[34] Another suspect is referred to simply as "Queer Woman Surgeon" in the Los Angeles district attorney's files on the case. Steve had seen two pictures in his father's photo album that he claims resemble Short, although her family insists they are not of her and many other observers have failed to see the resemblance. The killer, Douglas surmised, had some connection to the neighborhood. He lives in a house befitting a man immersed in the past. Someone is going to look out a window and see you, Douglas told Harnisch. Walter Bayley [ edit] Bayley was a Los Angeles surgeon who lived one block south of the vacant lot in which Short's body was found, until he left his wife in October 1946. He could not and then tried to stagger off. This was a state-of-the-art investigation at the time. The drastic personality shift at the end of Bayleys life wasnt anything I could have ever dreamed of happening, she told him. During this time his marriage dissolved, he moved to a small apartment, and he faced the depressing reality of spending holidays away from his wife and son. Los Angeles Times reporter Larry Harnisch disputes this and says that Dillon did in fact receive a financial settlement from the City of Los Angeles. I shadowed him on his last day on the job when I was a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, and during lunch at a dim, smoky steakhouse near downtown, I asked him about the Dahlia case. We start at the house of Betty Bersinger, the woman who found the body. It was so partisan, he says, picking at his chicken pot pie. [1] However, 24 people were considered to be viable suspects by the Los Angeles County District Attorney:[1][2][3]. She agreed to serve as the matron of honor at Shorts sisters wedding, she told Harnisch, because there wasnt anybody else., Harnisch adds one more variable to his hypothesis. The editor wanted a noir stroll through the clips, but after perusing the articles, Harnisch realized that boilerplate anniversary stories had been written by reporters on previous anniversaries. Police launched a massive search and tracked down many of them, but most only knew her briefly and the search yielded nothing significant. As Harnisch delved deeper into Shorts murder, he wanted to make a donation on her behalf and consulted family members. Two microphones were placed in this suspect's home (see the log and recordings made over approximately three weeks time which tend to prove his innocence. Dillon offered up one of his friends, Jeff Connors, as a likely suspect. This interview and the, When he finally tracked down Barbara Lindgren, his initial investigation into Bayley was almost complete. They cherry pick information to confirm their view of who the killer was. Dillon had been taken into custody by detectives from the LAPDs Gangster Squad, claimed he was held against his will, and questioned for days by a police psychiatrist. However, contrary to popular belief, Dillon could not be conclusively placed in San Francisco at the time of the murder. They even aided the police in determining the identity of the victim. He holds true to the three things that the investigators speculated about the murderer, the murder and the crime scene. At about 10 a.m., she was pushing her three-year-old daughter in a strollernot just any stroller, but a Taylor-Tot stroller, she was proud to point outto a repair shop to pick up her husbands shoes. The FBI, who had been called into the case to provide forensic assistance, noted in their files the problematic behavior of the reporters. Richardson informed Jack Donahoe, the head of LAPDs Homicide Squad about his finding and said he would tell him where the suitcases wereunder one condition. At the time of the murder, Bayley's estranged wife still lived in the home. Roberts is diplomatic when discussing theories about the case. He was checking her out. Harnisch pulls a dusty cardboard box out of his office, fishes out a Manila folder, removes a copy of the marriage certificate, and points to address3959 Norton Avenue. The Murder of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia; Los Angeles' Most Famous Unsolved Killing", "Heaven Is Here! On January 15, 1947, the "Black Dahlia" was discovered murdered in Los Angeles. According to Pacios, witnesses she had interviewed state that Welles and the victim both frequented Brittingham's restaurant in Los Angeles during the same time period and waitresses believed Short was going out with someone at Columbia Pictures. Bayley was never a suspect in the case, but many medical doctors and others with medical training were. Ill never say Im a hundred percent sure. Lillian DeNorak [Lenorak] who lived with this doctor said he spent some time around the Biltmore Hotel and identified the photo of victim Short as a photo of one of the doctor's girl friends. While some of the original 24 suspects were discounted, new ones have arisen. Walter Alonzo Bayley (1880-1948) graduated from USC's School of Medicine in 1905. Among authors, the case has resonated for decades. Unlike the other pigeons she was trying to con, he would have actually asked how he died because he was a doctor. When