by Piu Eatwell
The Aster Motel remains open for business.
ILLUSTRATIONS
The corpse was decorously airbrushed for the newspapers to remove the slashes to the mouth, and was shown covered with a blanket.
(Getty Images/Archive Photos)
Robert “Red” Manley kisses his twenty-two-year-old wife Harriette for the photographers.
(Getty Images/Bettmann)
Elizabeth Short, the black-haired Hollywood hopeful from Massachusetts whose murder became one of the most notorious unsolved cases in American history.
(USC Los Angeles Examiner archive, Courtesy of University of Southern California, on behalf of the USC Libraries Special Collections)
Jimmy Richardson chaining Luckies.
(UCLA/James Hugh Richardson archive)
Aggie Underwood.
(USC Los Angeles Examiner archive, Courtesy of University of Southern California, on behalf of the USC Libraries Special Collections)
Evidence in the case including Elizabeth’s address book and the package addressed to the Los Angeles Examiner.
(Getty Images/Archive Photos)
Det. Sgt. Bill Cummings inspects the contents of Elizabeth’s suitcase and hatbox, checked into the Greyhound bus station when she was with Robert “Red” Manley.
(Los Angeles Times Photographic Archives [Collection 1429]. UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA)
Mark Hansen, the elusive Hollywood nightclub and movie theater owner and prime suspect for the murder of Elizabeth Short.
(Los Angeles Times Photographic Archives [Collection 1429]. UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA)
Ann Toth, Hollywood bit-part player and close friend of Elizabeth, besieged by photographers.
(Los Angeles Times Photographic Archives [Collection 1429]. UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA)
Leslie Dillon (center) is questioned by (from left to right): Dr. John Paul De River, Det. Lt. Willie Burns (head of the Gangster detail), LAPD chief Clemence Horrall, and Captain Francis Kearney (head of Homicide).
(USC Los Angeles Examiner archive, Courtesy of University of Southern California, on behalf of the USC Libraries Special Collections)
Hollywood madam Brenda Allen with her attorney Max Solomon. Brenda’s evidence in 1949 about her connections with the LAPD through her boyfriend, Sgt. Elmer Jackson of the LAPD Vice Squad, were to help bring down the police department and lead to the biggest scandal in its history.
(USC Los Angeles Examiner archive, Courtesy of University of Southern California, on behalf of the USC Libraries Special Collections)
The entrance to the Aster Motel.
(loyaltyphoto)
Leslie Dillon ascends an ominously worded bus on his release, threatening to sue the city authorities for false imprisonment in “at least six figures.”
(USC Los Angeles Examiner archive, Courtesy of University of Southern California, on behalf of the USC Libraries Special Collections)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Any list of acknowledgments to a book of this kind is inevitably going to be a long one.
First and foremost, I should thank the public institutions and archive holders that made the vast amount of primary documentation that I requested available. In particular, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which, through the medium of Deputy District Attorney Natalie Adomian, made available as much of its file on the Dahlia grand jury proceedings as possible; the FBI, which—albeit after many months—finally removed the redactions from its Black Dahlia file on my demand; the UCLA Special Collections Department, which made available the archives of James “Jimmy” Richardson, and those of the Dahlia writer and journalist the late John Gilmore; the archives of California State University, Northridge, which house the papers of Agness Underwood; the University of California, Berkeley, and Rabbi Patricia Fenton of the American Jewish University, for copies of the rare 1949 Los Angeles grand jury report; Cornell University Library; the Los Angeles Public Library; the British Library, London; and the U.S. Library of Congress. I should also thank the Huntington Library for providing papers relating to the Black Dahlia case in the collection of the late Los Angeles Times columnist Jack Smith.
The documentation that I did finally manage to obtain from the Los Angeles Police Department was extracted by means of a legal challenge, for which I have to thank Peter Scheer and the First Amendment Coalition. Other members of different police departments have assisted with documents on a confidential basis in different ways, and will (at their request) remain nameless.
