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110-685: Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – c.  January 14–15 , 1947), known as the Black Dahlia , was an American woman found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles , California , on January 15, 1947. Her case became highly publicized owing to the gruesome nature of the crime, which included the mutilation and bisection of her corpse. A native of Boston , Short spent her early life in New England and Florida before relocating to California, where her father lived. It

220-470: A 2006 film of the same name by director Brian De Palma : Short was played by actress Mia Kirshner . Both Ellroy's novel and its film adaptation bear little relation to the facts of the case. Michael Connelly 's 2024 novel The Waiting has a major subplot involving the Black Dahlia case. Short was also portrayed in heavily fictionalized accounts by Lucie Arnaz in the 1975 television film Who Is

330-468: A bit of paper was found tucked in a shoe in a pile of men's clothing by the ocean's edge at the foot of Breeze Avenue in Venice . The note read: "To whom it may concern: I have waited for the police to capture me for the Black Dahlia killing, but have not. I am too much of a coward to turn myself in, so this is the best way out for me. I couldn't help myself for that, or this. Sorry, Mary." The pile of clothing

440-533: A book titled Daddy was the Black Dahlia Killer in 1995, in which she made additional claims that her father sexually abused her. The book was condemned as "trash" by Knowlton's stepsister, Jolane Emerson, who stated: "She believed it, but it wasn't reality. I know, because I lived with her father for sixteen years." Additionally, St. John told the Times that Knowlton's claims were "not consistent with

550-521: A brief trip to San Diego with Robert "Red" Manley, a 25-year-old married salesman she had been dating. Manley stated that he dropped Short off at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles , and that Short was to meet one of her sisters, who was visiting from Boston, that afternoon. By some accounts, staff of the Biltmore recalled having seen Short using the lobby telephone. Shortly after, she

660-459: A combination of capitals and small letters (the Degnan note read in part "BuRN This FoR heR SAfTY" [ sic ]), and both notes contain a similar misshapen letter P and have one word that matches exactly. Convicted serial killer William Heirens served life in prison for Degnan's murder. Initially arrested at age 17 for breaking into a residence close to that of Degnan, Heirens claimed he

770-521: A four-year degree amounted to 55.9% of the population in 2000, about average within the city and the county. A high percentage of residents aged 25 and older had a college education. Leimert Park is served by Los Angeles Unified School District . Within Leimert Park are the following schools: Base Exchange Base exchanges sell consumer goods and services to authorized patrons such as active duty, reserve, national guard, retired members of

880-453: A jump in house prices. According to LAist : The boundaries are Obama Boulevard (formerly Rodeo Road) on the north, 4th Avenue and Roxton Avenue on the east, West Vernon Avenue on the south, and Crenshaw Boulevard on the west. The Crenshaw District lies to the northwest, View Park and Baldwin Hills are to the west and southwest, Vermont Square is to the east, and Jefferson Park is to

990-667: A milder climate to prevent further respiratory problems. Her mother sent her to spend winters with family friends in Miami , Florida , for the next three years. Short dropped out of Medford High School during her sophomore year. In late 1942, Short's mother received a letter of apology from her presumed-deceased husband, which revealed that he was in fact alive and had started a new life in California . In December of that year, at age 18, Short relocated to Vallejo, California , to live with her father, whom she had not seen since age 6. At

1100-581: A new resident started hosting a barbeque in his backyard. He was surprised that it was not a popular tradition like it was in Texas. The celebration expanded and has been organized by Black Arts Los Angeles since 2009. During the 2020 celebration, the iconography of the Black Lives Matter movement, and images of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were part of the celebration. Tavis Smiley , host and producer of National Public Radio (NPR) and

1210-561: A performing arts venue for professional performing arts presentations; a training center for talent reflective of South Los Angeles; and a venue for the production and presentation of world-class theater, music, and dance performances. The first phase of renovations to the Vision Theatre included upgrades to the lobbies, restrooms, office space, and classrooms in 2011. Phase II of the renovation began in March 2018. The rehabilitation of

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1320-470: A person claiming to be Short's killer placed a phone call to the office of James Richardson, the editor of the Examiner , congratulating Richardson on the newspaper's coverage of the case and stating he planned on eventually turning himself in, but not before allowing police to pursue him further. Additionally, the caller told Richardson to "expect some souvenirs of Beth Short in the mail." Three days later,

1430-509: A prostitute or call girl during her time in Los Angeles, according to Harnisch, the contemporaneous grand jury proved that there was no existing evidence that she was ever a prostitute. Harnisch claims that the rumor regarding Short's history as a prostitute originates from John Gregory Dunne 's 1977 novel True Confessions , which is based in part on the crime. Another widely circulated rumor (sometimes used to counter claims that Short

1540-528: A remote building or shack on the outskirts of Los Angeles, and that her body transported to the location where it was disposed of. Based on the precise cuts and dissection of Short's body, the LAPD looked into the possibility that the murderer had been a surgeon, doctor or someone with medical knowledge. In mid-February 1947, the LAPD served a warrant to the University of Southern California Medical School , which

