansen were an item, it is now known that this is false. Toth was dating another man, Leo Hymes. Although Anne and Elizabeth may not have been best friends, they made sure to watch out for one another. For example, when Elizabeth left Anne lent her one of her coats and helped her find a place to stay, even paying for her rent. Anne helped her move and was overall very kind to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth Short then moved into an apartment with seven other females from November to mid-December, where she lived on the top floor and was considered the oddball of the group. The roommates believed that Short was very innocent and especially naive when around men.
By December 5, 1946, Elizabeth Short left Hollywood and traveled to San Diego. At this time, she had no money and had nowhere to stay, which seemed to be a clear pattern with Short. She thrived when living on the edge, constantly moving and doing things that not everyone would feel comfortable doing- such as moving across the country with nothing.
This is where she met Dorothy French, a theater usher who still lived with her mother. While living in San Diego, Elizabeth’s attitude went through a major shift. She was no longer known as outgoing and friendly but rather was viewed as mysterious and moody. She told Dorothy and other people she met that she was a widow, introducing the image of Matthew Michael Gordon Jr. as her husband (even though they were never married), and didn’t speak much about her past.
Many of her friends in San Diego worried about her mental health as she suddenly showed declines in personal health. Around Christmas time, Elizabeth met another serviceman; Robert Manley. Manley has also known as “red,” a nickname given to him due to his ginger hair, but not only was Manley married, he also had a newborn son.
On January 8, 1947, Manley arrived at the French’s residence to pick up Elizabeth for a fun night out. They went out for dinner, went dancing, and Elizabeth even drank a little. He explains that he wasn’t returning to Los Angeles until the following day, hoping that he and Short would get a hotel room for the night.
Due to Elizabeth having several drinks, and most likely being a lightweight due to not being a drinker, she felt sick upon returning to the hotel. Nothing more than a kiss happened that night. The following day at Noon, they checked out of the hotel and traveled back to Los Angeles.
On January 9, 1947, Manley dropped Elizabeth off at the Biltmore Hotel where she was supposed to meet her sister, who was visiting from Boston. This was the last place that Elizabeth Short would be seen alive; staff had seen her in the foyer of the Baltimore Hotel and using the phone in the lobby, she was also seen in Crown Grill Cocktail Lounge.
The Case of the Black Dahlia
Elizabeth Short was missing for six days before her body was found on January 15, 1947. Elizabeth was found in an empty lot at what is now 3825 Norton Avenue, by Betty Bersinger and her three-year-old daughter. At first glance, Bersinger believed that she had been looking at a mannequin due to the paleness of the figure. When she noticed that it was a corpse, she immediately ran to a house to make the 911 call.
Elizabeth had been placed a few feet away from the sidewalk, placed in a patch of dirt and dead grass- cut in two, separated perfectly at the waist. At this time, the area wasn’t fully developed; causing detectives to arrive at the scene later than Agnes Underwood, a Los Angeles Herald Express reporter. To this day you can find pictures of Elizabeth’s body due to this reporter trampling over evidence and taking images.
Elizabeth had been possed, the killer not caring whether or not her body was found. Her arms had been spread out above her head, her lower half separated and lying a foot away with her legs spread wide. Her wrists and ankles had rope burns; leading detectives to believe that she had been tied up and possibly tortured. Her chest and thighs were covered in small cuts and it appeared that her body had been drained of blood and washed at the murder scene. Her mouth had been cut into a Cheshire cat smile and her intestines had been removed from her body and placed beneath her butt, grass had also been stuff into her vagina.
Detectives noticed that there was no blood at the crime scene or on the body and that there was none in the grass around her; this led Detectives to believe that Elizabeth had been murdered somewhere else and cleaned before moving Elizabeth to the new location. Detectives also noted that there was dew still on Elizabeth’s body, meaning that she had been dead for at least ten hours.
Elizabeth Short’s autopsy was performed on January 16, 1947, by Frederick Newbarr. Medical Examiners found that Elizabeth’s pubic area had been cleanly shaved and was covered in small crisscrossing cuts. Although her genitals had been shaven, there was no sperm found on her body even though her anal canal had been dilated, this suggests that Elizabeth had been anally raped. The Medical Examiner’s official cause of death was “hemorrhage and shock” due to the concussion to her brain and the laceration she experiences to the face.
Officers and Medical Examiner were unable to identify Elizabeth, causing them to reach out to the FBI in the hopes of help. Thankfully the Los Angeles Police Department had been able to pull useable fingerprints off of Elizabeth’s body, and since she had been previously arrested for underage drinking, the FBI had been able to find her identity: Elizabeth Short.
After the Discovery of the Black Dahlia
Soon after identifying Elizabeth’s body, the Los Angeles Examiner reached out to Pheobe Short and seemed to play games with her; first lying about Elizabeth saying that she had won a beauty contest to obtain personal details on Elizabeth before informing Pheobe that her daughter was dead. William Randolph Hearst, the reporter, then offered to fly Pheobe out to Los Angeles and pay for her hotel room only to keep her from the detectives in the hope of protecting his inside scoop.
On January 21, 1947, the Los Angeles Examiner’s editor, James Richardson, had received a phone call from someone claiming to be the man who had killed Elizabeth Short; he congratulated the newspaper for the coverage they had of the murder and also admitting that he planned on turning himself in.
