Black Dahlia Avenger: The True Story

supply of proof sheet paper such as the one on which Steve made his 'Chinese Chicken' drawing.

These are more important pieces of evidence connecting Dr. George Hodel to the Black Dahlia murder — more strands in the rope.

The manner of bisection of Elizabeth Short's body leads me to conclude that a doctor was the murderer. In a letter from Special Agent R. B. Hood of the Los Angeles office to J. Edgar Hoover, he states 'the body was cut into around the waist with a very sharp instrument and the cut was very cleanly done — none of the internal organs being touched except to sever the intestines. The cut through the backbone was very cleanly done. There is some speculation that the murderer had some training in the dissection of bodies. The manner in which Elizabeth Short's body was dissected has indicated the possibility that the murderer was a person somewhat experienced in medical work . . .' USC turned over a list of 300 names of their medical students for follow up investigation.

Dr. Frederic Newbarr, the Chief autopsy surgeon for the County of Los Angeles, performed the autopsy on Elizabeth Short on January 16, 1947. He determined that a sharp, thin bladed instrument consistent with a scalpel had been used to perform the bisection. The incision was performed through the abdomen, and then through the intervertebral disk between the second and third vertebra.

The body had been washed clean and drained of blood. Fibers believed to originate from a scrub brush were found on the body.

In a 1971 L.A. Times interview entitled 'Farewell My Black Dahlia,' the original Black Dahlia homicide investigator, Detective Harry Hansen, upon his retirement stated that his own personal theory was that a man with medical training was the murderer. He stated, 'It was a clean definitely professional job. You have to know exactly how and where or you just can't do it. When I asked medical authorities what kind of person could have performed that bisection, they said someone with medical finesse.'

We know from Steve's investigation that when attending UC San Francisco medical school that George Hodel had an outstanding reputation as a surgeon. More strands in the rope.

The body of Elizabeth Short had been posed. In all the murder cases I have handled over the years, I have only had one body posed. It is a very rare occurrence. When I prosecuted photographer Charles Rathbun for the murder of model and former Los Angeles Raider cheerleader Linda Sobek, Rathbun posed Linda Sobek in the grave he dug for her before covering her up with dirt.

How was Elizabeth Short's body posed? Both arms were raised above the head, the right arm placed at a 45- degree angle, away from the body, then bent at the elbow to form a 90-degree angle. The left arm was placed at a 45-degree angle away from the body and then bent again to form a second 90-degree angle that paralleled the body. Why was her body posed? To answer this question, Steve cleverly delves into his father's admiration of his close friend and now world famous photographer, Man Ray.

Steve notes that Man Ray's position was that women exist 'at man's will and for man's pleasure, and those pleasures are often enhanced and increased through humiliation, degradation and the infliction of pain upon them.' This could explain why Elizabeth was tortured before she was killed.

Steve points out that the position of Elizabeth's arms is an exact duplication of Man Ray's photograph entitled The Minotaur (the destroyer of young maidens). The excised flesh below Elizabeth Short's breast imitates the shadows seen in the photograph. The lacerations to her face give the appearance of the lips in Man Ray's famous photograph entitled The Lovers.

From Dr. Newbarr's autopsy report, we learn that Dr. Hodel inflicted unbelievable pain and degradation on Elizabeth before he killed her. Dr. Newbarr states that Elizabeth was tortured initially by the infliction of minor cuts to her body and private parts where the pubic hairs are cut away. She was then beaten and kicked about her entire body (as was Jeanne French). She was then forced to eat her own or his fecal excrement. Also large pieces of flesh were cut from her body and inserted into her vagina and rectum. Is it just a coincidence that Elizabeth Short's body was posed, and her face and breasts were cut to imitate two of Man Ray's famous photographs? More strands in the rope.

Another piece of evidence I have taken into consideration in forming my opinion that Dr. Hodel murdered Elizabeth Short is the doctor's missing black-faced military watch. In a photo of the doctor by Man Ray in 1946, the doctor can be seen wearing a military style watch with a black face. In an undated photo Steve believes to have been taken in the spring or summer of 1947, the doctor is wearing a watch with a white face. On January 20, 1947, LAPD utilized fifty officers to carefully comb through the vacant lot at 39th and Norton where Elizabeth Short's body was found on January 15, 1947. As a result of this search, a man's military type wristwatch was found in the vacant lot close to where Elizabeth's body w as found. Another strand.

The murderer threw Elizabeth's empty purse and her shoes in the trash bin in front of 1136 South Crenshaw. This location is between where Elizabeths body was found and the Franklin house where Dr. Hodel lived. The purse and shoes were found 3 miles from the body and 4 miles from the Franklin House. The doctor could have easily thrown the evidence away on his way home from where he 'posed' the body. Another strand.

From everything Steve has told me about his father, he seems like just the type who would be capable of committing such a horrible crime. The doctor treated women like objects to be used and then thrown away.

Until his last marriage, he went through women at a rapid clip and was obsessed with sex. He was an egomaniac who would not take kindly to anyone disagreeing with him or refusing him. According to Steve's mother, the doctor had a lust for blood. According to a girlfriend, he asked her to lock him in the bathroom after he smoked hashish because 'Sometimes I do terrible things.' We know he had a relationship with Elizabeth and that she must have done or said something to cause him to torture her in the most brutal ways possible.

Jeanne French

(The Red Lipstick Murder)

I strongly believe that Dr. Hodel also murdered Jeanne French. There are many reasons for my opinion, not the least of which I have already discussed, and that is the fact that both Steve and Hannah McFarland identify the doctor's hand printing in lipstick on Jean French's body.

The two murders were very close together in time. Elizabeth Short was murdered on January 15, 1947, and Jeanne French was murdered on February 10, 1947. Both bodies were found in vacant lots. Jeanne French's body was found 7 miles west of Elizabeth Short's body in a direct parallel line.

Jeanne French's nude body had been kicked and stomped, as was Elizabeth Short's body. Foot and heel impressions were visible on Jeanne French's face, breasts and hands. Her mouth had been lacerated in what was described as a 'werewolf fashion.' Elizabeth Short's mouth had also been lacerated. One side of Jeanne French's mouth was almost cut to the ear.

Captain Donahoe of the LAPD informed the press that the victim had been savagely beaten with a heavy weapon, probably a tire iron or a wrench, as she crouched naked on the highway. A large pool of blood was found in the highway near the crime scene. The body had been dragged from the highway to the lot.