Jack Anderson Wilson is identified as the killer, a petty criminal harboring a long rap sheet, which lists burglary, theft and violence as his mainstay code of offenses. trawled through thousands of official documents and previously unseen files obtained by a grand jury investigation to directly link Shorts death to the seedy underbelly of 1940s Los Angeles. Though some sources quote a lower number, the Los Angeles Times puts the tally of false confessions in Short's case at more than 500. No, not that I'm aware. In four and a-half months she had lived in nine locations, moving eight times. Officially the case remains open but like the 19th Century killings by Jack the Ripper in London, Short's murder continues to bring forth new theories. This, now, is Pandoras Box. Charles Higham was quoted as saying This project stands as the only authentic true-crime book written on Americas most bizarre and haunting murder case. But in the years since its release in 1994 there have been many detractors. She had lived with Short and Marjorie Graham at several hotel apartments in Hollywood and downtown. The truth is it remains the ultimate cold case, but there is the possibility she was murdered by an enraged, jealous boyfriend who stalked her from San Diego to the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. The enigma of Elizabeth Short and her brutal mutilation-murder brings two very different pictures to mind. The case has been a matter of public fascination since 1947, when aspiring actress Elizabeth Short was found dead and dismembered in southern Los Angeles. Apparently, Dillon was able to sail a postcard from his window, pleading for help. Bersinger grabbed Anne and ran to a nearby house, where she used the telephone to call the police. Leslie Dillon was a 27-year-old bellhop, aspiring writer and former mortician's assistant who became a suspect in the case when he began writing to LAPD police psychiatrist Dr. J. Paul De River in October 1948. When Shorts corpse was discovered she had been savagely mutilated, her legs were lying spread-apart and a handful of grass-stalks were found protruding from her exposed vagina. Call it intuition or premonition, but it is not an uncommon occurrence for intensely appealing women to be stalked and this might have happened to her in the past. Her body had then been washed clean of evidence before being dumped but a post-mortem still found Short had been tortured before she was killed. They drove on a short distance, arriving outside the formidable facade of the Biltmore. The drug store owner, Arnold Landers, told reporters that customers had already begun calling her the Black Dahlia. A B movie, In the late 1940s, Hollywood resonated images of sunshine and prosperity. There have been several film adaptations and a number of books written recounting the murder of Elizabeth Short. The other prime-purpose was to look-into the failure of the LAPD to solve the Black Dahlia murder and a string of other brutal slayings and abductions of women across the same time period. Between 1934 and 1938, a serial killer had terrorized their city, claiming 12 victimsall of whom were grotesquely dismembered. Do you have a pyschopathic streak? Revenge is destructive and insidious and at odds with reclaiming self-respect and ones good name. Leslie Dillon was 27 and working at a hotel in Miami when in October 1948 he wrote a letter to De River after reading an edition of True Detective magazine which detailed the crimealong witha psychological profile of the killer. He was eventually let. There is no evidence of Wilsons involvement in either case. Leslie Dillon sued the LAPD but there are conflicting reports . Bacos is a definite possibility. Dillon was a bellhop, writer, and morticians assistant who seemed to know a surprising amount of details about Shorts murder when the LAPD hauled him in for questioning. On the frosty morning of January 15th 1947, owner Henry Hoffman made a spine-chilling discovery when he went to check cabin 3 and found the room resembled a slaughterhouse, with blood and faeces spattered on the floor of the bedroom and all over the bathroom. His wife. Her grisly death has fascinated America ever since - and she. As an aspiring actress she was irresistibly drawn to the City of Angels from the East Coast but then found herself frequently homeless and alone. On the morning of January 15, 1947, Betty Bersinger was pushing her 3-year-old daughter Anne in a stroller down the sidewalk, heading to a shoe repair shop. News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. Don Wolf in The Black Dahlia Files reports that newspaper mogul Norman Chandler, owner of the Los Angeles Times impregnated Short after she had serviced Chandler as a call girl through notorious madam Brenda Allen, and that gangster Bugsy Siegel murdered her on Chandlers orders and that Gilmores suspect Wilson was an accomplice. The killer did not foresee the possibility that someone might link theitems to the murder. This is a theme that continues to the present day. Short then contacted Marjorie Graham, a girlfriend from Boston living in Hollywood and the two women roomed together, sometimes with a third person, at five different locations from late August until October 22, when Marjorie returned to Massachusetts. Of the seven suspects, only one deserves special mention. Later identified as 22-year-old Elizabeth Short and nicknamed the Black Dahlia, her murder launched a mystery that hasn't been solved in 75 years. Shorts murder is believed by many to be a crime based on incredible anger stemming from revenge. He also uncovered photos of a woman who resembles Short in his fathers personal photo album, and believes Hodels medical background would explain the precise, clinical cuts