Everything about Elizabeth Short totally explained
» This article focuses on the mystery of murder victim Elizabeth Short. For other uses of the term, see The Black Dahlia.
Elizabeth Short (
July 29,
1924 – ca.
January 15,
1947) was an
American woman who was the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. Nicknamed the
Black Dahlia, Short was found severely mutilated, with her body severed, on
January 15,
1947 in
Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. The murder, which remains unsolved, has been the source of widespread speculation as well as several books and film adaptations.
Biography
Elizabeth Short was born in
Hyde Park, Massachusetts. She was raised in
Medford, by her mother, Phoebe Mae, after her father, Cleo Short, abandoned her and her four sisters in October 1930.
Troubled by
asthma, Short spent summers in Medford and winters in
Florida. At the age of 19, she went to
Vallejo, California, to live with her father. The two moved to
Los Angeles in early 1943, but after an argument, she departed, getting a job at one of the post exchanges at
Camp Cooke (now
Vandenberg Air Force Base), near
Lompoc. She moved to
Santa Barbara, where she was arrested on
September 23 1943 for
underage drinking and was sent back to Medford by juvenile authorities. In the few years following, she resided in various cities in Florida, with occasional trips back to Massachusetts, earning money mostly as a waitress.
In Florida, Short met Major Matthew M. Gordon Jr., who was part of the 2nd Air Commandos and training for deployment in the
China Burma India theater of operations. Short told friends that Gordon wrote a letter from
India proposing marriage while recovering from an airplane crash he suffered while trying to rescue a downed flier. (He was, according to his obituary in the
Pueblo, Colorado newspaper, awarded a
Silver Star,
Distinguished Flying Cross,
Bronze Star, the
Air Medal with 15 oak leaf clusters, and
Purple Heart). She accepted his proposal, but he died in a crash on
August 10 1945, before he could return to the U.S. She later embellished this story, saying that they were married and had a child who died. Although Gordon's friends in the air commandos confirm that Gordon and Short were engaged, his family subsequently denied any connection after Short's murder.
Short returned to
Southern California in July 1946 to see an old boyfriend she met in Florida during the war, Lt. Gordon Fickling, who was stationed in
Long Beach. For the six months prior to her death, she remained in Southern California, mainly in the
Los Angeles area. During this time, she lived in several hotels, apartment buildings, rooming houses, and private homes, never staying anywhere for more than a few weeks.
Death
The body of Elizabeth Short was found on January 15th, 1947, in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, severely mutilated, cut in half, and drained of blood. Her face was slashed from the corners of her mouth toward her ears.
Rumors and popular misconceptions
According to newspaper reports shortly after the murder, Short received the nickname "Black Dahlia" at a Long Beach drugstore in the summer of 1946, as a play on the then-current movie
The Blue Dahlia. However,
Los Angeles County district attorney investigators' reports state the nickname was invented by newspaper reporters covering the murder. In either case, Short wasn't generally known as the "Black Dahlia" during her lifetime.
A number of people, none of whom knew Short in life, contacted police and the newspapers, claiming to have seen her during her so-called "missing week" between the time of her disappearance January 9 and the time her body was found on January 15. Police and district attorney investigators ruled out each of these alleged sightings, sometimes identifying other women that witnesses had mistaken for Short.
Many "
true crime" books claim that Short lived in or visited Los Angeles at various times in the mid-1940s; these claims have never been substantiated, and are refuted by the findings of law enforcement officers who investigated the case. A document in the Los Angeles County district attorney's files titled "Movements of Elizabeth Short Prior to
June 1 1946" states that Short was in Florida and Massachusetts from September 1943 through the early months of 1946, and gives a detailed account of her living and working arrangements during this period.
Although popular belief as well as many "true" crime books portrayed Short as a
call girl, a report by the district attorney's
grand jury states that she wasn't a prostitute.
Another widely circulated rumor holds that Short was unable to have sexual intercourse because of some genetic defect that left her with "infantile genitalia." Los Angeles County district attorney's files state the investigators had questioned three men with whom Short had sex, including a
Chicago police officer who was a suspect in the case. The
FBI files on the case also contain a statement from one of Short's lovers. According to the
Los Angeles Police Department's summary of the case, in the district attorney's files, the autopsy describes Short's reproductive organs as anatomically normal. The autopsy also states that Short wasn't and had never been pregnant, contrary to what is sometimes claimed.
