Black Dahlia Avenger II: Presenting the Follow-Up Investigation and Further Evidence Linking Dr. George Hill Hodel to Los Angeles’s Black Dahlia and other 1940s LONE WOMAN MURDERS

by Hodel, Steve

  Ora Murray-1943 White Gardenia Murder victim

  A Copycat Crime-Murder as a Fine Art

  I enjoy listening to OTR (Old Time Radio) programs. In April 2010, I was reviewing an on-line index of the old CBS Suspense Theatre dramatizations, and one of the titles caught my eye. It was called, The White Rose Murders.

  The show was originally broadcast from CBS’s then relatively new Columbia Square Playhouse Studio, located in Hollywood, at Sunset and Gower. The radio dramatization starred the beautiful twenty-two-year-old actress, Maureen O’Hara and was first aired on, July 6, 1943, just twenty days prior to the commission of the Los Angeles, “White Gardenia Murder” of Ora Murray.

  The radio mystery-play was written by a popular novelist and pulp-fiction writer, Cornell Woolrich, who also used the pseudonyms of: William Irish and George Hopley.

  During the 1930s and 1940s Woolrich saw more than thirty of his short stories and several of his novels made into films. [Two of the best known being: The Night has a Thousand Eyes (1948) directed by John Farrow, and the Alfred Hitchcock classic, Rear Window (1954,) which was adapted from Woolrich’s original short-story, “It Had To Be Murder.”]

  Cornell’s 1943 radio drama, The White Rose Murders told the story of a “homicidal maniac” who frequented the city’s downtown dancehalls, where he met, danced with and picked-up lone women. The killer then lured them out into the night where he strangled them to death. As a signature of his kills the madman carefully placed a “white rose” next to the body of each of his victims.

  In the vernacular of the day, the police detective described him as “a chain killer” and as the story begins we find the city is gripped in terror as the unidentified suspect has just slain his fourth victim, and is about to kill his fifth.

  The motive for the serial-killings was presented as that of a deranged “Avenger,” a woman hater, seeking personal revenge on young women for having been rejected by them in his youth.

  We recall that George Hodel, in his 1944 Georgette Bauerdorf murder note, informed the public that the reason he killed her was for, “Divine Retribution.” And, in his 1947 note, as the “Black Dahlia Avenger” he assured us, “The Dahlia Killing was justified.”

  The Suspense Theatre radio-plays, were hugely popular and always introduced by, “The Man In Black.” I am surprised that neither the press nor apparently anyone in law enforcement, made what seems to have been an obvious connection between the radio dramatization and the Ora Murray murder that followed, just three weeks later.

  Those of you, who have read my sequel, Most Evil, will have a fuller understanding of the importance of this newly discovered link to the 1940s. Why? Because, in my father’s later serial killings it became an important and recurring theme which he used as part of his murder-signature.

  In the crimes of the 1960s he expanded his Murder as a Fine Art from just the surrealistic plagiarism of Man Ray’s photography, as seen in his Black Dahlia murder, and opened it to a much broader canvas.

  In Most Evil, we discovered that George Hodel expanded the signature of his killings, his “masterpieces,” beyond modern art and ventured into the world of: music, film and literature.

  This is why this new discovery, demonstrating another example of his early plagiarism of Cornell Woolrich’s short-story, adapted to radio, is so important. It reinforces my theory that this was a signature-act which George Hodel used in 1943, some three-years prior to his imitation of Man Ray’s art, recreated as the macabre Black Dahlia murder. This establishes that George Hodel had already “been there and done that”—four-years earlier.

  Within two weeks of the fictional White Rose Murders having been broadcast to the public, I submit, Dr. George Hill Hodel, as “Paul,” the dapper businessman from San Francisco, made it REAL by following the original White Rose Murders script and sought out and auditioned his own dancehall partner-victim, Ora Murray—for the part.

  As “Paul” he danced with her, bought her drinks, and then wooed her out of the Zenda Ballroom with an invitation to, “See Hollywood for a night-on-the-town.” He then drove her to an isolated golf-course, beat and strangled her, and with a final dramatic flair, carefully placed a “white gardenia” next to the dead body.

