Black Dahlia Avenger: The True Story

by Steve Hodel

  Five unidentified youths

  Immediately after LAPD detectives identified their "Jane Doe Number 1" as Elizabeth Short, they located three young men and two women who knew her and had been in Hollywood in December 1946. Detectives interviewed them but refused to divulge their names to the press. The interview notes and witness statements that would have been entered into the LAPD murder book case file have never been made public and may no longer exist. Similarly, the whereabouts of the investigators' summaries of their interviews are unknown. All that exists is a brief but very important collective statement, made by the five to the police and released to the newspapers the day after the discovery of Elizabeth Short's body. In that statement, published in the L.A. Times, the LAPD is quoted as saying, "These five witnesses recognized the victim as Betty Short. They had seen her in Hollywood in December of 1946, and the five had visited a nightclub in Hollywood with her earlier in the fall. These acquaintances of Elizabeth Short described her as 'very classy,' and they said that Elizabeth Short told them that 'she planned to marry George, an army pilot from Texas.'"

  Juanita Ringo

  Juanita Ringo was the apartment manager at the Chancellor Hotel in Hollywood, at 1842 North Cherokee Avenue, where Elizabeth shared room number 501 with seven other girls, each of them paying a dollar a day for rent. In interviews with reporters following the identification of Elizabeth Short's body, Juanita Ringo stated, "Elizabeth came to the apartment building on November 13, 1946," adding, "she wasn't sociable like the other girls who lived there with her. She was more the sophisticated type."

  On December 5, 1946, Mrs. Ringo said she attempted to collect the rent from Elizabeth, who told her she did not have the money. So, Ringo said, she "held her luggage as collateral." Elizabeth then asked one of her roommates to accompany her to a Crescent Drive apartment in Beverly Hills, where, she told them, "A man would pay the rent." Elizabeth went there, obtained the money that evening, paid her landlady the following day, and moved out. Mrs. Ringo told the papers, "I felt sorry for her even when she got behind on the rent. She looked tired and worried."

  Linda Rohr

  Twenty-two-year-old Linda Rohr, who worked in "The Rouge Room" at Max Factor's in Hollywood, was one of Elizabeth's seven roommates at the Chancellor Apartments. During interviews three days after Elizabeth's body was discovered, she told the newspapers, "Elizabeth was odd. She had pretty blue eyes, but sometimes I think she overdid it with makeup an inch thick. Elizabeth dyed her brown hair black, then red again." Rohr said that Elizabeth dated men frequently. "She went out almost every night and received numerous telephone calls at the apartment from different men."

  Specifically recalling December 6, 1946, the day Elizabeth moved out, Linda Rohr said, "Elizabeth was very anxious the morning she left. She told me, 'I've got to hurry. He's waiting for me.' None of us ever found out who 'he' was." It was Rohr's impression, she told reporters, that "Elizabeth was going to leave and go visit her sister in Berkeley."

  Vera and Dorothy French

  Elizabeth Short's last known address before she was driven back to Los Angeles on January 9, 1947, and into the arms of her killer, was in San Diego at the home of Elvera (Vera) French, whose daughter, Dorothy, had befriended Elizabeth after she met her at a local movie theater. When she learned that Elizabeth had no money or a place to stay, Dorothy invited her to stay temporarily with her and her mother, because she felt sorry for her. Reporters learned about Vera and Dorothy from the victim's mother, Phoebe Short, and quickly drove the three hours south from L.A. to interview them.

  Vera French described Elizabeth as "a shy and somewhat mysterious" person "my daughter, Dorothy, brought home one night as a friendly act because she was down and out." Elizabeth told the Frenches that she "had been married to a major in the Army who had been killed in action," adding that she had "borne him a child, but the child had died."

  Elizabeth also mentioned to the Frenches "her friendship with a Hollywood celebrity, who helped her out," but never revealed a name. Mrs. French told reporters, and also later the LAPD, that during the month Elizabeth had stayed at her home in December 1946 she had "dated a different man each night after December 21 through the New Year." During her stay, both Frenches noted, "Elizabeth colored her black hair with henna-blond streaks."

