one more crime, the kidnap and murder of actress Jean Spangler on October 7, the day following his bail out from lockup.
After his acquittal in December, 1949, the DA investigators confront him in early 1950 at the Franklin House, where they inform him they are aware of his crimes and promise they will arrest him and bring him to justice. George Hodel, confronted with the probability of an imminent arrest by the DA investigators, who are outside of his sphere of LAPD protection, quickly flees the United States and remains outside the country for forty years.
After the incest trial, Sexton eventually flees to Mexico City. Unlike George Hodel, however, Sexton returns to live off-and-on in the Los Angeles area during the 1950s and '60s, continuing his sporadic serial killings.
In the mid-to late 1960s, Sexton returns and establishes a permanent residence in Mexico and, at age sixty- two, marries a teenager who, like June, will remain his wife for the next thirty years. Sexton dies in Mexico in 1996, his death preceding that of his lifelong friend and accomplice George Hodel by just four years.
34
Filing My Case with the District
Attorney's Office
AT THE TIME I CONCLUDED MY INVESTIGATION, I had no idea whether the district attorney's office had any files from its presentation to the 1949 grand jury. Still, I needed to know whether the material I'd assembled would persuade the district attorney that there was a prosecutable case here. I therefore submitted the results of my investigation to a former colleague, someone I'd worked with and respected during my years as a homicide detective. I presented the material as I would have brought him a case twenty years ago, hopeful that I had assembled enough evidence to convince a prosecutor that there was sufficient probable cause to file charges.
The final stage of all criminal investigations comes with the formal presentation by the detective of his case to the district attorney's office for a filing. General filing policies within the prosecutor's office vary from state to state and county to county. From my experience in L.A. County, the reviewing deputy district attorney needs to be convinced that the suspect(s) did indeed commit the crime, and be strongly confident that he or she will win a conviction in court. Anything less will result in an outright rejection, or a 'continued for further investigation,' requiring an immediate release of the person arrested. This is how it's supposed to work under our Constitution. All good working detectives know and prepare for this moment of truth.
It had been almost twenty years since I had last walked into the district attorney's office to present my investigation and request a murder filing on a suspect. None of the old guard in the DA's office was around anymore, except one. Fortunately for me and for the public, he was among the best.
In his thirty-fifth year of service in the DA's office, Head Deputy District Attorney Stephen Kay had prosecuted many of Los Angeles's most notorious murderers. His career convictions read like a Who's Who of California killers, including the Manson case, where he was co-counsel with the celebrated prosecutor and author Vincent Bugliosi. He later personally prosecuted the rest of the Manson family members — Tex Watson, Bruce Davis, and Leslie Van Houten. Kay was the first deputy district attorney in California history to attend a lifer parolee's hearing and argue before the parole board for denial based on the merits of the case. To date, Steve Kay has attended a total of fifty- eight parole hearings arguing against the release of the various Manson family members.
Kay prosecuted serial killers Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, who during the commission of their crimes had actually tape-recorded one of their vicious rape-murders. Bittaker and Norris would kidnap and murder four additional victims, ages thirteen to eighteen, before being apprehended, prosecuted, and convicted by Kay.
In 1996 Kay prosecuted and convicted killer Charles Rathbun for the vicious murder of Raiderette and beauty- queen model Linda Sobek, whose body was found in Angeles National Forest.
During my career I had gone to Steve Kay and presented dozens of murder cases for his review and filing of complaints. I had always found him to be highly intelligent, conscientious, and, most importantly, a man of total integrity. Knowing he could be trusted in all matters requiring confidentiality, and knowing that above all he would give me the benefit of objectivity, I decided to submit the Dahlia investigation to him as if I were asking for a criminal filing.
We met for three hours. I gave him an overview of the investigation, informing him of my suspicions relating to the serial killings and my belief, based on my two-year-plus investigation, that my father was not only the killer of Elizabeth Short but also the 'wealthy Hollywood man' identified in 1949 by Lieutenant Jemison as the DA's prime suspect. I provided Kay with my entire manuscript and investigation, complete with photographs and exhibits.
Understandably, Steve Kay was shocked and stunned by my disclosures, but he maintained his composure, voiced his confidence and trust in my ability as a homicide investigator, and said he would review the entire case file on his own time, not as an official in the DA's office. He would, he said, review it as if I were actively submitting it to him for a criminal filing. Further, he promised he would use the same rigorous standards he requires of all investigators and would give me his opinion after a careful and considered review.
A month later I received the following letter in the mail.
September 30, 2001
To Whom It May Concern:
The most haunting murder mystery in Los Angeles County during the twentieth century has finally been solved in the twenty-first century. The case of the Black Dahlia murder was solved by one of the Los Angeles Police Department's finest homicide investigators, Steve Hodel. This, however, was anything but a normal LAPD homicide investigation, since Steve retired from the LAPD in 1986 and since the murderer was none other than Steve's father, Dr. GeorgeIlill Hodel.
I first met Detective Steve Hodel in 1973 when, after being on the prosecution team in the Tate-La Bianca murders and the Gary Hinman and 'Shorty' Shea murders against the Manson Family for three years, I received an assignment to the Central Operations Complaint Division. This Division is the largest felony case filing Division of the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. I liked Steve from the first time I met him. Not only was he very bright and personable, but the cases he presented for filing were always well prepared and well investigated.
Also, if Steve believed that he did not have sufficient evidence to have a case filed, he would come right out and say so!
Steve was a tenacious detective. If he believed someone was guilty, he would leave no stone unturned in attempting to prove his guilt. On the other hand, if he believed that a suspect was not guilty, he would do everything in his power to establish his innocence. Because of his objectivity and fairness, Steve was able not only to be an outstanding police detective, but in his retirement years he has easily adapted to becoming an excellent