  In Most Evil we examined several separate murders which I believe my father “adapted from film,” and used in his real life killings. One of these, Richard Connell’s, The Most Dangerous Game, was famously used by the Zodiac Killer as part of his signature M.O. and was subsequently mentioned in his letter writing campaign to the press and police.

  In checking the list of 1940s Suspense Theatre programs. I noted that The Most Dangerous Game was also listed as being performed at the same CBS Theatre. It aired in Hollywood on February 1, 1945, and starred Orson Welles as the psychopath, General Zaroff. [In 1969, the serial killer, “Zodiac” costumed himself in the fashion of General Zaroff and terrorized the Bay area, informing the public that in committing his murders he was playing, “The Most Dangerous Game.”

  How many more of these fictional stories from literature and film might George Hodel have adapted and abridged into his real life murders? So far we have documented four: Charlie Chan at Treasure Island, The Most Dangerous Game, The Gold Bug, and now, The White Rose Murders. I am aware of a fifth film, which will be discussed in detail in an upcoming chapter of this book. I expect more will be found.

  Since my last publication in 2006, based on new investigative findings, I am adding two more victims to that Category I list. One victim, Louise Springer, I am upgrading from a Category II “probable” to a definite, based on new information.

  The second victim came onto my radar screen in 2009. Her name is Lillian Dominguez and she was slain in October 1947.

  Here is a brief summary on both of the new Category I crimes.

  Louise Springer-June 13, 1949

  “The Black Dahlia and the Louise Springer murders might be linked. Both crimes could have been committed by the same man.”

  Detective Harry Hansen LAPD Homicide

  Los Angeles Times, June 1949

  Detective Harry Hansen reviewing Dahlia Files

  At approximately 9:15 p.m., on the evening of June 13, 1949, Laurence Springer drove his new Studebaker convertible to pickup his wife. Louise Springer met him in the parking-lot on Crenshaw Boulevard, near Santa Barbara, where she worked as a beautician. As she entered the car, Louise noticed that she had left her eyeglasses inside the beauty parlor. Her husband offered to get them for her and also purchased a newspaper and cigarettes at an adjacent drugstore. He was gone less than ten minutes. Upon his return, both his car and his wife, Louise, were gone.

  The husband immediately contacted LAPD which referred him to University Division Police Station, where the desk officer advised Mr. Springer, “They could not take a formal Missing Person Report for 24-hours.” The husband attempted to convince the officers that his wife would not simply drive away, and that she had to have been the victim of a kidnapping or foul play. Sadly, his pleas fell upon deaf ears. Frustrated and angry, the husband returned to his Hollywood home to be with their three-year-old son, and could only hope his wife would call.

  Three days later, Laurence Springer’s suspicions were confirmed. Louise Springer’s body was found in the backseat of their car, which the suspect, by circumstance, had been forced to park on a quiet residential street, just an hour after the abduction and murder. Here is the investigative chronology and findings:

  June 13, 1949-9:15 p.m.

  The victim, Louise Springer, a twenty-eight-year-old female, was kidnapped [abducted in her own car] while sitting and waiting for her husband to return from a short errand.

  Within a forty-five-minute time period, the suspect [s] abducted her from the location, strangled her with a pre-cut clothesline rope that he brought with him, and then sexually assaulted her [sodomy] using a fourteen-inch long tree-limb.

  The suspect then placed her body in the rear seat of her car and covered it with a beautician’s
tarp, which was in the vehicle and which Louise used in her work.

  The kidnap location was on South Crenshaw Boulevard, just north of Santa Barbara Avenue [now renamed Martin Luther King Boulevard] and was just 500 yards southwest of where Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short’s body parts were found in the vacant lot at 3815 South Norton Avenue some two years prior.

  Springer – Short crimes 500 yards apart

  June 13, 1949 - 10:30 p.m.

  Four neighborhood witnesses looking out their window, observed Springer’s vehicle, a 1949 Studebaker convertible being driven eastbound on Thirty-Eighth Street, and saw the car suddenly swerved to the south curb and quickly parked in front of 126 W. Thirty-Eighth Street.

