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Black Dahlia

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This article is about the murder of Elizabeth Short. For other uses, see The Black Dahlia (disambiguation).
Elizabeth Short
Elizabeth Short, September 23, 1943
Born(1924-07-29)July 29, 1924
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Diedca. January 15, 1947(1947-01-15) (aged 22)
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OccupationWaitress
Parent(s)Cleo Short and Phoebe Mae Sawyer

Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – ca. January 15, 1947) was an American woman and the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. She acquired the nickname Black Dahlia after moving to California. Short was found mutilated, her body severed, on January 15, 1947 in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. Short's unsolved murder has been the source of widespread speculation along with several books and film adaptations.

Early life

Elizabeth Short was born in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts; the third of five daughters of Cleo Short and Phoebe Mae Sawyer. Her father built miniature golf courses until the 1929 stock market crash in which he lost much of the family's assets. In 1930, he parked his car on a bridge and vanished,[1] leading some to believe he had committed suicide. Short's mother moved the family to a small apartment in Medford and found work as a bookkeeper. It was not until later that Short would discover her father was alive and was living in California.

Troubled by asthma and bronchitis, Short was sent to live for the winter in Miami, Florida at the age of 16. She spent the next three years living there during the cold months and in Medford the remainder of the year. At age 19, Short travelled to Vallejo, California to live with her father, who was working nearby at Mare Island Naval Shipyard located on San Francisco Bay. The two moved to Los Angeles in early 1943, however, an altercation resulted in her leaving there and finding work in the post exchange at Camp Cooke (now Vandenberg Air Force Base), near Lompoc, California. Short next moved to Santa Barbara, where she was arrested on September 23, 1943 for underage drinking. Following her arrest, she was sent back to Medford by the juvenile authorities in Santa Barbara. Short then returned to Florida to live, with occasional visits back to Massachusetts.

In Florida, Short met Major Matthew Michael Gordon Jr., a decorated United States Air Force officer who was assigned to the 2nd Air Commando Group and in training for deployment to China Burma India Theater of Operations. Short told friends that Gordon wrote her a letter from India proposing marriage while he was recovering from injuries he sustained from an airplane crash. She accepted his proposal, however, Gordon died in an airplane crash on August 10, 1945, before he could return to the United States. She later exaggerated this story, saying that they were married and had a child who died. Although Gordon's friends in the air commandos confirmed that Gordon and Short were engaged, his family denied any connection after Short's murder.

Elizabeth Short returned to Los Angeles in July, 1946 to visit Air Force Lieutenant Joseph Gordon Fickling, an old boyfriend she had met in Florida during the war. At the time Short returned to Los Angeles, Fickling was stationed NARB, Long Beach. For the six months prior to her death, Short remained in Southern California, mainly in the Los Angeles area. During this time, she lived in several hotels, apartment buildings, rooming houses, and private homes, never staying anywhere for more than two weeks.[citation needed]

Murder and aftermath

The grave of Elizabeth Short

The body of Elizabeth Short was found on January 15, 1947, in a vacant lot located in the Leimert Park area of Los Angeles. Her severely mutilated and bisected body had been drained of blood and face was slashed from the corners of her mouth toward her ears. She had been "posed" with her hands over her head and elbows bent at right angles.[1] The autopsy stated Short was 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m), weighed 115 pounds (52 kg), had light blue eyes, brown hair, and badly decayed teeth.[2]

Short was buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California. After her other sisters had grown and married, Short's mother moved to Oakland to be near her daughter's grave. Phoebe Short finally returned to the East Coast in the 1970s, and lived into her 90s.[1]

According to newspaper reports shortly after the murder, Elizabeth Short received the nickname "Black Dahlia" at a Long Beach drugstore in the summer of 1946, as a word play on the then-current movie The Blue Dahlia. Los Angeles County district attorney investigators' reports state, however, that the nickname was invented by newspaper reporters covering the murder. Los Angeles Herald-Express reporter Bevo Means, who interviewed Short's acquaintances at the drug store, is credited with first using the "Black Dahlia" name.[citation needed]

A number of people, none of whom knew Short, contacted police and the newspapers claiming to have seen her during her so-called "missing week" - a time period between the time of her January 9th disappearance and the time her body was found on January 15. Police and district attorney investigators ruled out each of these alleged sightings, where, in some cases, those interviewed were identifying other women they had mistaken for Short.[3]

Many "true crime" books claim that Short lived in or visited Los Angeles at various times in the mid-1940s; these claims have never been substantiated, and are refuted by the findings of law enforcement officers who investigated the case. A document in the Los Angeles County district attorney's files titled "Movements of Elizabeth Short Prior to June 1, 1946" states Short was in Florida and Massachusetts from September 1943 through the early months of 1946, and gives a detailed account of her living and working arrangements during this period. Although a popular portrayal amongst her acquaintances and many true crime authors was of Short as a call girl, the Los Angeles district attorney's grand jury proved there was no existing evidence that she was ever a prostitute. Another widely circulated rumor holds that Short was unable to have sexual intercourse because of a congenital defect that left her with "infantile genitalia." Los Angeles County district attorney's files state the investigators had questioned three men with whom Short had sex,[4] including a Chicago police officer who was a suspect in the case.[5] The FBI files on the case also contain a statement from one of Short's alleged lovers. Found in the Los Angeles district attorney's files and in the Los Angeles Police Department's summary of the case, Short's autopsy describes her reproductive organs as anatomically normal. The autopsy also states that Short was not and had never been pregnant, contrary to what had been claimed prior and following her death.[4]

