by Steve Hodel
An LAPD organizational explanation is here called for. The "Gangster Squad" no longer exists as an entity within the LAPD. In 1947, however, it was a separate squad of a dozen or so detectives, within the Homicide Division. The detectives assigned to this squad were supervised by their own lieutenant. Under his leadership, they were responsible for gathering intelligence and surveillance of "known gangsters," as well as for conducting city-wide investigations to identify and prosecute abortionists. The Gangster Squad detectives were the first officers to be loaned to assist regular homicide squad detectives in their manpower needs for any high-profile investigations. Historically, an uneasy relationship always existed between these interdepartment units and squads, each acting almost as its own fiefdom, with a lieutenant as lord. This was especially true in the 1940s when LAPD was rife with corruption, with many officers on the take. Anyone outside the separate squads, including "brother officers," were not to be trusted. After Chief Parker's selection as chief of police in 1950, the Gangster Squad was eventually split to become OCID (Organized Crime Intelligence Division) and PDID (Public Disorder Intelligence Division).
Thursday, January 23, 1947
Others conducting the investigation obviously took the Johnsons seriously, as newspapers reported that all LAPD officers had been instructed to "be on the lookout for a man who might have registered with Miss Short as 'man and wife' at a hotel located at 300 E.Washington Blvd., on January 12." A detailed description of "Mr. Barnes," positively identified by the Johnsons as checking in with the victim, was given to officers, but his description was not released to the general public.
Police also re-canvassed the Leimert Park neighborhood near 39th and Norton for a third time, conducting a door-to-door search for possible witnesses to the crime in yet another effort to identify somebody who might have seen anything on the morning of January 15. As part of this follow-up investigation, officers asked citizens in the immediate neighborhood the following two questions:
1) "Do you know anyone in the neighborhood who is mentally unbalanced?"
2) "Do you know of any medical students?"
But the re-canvass turned up no new eyewitnesses whose names police could release to the newspapers, whose coverage had already begun to turn against the police and their apparent lack of progress. On January 23, Agness Underwood wrote, in the Herald Express, a story under the headline "Will 'Dahlia' Slaying Join Album of Unsolved Murders?" in which she included the names and photographs of Ora Murray, Georgette Bauerdorf, and Gertrude Evelyn Landon, three earlier Los Angeles-area unsolved murder victims. The story suggested there might well be a connection between these previous unsolved homicides and that of Elizabeth Short.
HOUSE-TO-HOUSE SEARCH
FOR DAHLIA MURDER CLUE
Underwood's article began:
W
EREWOLVES
L
EAVE
T
RAIL OF
W
OMEN
M
URDERS IN
L
.A.
In the gory album of unsolved murders, kidnappings and crimes against women in general, Los Angeles police may have to insert a new page — "The Mystery of the Sadistic Slaying of Elizabeth Short — the Black Dahlia." So far all clues have failed. This latest murder mystery which has provoked the greatest mobilization of crime detection experts in the city's history, is the latest in a long series. The finding of her dismembered body was preceded by other gruesome discoveries of women victims slain for lust, for revenge, for reasons unknown.
Underwood's article provided the names and details of seven recent L.A. lone female victims of unsolved sex-related murders.
On the afternoon of January 23, Los Angeles Examiner city editor James Richardson received a phone call from a man identifying himself as the Black Dahlia killer. In Richardson's autobiography, For the Life of Me: Memoirs of a City Editor, he describes the eerie call and the killer's follow-up. Richardson explained that he never published the story in the paper at the time because he wanted to keep the evidence confidential, even though there was a feeding frenzy among crime reporters for any stray piece of information on the case. His revelation of the phone call became an important piece of evidence for me, primarily because of his verbatim description of his brief conversation with the killer and his impressions of the suspect. That this call came from the real killer is not in doubt. During their conversation he promised Richardson to send him "a few of her [Elizabeth's] belongings." As Richardson described the conversation:
The story dwindled to a few paragraphs and was about to fade out altogether when one day I answered the phone and heard the voice I'll never forget.
"Is this the city editor?" it asked.
"Yes."
"What is your name, please?"
"Richardson."
"Well, Mr. Richardson, I must congratulate you on what the
Examiner
has done in the Black Dahlia case."
"Thank you," I said, and there was a slight pause before the voice spoke again.
"You seem to have run out of material," it said.
"That's right."
A soft laugh sounded in the earpiece.
"Maybe I can be of some assistance," the voice said.
There was something in the way he said it that sent a shiver up my spine.
"We need it," I said and there was that soft laugh again.
"I'll tell you what I'll do," the voice said. "I'll send you some of the things she had with her when she, shall we say, disappeared?"
It was difficult for me to control my voice. I began scribbling on a sheet of paper the words: "Trace this call."
"What kind of things?" I asked as I tossed the paper to my assistant on the desk. I could see him read and start jiggling the receiver arm on his phone to get the attention of the switchboard girl.
