Ex-Cop Claims His Father Was 'Black Dahlia' Killer

NBC4 - TV, Los Angeles ^ | April 11, 2003 | AP

[Houmatt]

Rumors have abounded that she was sexually deformed and the killer was probably disappointed to find out that this great looking beauty wasn't someone he could take to bed. That makes things ironic, doesn't it, when you consider for years she had been portrayed as a prostitute. Fact is, Elizabeth had been living in squalor just prior to her death, as it had been found during her autopsy she had been in poor physical health due to lack of hygiene and malnutrition (her childhood friend Mary Pacios told me this, and John Gilmore's book Severed confirmed it).

Look at how many people have come forward claiming their family member was the gunman on the Grassy Knoll. I honestly don't know if some of these fakers are looking for fame, money or revenge.

In the years immediately following her murder, a lot of people had come in and confessed. During the last decade, however, the exact opposite is true.

I could name for you a half-dozen people right now who have their own designs on the identity of Elizabeth's killer. And in all honesty, I do not believe even one of them has come close to what really happened in the hours before her body was found on the morning of January 15, 1947.

[lilylangtree]

Calling for Hercule Poirot!

[gcruse]

There is a good CD-Rom adventure game about this incident called Black Dahlia.

[motexva]

Ellroy's mother was also murdered, I believe in the early 1950s. The crime was never solved. At a reading of LA Confidential in 1998, James Ellroy said that he has always wondered if the same person could have killed his mother and Short. He admitted this was unlikely, as there was no similarity between the two crimes. Clearly the parallels between his mother and Short fascinate him.

[concentric circles]

Is this the physician the two principal cops working the case had in custody...

That's the one. The twists and turns in this case and it's aftermath are almost too numerous to follow.

[concentric circles]

I do not believe even one of them has come close to what really happened...

Gilmore's story of Arnold Smith; aka Jack Anderson Wilson, the tall man with a limp; seems to have substance. But then there's Smith's bizarre death before the final tale could be told and the fact that Gilmore had a book to sell.

Interesting story by Russell Miller along this line here.

[Sir_Ed]

"Is this the physician the two principal cops working the case had in custody, and who they strongly supected, but just couldn't turn enough evidence on?"

No...he caught the one-armed man and Tommy Lee let him go!

Ed

[weegee]

At least he isn't claiming that his dad was one of the Little Rascals (there have been a whole lot of frauds who made that claim).

[Houmatt]

There is a good CD-Rom adventure game about this incident called Black Dahlia.

The difference is, while the game does indeed pay reference to the crime, the "Black Dahlia" in this case is a diamond.

[Houmatt]

That's the one. The twists and turns in this case and it's aftermath are almost too numerous to follow.

Pardon?

I have been studying the case for years, and that is the first time I have heard that name.

Exactly when did Harry Hansen and Finis Brown pick up and question Hodel?

According to various news reports from around that time, the only person who was ever considered a suspect was Red Manley (who was cleared after polygraphs and alibi witnesses).

Since then, there have been many false confessors, crackpots (e.g., Janice Knowlton), wild guesses and good possibilities.

[Devil_Anse]

You said it! I came to that conclusion after reading half of her book, which I regret paying good money for.

[SunkenCiv]

Could the infamous Black Dahlia case be about to be solved? Cadaver dog discovers death scent at Hollywood home of suspect 66 years after the horrific murder