  Mrs. French also recalled that "Elizabeth had received a one-hundred-dollar money order from a friend, a Lieutenant Fickling from North Carolina," which Fickling mailed to her at the French residence in December of 1946. Mrs. French also gave detectives a black hat that Elizabeth had left behind at the house, which, she had told Vera, she'd received because "she had modeled for a Los Angeles milliner and he gave her the hat as payment."

  The last time Vera French saw Elizabeth was on January 8, 1947, when she left her home in the company of a man named "Red," who, Elizabeth had told her, was an "airline employee." Elizabeth had received a telegram from Red on January 7, the day before he arrived to pick her up. She packed her two suitcases and they left together in his car. The next time they heard about Elizabeth was over a week later when she was identified as the mutilated murder victim who'd made headlines in all the California papers.

  Both French women recalled having met Red, or "Bob," as he sometimes referred to himself, at their house in December, shortly after Dorothy had brought Elizabeth home. They described him as a handsome, well-dressed man about twenty-five years old, who had taken Elizabeth out on a date in December after she had introduced him when he came to pick her up at the house. He seemed well-spoken and had been kind enough to drive Elizabeth back to Los Angeles on January 8, 1947.

  During her stay, Elizabeth "frequently spoke of an ex-boyfriend from whom she was hiding out of fear," but gave no reason why she was so afraid.

  After police identified "Red" as Robert Manley, whose identity had been corroborated by the Frenches, they were interviewed again by LAPD detectives at University Division police station, after which Lieutenant Jess Haskins told reporters that the women verified what Manley had told the police. Both he and the Frenches repeatedly said that Elizabeth "was living in fear of a jealous boyfriend." Mrs. French described to the police an "alarming" incident that had taken place the night before Elizabeth's departure. It had been witnessed by Mrs. French's neighbor, who remains to this day unidentified.

  The neighbor told Mrs. French that at a very late hour on the night of January 7, 1946, she observed "three individuals, two men and a woman, drive up, park a car, then walk to the front door of the French residence and knock." Possibly because it was so late, the neighbor kept watching. "The three waited for a few minutes, then all three of them ran to the parked car and drove off." The following morning, after her neighbor told her what she had seen, Mrs. French asked Elizabeth what she thought. Elizabeth said she too had seen the nighttime visitors: she had peeped through the window when the three had come to the door, but she had made no move to answer the door or acknowledge her presence.

  Mrs. French described Elizabeth's alarm over the incident to detectives, telling Lieutenant Haskins that "Elizabeth was constantly in fear of someone, and was very frightened when anyone came to the door." Mrs. French tried to find out what or who Elizabeth was afraid of, but was unable to, simply saying, "Elizabeth was very evasive and would not talk to me about the people, so finally I just gave up asking."

  Glen Chanslor

  Even though Elizabeth Short had lived at Vera French's house in San Diego from December 12, 1946, to January 8, 1947, she had, according to the statements of other witnesses, gone back to L.A. for a few nights around Christmas. One witness was Glen Chanslor, who identified the woman he drove to a hotel in downtown Los Angeles on December 29 as Elizabeth Short. Chanslor, a taxi-stand manager with an office at 115 North Garfield Avenue in East Los Angeles, described an incident that occurred on December 29 at approximately 7:30 p.m., when Elizabeth Short came running up to his taxi stand seeking help from a man who had just assaulted her.

  The woman, whom Chanslor posi
tively identified as Elizabeth, ran to his stand "wild eyed and hysterical, bleeding from her knees." He said her "clothing was torn and her shoes were missing." He remembered her saying that she had just gotten a ride from some strangers who dropped her off at his cab stand. She said that "a well-dressed man she knew and worked with had offered to take her to Long Beach so she could cash her weekly paycheck." But instead "the man drove her to a lonely road south of Garvey Boulevard, near Garfield Avenue, parked his car, and tried to attack her."

  Chanslor calmed Elizabeth down, then drove her to a hotel where she was staying in downtown Los Angeles, at 512 South Wall Street. He waited at the hotel while she went to her room and then she returned "all dolled up, but didn't have the cab fare." Chanslor figured he "wouldn't get the money from her, and just wrote it off." Chanslor was positive that the individual was Elizabeth Short, who told him "she was a waitress."