Harnisch began researching his book, he had no interest in attempting to solve the murder. Harnisch argues that Short, destitute and alone on a cold January evening, sought refuges in his company. I cant remember it word for word, but my lead went pretty much like this: The nude body of a young woman, neatly cut in two, at the waist, was found early today on a vacant lot near Crenshaw and Exposition Blvd. I tore the copy out of my typewriter and took it up to the city editor, who was eager to get the story moving into type. I got his name and his account. After fingering his father for the two murders, Hodel later claimed he was one of the Twentieth Centurys most prolific serial killers. We follow Bersingers path, from her gray stucco house with a postage stamp front lawn, down the sidewalk to the lot where Short was found. London has Jack the Ripper. This is one thing I have that nobody else has. Hodel's son, former LAPD homicide detective Steve Hodel, believes Short may have been one of his father's patients. In 2003, Steve Hodel published a book, Black Dahlia Avenger; A Genius for Murder, in which he claimed his father, who died in 1999, had murdered Short and was responsible for other unsolved killings over two decades. I absolutely love research, he says. Throughout the entire investigation, the reporters have talked to witnesses and published facts which were bound to hinder the investigation of the local department, the agent in charge of the FBIs Los Angeles office wrote to the director. According to Cray, Guthrie drew police attention because of some sexually explicit letters and tabloid clippings he sent to a Northern California woman who he was allegedly stalking. The following acquaintances of Hodel were questioned and none were able to connect the suspect with murder: Fred Sexton, 1020 White Knoll Drive; Nita Moladero, 1617 North Normandy [Normandie]; Ellen Taylor 5121 Fountain Avenue; Finlay Thomas, 616 South Normandy [Normandie]; Mildred B. Colby, 4029 Vista Del Monte Street, Sherman Oaks, this witness was a girlfriend of Charles Smith, abortionist friend of Hodel, Turin Gilkey, 1025 North Wilcox; Irene Summerset, 1236 North Edgemont; Norman Beckett, 1025 North Wilcox; Ethel Kane, 1033 North Wilcox; Annette Chase, 1039 North Wilcox; Dorothy Royer, 1636 North Beverly Glenn. They thought there was something fishy. Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia. Fallon, who is familiar with the Elizabeth Short murder, agrees that the location of the lesion is the key. Then there are the real nut jobs who claim to have solved the case based on astrological number or pyramids., She is pestered so often that her captain has advised her not to do any more interviews because they take too much time away from her current investigations. Now I feel Im on the right track.. Hes a journalist, he lets the facts guide him, and he doesnt have any agenda other than the truth. His dad was one of the suspects in the Dahlia murder, dont get me wrong, but Hodel went way overboard, Lambkin says. It later comes out that she was promiscuous, perhaps even a lady of the night. On January 15th. Examiner reporters were the most aggressive and their unorthodox and often unethical approach led them to uncover leads before the detectives. Then another book. Despite three witnesses testifying that they had seen Hodel having sex with Tamar, he was acquitted in December 1949. Bayley was 67 years old at the time of the murder, had no known history of violence or criminal activity of any kind, and is not known to have met Short, even though his daughter was a friend of Short's oldest sister. As they discuss the case, they reveal antipodal personalities. 1563. His research began when he was a copy editor at the, Harnisch did not grow up in Los Angeles with iterative reminders of the Dahlia case. The report, from which the above excerpt was taken, was submitted at the completion of the D.A. Harnisch created a timeline of when reporters, photographers, and detectives arrived by studying the shadows on the crime scene photographs. As reliable sources of information about the case, such as the FBI files and portions of the Los Angeles district attorney files, have become publicly available, statements about Short and the murder attributed to Wilson in Severed and supposedly tying him to the crime have not been borne out as accurate. He rode toward her, to prevent her from wandering into a busy street, when he was hit by a truck. When he asked her about Elizabeth Short, she became wary. Harnisch discovered that mob boss, Jack Dragna, lived four-and-a-half blocks from the crime scene, so he had to determine if there was an organized crime connection to the murder. I still dont have all the details Id like and Im still hoping to get more. Short was face up, her gray-blue eyes were open, and she had been posed with elbows bent at right angles, her hands over her head, and her legs were spread with her knees straight. [17] The trial led the LAPD to include Hodel, a physician specializing in sexually transmitted diseases, among its many suspects in the Dahlia case. His research takes us to a deceased