1650-487: A result, do not pay rent or tax for the use of land. Exchanges' tax-exempt status (as instrumentalities of the U.S. Government) also reduces certain operating expenses. While exchanges must pay for the cost of transporting goods within the contiguous United States , Congress appropriates funds to subsidize the transportation costs of American merchandise to overseas exchange locations so that such items are available and affordable to personnel stationed overseas. Roughly 70% of

1760-582: A retired detective with the Long Beach Police Department , wrote an article for the LBPD newsletter The Rap Sheet on Short's murder. His father, Richard F. Williams, was a member of the LAPD's Gangster Squad investigating the case. Williams' father reportedly believed that Dillon was the killer, and that when Dillon returned to his home state of Oklahoma he was able to avoid extradition to California because his ex-wife Georgia Stevenson

1870-404: A square deal. Dahlia killing was justified." The graphic nature of the murder and the subsequent letters received by the Examiner had resulted in a media circus surrounding Short's murder. Both local and national publications heavily covered the story, many of which reprinted sensationalistic reports suggesting that Short had been tortured for hours prior to her death; the information, however,

1980-582: A statement from one of Short's alleged lovers. Short's autopsy itself, which was reprinted in full in Michael Newton's 2009 book The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes , notes that her uterus was "small"; however, no other information in the autopsy is provided that would suggest her reproductive organs were anything other than anatomically normal. The autopsy also states that Short was not and had never been pregnant, contrary to what had been claimed prior to and following her death. Another rumor—that Short

2090-446: A suspicious manila envelope was discovered, addressed to "The Los Angeles Examiner and other Los Angeles papers," with individual words that had been cut-and-pasted from newspaper clippings; additionally, a large message on the face of the envelope read: "Here is Dahlia's belongings [,] letter to follow." The envelope contained Short's birth certificate, business cards, photographs, names written on pieces of paper and an address book with

2200-474: A technique taught in the 1930s called a hemicorporectomy . The lower half of her body had been removed by transecting the lumbar spine between the second and third lumbar vertebrae , thus severing the intestine at the duodenum . Newbarr's report noted "very little" ecchymosis (bruising) along the incision line, suggesting it had been performed after death. Another "gaping laceration" measuring 4 + 1 ⁄ 4 inches (110 mm) long ran longitudinally from

2310-408: A total of sixty confessions, most made by men. Since that time, over 500 people have confessed to the crime, some of whom had not even been born at the time of her death. Sergeant John P. St. John , an LAPD detective who worked the case until his retirement, stated, "It is amazing how many people offer up a relative as the killer." In 2003, Ralph Asdel, one of the original detectives on the case, told

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2420-631: Is commonly held that she was an aspiring actress, though she had no known acting credits or jobs during her time in Los Angeles. Short acquired the nickname of the Black Dahlia posthumously, as newspapers of the period often nicknamed particularly lurid crimes; the term may have originated from the film noir thriller The Blue Dahlia (1946). After the discovery of her body, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) began an extensive investigation that produced over 150 suspects but yielded no arrests. Short's unsolved murder and

2530-645: Is named for its developer, Walter H. Leimert, who began the subdivision business center project in 1928. The master plan was designed by the Olmsted Brothers company, which was managed by the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903), the landscape designer best known for Central Park in New York City. Elderly Japanese-American residents still live in the area, and some of the Japanese gardens still exist. The Crenshaw Square Shopping Center

2640-474: Is normally determined by presentation of the U.S. Uniformed Services Privilege and Identification Card , either when entering the store or when paying for goods and services. Online base exchange shopping privileges were extended to all honorably discharged veterans beginning on November 11, 2017. The DEERS database is used to verify non-disabled veterans' eligibility for the online shopping benefit. Limited base exchange privileges are extended to members of

2750-466: Is restricted to quantities required for personal use. At many overseas locations, exchange privileges are determined as part of the local status of forces agreement . Shopping privileges are also generally extended in overseas locations to U.S. federal government civilian employees and their dependents who are assigned overseas. Shopping privileges can vary overseas according to applicable status-of-forces agreements with host nations. A typical exchange

2860-495: Is similar to a department store , but other services such as military clothing sales/uniform shops, barber shops, hair care, beauty, laundry/dry cleaning, gas stations, fast food outlets, convenience stores ("Expresses"), beer and wine sales, liquor stores ("Class Six" or "Package Stores"), lawn and garden shops, movie theaters and even vehicle maintenance and repair services are commonly available. Most (but not all) sales by exchanges are free of state and local sales or VAT taxes as

2970-549: The Los Angeles Daily News reported that the case had "run into a Stone Wall," with no new leads for investigators to pursue. The Examiner continued to run stories on the murder and the investigation, which was front-page news for thirty-five days following the discovery of the body. When interviewed, lead investigator Captain Jack Donahue told the press that he believed Short's murder had taken place in

3080-553: The 1929 stock market crash . In 1930, his car was found abandoned on the Charlestown Bridge , and it was assumed that he had jumped into the Charles River . Believing her husband to be deceased, Short's mother began working as a bookkeeper to support the family. Troubled by bronchitis and severe asthma attacks, Short underwent lung surgery at age 15, after which doctors suggested she periodically relocate to

