Georgette Bauerdorf (October 12, 1944)
'Oil Heiress Found Dead in Tub Mystery,' the
Georgette's body was discovered by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Atwood, the apartment janitor and his wife, on the morning of October 12. While working with her husband in an adjacent apartment at approximately 10:30 in the morning, Mrs. Atwood heard the sound of running water coming from the Bauerdorf apartment. She knocked at Georgette's front door, which she found was ajar, and when no one answered she called her husband to go inside with her, where they discovered the victim lying submerged in the bathtub, which was overflowing. Georgette Bauerdorf was dead.
The Atwoods, who lived across the hall from the victim, told detectives they had been awakened during the early-morning hours by a 'commotion' in the Bauerdorf apartment and a crash of 'something metallic,' but were unable to pinpoint the exact time.
The crime-scene investigation by West Hollywood detectives and the sheriffs homicide team determined that Georgette Bauerdorf had returned to her apartment the previous evening, fixed herself a snack, changed into her pajamas, and written an entry in her private diary. At some point after that, she was assaulted, beaten, and strangled. Her body was placed in the bathtub and the water turned on. When discovered, the victim was wearing only the top half of her pajamas; the bottom, which had been torn, was found lying near the bed. A gag had been forced into her mouth.
A coroner's inquest determined that the cause of death was 'obstruction of upper air passages by inserted cloth' and was ruled a homicide that had probably taken place after midnight on the morning of October 12, 1944. Coroner's examiner Dr. Frank Webb also wrote, 'Abrasions on the knuckles of the girl's hands showed she had fought desperately against the attacker. Thumb and finger marks on her face, lips, abdomen, and thighs prove the attacker was powerful with almost ape-like hands.' The coroner determined that the victim had not drowned, but had been murdered by forced asphyxiation prior to her body being placed in the bathtub.
Because many of the victim's expensive belongings, including her jewelry, were in plain sight and had not been taken by the assailant, the motive of robbery was ruled out. Her purse was found at the crime scene, but without her car key, which was the only article removed from her residence. The suspect apparently stole the victim's car, which was found several days later at 728? East 25th Street near the corner of 25th and San Pedro, a mile south of the downtown area. The car was out of gas; the key had been left in the ignition.
Georgette Bauerdorf had graduated from the prestigious West-lake and Marlborough schools for girls. Marlborough, in a wealthy residential section of southern Hollywood, was only a few miles southeast of her apartment. As part of her personal war effort, Georgette had volunteered to serve and entertain servicemen at the Hollywood Canteen, where they came to relax and dance with the pretty girls. Every Wednesday night she served as a junior hostess at the club, where she was well liked, popular, and considered generous and kind to all she met. According to entries found in her diary, Bauerdorf had a boyfriend named Jerry, who was about to graduate from an Army Air Force school in El Paso, Texas. She was planning a surprise flight down to see him graduate.
Georgette was seen on the evening of Wednesday, October 11, at 10:30 p.m. when she left the Hollywood Canteen for home, a short two-mile drive west of Hollywood. Her girlfriends at the canteen told police she had been dancing as usual with different servicemen that night. Georgette's friend, twenty-year-old June Ziegler, who worked with her at the canteen, told Sheriff's Department homicide detectives what she saw on that Wednesday evening:
She [Georgette] was seated in her car near the canteen when I arrived about 6:30
P.M
. She was knitting and appeared quite nervous. I climbed in the car and we talked for about 30 minutes before we went inside. She told me she was nervous and asked if I would spend the night with her. At the time I did not pay much attention, because I thought she was just nervous about the plane trip, which I knew she had kept secret from everyone but myself.
In his book
It was also rumored that Bauerdorf may have made some additional entries in her personal diary, recovered at her home by the sheriffs detectives, that related to the friend of a soldier, an older man, with whom she had danced that Wednesday evening. Acquaintances said that Georgette had indicated to others at the canteen that she did not like him because he was aggressive and persisted in dancing with her.
Unidentified latent fingerprints were found in the bathroom near the body, throughout the apartment, and in her recovered vehicle, and detectives were hopeful at the time that they would eventually lead to the identification of the suspect. A latent print obtained from a light bulb in the foyer, believed removed by the suspect, added speculation that he could have been taller than the average male.
Blood spots were also found on clothing at the crime scene, and could have been either the victim's or the suspect's. If the clothing was not disposed of, it could still be of potential value for blood typing or DNA evidence.
In my review of published facts from the investigation, I discovered a most important and unique piece of evidence: the murder weapon. Most accounts simply refer to it as a 'gag' or piece of cloth. However, one article in the
DEPUTIES TESTIFY
Deputy Sheriffs A. M. Hutchingson and Ray Hopkins told of the routine investigation and failure to find, so far, any clue to the girl's slayer.
Exhibits shown to the jury included the gag, which was stuffed down Miss Bauerdorf's throat. The material in this gag has been identified by medical supply men as elastic cotton knit ace bandage, such as used by athletes to