Suspects
The Black Dahlia murder investigation by the LAPD was the largest since the murder of
Marion Parker in 1927, and involved hundreds of officers borrowed from other
law enforcement agencies. Because of the complexity of the case, the original investigators treated every person who knew Short as a suspect who had to be eliminated. Hundreds of people were considered suspects and thousands were interviewed by police. Sensational and sometimes inaccurate press coverage, as well as the nature of the crime, focused intense public attention on the case. About 60 people confessed to the murder, mostly men, as well as a few women. As the case continues to command public attention, many more people have been proposed as Short's killer.
No theory is universally accepted, and none has been proven.
Possible related murders
Some crime authors have speculated on a link between the Short murder and the
Cleveland Torso Murders, also known as the Kingsbury Run Murders, which took place in
Cleveland between 1934 and 1938. The original LAPD investigators examined this case in 1947 and discounted any relationship between the two, as they did with a large number of killings that occurred before and afterward, well into the 1950s.
Other crime authors have suggested a link between the Short murder and the 1945 murder of six-year-old Suzanne Degnan in Chicago; Degnan was also dismembered (and Short's body was discovered near Degnan Boulevard in Los Angeles). However,
serial killer William Heirens confessed to the Degnan murder and was in jail when Short's body was discovered. Steve Hodel, who claims his father
George Hodel committed the Black Dahlia murder, claims his father may have murdered Degnan as well.
Books, films, and other media
Adaptations
- A 1975 TV movie about the case, Who Is the Black Dahlia
by Robert Lenski and starring Lucie Arnaz, is a highly fictionalized version of the murder. Many details were changed because several people, including Short's mother and Red Manley, who brought Short from San Diego to Los Angeles, refused to sign releases for the studio.
- Neo-noir author James Ellroy based his 1987 book, The Black Dahlia on the crime.
- Take 2 Interactive published the computer game, Black Dahlia, in 1998. The puzzle-based adventure game tied Elizabeth Short's murder to Nazis and occult rituals which the player had to investigate. The game features Dennis Hopper, whose son-in-law was one of the company's owners, and Teri Garr. It also ties the murder to the infamous Cleveland Torso Murderer, though the torso murders' case was altered to fit into the storyline.
- A film by Brian De Palma, The Black Dahlia, based on the Ellroy novel, stars Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, and Mia Kirshner as Elizabeth Short, and was released in September 2006.
Selected references in other media
Literature
The Joyce Carol Oates novel Blonde, a fictional biography of Marilyn Monroe, has a recurring character named Elizabeth Short. In the book it's implied that a studio mogul raped Short, and later there's a small reference to Short being killed.
John Gregory Dunne used the murder as a point of departure in his 1977 novel True Confessions, which was made into the 1981 film of the same name starring Robert Duvall and Robert De Niro with a screenplay by Dunne and his wife, Joan Didion.
Max Allan Collins combined the Black Dahlia and Cleveland Torso Murder in his Shamus Award-winning 2002 novel, Angel in Black, featuring his character, private investigator Nathan Heller.
William Randolph Fowler, a reporter at the scene of the crime, included the Black Dahlia case in his 1991 autobiography, Reporters: Memoirs of a Young Newspaperman.
The book Exquisite Corpse: Surrealism And The Black Dahlia Murder compares the Black Dahlia murder to surrealist art.
Lynda La Plante's novel The Red Dahlia details a fictional story about a modern-day killer who is copying the Black Dahlia case.
Television and film
The case inspired the 1953 noir film The Blue Gardenia, including a title song sung by Nat King Cole.
Music
Bob Belden's 2001 CD Black Dahlia draws inspiration from the case for a moody, noir score divided into 12 sections depicting her life.
The band The Black Dahlia Murder takes its name from this infamous murder.
Lamb of God has a song entitled "The Black Dahlia" on their album New American Gospel.
American Thrash metal band Anthrax has a song entitled "Black Dahlia" on their album We've Come for You All.
In 2002, rock star and artist Marilyn Manson created a series of water color paintings based upon the murder.Further Information
Get more info on 'Elizabeth Short'.
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