3190-608: The Civil Air Patrol and United States Coast Guard Auxiliary . Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC), United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps , and Civil Air Patrol cadets may all have varying degrees of privileges (such as only being allowed to shop for uniform items or only being allowed when visiting installations as part of a sponsored activity). Foreign national active duty officer and enlisted members, when visiting U.S. military installation for unofficial business. Merchandise

3300-528: The Herald-Express ' s Bevo Means) and detectives to look into the possibility that Short was a lesbian , and begin questioning employees and patrons of gay bars in Los Angeles; this claim, however, remained unsubstantiated. The Herald-Express also received several letters from the purported killer, again made with cut-and-pasted clippings, one of which read: "I will give up on Dahlia killing if I get 10 years. Don't try to find me." On February 1,

3410-529: The Los Angeles River , but the searches yielded no further evidence. Los Angeles City Councilman Lloyd G. Davis posted a $ 10,000 (equivalent to $ 136,453 in 2023) reward for information leading police to Short's killer. After the announcement of the reward, various persons came forward with confessions, most of which police dismissed as false. Several of the false confessors were charged with obstruction of justice . On January 26, another letter

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3520-586: The Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland . After her younger sister, Elnora, had grown up and married, their mother Phoebe moved to Oakland to be near her daughter's grave. She finally returned to the East Coast in the 1970s, where she lived into her nineties and died in 1992. On February 2, 1947, just two weeks after Short's murder, Republican state assemblyman C. Don Field was prompted by

3630-416: The Times that he believed he had interviewed Short's killer, a man who had been seen with his sedan parked near the crime scene in the early morning hours of January 15, 1947. A neighbor driving by that day stopped to dispose of a bag of lawn clippings in the lot when he saw a parked sedan, allegedly with its right rear door open; the driver of the sedan was standing in the lot. His arrival apparently startled

3740-634: The U.S. Uniformed Services and their dependents. Other authorized patrons include honorably discharged veterans certified 100% disabled and/or totally and permanently disabled (TPD) by the Veterans Administration , recipients of the Medal of Honor , military transition personnel, DoD employees, Red Cross personnel who are U.S. citizens assigned outside the United States with the military service. Authority to use these facilities

3850-426: The umbilicus to the suprapubic region . The lacerations on each side of the face, which extended from the corners of the lips, were measured at three inches (75 mm) on the right side of the face, and 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (65 mm) on the left. The skull was not fractured, but there was bruising noted on the front and right side of her scalp, with a small amount of bleeding in the subarachnoid space on

3960-563: The "Werewolf Murder" by the Herald-Express because of the brutal nature of the crime. Many true crime books claim that Short lived in or visited Los Angeles at various times in the mid-1940s, including Gilmore's Severed , which claims she worked at the Hollywood Canteen. This is disputed by Harnisch, who states that Short did not, in fact, live in Los Angeles until after the canteen's closing in 1945. Although some of Short's acquaintances and several commentators described Short as

4070-569: The 1920s as a mainly residential community, it features Spanish Colonial Revival homes and tree-lined streets. The Life Magazine/Leimert Park House is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument . The core of Leimert Park is Leimert Park Village, which consists of Leimert Plaza Park, shops on 43rd Street and on Degnan Boulevard, and the Vision Theater. The village has become the center of both historical and contemporary African-American art, music, and culture in Los Angeles. Leimert Park

4180-535: The Black Dahlia. They couldn't prove it now. They can't talk to my secretary 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." In 1991, Janice Knowlton, who was aged 10 at the time of Short's murder, claimed that she witnessed her father, George Knowlton, beat Short to death with a claw hammer in the detached garage of her family's home in Westminster . She also published

4290-600: The Black Dahlia? , by Jessica Nelson in Season Four, Episode 13 of Hunter , and by Mena Suvari in the series American Horror Story in 2011, featuring Short in the plot line of the episode " Spooky Little Girl ", and again in 2018 with " Return to Murder House ". Leimert Park, Los Angeles Leimert Park ( / l ə ˈ m ɜːr t / ; lə- MURT ) is a neighborhood in the South Los Angeles region of Los Angeles , California. Developed in

4400-497: The LAPD stated publicly that he believed the Black Dahlia and the "Lipstick Murders" in Chicago were "likely connected." Among the evidence cited is the fact that Short's body was found on Norton Avenue, three blocks west of Degnan Boulevard, Degnan being the last name of the girl from Chicago. There were also striking similarities between the handwriting on the Degnan ransom note and that of the "Black Dahlia Avenger." Both texts used

4510-547: The Leimert). This Mediterranean Revival Style theater is at the south end of Leimert Park Village at 3341 West Forty-Third place and Degnan Avenue. It was designed in 1931 by the architectural firm Morgan, Walls & Clements and opened as a movie theater on April 21, 1932. In 1977 the theater came under the ownership of the Jehovah's Witnesses known as the "Assembly Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses". Actress Marla Gibbs bought

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4620-547: The Short killing, the original LAPD investigators studied the Torso Murders in 1947 but later discounted any connection between the two cases. In 1980, new evidence implicating a former Torso Murder suspect, Jack Anderson Wilson, was investigated by St. John in relation to Short's murder. He claimed he was close to arresting Wilson in Short's murder, but that Wilson died in a fire on February 4, 1982. The possible connection to

