The incident spooked me. I scared that woman. I knew she’d never understand my good intentions.
I drove back to Newport Beach. I checked my machine and caught a message from Bill Stoner.
He said he had urgent news. He said to call him regardless of the time.
I called him. Bill said he found an old Unsolved file that blew his fucking mind.
The date was 1/23/59. The victim was named Elspeth “Bobbie” Long. She was beaten. She was strangled with a nylon stocking. She was dumped on a road in La Puente—four miles from El Monte. The Long case and the Ellroy case were point-by-point twins.
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A night owl called it in. The San Dimas desk logged it at 2:35 a.m.
The guy said he was out coon hunting. He saw a body by the road at Don Julian and 8th. His name was Ray Blasingame. He lived and worked in El Monte. He was calling from the gas station at Valley and 3rd.
The desk man buzzed a patrol unit. Deputy Bill Freese and Deputy Jim Harris rolled to Valley and 3rd. They followed Ray Blasingame to the dump site. He was driving a Ford pickup with four coon dogs in the back.
The site was secluded. The road was paved with crushed rock. A dirt shoulder and a barbed-wire fence ran behind it. The road led to a water-pump station.
It was cold. It was dark. The Puente Hills were due south. Valley Boulevard was one half-mile north.
The woman was laid out face-up. She was stretched flat on the dirt between the road and the fence. She was wearing a charcoal-gray and black sweater, a black skirt and open-toed black shoes. A red overcoat covered her legs. A horse-and-jockey pin was attached to the left shoulder. A black plastic purse was propped up by the fence.
She was white. She was medium-sized. She had short blond hair. She was 45 to 50 years old.
Her face was bruised. A nylon stocking was lashed around her neck.
Harris radioed the San Dimas Station. The desk man called Sheriff’s Homicide. Lieutenant Charles McGowan, Sergeant Harry Andre and Sergeant Claude Everley rolled out. A patrol lieutenant and a print deputy arrived two minutes later.
Andre saw the Jean Ellroy crime scene. He told Everley that this one looked similar. The Ellroy killer tossed the victim’s coat across her legs. This guy did the same thing.
A morgue car arrived. A photo car arrived. A coroner’s assistant checked out the body. A photo deputy lit the crime scene and shot it.
The morgue man noted signs of early rigor mortis. The victim’s head and neck were stiff. Everley pulled up her outer garments and examined her underclothes. She was wearing a red slip, a red bra and a red pantie girdle. Her legs were bare.
Andre emptied the purse. He found a pair of glasses, $1.32, a pack of Camel cigarettes, a hair brush, a pair of light-blue wool or wool-cotton-blend gloves, a tin of aspirin, a plastic key fob, a ballpoint pen, a pocket mirror and a brown leather wallet with a white-and-silver horse embossed on the front. The wallet contained snapshots of the victim, a bus ticket stub, a clipping from a horse racing scratch sheet and identification cards for Elspeth Evelyn Long and Bobbie Long. The cards listed addresses in New Orleans, Miami and Phoenix, Arizona. The cards listed the victim’s DOB as 7/10/06 and 7/10/13. An insurance ID card listed an L.A. address: 223
The morgue crew removed the body. Andre called Sheriff’s Homicide. He told the desk man to send some guys out to the victim’s address. Everley got his flashlight and searched the area. He didn’t spot any tire tracks or discarded weaponry.
Ray Blasingame went home. The photo man took some more shots. The sun came up. Andre and Everley walked the road in full daylight.
They didn’t see anything new.
The victim lived in a small apartment house. Her place was at the bottom floor rear. Ward Hallinen, Ray Hopkinson and Ned Lovretovich tossed it.
They woke the manager up and badged him. He let them into the apartment and went back to bed. They tossed both rooms. They found a box of nylon stockings and a stack of silver dollars and half-dollars. They found a stack of newspaper articles on horse racing. They found a camera with the dial set at exposure #6. They found an address book. They found a payroll check for $37.00. It was dated 1/21/59. It was issued by Bill’s Cafe—1554 West Florence Avenue. They found some horse racing programs and scratch sheets and letters from a horse-race tipster.
The apartment was clean. The victim’s belongings were neatly arranged. The stockings totaled up to even pairs.
They grabbed the camera and the address book. They woke the manager up and told him to keep the place locked. He said they should talk to a woman named Liola Taylor. She lived next door. He hardly knew Bobbie Long himself. Liola knew her better.
They found Liola Taylor and questioned her. She said Bobbie Long lived next door for four years or so. She worked at a restaurant on Florence. She knew lots of men. She wasn’t loose. She liked male companionship. She was going out with a rich guy. She said she was after his money. She never mentioned his name. She never mentioned her own family.
Hallinen, Hopkinson and Lovretovich drove to Bill’s Cafe. They talked to the boss—William Shostal. He said Bobbie Long was a good waitress. She was friendly. She loved horse racing. She hung out with a waitress named Betty Nolan.
Shostal gave the cops Betty’s address. They drove to her house and questioned her.
She said she saw Bobbie at work on Tuesday. That was three days ago. Bobbie said she was going to the track