on the body. He also wrote the physical description on the bottom of the picture. The two sections lying slightly at diagonals of each other were drained entirely of blood and grotesquely mutilated. Jeanne French had dark hair like Shorts, and her face was also badly beaten. Despite the severe mutilation, there was no blood at the scene, leading police to conclude that the young woman had been murdered somewhere else, drained of blood, then cleaned before the killer dumped her body. The naked body Bersinger discovered was in horrifying condition. One fact not mentioned in Daniel's book is worth noting. The lead character is a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Michael Traynor. It was a mistake because it reveals that the murderer most probably lived within walking distance. There is no evidence whatsoever Elizabeth Short ever met or knew Jack Anderson Wilson. She was possessed of a fair complexion and striking, classic looks and the contrast of dark and light accentuated her beauty. The killer did not foresee the possibility that someone might link theitems to the murder. The second possibility is that Short met with a stranger. The carving of the two intitials must be part of the information pertaining to the'Black Dahlia case that has always been held back by police even to the present day. CARL0000012396 As decades passed with still no match forthcoming, detectives further deduced that the person responsible never again fell foul of the law. An exchange of correspondence ensued with the psychiatrist concluding Dillon was the murderer. She essentially lived off the generosity of boyfriends and associates and from casual employment. On the afternoon of Thursday, January 23, 1947, J.H. Here! Eatwell begins her own hunt for the killer by homing in on the Aster Motel in downtown LA. This secrecy over the files is now obsolete. During the four plus months Short lived in Los Angeles, Bacos took Short out 12 times. On Jan. 24, 1947, the Los Angeles Examiner received a number of Shorts belongings in the mail, including her birth certificate, social security card, and a number of photos. As Eatwell explains, one of the first clues about the Black Dahlia murder came shortly after Shorts body was found. But the jealous Italian boyfriend she referred to could only have been one person, Sam Navarra. Indeed, the details of Shorts death do not make easy reading. For other inquiries, Contact Us. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. She paused when she noticed what she thought was a mannequin lying in the grass. As a matter of fact, for my part I tried to avoid her as much as possible. But it is possible he had a place in Los Angeles. Of the numerous suspects, Leslie Dillon is one of a very short list of actual known police suspects. Drupal theme by ThemeSnap.com, The enigma of Elizabeth Short and her brutal mutilation-murder brings two very, different pictures to mind. This was most probably the killer's only mistake. The fascination with the Black Dahlia case has had an endearing grip on the imagination of crime buffs for decades. He perhaps followed them only to see the pair drive onto the grounds of the Mecca Motel. Short had stepped out with Navarra on the last night she spent at the home of Elvira and Dorothy French at Pacific Beach, January 7, 1947. This criteria is important because Dillon was a prime suspect. Short was discovered dead the following Wednesday, January 15. While Hansens name came up early in the murder inquiry he was one of countless suspects. The message being conveyed is that this was personal and based on a perceived wrongdoing the killer believed Short had done to him. Richardson, the editor of the, Bacos had met Short while dating Shorts roommate, Lynn Martin. Today, The Biltmore Hotel bar serves a Black Dahlia cocktail of vodka, kahlua and black raspberry liqueur. One is, Until Gilmore wrote his book there was little research or interest on the Black Dahlia murder but its releasesparked a renewed popularity and devotees and researchers have since taken him to account. Only one LAPD homicide detective, aptly referred to as the gatekeeper, has the exclusive access to these drawers until the privilege is passed on to the next gatekeeper. The third is that she was being stalked by a very jealous suitor. Dillon lived at 906 S.Crenshaw Boulevard in 1946,two blocksaway. Over the next four hours Short was seen passing the time, perambulating and loafing about the Biltmores marbled interior, every now and again stopping at the period phone booth to make a telephone call. The press and police rapidly descended and soon a crowd of onlookers swarmed, agog to the stark sight that met their gaze. Stanley of the Bureau of Investigation. Leslie Dillon was another name popular among Black Dahlia theorists. learned how to bleed bodies before the embalming process. Beth Short's mother raised her as a single working mother, however in 1942, the father turned up alive and living in Los Angeles. The. From there he most likely would have driven back to San Diego and then tied her up once inside his home. For example Kenneth Anger is quoted as saying My God, this is a frightening tale.The most famous murder in L.A., and we suddenly see that we knew nothing before, only the glitter and red of blood. Author Jacque Daniel herself states that she and a colleague had viewed the photograph in the DA files and states in her book "and there was no initial 'D' that we could see.". Though neither Dillon nor Connors nor Hansen were ever charged, Eatwell suspects that the three men worked together to kill Short. life and horrible death were far removed from the legend that flowered up around her. George Hodel has also been named as one of the suspects in the notorious case. The handbag and shoes belonging to Elizabeth Short were left atop a trash can at 1136 S.Crenshaw Boulevard on January 24th, 1947, ninedays following the murder. Manley arrived outside the Frenchs Pacific Beach home the next morning, January 8, and following an exchange of farewells the two were under way. He noticed Short craning and twisting her head round to the left as cars were passing in the same direction, and back toward those vehicles travelling south in the opposite direction. In fact, after a month in the San Diego area, she even came back a day later than she had planned to. Then once back at his residence something happened to set things off leading to murder. Like in Nathanael Wests, The press and police rapidly descended and soon a crowd of onlookers swarmed, agog to the stark sight that met their gaze. When news broke of the name of the 22-year-old victim a few people came forward to Los Angeles police to say they knew her. Some say it was a media invention, while others claim Shorts friends had nicknamed her "Black Dahlia." The police however were never able to ascertain his whereabouts from January 9 through to January 16. The LAPD had to rule out many suspects in the Black Dahlia investigation, including several people who turned themselves in. To Douglas, the ferocity and violence perpetrated on Elizabeth Short, the horrific mutilations to her corpse and the disposing of her severed body on public land for passerbys to discover are all telltale signs the killer knew the victim. These claims are totally refuted by the DA investigation and by the Los Angeles police. Richardson, the editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, received a brief telephone call from a man who alluded to himself as the killer. Dillon later sued the LAPD for its treatment of him, Smithsonian reported. The same day the envelope was posted the black handbag Elizabeth Short was carrying and the black suede high-heeled shoes she had been wearing at the Biltmore were recovered from the Los Angeles dump. This monumental undertaking lasted the entire year. Dillon had worked in Oklahoma City and in Oakland, California as an embalmer's assistant and ended up writing to Dr. de River in October 1948, thus exposing himself. Leslie Dillon was in the habit of signing his artwork with a capital D He also used a number of alias's. The setting is the backdrop of the Vietnam War with guerrilla fighting and news-reporting rampant. From this list there were only seven suspects who were proved to have known Short on a social or personal level. Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). She was no pushover. No one would have seen him as it was late at night. Fred Witman, a colleague of Dr. de River, wassworn in to give testimony in September 1949 before Deputy District Attorney Arthur L. Veitch and Chief H.L. There is no way to clarify a lot of the things he has written. Because of this unlawful detention, a writ of habeas corpus was issued and Dillon had to be released. This date is significant because the killer called editor Richardson on the 23rd and posted the letter with some of Short's belongings on the 24th from downtown LA and also dumped the handbag and shoes the same day. Those in positions of high office wanted his reporting contained. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. It was a clear case of arson, and five people from Marlborough were duly convicted of the crime. She was identified by her fingerprints, having been arrested years before in 1943 for underage drinking with soldiers. The tell-tale signs being ligature marks at the wrists and ankles and impressions made by rope knots indented on the front, back and left side of her neck. Pacios, incredibly, names wonder-boy Orson Wells, the actor and director and star of Citizen Kane, as the killer. Britain's most notorious murders that have left cops baffled. Eatwell said: "Police went on record to the Press and said, 'She was a tramp, she was a slag - why do you all care? Their temporary residences included the Hawthorne Apartments in Hollywood, later the Figueroa Hotel in downtown, the private home of Florentine Gardens Nightclub owner Mark Hansen, and the Guardian Arms Apartments, also in Hollywood. 4. Because his alibi for January 14 and 15 was solid and because he passed two lie detector tests, the LAPD let him go. His statements to police contained comments that were both disingenuous and derogatory towards his slain acquaintance. He stalked them all the way to Los Angeles and waited till she walked from the Biltmore Hotel and surprised her. It was a mistake because it reveals that the murderer most probably lived within walking distance. LAPD investigators and Black Dahlia murder suspect Leslie Dillon (wearing overcoat, center) take a break from questioning on January 11, 1949. Also available from Amazon, With the purpose of writing about true crime in an authoritative, fact-based manner, veteran journalists J. J. Maloney and J. Patrick OConnor launched Crime Magazine in November of 1998. In the late 1940s, Hollywood resonated images of sunshine and prosperity. On December 8 she took the Greyhound bus south to San Diego. Both the LAPD and the DA investigation held him to be a good suspect. In 1949, after being tasked with investigating Short's murder, the Gangster Squad came extraordinarily close to arresting Leslie Dillon after he sent a letter, under the pseudonym "Jack Sand,". As another sideline to an already busy schedule, Bacos contracted entertainment talent to nightspots around town, including the Crown Grill located two blocks south of the Biltmore Hotel. With the dark days of war over and the passage of time, a new era dawned. Later during the autopsy the coroner found a hunk of flesh gouged from her left thigh which contained the tattoo of a small rose lodged full-inside her vagina. This personal association or perceived emotional closeness the killer felt he had to Short, coupled with individual criteria known about each suspect can be used as a premise to eliminate suspects from the DAs 22 suspect list. One is Los Angeles Times journalist Larry Harnisch, who in 1997 wrote a story for the Times on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Black Dahlia murder. Her corpse was also dumped alongside a suburban footpath for all to see. But there is no circumstantial evidence linking any other suspect. A new book by British author Piu Eatwell, Black Dahlia Red Rose: Americas Most Notorious Crime Solved For The First Time, claims that Shorts life and horrible death were far removed from the legend that flowered up around her. Apparently he had a witness or witnesses who were willing to come forward, in the event he was put on trial, to say he was in San Francisco at the time. Leslie Dillon was cleared by police after an exhaustive investigation. The Los Angeles Police made numerous inquiries in the San Diego area and must have been thinking along those lines of the possibility the killer came from that city. Her body was discovered by Betty Bersinger, who was walking her young daughter along a barely developed street in the then-planned neighbourhood of Leimert Park when she stumbled across what she thought was two halves of a tailor's mannequin. Meanwhile, another author who examined the case found that rather than the Biltmores, many talkative Los Angeles barmen claimed their joint was, in fact, the last place Short was seen alive. About an hour later, the FBI got a hit and was able to identify the victim as 22-year-old Elizabeth Short. Id say hello, be as nice as possible, try to get away. Remember this is what Bacos said after Elizabeth Short was found, the victim of a brutal mutilation-murder a person he had dated a dozen times. The message the killer was conveying was that this was a woman of easy virtue, that she had done wrong by him and he had taken revenge upon her and taught her a lesson. But instead of heading off to a bus station for Shorts announced trip back to Massachusetts, they drove only a few miles before pulling in at the Mecca Motel where they booked a cabin for that night. The chilly winter added an eerie and uneasy feeling. The following afternoon they set off along the Pacific Coast Highway for Los Angeles. He was working in San Francisco until January 8 and from January 16. As Sarah Pruitt at. Her father disappeared after the October 1929 stock market crash and was believed to have committed suicide by jumping off a bridge into the Charles River. Over time Dr DeRiver felt that Leslie, a 27 year old bellhop, aspiring writer and former mortician's assistant was actually the killer. Hansen allowed young women to stay in his house behind a nightclub he owned. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. Take this test to find out, Trailer for The Black Dahlia - movie based on infamous murder, Blockbuster films, including this one starring Scarlett Johansson and Josh Hartnett, have focused on the unsolved murder. Navarra may not have been the killer but everything seems to fit in-place for it to have happened this way. Manley pulled in at the Greyhound terminal where Short checked her bags into a locker. This is more likely because following her identification as the murdered woman no one came forward to say Short had telephoned them that night. This address has never been proposed as the place of her execution. A 15-year-old boy in St. Louis County, Missouri was charged as an adult on Tuesday for allegedly kidnapping, raping and robbing a woman in September. The grand jury findings brought to light an avalanche of corruption at the highest levels. Neither the Los Angeles Police at the time or the DA investigators mention him or held him to be a suspect. A very definitive and well written look at Shorts life prior to her arrival in California, her book provides an invaluable insight into the real person and the private world of Short. Because of the complexity of the case, the original investigators treated every person who knew Elizabeth Short as a suspect who had to be eliminated. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, The haunting unsolved case of Elizabeth Short has baffled detectives for years, She had been cut in two neatly at the waist - and drained of blood, The case was quickly dubbed The Black Dahlia, a play on the title of film noir classic The Blue Dahlia starring Veronica Lake which had been released the previous year - and reference to Shorts. Both agencies came to the conclusion that he had nothing to do with Shorts murder. Somewhere around 10:30 p.m. she strode out into the night and disappeared into the maze of dark streets. Leslie Dillon did a drawing of Jeff Connors who he named as a probable suspect in the slaying of "Black Dahlia". Shed bait and take all she could get and give out nothing. Egger said of Bacos, to DA investigators, I dont like him very well. When Short was identified as the murdered woman, police sought Bacos for questioning. Short frequented this establishment and was last seen walking in this direction. Perhaps by now he had made up his mind to take revenge and murder her. There was no evidence of sexual assault because the killer had washed and scrubbed the body clean. The FBI files on the Black Dahlia case indicate that many men were held for questioningand some even took polygraph testsbut ultimately, no one was ever charged with Shorts murder. She gasped in horror as she halted, frozen in fear. Dr. Hodel was a very distinguished medical practitioner and highly regarded.