4730-620: The Torso Murders received renewed media attention when it was profiled on the NBC series Unsolved Mysteries in 1992, in which Eliot Ness biographer Oscar Fraley suggested Ness knew the identity of the killer responsible for both cases. Crime authors such as Steve Hodel and William Rasmussen have suggested a link between the Short murder and the 1946 murder and dismemberment of 6-year-old Suzanne Degnan in Chicago , Illinois . Captain Donahoe of

4840-412: The basis of numerous books, television shows and films, both fictionalized and non-fiction. Among the most famous fictional accounts of Short's death is James Ellroy 's 1987 novel The Black Dahlia , which, in addition to the murder, explored "the larger fields of politics, crime, corruption, and paranoia in post-war Los Angeles," according to cultural critic David M. Fine. Ellroy's novel was adapted into

4950-431: The case to introduce a bill calling for the formation of a sex offender registry ; the state of California would become the first U.S. state to make the registration of sex offenders mandatory. Short's murder has been described as one of the most brutal and culturally enduring crimes in U.S. history, and Time magazine listed it as one of the most infamous unsolved cases in the world. Short's life and death have been

5060-476: The case, with one Examiner article describing the black tailored suit Short was last seen wearing as "a tight skirt and a sheer blouse." The media nicknamed her the "Black Dahlia", and described her as an "adventuress" who "prowled Hollywood Boulevard." Additional newspaper reports, such as one published in the Los Angeles Times on January 17, deemed the murder a "sex fiend slaying." On January 21,

5170-409: The coroner who performed Short's autopsy suggested in conversation that she had been forced to consume feces based on his findings when examining the contents of her stomach. This claim has been denied by Harnisch and is also not indicated in Short's official autopsy, though it has been reprinted in several print and online media. According to newspaper reports shortly after the murder, Short received

5280-460: The country several times and lived in the Philippines between 1950 and 1990. Additionally, Steve Hodel has cited his father's training as a surgeon as circumstantial evidence. In 2003, it was revealed in notes from the 1949 grand jury report that investigators had wiretapped George Hodel's home and obtained recorded conversation of him with an unidentified visitor, saying: "Supposin' I did kill

5390-468: The details surrounding it have had a lasting cultural impact, generating various theories and public speculation. Her life and death have been the basis of numerous books and films, and her murder is frequently cited as one of the most famous unsolved murders in U.S. history, as well as one of the oldest unsolved cases in Los Angeles County . It has likewise been credited by historians as one of

5500-465: The discovery of her body, on January 15. Police and district attorney's investigators ruled out each alleged sighting; in some cases, those interviewed were identifying other women whom they had mistaken for Short. Short's whereabouts in the days leading up to her murder and the discovery of her body are unknown. After the discovery of Short's body, numerous Los Angeles newspapers printed headlines claiming she had been tortured leading up to her death. This

5610-529: The exchange earnings are paid to MWR programs . In the last ten years, more than $ 2.24 billion has been contributed by the exchange to the Army and Air Force to spend on quality of life improvements for Soldiers, Airmen and their families—Youth Services, Armed Forces Recreation Centers, arts and crafts, aquatic centers, post functions and golf courses. Exchanges play an important role for U.S. military and federal government personnel assigned overseas as they are often

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5720-402: The exchange services, exchange service employees' salaries are paid from revenues generated from sales of merchandise, except for annual raises from funds appropriated by Congress . Exchanges are deemed Category C non-appropriated fund (NAF) activities, meaning they are designed to not only be self-sufficient, but generate a profit. Exchanges are normally located on military reservations and, as

5830-459: The facts of the case." The 2017 book Black Dahlia, Red Rose by Piu Eatwell focuses on Leslie Dillon, a bellhop who was a former mortician 's assistant; his associates Mark Hansen and Jeff Connors; and Sergeant Finis Brown, a lead detective who had links to Hansen and was allegedly corrupt . Eatwell posits that Short was murdered because she knew too much about the men's involvement in a scheme for robbing hotels. She further suggests that Short

5940-467: The files showed that Dillon was thoroughly investigated and was determined to have been in San Francisco when Short was killed. Harnisch speculated that Eatwell either did not find these files or she chose to ignore them. A number of people, none of whom knew Short, contacted police and newspapers claiming to have seen her during her so-called "missing week," between her January 9 disappearance and

6050-601: The first major crimes in postwar America to capture national attention. Elizabeth Short was born on July 29, 1924, in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston , Massachusetts , the third of five daughters to Cleo Alvin Short Jr. (October 18, 1885 – January 19, 1967) and his wife, Phoebe May Sawyer (July 2, 1897 – March 1, 1992). Her sisters were Virginia May West (born 1920), Dorothea Schloesser (born 1922), Elnora Chalmers (born 1925) and Muriel Short (born 1929). Short's father

6160-491: The former nationally syndicated talk show Tavis Smiley on PBS , has production studios called The Smiley Group, Inc., within the Leimert Park neighborhood. October 7, 2022, the K (Crenshaw) Line is open. This line of Metro has two stations at Leimert Park : Martin Luther King Jr. station at Baldwin Hills and Leimert Park and Leimert Park station . Leimert Park residents aged 25 and older holding