Suspects

Main article: Black Dahlia suspects

At the time, the Black Dahlia murder investigation was the largest LAPD investigation since the murder of Marion Parker in 1927.[citation needed] Because of the size of the investigation, the case also enlisted the help of hundreds of officers borrowed from other law enforcement agencies. Due to the complexity of the case, the original investigators treated every person who knew Short with suspicion until eliminated as a suspect.[citation needed] Hundreds of people were considered suspects and thousands were interviewed by police.[citation needed] Because of the nature of the crime, sensational, and sometimes inaccurate, press coverage focused intense public attention on the case. Among the approximately 60 people who confessed to the murder were mostly men as well as a few women.

Some crime authors have speculated on a link between the Short murder and the Cleveland Torso Murders which took place in Cleveland between 1934 and 1938.[6] As with a large number of killings that took place before and after the Short murder, the original LAPD investigators looked into the Cleveland murders in 1947 and discounted any relationship between the two cases.[citation needed] The LAPD continued to look for similarities in other murder cases for possible connections well into the 1950s.[citation needed]

Crime authors such as Steve Hodel have suggested a link between the Short murder and the 1946 murder and dismemberment of six-year-old Suzanne Degnan in Chicago. [1] Among the evidence cited is the fact that Elizabeth Short's body was found on Norton Avenue, three blocks west of Degnan Boulevard, the last name of the girl from Chicago. Currently, convicted serial killer William Heirens is serving time for Degnan's murder. Initially arrested at age 17 for breaking into a residence close to that of Suzanne Degnan, Heirens claims he was tortured by police, forced to confess, and was made a scapegoat in the Degnan murder.[citation needed]

Books, films, and other media

Adaptations

Selected references in other media

Literature

Television and film

  • The case inspired the 1953 noir film The Blue Gardenia, including a title song sung by Nat King Cole.
  • In the thirteenth episode of season 4 ("The Black Dahlia"-1988) of the NBC television series Hunter, Sgt. Rick Hunter investigates the Black Dahlia case --as old bones with cuts identical to Elizabeth Short are found under an old building.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Harnisch, Larry. "A Slaying Cloaked in Mystery and Myths." Los Angeles Times. January 6, 1997.
  2. ^ Coroner's Inquest Transcript, January 22, 1947.
  3. ^ Excerpts From Grand Jury Summary BlackDahlia.info. Access date: 4 November 2007.
  4. ^ a b Fact Versus Fiction BlackDahlia.info.
  5. ^ District Attorney Suspects BlackDahlia.info.
  6. ^ The Cleveland Torso Murders aka Kingsbury Run Murders - Eliot Ness Case - Crime Library on truTV.com

Further reading

  • Daniel, Jacque (2004). The Curse of the Black Dahlia. Los Angeles: Digital Data Werks. ISBN 0-9651604-2-4.
  • Fowler, Will (1991). Reporters: Memoirs of a Young Newspaperman. Minneapolis: Roundtable Publishing. ISBN 0-915677-61-X.
  • Gilmore, John (2006) [1994]. Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia. Los Angeles: Amok Books. ISBN 1-878923-17-X.
  • Hodel, Steve (2003). Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder. New York: Arcade Publishing. ISBN 1-55970-664-3.
  • Knowlton, Janice (1995). Daddy Was the Black Dahlia Killer: The Identity of America's Most Notorious Serial Murderer – Revealed at Last. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-88084-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Nelson, Mark (2006). Exquisite Corpse: Surrealism and the Black Dahlia Murder. New York: Bulfinch Press. ISBN ISBN 0-8212-5819-2. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Pacios, Mary (1999). Childhood Shadows: The Hidden Story of the Black Dahlia Murder. Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse. ISBN 1-58500-484-7.
  • Rasmussen, William T. (2005). Corroborating Evidence: The Black Dahlia Murder. Santa Fe, NM: Sunstone Press. ISBN 0-86534-536-8.
  • Richardson, James (1954). For the Life of Me: Memoirs of a City Editor. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. (ISBN unavailable).
  • Smith, Jack (1981). Jack Smith's L.A. New York: Pinnacle Books. ISBN 0-523-41493-5.
  • Underwood, Agness (1949). Newspaperwoman. New York: Harper and Brothers. (ISBN unavailable).
  • Wagner, Rob Leicester (2000). Red Ink, White Lies: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles Newspapers, 1920-1962. Upland, Calif.: Dragonflyer Press. (ISBN ISBN 0-944933-80-7).
  • Webb, Jack (1958). The Badge: The Inside Story of One of America's Great Police Departments. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-09-949973-8.
  • Wolfe, Donald H. (2005). The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul, and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles. New York: ReganBooks. ISBN 0-06-058249-9.

Note that the FBI file incorrectly lists her as Elizabeth Ann Short. In reality, she had no middle name.


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