The formidable task of obtaining the newspaper archives relating to the case, almost entirely on microfilm, could not have been achieved without the assistance of Miriam Amico and Margaret Posehn. In addition I was assisted in researching U.S. military records by David Goerss and Lori Miller. Sid Bloomberg assisted with archive film research, and Leisa Johnson-Kalin helped with picture research. Further research assistance came from Anthony Cosgrave, George Fogelson, Larry Pumphrey, Christina McKillip, and Johann Hammer. Molly Haigh at UCLA Special Collections and Louise Smith at USC Digital Imaging Lab were particularly helpful with researching archive newspaper photographs. Carlos Loya assisted with photography and field research in Los Angeles. Dave Kindy provided many useful contacts for the purposes of copyright clearances.
Two individuals to whom I owe perhaps more than any others are Donald and Patty Freed. Donald for both his tireless advice and his frank and honest recollections of his meetings with Dr. De River in the 1950s; and Patty for her enthusiastic guidance through the streets of Los Angeles, with the intimate knowledge that only a real Angeleno (with a hard g) can possess. It is through Patty that I began to see the city not as a modern suburban sprawl, but as an accretion of time.
Thanks are due to Christopher Coleridge, who kindly escorted me on an enlightening tour of Black Dahlia sites in Los Angeles. Lord and Lady Eatwell introduced me to some relevant and helpful contacts in Los Angeles. Michael J. Armijo reviewed the manuscript for accuracy of local detail. I should also thank the descendants of persons involved in the Dahlia case who gave interviews, and who at their own request remain anonymous.
Of the many professionals and experts who gave so generously of their time and advice, I must in particular thank Suzanna Ryan of Ryan Forensic, Carlsbad, California; (Ret.) Police Sergeant Michael W. Streed, certified forensic artist, of SketchCop Solutions, Corona, California; Professor Michael Woodworth of the University of British Columbia, Okanagan; Caroline Murray of the British Academy of Graphology; Mark E. Safarik, Supervisory Special Agent, FBI (ret.); and ex–forensic scene of crime officer turned writer Larry Henderson. Other people who gave up time for personal interviews or correspondence on various topics of relevance include Tony Valdez of Fox News; Joe Domanick, the leading authority on the history of the LAPD; the late Kevin Starr, the foremost social historian of California; leading Los Angeles attorney John H. Welborne; and the chronicler of L.A. noir, John Buntin.
Of the nonfiction books on the Black Dahlia case, I found particularly valuable Mary Pacios’s memoir of early childhood in Medford with Elizabeth Short, Childhood Shadows: The Hidden Story of the Black Dahlia Murders (AuthorHouse, 2007), and Jacque Daniel’s personal recollections of the Dahlia case as lived by the De River family, The Curse of the Black Dahlia (Digital Data Werks, 2004). I am indebted to both these books for firsthand accounts of events and records of interviews with people who have long since passed away. I am also indebted, for useful background information on Dr. De River, to Brian King’s helpful introduction to his reissue of De River’s textbook The Sexual Criminal: A Psychoanalytical Study (Bloat Books, second edition, 2000). All the aforementioned books are indispensable to a serious study of the Dahlia case.
I am fortunate in having one of the best of literary agents in Andrew Lownie, a tireless and stalwart exponent of my writing, despite his own heavy writing commitments. I should also like
to thank my meticulous editor, Katie Adams, Gina Iaquinta, and all at my U.S. publishers, Liveright/Norton, as well as Mark Booth and Oliver Johnson at my UK publishers, Coronet/Hodder & Stoughton. Dave Cole did a superlative job on the complex task of copyediting the book, and Jessica Friedman carried out a necessary legal review. Thanks are also due to my website designer, David Taylor of Black Horse Design, and my publicity agent, Ruth Killick.
Finally, no acknowledgments would be complete without a thank-you to my enormously dedicated and patient family: my husband, Nikolai, and children, Alek, Oscar, and Noah. The last three will not be allowed to read this book for a while, but when they do, I hope they find it worth the wait.
FULL DRAMATIS PERSONAE
AHERN, JAMES
Officer of the Gangster Squad charged with investigating Leslie Duane Dillon. Partner of Archie Case.
ALLEN, BRENDA
Notorious Hollywood madam. Girlfriend of Elmer V. Jackson of the LAPD Vice Squad, found to have been paying him protection money. Gave evidence to the Los Angeles grand jury in 1949 of a police protection racket centering on her activities.
ALLEN, GRACE
Former wife of Jeff Connors. Friends with Mark Hansen and stayed at his Carlos Avenue home when she divorced Connors.