6270-475: The intersections at Vernon Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard, 43rd Street and Crenshaw Boulevard, Leimert Boulevard and 43rd Street, Leimert Boulevard and Vernon Avenue, and Degnan Boulevard and 43rd Street as “Historic Leimert Park Village" and directed the Department of Transportation to erect permanent ceremonial sign(s) to this effect at these locations. In 2005, a "Leimert Park Village" brick gateway marker

6380-549: The killer. Short's face had been slashed from the corners of her mouth to her ears, creating an effect known as the " Glasgow smile ". She had several cuts on her thigh and breasts, where entire portions of flesh had been sliced away. The lower half of her body was positioned a foot away from the upper, and her intestines had been tucked neatly beneath her buttocks. The corpse had been "posed", with her hands over her head, her elbows bent at right angles, and her legs spread apart. Los Angeles Herald-Express reporter Aggie Underwood

6490-585: The last six months of her life in southern California , mostly in the Los Angeles area; shortly before her death she had been working as a waitress and rented a room behind the Florentine Gardens nightclub on Hollywood Boulevard . Short has been variously described and depicted as an aspiring or "would-be" actress. According to some sources, she did in fact have aspirations to be a film star, though she had no known acting jobs or credits. On January 9, 1947, Short returned to her home in Los Angeles after

6600-471: The legend of the Black Dahlia just keeps getting more convoluted." Harnisch has refuted several supposed rumors and popular conceptions about Short and also disputed the validity of Gilmore's book Severed , claiming the book is "25% mistakes, and 50% fiction." Harnisch had examined the district attorney's files (he claimed that Steve Hodel has examined some of them pertaining to his father, along with Times columnist Steve Lopez) and contrary to Eatwell's claims,

6710-439: The most common places of birth for the 10.7% of the residents who were born abroad. This is a low percentage of foreign-born when compared with the overall city or Los Angeles County . The median household income in 2008 dollars was $ 45,865, considered average for the city but low for the county. The percentage of households earning $ 20,000 or less was high, compared to the county at large. The average household size of 2.2 people

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6820-480: The name Mark Hansen embossed on the cover. The packet had been carefully cleaned with gasoline, similarly to Short's body, which led police to suspect the packet had been sent directly by her killer. Despite efforts to clean the packet, several partial fingerprints were lifted from the envelope and sent to the FBI for testing; however, the prints were compromised in transit and thus could not be properly analyzed. The same day

6930-520: The name originated during Short's lifetime and was not a creation of the press: Harnisch states that it was in fact a nickname she earned from the staff of the Long Beach drugstore she frequented; in Severed , Gilmore names an A.L. Landers as the proprietor of the drugstore, though he does not provide the store's name. Prior to the circulation of the "Black Dahlia" name, Short's killing had been dubbed

7040-468: The neighborhood of Leimert Park . At the time, Leimert Park was largely undeveloped. Short's severely mutilated body was completely severed at the waist and drained of blood, leaving her skin a pallid white. Medical examiners determined that she had been dead for around ten hours prior to the discovery, leaving her time of death either sometime during the evening of January 14 or the early morning hours of January 15. The body had apparently been washed by

7150-480: The nickname "Black Dahlia" from staff and patrons at a Long Beach drugstore in mid-1946 as wordplay on the film The Blue Dahlia (1946). Other popularly-circulated rumors claim that the media crafted the name because Short adorned her hair with dahlias . According to the FBI's official website, Short received the first part of the nickname from the press "for her rumored penchant for sheer black clothes." However, reports by district attorney's investigators state that

7260-461: The nickname was invented by newspaper reporters covering her murder; Herald-Express reporter Bevo Means, who interviewed Short's acquaintances at the drugstore, has been credited with first using the "Black Dahlia" name, though reporters Underwood and Jack Smith have been alternatively named as its creators. While some sources claim that Short was referred to or went by the name during her life, others dispute this. Both Gilmore and Harnisch agree that

7370-544: The north. According to the Los Angeles Times Mapping L.A. project: Leimert Park is bounded by Exposition Boulevard on the north, South Van Ness Avenue and Arlington Avenue on the east, West Vernon Avenue on the south, and Victoria Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard on the west. Jefferson Park is to the north, the Exposition Park neighborhood and Vermont Square are to the east, Hyde Park to

7480-495: The northern end of Destination Crenshaw , an open-air museum of African American history and culture that will extend 1.3-miles (2.1 km) down Crenshaw Boulevard through the Hyde Park neighborhood . Juneteenth is commemorated with a street festival that brings together artists and residents for a day of fun and remembrance. The event celebrates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved African Americans were liberated. The celebration in Leimert Park dates back to 1949 when

7590-496: The owner of the address book found in the packet, a suspect. Hansen was a wealthy local nightclub and theater owner and an acquaintance at whose home Short had stayed with friends. According to some sources, Hansen also confirmed that the purse and shoe discovered in the alley were in fact Short's. Ann Toth , Short's friend and roommate, told investigators that Short had recently rejected sexual advances from Hansen, and suggested it as potential motive for him to kill her; however, Hansen