  Then they saw the driver turn off the headlights and slump down behind the steering wheel.

  Seconds later, an LAPD uniformed patrol car, with its emergency lights blinking, pulled over a teenage driver for a traffic violation. As the witnesses watched from their residence, the man in the Studebaker sat motionless while the officers exited their patrol car and wrote a ticket to the teenager, who was standing just a few yards away.

  The officers, after citing the teen, then reentered their patrol car and drove off.

  The witnesses continued looking out their window and saw the man reach toward the backseat, as if to adjust something. At that point, they stopped their observations.

  Due to the darkness, the only description they could provide was “A white male with curly hair.”

  These actions occurred just forty-five minutes after the abduction. But because the witnesses were unaware that any crime had been committed, nothing was reported for three days.

  On June 16, a separate neighbor became suspicious of the abandoned Studebaker and called the police.

  Officers checking the license plate number determined that it was the missing Springer vehicle and responded to find the victim strangled to death under a tarp in the backseat. A neighborhood check by homicide detectives for witnesses resulted in the four witnesses coming forward to describe what they had seen on the night of June 13th.

  The below map shows the probable route taken from the abduction to where the vehicle was parked at 126 W. Thirty-Eighth Street. Driving distance was 4.0 miles.

  126 W. 38TH St. - 4 miles [10 minutes] from abduction location

  Louise Springer Murder Headlines June 17, 1949

  Los Angeles Examiner—June 18, 1949

  Los Angeles Examiner of June 17, read:

  …

  Body Violated

  “And with a 14-inch length of finger-thick tree branch, ripped from some small tree, the killer had violated her body in such manner as to stamp this crime at once and indelibly in the same category as the killing of Elizabeth Short, “the Black Dahlia.”

  LAPD Criminalist Ray Pinker called in a botanist expert on the Louise Springer investigation who examined and identified the tree branch as coming from a “Bottlebrush tree.”

  The below photo shows a bottlebrush tree which is indigenous to all neighborhoods of Los Angeles and the actual tree branch used by suspect in the sexual assault. [Cropped by author from the original Louise Springer coroner’s photograph.]

  Top: Bottle Brush Tree. Bottom: photo is the actual tree branch used by suspect in the sexual assault.

  The autopsy was performed by Drs. Newbarr and Cefalu, the same two assigned to perform the Elizabeth Short autopsy two years prior. Their examination revealed that Louise Springer suffered multiple blows to the head that would have likely rendered her unconscious. After which she was strangled with a white clothesline cord, which the suspect brought with him.

  Autopsy photo [cropped] showing clothesline ligature

  Some additional investigative findings:

  • Police suspected that killer may have known the victim prior. Possible jealous ex-boyfriend? Detective Hansen and partner traveled to San Francisco for a full week investigation into the victim’s background. Newspapers of the day hinted at a “possible romantic affair.” No hard evidence believed found.

  • Prior to the murder, a male called Laurence Springer’s work telephone (six times) over six days, and kept hanging up. Also, called Springer’s home residence.

  • Though LAPD continued to suspect that the Springer and Elizabeth Short and other lone woman crimes could have been connected, Louise Springer’s sadistic killer, like the others, was never identified.

  • 1949 Grand Jury demanded a reinvestigation of the Elizabeth Short and other unsolved murders as is evidenced by the below 1949 headline, which adds Louise Springer’s photo to the long list of unsolved murders and read:

  “L.A. POLICE BAFFLED BY NINTH WEIRD MURDER IN 29 MONTHS”

  Long Beach Post-Telegram

  June 17, 1949

  Lillian Dominguez—An Overlooked 1947 Lone Woman Murder

  Based on my examination and review of the known facts surrounding the stabbing-murder of Santa Monica victim, Lillian Dominguez, age fifteen, which occurred in October 1947, I am now adding her name to the list of Category I, Los Angeles Lone Woman Murders, that I believe were committed by my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel.

  On the night of October 2, 1947, Lillian Dominguez, a fifteen-year-old student at John Adams Junior High was walking home from a school dance with her sister, Angie, and their friend, Andrea Marquez.