BARNES, JOHN
Assistant District Attorney, known as the “Rottweiler.” Interviewed Leslie Duane Dillon in custody in January 1949.
BERSINGER, BETTY
Housewife who discovered the bisected body of Elizabeth Short in Leimert Park on January 15, 1947.
BOWRON, FLETCHER
Mayor of Los Angeles from 1938 to 1953.
BROWN, SERGEANT FINIS ALBANIA
Sergeant in LAPD homicide division, jointly in charge of the Dahlia case with Harry “the Hat” Hansen. Younger brother of Thad Brown.
BROWN, THADDEUS FRANKLIN; “THAD”
Head of the LAPD Patrol Division, in charge of divisional vice, then chief of detectives from 1949. Elder brother to Finis Brown.
BURNS, WILLIAM; “WILLIE”
Head of the Gangster Squad, the elite police division created by Chief Horrall to investigate organized crime and police corruption.
CASE, ARCHIE
Officer of the Gangster Squad charged with investigating Leslie Duane Dillon. Partner to James Ahern.
COHEN, MEYER HARRIS; “MICKEY”
Leading gangster based in Los Angeles, with ties to the Jewish and Italian crime families. Major rival of Jimmy Utley.
CONNORS, JEFF
Friend of Leslie Dillon, allegedly met Dillon in 1948 in San Francisco. Accused by Dillon of committing the Dahlia murder. Linked to Mark Hansen via his wife, Grace Allen, who was a friend of Hansen’s and stayed with him when she separated from Connors.
CUFF, ELLERY E.
Head of the Los Angeles Public Defender’s Office from 1949 to 1963. A celebrated campaigner against the death penalty. Close friend of Dr. De River.
DEBS, COUNCILMAN ERNEST EUGENE
Los Angeles city councilman from 1947 to 1958.
DE RIVER, DR. PAUL
Police psychiatrist of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1937 to 1950. Credited with the second case of criminal profiling—that of Albert Dyer, the Inglewood killer. (See below.)
DE RIVER, JACQUELINE
Eldest daughter of Dr. Paul De River. Acted as his personal assistant and later wrote a memoir recording her recollections of the Dahlia case.
DILLON, GEORGIA
First wife of Leslie Duane Dillon.
DILLON, LESLIE DUANE
A hotel bellhop, among other casual occupations. Arrested in 1949 for the Dahlia murder, and then released.
DONAHOE, CAPTAIN JACK
In charge of the Dahlia case for a short period (January–September 1947), when he was transferred off the case to Robbery. His place was taken by Captain Francis Kearney.
DUMAIS, CORPORAL JOSEPH
One of over five hundred “confessing Sams” who (falsely) confessed to the Black Dahlia murder.
DYER, ALBERT
Killer of the three little “Babes of Inglewood.” Tried, found guilty of murder, and hanged at San Quentin in 1938.
FARNHAM, INSPECTOR HUGH
Officer of the LAPD Detective Division sent by Thad Brown on a secret mission to interview Leslie Dillon and his wife in Oklahoma in 1949.
FREED, DONALD
Author, director, and screenwriter. Associate of the playwright Harold Pinter. Interviewed Dr. Paul De River about the Dahlia case in 1953, along with his uncle Wally Klein.
FRENCH, DOROTHY
Assistant at the Aztec cinema theater, San Diego. Found Elizabeth Short crashed out at the theater in December 1946 and invited her to stay at her family home at Pacific Beach. Daughter of Elvera French.
FRENCH, ELVERA
Mother of Dorothy French. Elizabeth Short stayed at the family home in Pacific Beach, San Diego, for a month, from December 1946 to January 1947.
GRAHAM, MARJORIE
Friend of Elizabeth Short, also from Massachusetts. Returned to Massachusetts from Los Angeles in late 1946.
GRANLUND, NILS THOR; “NTG” OR “GRANNY”
Famous nightclub host/compere. Of Swedish origin. Originally founded nightclubs in New York, then came to Hollywood in the 1940s and hosted the floor shows at the Florentine Gardens nightclub. A close associate of Mark Hansen.