7700-764: The owner of the sedan, who approached his car and peered in the window before returning to the sedan and driving away. The owner of the sedan was followed to a local restaurant where he worked, but was ultimately cleared of suspicion. Suspects remaining under discussion by various authors and experts include a doctor named Walter Bayley, proposed by former Times copyeditor Larry Harnisch; Times publisher Norman Chandler , whom biographer Donald Wolfe claims impregnated Short; Leslie Dillon, Joseph A. Dumais, Artie Lane, Mark Hansen, Francis E. Sweeney, Woody Guthrie , Bugsy Siegel , Orson Welles , George Hodel , Hodel's friend Fred Sexton , George Knowlton, Robert M. "Red" Manley, Patrick S. O'Reilly and Jack Anderson Wilson . Although he

7810-404: The packet was received by the Examiner , a handbag and a black suede shoe were reported to have been seen on top of a garbage can in an alley a short distance from Norton Avenue, two miles (three kilometers) from the crime scene. The items were recovered by police but had also been wiped clean with gasoline, destroying any fingerprints. On March 14, an apparent suicide note scrawled in pencil on

7920-409: The press for compromising the investigation through journalists' probing of details and unverified reporting. In September 1949, a grand jury convened to discuss inadequacies in the LAPD's homicide unit based on their failure to solve numerous murders—especially those of women and children—in the previous several years, Short's being one of them. In the aftermath of the grand jury, further investigation

8030-518: The public and press in solving her murder have been credited as factors that complicated the investigation significantly, resulting in a complex, sometimes inconsistent narrative of events. According to Anne Marie DiStefano of the Portland Tribune , many "unsubstantiated stories" have circulated about Short over the years: "She was a prostitute , she was frigid, she was pregnant, she was a lesbian. And somehow, instead of fading away over time,

8140-409: The remaining portions of the theater includes the historic refurbishment and expansion of the theater and auditorium, and the addition of an orchestra pit and a fly loft. The grand reopening of the Vision Theatre is planned for 2022. The Leimert Park Book Fair began in 2007 and attracts "more than 200 authors, poets, spoken-word artists, storytellers and other participants." Sankofa Park will anchor

8250-418: The reporters revealed that her daughter had in fact been murdered. The Examiner also offered to pay Phoebe's airfare and accommodations if she would travel to Los Angeles to help with the police investigation; that was yet another ploy since the newspaper kept her away from police and other reporters to protect its scoop . The Examiner and another Hearst newspaper, the Herald-Express , later sensationalized

8360-438: The right side, consistent with blows to the head. The cause of death was determined to be hemorrhaging from the lacerations to her face and the shock from blows to the head and face. Newbarr noted that Short's anal canal was dilated at 1 + 3 ⁄ 4 inches (45 mm), suggesting that she might have been raped . Samples were taken from her body testing for the presence of sperm, but the results came back negative. Short

8470-408: The sales take place on U.S. military reservations (exceptions include gasoline sales in the U.S. and sales by concessionaires licensed by the exchange). Unlike commissaries (military grocery stores), exchanges, for the most part, do not receive significant appropriations from the federal government and must operate on a for-profit basis. With the exception of military personnel assigned to duty with

8580-569: The south and View Park-Windsor Hills and Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw to the west. Leimert Park angles to the West Adams district on the northwest. According to Google Maps: the boundaries are Exposition Boulevard on the north, Western Avenue on the east, West Vernon Avenue on the south, and Crenshaw Boulevard on the west. According to the books "Leimert Park (Images of America)" and "Los Angeles Residential Architecture", Leimert Park

8690-416: The theater in 1990 and renamed it the Vision Theatre, intending to make it a venue for African-American movies, live theater , and dance productions . In 1992 the Los Angeles civil unrest and an economic recession hit the area hard, and the property fell into foreclosure . The City of Los Angeles acquired the theater in 1999. The Department of Cultural Affairs manages the theater with the goal of providing

8800-569: The time her father was working at the nearby Mare Island Naval Shipyard on San Francisco Bay . Arguments between Short and her father led to her moving out in January 1943. Short took a job at the Base Exchange at Camp Cooke (now Vandenberg Space Force Base ) near Lompoc, California , briefly living with a United States Army Air Force sergeant who reportedly abused her. She left Lompoc in mid-1943 and moved to Santa Barbara , where she

8910-442: The time that they could have been the work of a single unidentified serial killer. In 1949, a Los Angeles County grand jury was tasked with investigating the failure on the part of law enforcement to solve the cases. As a result, further investigation was done on the homicides although none of them were solved. Numerous details regarding Short's personal life and death have been points of public dispute. The eager involvement of both

9020-542: Was tortured by police, forced to confess and made a scapegoat for the murder. After being taken from the medical infirmary at the Dixon Correctional Center on February 26, 2012, for health problems, Heirens died at the University of Illinois Medical Center on March 5, 2012, at age 83. Between 1943 and 1949, over a dozen unsolved murders occurred in Los Angeles which involved the sexual mutilation of young attractive women. Authorities suspected at

9130-450: Was 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) tall, weighed 115 pounds (52 kg) and had light blue eyes, brown hair and badly decayed teeth. There were ligature marks on her ankles, wrists and neck, and an "irregular laceration with superficial tissue loss" on her right breast. Newbarr also noted superficial lacerations on the right forearm, left upper arm and the lower left side of the chest. Short's body had been cut completely in half by