  Chanslor said he could not remember whether "she was cut or bruised or scratched elsewhere on her body," as he just saw her bleeding from her knees.

  Robert "Red" Manley

  One of the most important witnesses police were able to identify and question was Robert Manley, who had met Elizabeth in San Diego and spent an evening with her in a hotel, had driven her back to Los Angeles the day she disappeared, and, police thought at first, might have been the last person to see her alive. The twenty-five-year-old salesman from Huntington Park, California, initially became the LAPD's prime suspect, but after days of intense questioning and repeated polygraph examinations administered by LAPD criminalist Ray Pinker, he was cleared of any involvement in the case.

  Police at the Hollenbeck Station allowed Herald Express chief crime reporter and veteran newswoman Agness Underwood a chance to soften up Manley in an initial interview in the hope he might open up to a woman. Initiating her conversation with a smile, a cigarette, and a warm handshake, Underwood got the full story, complete with photograph, within the hour, just in time for the evening edition, published as a four-page Herald Express exclusive feature under the headline "Red Tells Own Story of Romance with Dahlia." The other dailies were quick to follow, summarizing Manley's statements to police and press.

  Manley began his statement with a complete denial of any involvement in the murder of Elizabeth Short and provided a chronological account of his contact with the victim from the day he first met her in mid-December until he left her in the lobby of the Biltmore Hotel on the late afternoon of January 9, 1947. Manley said he "drove to San Diego about ten days before Christmas in December of 1946" because his employer had sent him to San Diego to make business sales calls. "After hitting all of my sales spots," he said, "I saw Elizabeth Short standing on a corner, across the street from Western Airlines in San Diego."

  Manley admitted he was interested in the strikingly beautiful woman, saying that, although he was married, "my wife had just had a baby and she and I were going through an adjustment period." He explained that there was a method to his madness. "I decided to see if I could pick her up, make a test for myself, see if I loved my wife or not." So he approached Elizabeth at the street corner and asked her whether she wanted a ride.

  Elizabeth ignored him, turned away, and "refused to look at me," but Manley persisted and, he said to the police, he told her "who he was and continued attempting to talk with her." Elizabeth turned around to him and responded, "Don't you think it's wrong to ask a girl on a corner to get in your car?" He agreed that he thought it might be wrong, but he "just wanted to give her a ride to her home." Manley said she finally climbed into his car and directed him to Pacific Beach, where "she was living with some friends."

  Manley invited her out to dinner that evening and she accepted, but, he explained to the detectives, "she was worried what she would tell the two women at the residence where she was temporarily staying." She decided to introduce Manley to the two women as "a friend who worked at Western Airlines." Elizabeth had told him that she worked at Western Airlines. Then, as agreed, Manley dropped Elizabeth off at the Frenches' and found a motel room nearby. He acknowledged that he "was nervous about stepping out on my wife, that this was the first time, and that I and my wife had only been married since November of 1945."

  Manley returned to the French residence at 7:00 p.m., was introduced to Elvera and Dorothy, and left with Elizabeth on their date. They had drinks and dinner, then returned to the French residence, where they sat in front of the house in his car and talked for some time. Manley admitted kissing Elizabeth, but "found her non-responsive, and kind of cold." He told her he was married, and Elizabeth said that "she had been married to a major, but he had been killed." Manley walked her to the front door and then asked whether he could wire her if he was returning to San Diego in the near future. She replied, "Yes, but I might not be here. I don't like San Diego very much." He returned to Los Angeles after that one date.

  When he learned that he would be returning to San Diego on business on January 8, 1947, he wired Elizabeth at the French residence and asked if he could see her again.

  Believing she worked at the Western Airlines office, Manley drove there at about 5:00 P.M. and waited for her to leave the building. Since she didn't really work there, she never appeared, so he drove over to the Frenches'. Elizabeth greeted him at the front door and asked, he later told police, if he could take her to make a telephone call. As they were driving to make the call, she changed her mind and asked him if he could drive her up to Los Angeles. He agreed, but not until the following day, because he had business to attend to in San Diego. They returned together to the French residence, where Elizabeth said her goodbyes to Vera and Dorothy, packed her suitcases, and left with Manley.