surgeon named Walter Bayley. The expertise of Dr. Bayley in medical field was a surgeon which means he had a lot of knowledge about how our body works. Thats why he was so interested in talking to her. This page is not available in other languages. Hansen was a Hollywood nightclub owner at whose home Short lived, either as a paying boarder or as a guest, on several occasions between May 1946 and October 1946. In 1920, the son was riding a bike when he saw his younger sister was about to step off the sidewalk. Like Hodel, a woman named Janice Knowlton believed that her father was the Black Dahlia killer, and wrote a book about it. Although this "breakthrough" was quickly dismissed by the original investigators, the Los Angeles press covered it enthusiastically until it was revealed that Dumais had been at Fort Dix at the time of the murder. Newton, Michael (2009) The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes, second edition. Steve Cooley about the case, he said that Kay had presented Hodels theory in a closed-door presentation, but he wasnt close to being convinced. Still, he allowed Lopez to peruse the previously unreleased 1949 grand jury files, which chronicled an investigation headed up by D.A. It is theorized that Dr Bayley's degenerative brain disorder which symptoms include homicidal ideation/behaviour in even pacifists. The secretary referred to was Ruth Spaulding, who police had previously suspected of being murdered by Hodel in 1945. Hodel contends that Harnischs suspect, Walter Bayley, had a secret, but it wasnt murder. Dr Walter Bayley who knew Elizabeth's older sister, Virginia. Sensational and sometimes inaccurate press coverage, as well as the nature of the crime, focused intense public attention on the case. His daughter was friends with Elizabeth Short's sister but it isn't certain that he ever met Elizabeth. One of the pilots at the reunion let me copy this and told me the story, Harnisch says. Keller also said that Hansen held elaborate parties at his Hollywood boarding house and members of the Los Angeles Police Department along with the Chief of Detectives Thad Brown and his brother Finis Brown attended and later aided Hansen in a cover up. Hurrying to the Times morgue, he searched the clips for Ruth Bayley and what he eventually found shifted his rolefrom writer to sleuth. If he ever encountered anything significant, he believed that it would stand out like a beacon. Nothing related to Norton Avenue did stand out, however, but he was not discouraged. Wilson was a lifelong petty criminal and alcoholic who was interviewed by author John Gilmore while Gilmore was researching his book Severed. I shadowed him on his last day on the job when I was a reporter for the, Former colleagues and relatives expressed to Harnisch how shocked they were at how Bayleys personality drastically changed toward the end of his life. They werent just chit-chatting. The office in his small South Pasadena home is crammed with five metal file cabinets, twenty boxes of file folders, and four bookcases lined with hundreds of books, all focused on the Short homicide or Los Angeles history. My goodnessit was so white. He worked at the Tuskegee Institute, and practiced . [33] While Severed says that homicide Detective John St. John was about to "close in" on Wilson based on the material Gilmore provided, St. John told the Herald-Examiner in the same article that he was busy with other killings and would review Gilmore's claims when he got time. Dillon later filed a $100,000 claim against the City of Los Angeles, but dropped the lawsuit after it emerged he was wanted by Santa Monica police for robbery. The two photos Hodel was convinced was Short, the photos that launched his investigation, were soon called into question. refused his request, and all he has is the death certificate. Was this secret a murder? Take away any one element and nobody would care today. The marriage certificate indicated there was a link between the Short family and South Norton Avenue. He had so much additional material that when the story ran, he decided to write a book. During the Depression, her father, who built miniature golf courses, suffered a financial setback and abandoned the family when Short was six. Ten days after Shorts body was found, the killer mailed an envelope of Shorts belongings to the Examiner. Bersinger and her husband had recently purchased their home for $11,000 in a middle-class neighborhood of primarily newly married couples with young children. It was very difficult to be subjected to all that negative exposure.. In a September 2006 television interview, Carr added, "I don't have the time to either prove or disprove Hodel's investigation. We can win experience, but never achieve innocence. Walter Bayley (1529-1593), was an English physician. In recent years, the efficacy of profiling has been called into question, but in the 1990s, many considered it a valuable investigative tool. It has also been surmised that if Siegel had any involvement with the Dahlia murder, he would have sent Mickey Cohen or one of his other henchmen. 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