9240-517: Was a United States Navy sailor from Gloucester Courthouse , Virginia , while her mother was a native of Milbridge , Maine . The Shorts were married in Portland, Maine , in 1918. The Short family briefly relocated to Portland in 1927, before settling in Medford, Massachusetts , a suburb of Boston, that same year. Short's father built miniature golf courses until he lost most of his savings in

9350-411: Was a lesbian—has often circulated; according to Gilmore, this rumor began after Means was told by the deputy coroner that Short "wasn't having sex with men" owing to her allegedly "small" genitalia. Means took this to mean that Short had sex with women, and both he and Herald-Express reporter Sid Hughes began fruitlessly investigating gay bars in Los Angeles for further information. Short is interred at

9460-417: Was a prostitute) holds that Short was unable to have sexual intercourse because of a congenital defect that resulted in gonadal dysgenesis , also known as "infantile genitalia." Los Angeles County district attorney's files state that the investigators had questioned three men with whom Short had engaged in sex, including a Chicago police officer who was a suspect in the case; FBI files on the case also contain

9570-475: Was able to provide an alibi for the date of Short's murder, as he was in Portland , Oregon , visiting his dying father-in-law. A total of 750 investigators from the LAPD and other departments worked on the Short case during its initial stages, including 400 sheriff's deputies and 250 California State Patrol officers. Various locations were searched for potential evidence, including storm drains throughout Los Angeles, abandoned structures and various sites along

9680-567: Was allegedly seen by patrons of the Crown Grill Cocktail Lounge at 754 South Olive Street, approximately 3 ⁄ 8 mile (600 m) away from the Biltmore. On the morning of January 15, 1947, Short's naked body, severed into two pieces , was found in a vacant lot on the west side of South Norton Avenue, midway between Coliseum Street and West 39th Street (at 34°00′59″N 118°19′59″W  /  34.0164°N 118.333°W  / 34.0164; -118.333 ) in

9790-442: Was among the county's highest. The core of Leimert Park is Leimert Park Village, which consists of Leimert Plaza Park, two blocks of 43rd Street, and one block of Degnan Boulevard. Leimert Park Village has historically served as a hub of African-American art and culture in Los Angeles , has been compared to both Harlem and Greenwich Village, and in 1998 was seen as "the cultural heartbeat of black Los Angeles." Leimert Plaza Park

9900-426: Was among the first to arrive at the crime scene, and took several photos of Short's body and its surroundings. Near the body, detectives located a heel print on the ground amid the tire tracks, and a cement sack containing watery blood was also found nearby. An autopsy of Short's body was performed on January 16, 1947, by Frederick Newbarr, the Los Angeles County coroner . Newbarr's autopsy report stated that Short

10010-564: Was arrested on September 23 for drinking at a local bar while underage. Juvenile authorities sent her back to Massachusetts, but she returned instead to Florida, making only occasional visits to her family near Boston. While in Florida, Short met Major Matthew Michael Gordon Jr., a decorated Army Air Force officer of the 2nd Air Commando Group , who was training for deployment to Southeast Asian theater of World War II . Short later told friends that Gordon had written to propose marriage while he

10120-621: Was cleared of suspicion in the case. In addition to Hansen, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) interviewed over 150 men in the ensuing weeks whom they believed to be potential suspects. Robert Manley, who had been one of the last people to see Short alive, was also investigated, but was cleared of suspicion after passing numerous polygraph examinations. Police also interviewed several persons found listed in Hansen's address book, including Martin Lewis, who had been an acquaintance of Short's. Lewis

10230-418: Was dedicated as Barbara Morrison Square on the anniversary of her birth, September 10. 2022. Project Blowed is the longest-running hip hop open mic in the world, started in 1994 by rapper Aceyalone and friends. It is hosted by Kaos Network, and held every Thursday night at 43rd Place and Leimert Boulevard. April 21, 2019, marked the 87th anniversary of the opening of the Vision Theatre (initially named

10340-431: Was denied by law enforcement at the time, but they allowed the claims to circulate so as to keep Short's actual cause of death a secret from the public. Some sources, such as Oliver Cyriax's Crime: An Encyclopedia (1993), state that Short's body was covered in cigarette burns inflicted on her while she was still alive, though there is no indication of this in her official autopsy report. In Severed , Gilmore states that

10450-652: Was designed by the Olmsted Brothers to serve as the public hub of the master planned community. The park has been a go-to community space for the African American community since the 1980s hosting art walks, a regular drum circle, annual celebrations, rallies, protests, and memorials. The village has blues and jazz night clubs, theaters for musicals, dramatic performances, award ceremonies, comedy specials, and poetry readings, and venues for hip hop. The intersection of 43rd Street and Degnan Boulevard

10560-483: Was done on Short's past, with detectives tracing her movements between Massachusetts, California and Florida, and also interviewed people who knew Short in Texas and New Orleans . However, the interviews yielded no useful information in the murder. The notoriety of Short's murder has spurred a large number of confessions over the years, many of which have been deemed false. During the initial investigation, police received