HANSEN, LIEUTENANT HARRY; “THE HAT”
Lieutenant in the LAPD homicide division, jointly in charge of the Dahlia case with Finis Brown. Not related to Mark Hansen.
HANSEN, MARK MARINUS
Danish businessman and millionaire theater/nightclub owner in Los Angeles. Born in Aalborg, Denmark. Owner of the Florentine Gardens nightclub and a close associate of “NTG,” with ties to the underworld via Jimmy “Little Giant” Utley. Elizabeth Short stayed in his house on Carlos Avenue on two occasions in 1946 and had a stormy relationship with him.
HINSHAW, NELLIE
The aunt of Leslie Dillon’s first wife, Georgia Dillon. Lived on Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles. Leslie Dillon used her address on several occasions when he visited Los Angeles, parking his trailer in front of the house.
HODEL, DR. GEORGE HILL
Celebrity Hollywood physician. A minor suspect in the Dahlia case.
HOFFMAN, CLORA
Co-owner of the Aster Motel from December 1946 to the latter half of April 1947. Wife of Henry Hoffman. Later remarried to become Mrs. Sartain.
HOFFMAN, HENRY
Co-owner of the Aster Motel from December 1946 to the latter half of April 1947.
HOFFMAN, PAMELA
Daughter of Henry and Clora Hoffman.
HORRALL, CHIEF CLEMENCE B.
Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1941 to 1949. Resigned over the Brenda Allen scandal, in favor of General William Worton. Set up the Gangster Squad to investigate organized crime and police corruption.
INGLEWOOD, BABES OF, CASE
The notorious murder in June 1937 of three little girls—Madeline Everett, seven, her sister Melba, nine, and their playmate, Jeanette Stephens, eight. The girls were sexually assaulted and killed in the Baldwin Hills. Albert Dyer was later tried and convicted of the crime. (See Albert Dyer entry.)
JACKSON, SERGEANT ELMER V.
Officer of LAPD administrative Vice Squad. Boyfriend of the Hollywood madam Brenda Allen. Accused of taking protection money in a police department scandal arising from Allen’s activities in 1949.
JEMISON, LIEUTENANT FRANK B.
Investigator at the District Attorney’s Office. The principal DA investigator placed in charge of the 1949 grand jury’s Dahlia case investigation.
JONES, OFFICER (FIRST NAME UNKNOWN)
Unidentified officer of the Gangster Squad sent to monitor the activities of Leslie Dillon in Florida in 1948. Testified before the 1949 grand jury, but his evidence has never been released.
KEARNEY, CAPTAIN FRANCIS
Head of the LAPD Homicide Division from 1
947 to 1951. Sent on the Leslie Dillon mission to Palm Springs in 1949. Subsequently transferred to Narcotics.
KELLER, CONWELL
Member of the Gangster Squad sent on the mission to apprehend Leslie Dillon in December 1948.
KLEIN, WALLY
Hollywood writer and producer. Writing credits include Oklahoma Kid (1939), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), Hard to Get (1938), and Indianapolis Speedway (1939). Brother-in-law of legendary film producer Hal B. Wallis (Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon). Interviewed Dr. De River in 1953, along with his nephew, the writer Donald Freed.
LAWSON, HARRY
Publisher of the Eagle Rock Sentinel. Foreman of the 1949 grand jury that investigated a number of allegations of police corruption in Los Angeles, including in the Dahlia case and the Brenda Allen scandal.
MANLEY, ROBERT; “RED”
First serious suspect on the Dahlia case. A married man who had an affair with Elizabeth Short, and was the last person to see her alive—apart from the doorman at the Biltmore—on January 9, 1947. Later completely exonerated from suspicion.
MARTIN, LYNN
Real name Norma Lee Meyer, a sixteen-year-old runaway who was among the associates of Elizabeth Short. Implicated Short in a pornographic photography ring in which she was involved, run by a man called George Price.
MOORMAN, BETTY-JO
Wife of Burt Moorman. Stayed at the Aster Motel in the period January 7–18, 1947.
MOORMAN, BURT
Brother of Clora Hoffman, co-owner of the Aster Motel. Stayed at the Aster with his wife Betty-Jo over the period January 7–18, 1947.
NEWBARR, DR. FREDERICK
Well-known Los Angeles County autopsy surgeon. Performed the autopsy on Elizabeth Short.