  Manley found a motel room, checked in, and the two of them went downtown for drinks and dancing. Elizabeth raised the possibility of taking a bus back to Los Angeles that night, but they decided instead "to get some hamburgers and return to the motel." She told him that "she was cold," and he lit a fire in the motel fireplace. She complained of "chills and not feeling well," and the two of them went to sleep without any attempt at lovemaking.

  The following morning Manley made his business calls, returned to the motel at 12:30, picked up Elizabeth, and drove her back to Los Angeles, stopping along the way at a restaurant for sandwiches, and again for gasoline in Redondo Beach. As they drove, Elizabeth asked if she could write to him. "Of course," he said, and gave her his address, which she noted in her address book. She told him she was "going to Los Angeles to meet her sister, Adrian West." Manley asked, "Where's the meeting, the Biltmore?" "Yes," she said, "the Biltmore."

  When they arrived in downtown Los Angeles, Elizabeth asked Manley to drive her first to the Greyhound bus depot, so she could check her luggage. Manley carried her bags inside, she checked them, and he drove her to the Biltmore just four blocks away. They both entered the lobby of the hotel and Elizabeth asked Manley to "check the front desk to see if her sister had checked in, while she went to the restroom." Manley did as she had bid, was told no Mrs. West had checked in, so he "asked a couple of women who were standing in the lobby if either one might be Mrs. West." They both said no. After waiting with her for a few more minutes, Manley left Elizabeth in the lobby of the Biltmore. It was the last time he saw her, he told the detectives.

  Red Manley swore he was telling the truth, repeating the same story over and over to his interrogators, who grilled him hard to try to find any weak spots. The more intense the questioning, the more firm Manley became, finally offering to take a lie detector test, even truth serum, to prove his innocence.

  When the police asked him if there was anything else he could remember from any of his conversations with Elizabeth, he said that on the evening of January 8 at the motel, he remembered seeing "bad scratches on both of Elizabeth's arms on the outside, above the elbows." He also reported that Elizabeth had told him that "she had a boyfriend who was intensely jealous," describing him as "an Italian, with dark hair, who lived in San Diego."

  He also recalled that
"Elizabeth made a long distance telephone call to a man in Los Angeles on January 8 from a payphone in a cafe at Pacific Highway and Balboa Drive, just outside San Diego." Man-ley overhead just enough of the call to know that she was arranging to meet her caller — a man — in downtown Los Angeles the following evening, January 9. Manley did not hear her mention the man's name, but suspected it was actually this man, not her sister, whom Elizabeth was planning to meet. Finally, Manley said he learned of the murder and the discovery of her body from the newspapers during a business trip he made to San Francisco in mid-January.

  On January 25, 1947, detectives recontacted Manley and took him to the University Division station to see if he could identify a purse and high-heeled shoes possibly belonging to Elizabeth Short. He was shown a pile of some two dozen shoes and ten different purses, and positively identified both the shoes and purse as hers: she had been wearing the shoes and carrying the purse when he had left her in the lobby of the Biltmore. Asked by police how he could be sure about the shoes, since there were several similar pairs, Manley stated, "These shoes have double heel taps on them, and I remember that she asked me to take her to a San Diego shoe repair shop to have the extra taps put on her shoes." Manley also identified the "faint traces of perfume inside the purse as the same as the perfume she wore."

  In my review of these initial twenty-one witnesses originally interviewed by the press and police, I found that only a very few of them had played a public role in the investigation. Apparently the police had ignored most of the other witnesses, which obviously concerned me. Especially disconcerting were references to the Army, or Army Air Force, lieutenant from Texas named "George," who had been hospitalized in Los Angeles and whom she said she hoped to marry in November.

  The police had also seemed to have ignored the independent — and crucial — information provided by the taxi-stand owner, Glen Chanslor, about the incident the night of December 29, 1946: the vicious assault on her by a well-dressed man, the friend who had offered her a ride. Chanslor's statements were consistent in all respects with what Manley would later tell the police when he described the deep scratches he saw on her arms just eleven days later, which Elizabeth said had come from an earlier assault by her jealous boyfriend.