10670-481: Was established with the following boundaries: Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. (formerly Santa Barbara Avenue) on the north, Arlington on the east, Vernon to the south and Crenshaw Boulevard (formerly Angeles Mesa Drive) on the west. Within the Leimert Park neighborhood lies the city-designated "Historic Leimert Park Village". On May 1, 2018, the Los Angeles City Council designated the area between

10780-463: Was false, yet police allowed the reports to circulate so as to conceal Short's true cause of death— cerebral hemorrhage —from the public. Further reports about Short's personal life were publicized, including details about her alleged declining of Hansen's sexual advances; additionally, a stripper who was an acquaintance of Short's told police that she "liked to get guys worked up over her, but she'd leave them hanging dry." This led some reporters (namely

10890-522: Was first seen by a beach caretaker, who reported the discovery to lifeguard captain John Dillon. Dillon immediately notified Captain L. E. Christensen of West Los Angeles police station. The clothes included a coat and trousers of blue herringbone tweed, a brown and white T-shirt, white jockey shorts, tan socks and tan moccasin leisure shoes, size about eight. The clothes gave no clue about the identity of their owner. Police quickly deemed Mark Hansen,

11000-562: Was identified after her fingerprints were sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); her fingerprints were on file from her 1943 arrest. Immediately following the identification, reporters from William Randolph Hearst 's Los Angeles Examiner contacted her mother, Phoebe Short, in Boston, and told her that her daughter had won a beauty contest. It was only after prying as much personal information as they could from Phoebe that

11110-524: Was inspired and designed in the style of Japanese architecture . The center was a hub of retailing in the mid 1950s. In 2013 and 2014, resurgent home prices in South Los Angeles spurred much interest among many young professionals into moving into Leimert Park and among other areas within the region. Observers took note with mixed feelings: fears of gentrification and hope for increased business investment. The trend continued with 2021 seeing

11220-453: Was installed. A total of 11,782 people lived in Leimert Park according to the 2000 U.S. census— counted 9,880 residents in the 1.19 square-mile neighborhood. The median age was 38. The percentage of residents aged 65 and above was among the county's highest. Within the neighborhood, African Americans made up 79.6% of the population, with Latinos at 11.4%, Asians at 4.9%, White at 1.5%, and other races at 3.2%. El Salvador and Mexico were

11330-551: Was killed at the Aster Motel in Los Angeles, where the owners reported finding one of their rooms "covered in blood and fecal matter" on the morning Short's body was found. The Examiner stated in 1949 that LAPD chief William A. Worton denied that the Aster Motel had anything to do with the case, although its rival newspaper, the Los Angeles Herald , claimed that the murder took place there. In 2000, Buz Williams,

11440-680: Was killed. Harnisch claims that there was no LAPD coverup, and that Dillon did in fact receive a financial settlement from the City of Los Angeles, but has not produced concrete evidence to prove this. Several crime authors, as well as police detective Peter Merylo, have suspected a link between the Short murder and the Cleveland Torso Murders , which took place in Cleveland , Ohio , between 1934 and 1938. As part of their investigation into other murders that took place before and after

11550-402: Was located near the site where the body had been discovered, requesting a complete list of the program's students. The university agreed so long as the students' identities remained private. Background checks were conducted but yielded no results. By the spring of 1947, Short's murder had become a cold case with few new leads. Sergeant Finis Brown, one of the lead detectives on the case, blamed

11660-464: Was low for both the city and the county. Renters occupied 54.1% of the housing units, and homeowners occupied the rest. In 2000 there were 817 families headed by single parents, or 27.7%, a rate that was high for the city and the county. There were 990 veterans, or 11.1% of the population, considered high when compared with the city overall. The percentage of veterans who served in the Vietnam War

11770-472: Was never formally charged in the crime, George Hodel came to wider attention after his death when he was accused by his son, LAPD homicide detective Steve Hodel, of killing Short and committing several additional murders. Prior to the Dahlia case, George Hodel was suspected, but not charged, in the death of his secretary, Ruth Spaulding; and was accused of raping his own daughter, Tamar, but acquitted . Hodel fled

11880-529: Was received by the Examiner , this time handwritten, which read: "Here it is. Turning in Wed., Jan. 29, 10 am. Had my fun at police. Black Dahlia Avenger." The letter also named a location at which the supposed killer would turn himself in. Police waited at the location on the morning of January 29, but the alleged killer did not appear. Instead, at 1:00pm, the Examiner offices received another cut-and-pasted letter which read: "Have changed my mind. You would not give me

11990-630: Was recovering from injuries from a plane crash in India . She accepted his offer, but Gordon died in a second crash on August 10, 1945. Short's sister Dorothea also served in the war and was assigned to decode Japanese messages. In July 1946, Short relocated to Los Angeles to visit Army Air Force Lieutenant Joseph Gordon Fickling, an acquaintance from Florida, who was stationed at the Naval Reserve Air Base in Long Beach . Short spent

12100-480: Was second cousins with Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson II , who contacted the governor of Oklahoma on Dillon's behalf. Williams' article claimed that Dillon sued the LAPD for $ 3 million, but that the suit was dropped. Harnisch disputes this, stating that Dillon was cleared by police after an exhaustive investigation and that the district attorney 's files positively placed him in San Francisco when Short

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