"Oh say, her address book and her birth certificate and a few other things she had in her handbag."
"When will I get them?" I asked, and I could hear my assistant telling Mae Northern the switchboard girl to trace my call.
"Oh, within the next day or so. See how far you can get with them. And now I must say goodbye. You may be trying to trace this call."
"Wait a minute," I said but I heard the click and the phone was dead.
Richardson concluded his book with some observations and reflections about the caller/killer he had spoken with seven years earlier. He was, Richardson was convinced, an egomaniac who planned the murder to show the world he was a superman, someone who could "outwit and outthink the whole world." He also stated — and again he was right — that the killer had placed the body where it would be quickly found, and mutilated it so horribly to attract the greatest attention on the part of the police and public. "He would be one against the world," he wrote, "the perpetrator of the perfect crime."
Richardson was also certain the killer would strike again, and in the same manner, but that ultimately he would make a mistake that would result in his capture. Richardson hoped that the Dahlia killer would again pick up the phone, dial the city desk, and ask for him. He revealed that his switchboard operators had developed a sixth sense and screened the "nuts and crackpots," but every now and then did put through a call to him, which invariably was important. He said he still believed that one day he would pick up the receiver and "again hear that soft, sly voice."
Friday, January 24, 1947
Police claimed a major break in the case when they learned that the suspect originally had left Elizabeth Short's purse and shoes atop an open trashcan in front of a restaurant and motel located at 1136 South Crenshaw Boulevard, approximately twenty blocks north of 39th and Norton. Robert Hyman, the manager of a cafe at 1136 South Crenshaw, the witness who found the purse and shoes, said he observed a pair of women's shoes inside a black handbag just as the garbage truck was picking up the trash in front of his cafe. Hyman described the purse as "large and oblong, and the shoes as black with very high he
els."
Hyman spoke to the trash collector and suggested that "perhaps the purse and shoes should be turned over to the police."
"Oh, we find lots of things like this, and they never amount to anything," the city employee responded. The man then dumped the purse and shoes in his truck along with the other trash and drove away.
Hyman called LAPD, and officers were dispatched to the city dump, where, after an extensive search, the purse and shoes were found. An LAPD unit brought them to University Division police station, where, as noted, Red Manley identified them.
* investigator's note: An alternative theory, which LAPD hadn't seemed to consider, is that the killer, who we know had washed the body clean, could have placed it at the location while it was still wet, which could explain their observations yet still account for a later — 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. — placement of the body, which would be consistent with a sighting of a possible suspect vehicle parked near the body at that time.
* LAPD in the following weeks would send detectives to San Diego to pursue this lead and search the paper trail of phone records.
*Investigator's note: This official public statement was of immediate and grave concern to me when I first read it. A seasoned homicide detective would never make such a statement. The absence of the victim's prints on the bottle indicated absolutely nothing. Neither did these detectives address or comment on the possibility that the unidentified prints could have belonged to the suspect, "Mr. Barnes." By making this statement it seemed as if they were attempting to publicly discredit Mr. and Mrs. Johnson's identification and statements. Why?
13
The LAPD and the Press: The Avenger Mailings
Saturday, January 25, 1947
THE LOS ANGELES EXAMINER REPORTED that someone, presumably the killer, had sent a package containing some of the contents of the victim's purse to the paper by mail, postmarked January 24, 1947, at 6:30 p.m. from downtown Los Angeles. The killer included Elizabeth Short's identification, an address book, her birth certificate, and her social security card. Along with the victim's personal effects, the sender had assembled a note pasted out of various-size letters taken from the Los Angeles Examiner and other L.A. papers. It read:
Exhibit 17
Here is Dahlia's belongings. Letter to follow
The package was opened in the presence of LAPD detectives and postal inspectors who had intercepted it before it was delivered to the newspaper office. The detectives found fingerprints on the package, which were sent to the FBI office for examination and possible identification.
The address book was of particular interest to detectives, because it contained over seventy-five names. Also of note, the name "Mark Hansen" was embossed in gold lettering on the cover. One page of the book had been torn out. Police theorized that the murderer himself may well have torn it out before mailing the address book to the newspaper.
That same day, in response to questions from reporters, Captain Donahoe said of the widening investigation, "This is the big push. Our men are fanning out now to bring in the killer. We will bring in all sorts of people for questioning, and eliminate them so long as they can eliminate themselves."
Mark Hansen
Mark Hansen was a part owner of the Florentine Gardens, a well-known Hollywood landmark and popular nightspot that featured a popular burlesque show for patrons, who included some of the city's powerful politicians, underworld figures, and many of the rich and famous in the entertainment industry. Hansen was also Anne Toth's boyfriend at the time of the murder. Toth was one of a number of attractive young women Hansen employed at the club, Hollywood's answer to New York's nightlife and chorus lines. Hansen's manager and master of ceremonies was Nils Thor Granlund, known as "N.T.G.," a familiar personality in the world of Hollywood clubs. Many of Hansen's Hollywood chorus girls were trying to break into the movies and, like Toth, were struggling to pay their rent. Some of them, like Yvonne De Carlo, Marie "the Body" McDonald, Jean Wallace, Gwen Verdon, and Lili St. Cyr, would graduate from the Florentine Gardens stage to become familiar names on the screen and the New York musical stage. Mark Hansen would have been exactly the kind of person Elizabeth was looking for when she said she had aspirations of meeting "the right Hollywood people," who could possibly help her "break into the business."