  As the three girls approached the intersection of Seventeenth Street and Michigan Avenue in Santa Monica, a man approached them in the darkness and walked by them. Seconds later, Lillian told her sister, “That man touched me.” She took a few steps and yelled out, “I can’t see.” Lillian staggered against the fence, collapsed, and died.

  An autopsy established that Lillian had been stabbed in the heart with a long, thin bladed “stiletto-type knife” or possibly an icepick. The half-inch wide blade penetrated three and a half inches directly into the heart. No real accurate description of her attacker was believed obtained other than the teenager’s initial description of him being “a man.”

  Santa Monica detectives had very little to go on. The suspect description was almost nonexistent and it was a completely motiveless crime. Lillian had no boyfriends and there was no trouble at the dance, which had been held at Garfield Elementary School.

  LA Times October 7, 1947, victim’s sister, Angie Dominguez and friend Andrea Marquez:

  The Murder Weapon

  Stiletto-type knife or icepick used

  Based on the limited information as reported in the 1947 newspaper article, I sent an e-mail inquiry to my friend and fellow writer, Dr. Doug Lyle M.D., a forensic expert, as well as a heart specialist. Here is an excerpt from that e-mail:

  May 9, 2010

  Hi Doug:

  …

  In reviewing a press article on the stabbing/murder the info from the coroner’s office printed in the paper reads:

  “Dr. Frederick Newbarr, county autopsy surgeon, reported after performing an autopsy that the stab wound in the girl’s left breast is 3 3/4” inches deep and a half inch wide and that it penetrated only the heart muscle, not the heart itself.

  Death, he said, apparently was caused by internal bleeding. Severance of nerves could have numbed pain and caused the blindness of which the girl complained, Dr. Newbarr said.”

  1) Forgive my anatomical ignorance, but what is the distinction/difference between “the heart and the heart muscle?” What are they saying here?

  2) Any thought on the blindness. Would that be unusual or common with the facts as stated?

  Thanks,

  Steve

  And, here is Dr. Lyle’s reply:

  Howdy:

  This shows you how far behind they were 70 years ago. The heart muscle is the main part of the heart and the part that would be stabbed in such an injury as this. Severing of nerves—of which there are no major ones in that area—would NOT cause blindness. Either she had some other injury or the blindness could be the hysterical type. Some people under extreme stress go blind—it is all psychiatric—and is
called hysterical blindness. Or in this case she could have been in shock or her blood pressure could have suddenly dropped from the heart injury and if so the low blood pressure could cause blurred and then dim vision just before losing consciousness and dying. I’d suspect this latter is what happened since she died almost immediately after her visual complaints.

  Doug

  Avenger Note

  On the evening of October 9, 1947, exactly one-week after the stabbing, Lillian’s killer left a handwritten note under the door of a Los Angeles furniture store.

  The note, written in pencil on the back of a business card of a “Mexican restaurant” read:

  “I killed that Santa Monica girl. I will kill others.”

  While neither the furniture store nor the Mexican restaurant locations were identified by police, the information and threat from the killer was published in the Santa Monica Evening Outlook on October 10, 1947, which was George Hodel’s fortieth birthday.

  We do know that the furniture store was outside the city of Santa Monica and in Los Angeles. We recalled in some of the other Lone Woman murders, that George Hodel left or mailed the Kern and Short notes just blocks away from his downtown medical office. Was either the furniture company or the Mexican restaurant also near his medical offices?

  Dominguez “Avenger” Signature

  In my 2009 sequel, Avenger, Zodiac, and the Further Serial Murders of Dr. George Hill Hodel [Dutton], I explored the possible connections of George Hodel to three 1946 Chicago “Lipstick Murders.” In that book, I also examined the 1966 knife slaying of a Riverside student; the “Jigsaw Murder” in Manila, where my father was living at the time and where police suspected the killer was a trained surgeon; and finally, I explored and presented compelling evidence potentially linking my father to the 1968-1969 Bay Area murders committed by the suspect calling himself, “Zodiac.”