On January 24, 1947, US Postal Services received a package for the Los Angeles Examiner which included a letter written in cut-out letters that read “Here are Dahlia’s belongings,” and contained photographs, business cards, and a birth certificate which all belonged to Elizabeth Short. This evidence was handed over to the police who could not confirm any fingerprints. Along with the package was the address book from Mark Hansen’s place; which leads to Hansen being one of the first suspects. Later that same day, a handbag and black shoe (believed to be Elizabeth’s) was found on top of a trash can in an alley near Norton Avenue.
Elizabeth Short’s body, the items sent to Los Angeles Examiner, and the shoe and handbag had all been cleaned with gasoline, destroying any evidence that could have been left behind.
The Investigation of the Black Dahlia
About 750 investigators had worked on the murder of Elizabeth Short in the initial stages; this included detectives from LAPD and other departments along with 400 Sheriff’s Deputies and about 250 California State Patrol officers.
Officers searched for potential evidence in storm drains, abandoned structures, and the Los Angeles River but came up empty-handed. At this time, City Councilman Lloyd Davis called for a $10,000 reward for any information that could potentially push forward the case. Unfortunately, this led to the false confession of about 500 fame-seekers.
On January 26, 1947, the Los Angeles Examiner received another letter that explained that the writer would be turning himself in on the 29th at 10 AM, he explained that he had “had his fun with the police” and that he would be waiting at the location that he provided. Police arrived on the 29th and nobody was waiting nor did anybody show up. At 1 PM on the 29th, the Examiner received their third letter from the alleged killer: explaining that he had changed his mind.
Elizabeth Short’s murder had been heavily publicized around the United States, the Examiner continuously published her case on the front page for a consecutive 35 days. Yet, on February 1, 1947, the Los Angeles Daily News reported that the investigators had “run into a Stone Wall” and that there were no leads.
When Lead Investigator Captain Jack Donahue was interviewed, he explained that he believed that Elizabeth had been murdered in a remote building or somewhere in the outskirts of LA and that LAPD believe that the murderer is possibly someone in the medical field; they believe this due to the precise cuts and the dissection at Elizabeth’s waist.
In mid-February of 1947, LAPD obtained a warrant to investigate students that attended USC Medical School. Elizabeth’s Murder case was ruled as a Cold Case in Spring 1947.
Theories and Suspects
Elizabeth’s murderer was never brought to justice although there were many suspects. For example, the most obvious being Robert M. “Red” Manley and Mark Hansen. George Hill Hodel Jr. came into contact with LAPD in October of 1949 when he was accused of raping his 14-year-old daughter Tamar, he quickly became a suspect as he was also a physician who specialized in sexually transmitted diseases.
Hodel had been put under surveillance from February 18th, 1950 to the 27th of March where he was recorded saying:
“Supposin’ I did kill the Black Dahlia. They couldn’t prove it now. They can’t talk to my secretary anymore because she’s dead… They thought there was something fishy. Anyway, now they may have figured it out. Killed her. Maybe I did kill my secretary…”
— George Hodel. February 18, 1950
Before the death of Elizabeth Short, Hodel was also a suspect in the murder of his secretary, Ruth Spaulding. Hodel had fled the country multiple times and is known to have spent time in the Philippines between 1950 to 1990.
Another suspect at the time was George Knowlton, although little is known about him his daughter Janice believes that her father did, in fact, kill Elizabeth Short. She wrote a book titled ‘Daddy was the Black Dahlia Killer’ in which she describes memories she has of her father sleeping with Elizabeth. Janice illustrates the time in which Elizabeth was staying in their garage because she was suffering a miscarriage. This theory was debunked when Medical Examiners admitted that Elizabeth hadn’t ever been pregnant.
In 1991 LAPD Detective John P. St. John acknowledged the lead and further explained that he had had a conversation with Knowlton and didn’t believe him to be involved in the murder of Elizabeth Short, adding that LAPD was getting a lot of people proclaiming that their father or other relatives were the murder.
Another possible suspect was Leslie Dillon, a bellhop who worked as a mortician’s assistant when questioned he knew a lot about the case; LAPD and many other departments were convinced that he was the murderer or at least an accomplice. Detectives never obtained enough evidence to press charges.
Elizabeth Short’s death has also been linked to other possible victims; such as those of the Jeanne French and the Cleveland Torso Murders. Jeanne French’s body had been found in west Los Angeles on February 10, 1947, she had been brutally beaten and discovered nude: on her stomach “Fuck You B.D” was written in lipstick. The Cleveland Torso Murders were a series of dismemberments in Cleveland, Ohio during the 1930s.
A Game of Telephone
A lot of information has been mixed up: from the week that Elizabeth was missing, to the way that she had gotten her nickname. From January 9th to the 15th Elizabeth had been missing and although many individuals have come forward and said that they had seen Elizabeth during this time- this is false. Many recanted their stories or admitted that they may have been seeing someone else.
Another common misinformed detail involved how Elizabeth gained her name: many people believe that it was due to her pale skin and black attire, that the newspaper had named her. This is false, Elizabeth had been named Black Dahlia by staff and other customers at the Long Beach drugstore and by her friends as a wordplay on the movie The Blue Dahlia.
Elizabeth was frequently slut-shamed in the media, they believed that she slept around and was a prostitute while others spread the rumor that she was unable to have sexual intercourse due to “infantile genitalia.” Elizabeth’s autopsy falsified this claim and proved that nothing was wrong with her reproductive organs.
In the End-
The Black Dahlia kept LAPD busy: they brought in many men to question and administered many polygraph tests, but in the end, there wasn’t enough evidence to arrest or charge anybody. In Early 1949, the grand jury called upon LAPD’s suspects and the corruptions within this case.