Hansen was one of the first people contacted by LAPD detectives after they opened the killer's package. In his formal statement, Hansen explained to the police and reporters that the address book had been stolen from his residence sometime during the period when Elizabeth had lived there in the summer of 1946. It was now clear it was she who had taken it.
Hansen said that he owned and lived at 6024 Carlos Avenue, in Hollywood, just behind his club. Hansen often rented out single rooms to girls, especially those who wanted to work for him or were trying to break into the business. He admitted having rented a room to Elizabeth for about a month during the summer of 1946 but, almost in the same sentence, adamantly denied ever being intimately involved with her or even ever having dated her. He added that he was aware that Elizabeth had dated many different men while she was living there, including "a language teacher I know, and many other persons, mostly hoodlums whom I wouldn't even let in my house."
Anne Toth, also present at his interview, took offense at his comment that Elizabeth had dated "hoodlums." "She was a nice girl," Toth said. "She was quiet, she didn't drink and she didn't smoke, and we ought to look on the good side of people."
Hansen identified the brown leather address book as his, saying it had been "sent to me from Denmark, my native country." He believed it had been taken from his desk; he hadn't known where it had gone until he had seen it pictured in the newspaper. As for the names in the book, "There were no entries in the book," Hansen said, "no names of any individuals when I last saw it."
He thought Elizabeth Short had stolen the address book, along with an item he described as a "memorandum and calendar book," which had also disappeared from his desk at roughly the same time that Short had moved out. In defining his relationship with the victim as simply that of landlord/tenant, he said that reports in the papers that he had dated Short were erroneous. Further, he claimed no knowledge of the crime either before or after the fact, telling reporters, "The last time I saw Elizabeth Short was last Christmas, three weeks before she was murdered."
Monday, January 27, 1947
In a second postcard mailed to the Examiner from downtown Los Angeles on January 26, the suspect wrote:
Exhibit 18
Here it is
Turning in Wed
Jan. 29 10 A.M.
Had my fun at police
Black Dahlia Avenger
In his public statement about the note, Captain Donahoe said he believed that the postcard was "legitimate" and might well be the "message to follow" that the killer had promised to send in his original pasted-up note. "The fact that the postcard was printed rather than lettered with words cut out of newspapers," Donahoe said, "also supports the theory that the killer intends to turn himself in to the police, and no longer needs to take pains to conceal his identity." By the killer's signature line, "Black Dahlia Avenger," he surmised, "he is indicating that he murdered Elizabeth Short for some avenged wrong, either real or imagined. So far we haven't seen any evidence of that, but we hope that the killer who is writing these notes keeps his promise to turn himself in on Wednesday." In a public message, Donahoe promised the killer, "If you want to surrender as indicated by the postcard now in our hands, I will meet you at any public location at any time or at the homicide detail office in the City Hall. Communicate immediately by telephoning MI 5211 extension 2521, or by mail."
That same day, police were reviewing a separate typed message they believed was written by a woman — because there were lipstick smudges on the paper — and mailed to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. In the letter the writer described in detail an incident involving Elizabeth Short that probably took place at a Hollywood nightclub a day or two prior to the
murder. Captain Donahoe refused to release any details of the letter except to say, "it described an incident that might relate to the Elizabeth Short slaying. Detectives will also investigate a location described in the letter, and check out other details before its contents are made public." A handwritten notation on the outside of the envelope indicated, "Sorry, Greenwich Village, not Cotton Club."
Exhibit 19
Typed letter mailed to DA
The details of this letter were kept strictly confidential in a meeting between LAPD's Captain Jack Donahoe and then district attorney Simpson.
That same day, the police also released this public statement: "A complete roundup of the 75 names in the Mark Hansen address book was completed yesterday without adding anything to the sorry story that is already known."
Tuesday, January 28, 1947.
The analysis of the printed postcard in which the suspect had promised to turn himself in revealed that he had used a "new ballpoint pen" when he wrote the address of the L.A. Examiner. For the police, this was important, because ballpoint pens were a rarity in 1947. While they had been provided to officers in the military during the war, commercial distribution to the general public only began on Christmas 1945, and at a heady cost of $12.50 (approximately $125 today). They were used primarily by professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, and business executives.
Wednesday, January 29, 1947
The newspapers and police received two additional notes, purportedly from the suspect, that were published on the front page of the dailies. Note #3 was again assembled out of pasted letters cut from newspapers, and said: