One winter morning, in the southwest suburbs of Los Angeles, just after 10 a.m., Betty Bersinger was walking by a vacant lot. Suddenly, she saw a terrifying sight. In an area of Remet Park next to West Thirty-Ninth Avenue and South Norton Avenue, known as Lover's Road, there is the body of a naked and mutilated woman. It was January 15, 1947, and after the body was found, the Los Angeles City Police Department began the largest manhunt in the city's history.
The body was cut off, but the wound was clean. The corpse was drained of blood and washed. The lower body of the body is placed 30 cm from the upper body. The victim's blue-green eyes were open, his hands were on his head, his elbows were bent, and his legs were wide open. There were rope marks on the wrists, ankles, and neck, and there were deep scratches on the arms, left thigh, and right chest. The mouth of the deceased was cut from the corners of the mouth on both sides, and it looked as if he was smiling, which was creepy. Documents preserved by the University of Southern California's School of Education say the letters "BD" were inscribed into the thighs of the deceased, but this claim may not be true.
Los Angeles City Police Department murder detectives Finis Brown and Harry Hansen came to search the crime scene, but the media had already come to take pictures. Although the injuries were severe, the body was carefully wiped clean and little physical evidence was found. Through the dead old tattoo, the deceased was identified as a promising actress aged 22, Elizabeth Short. Detectives guessed that she had been killed elsewhere and then transported by car to the wasteland. Dr. Frederick Newbarr, the chief coroner of Los Angeles County, determined the cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage caused by a concussion, as well as bleeding from a laceration on the face.
Elizabeth Short
The final whereabouts
In May 1946, Elizabeth Short rented a room in a house behind the Florence Garden nightclub in Hollywood, where she lived for several months and took a job as a waitress. Short has ties to several people in the film industry, including the landlord Mark Hansen. In addition to sharing nightclubs with his partners, he also owns several cinemas. Short's girlfriend, actress and model Ann Toth, told police that Short was promised a role in a burlesque play in a Florentine garden. In a letter to his mother dated January 2, 1947, Short told her the news. This was the last time her mum, Phoebe Short, received a letter from her daughter.
On Thursday, Jan. 9, Short returned from San Diego with Robert Manley, nicknamed "Red," a 25-year-old married salesman dating Mr. Short. He dropped her off at the Bitmore Hotel, where she went to find her sister who had come to see her. At that time, Short was seen walking out of the hotel wearing a black slim dress and parchment heels that fit the leg of the leg. She walked south along Oliver Street for five minutes to the Crown Bbq Cocktail Lounge. The customers there remembered her stopping, as if looking for someone. Six days later, on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at dawn, an unknown driver drove a black limousine for a brief pause next to the clearing in Remet Park. Later that morning, Short's body was found.
Mystery letters
On Jan. 21, Jim-my Richardson, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Herald Exam-iner, received a call from a man who identified himself as Mr. Short's killer. The man congratulated the newspaper on the progress it made in reporting the case, but hinted that there might be nothing to break now. The man volunteered to help — he told the newspaper that he was going to turn himself in but wanted the police to keep track of him. He told Richardson, "Wait and see The souvenir of Short in the letter." ”
On Jan. 24, a U.S. Postal service employee found a Manila paper envelope with letters cut and pasted from a newspaper that read, "Los Angeles Observers and other Los Angelesians, this is Dahlia stuff." Enclosed in the letter". Inside the envelope was Short's birth certificate, Social Security card, photograph and address book with Mark Hansen's name on it.
There were also three letters from people calling themselves "The Avengers of the Black Dahlia." The first postcard was handwritten in ink and read, "That's it." He will turn himself in on Wednesday, January 29, at 10 a.m. I had fun with the police. Black Dahlia Avenger. The second was collaged with cut letters: "The Dahlia Killer is about to turn himself in." On January 29, however, a third letter showed that the killer had changed his mind. The text cut and pasted from the newspaper reads: "Changed my mind." You will not judge justice. Dahlia's murder made sense. ”
The evidence gathered in the Black Dahlia case included Short's birth certificate and a threatening letter written by someone calling himself the "Black Dahlia Avenger."
Front page headlines
In the early days of the investigation, Los Angeles City Police Investigators questioned more than 150 criminal suspects. Ann Toth told police that Mark Seson had tried to seduce Short but was refused. Because Hansen had a motive, he became the number one suspect.
Next, police found Short's handbag and a shoe in a trash can three kilometers from where Short's body was found. The items had been wiped clean with gasoline and no fingerprints were left on them. Mark Hansen recognized the handbag and shoes as Short's, but denied using an address book with his name on it. The police did not prosecute him and he was released. Police turned their attention to Robert Manrie. Police called him a suspect, and during interrogation, he initially denied knowing Short, but later changed his mind. However, after passing the lie detector twice, he was released.
The number one suspect, Robert Manrie, hugged his wife Harriet at the police station shortly after his release. Shortly after his wife gave birth to her first child, he cheated on Short.
For months, the murders occupied the front pages of newspapers, and the media hyped up Short's life and death. Accustomed to naming the victims of the murder of famous women as flowers, newspapers called the case a "black dahlia murder" because Short liked to wear black clothes and wrap a dahlia-patterned turban around his dyed-black hair.
Unsolved mysteries
The murder investigation has been slow. In the summer of 1949, Louise Springer, a 36-year-old beauty salon employee, was found strangled in the back seat of her husband's car, parked on West Thirty-Eighth Street, a block from where Short's body was found. Many believe that the Black Dahlia Killer is on the move again. The Los Angeles City Police Department conducted another manhunt to investigate two murders at the same time, but concluded that the two cases were not related.
Although the investigation was long, the Black Dahlia murder case was never resolved. Experts have made many attempts to characterize the killer, with the general belief that the killer studied medicine, is male, and aspires to be the focus of society.
A prominent feature of the black dahlia case is that about 500 people turned themselves in. Most people are made famous, but all are not murderers. Experts doubt the authenticity of the letters sent by the so-called "Avengers," suggesting that this may have been a ploy to boost newspaper sales. Today, the Black Dahlia murder remains the most puzzling unsolved case in the history of the Los Angeles Police Department.