Did the Black Dahlia Die Here?One of America's most infamous unsolved murder cases remains that of the Black Dahlia, as she was known. Her real name was Elizabeth Short. A marginal Hollywood figure, she was raven-haired, beautiful and twenty-two years old when her mutilated body was discovered in a grassy Los Angeles lot. Her murder was so gruesome - she'd been tortured, surgically bisected, her body drained of blood and her mouth carved into a hideous death grin - that the nation and the world followed every twist and turn in the case for years, until the trail went cold.
Numerous movies over the years - most recently in 2006 - have attempted to exploit or tell the story of the Black Dahiia. Various theories have also been advanced as to who murdered Elizabeth Short but the most compelling I've encountered is that set forth in Steve Hodel's book Black Dahlia Avenger. Steve Hodel spent twenty-four years with the LAPD, rising from patrol officer to homicide detective-supervisor and was working as a private investigator when he came across some photos his deceased father had left behind with other belongings. Thinking the woman in the photos resembled Elizabeth Short, Steve Hodel opened a pandora's box that led him to the unmistakable conclusion that his father, Dr. George Hodel, was not only Elizabeth Short's murderer but likely a serial killer, operating out of a unique house on Hollywood's Franklin Avenue.
Designed by Lloyd Wright - son of Frank Lloyd Wright - the house was built like a fortress with no "yard" front or back but an interior courtyard onto which all the rooms opened. Steve Hodel spent part of his childhood there and speculates it's where Elizabeth Short - among others - lost their lives. That house is now available for rental, beginning at $3,000 a night...
Numerous movies over the years - most recently in 2006 - have attempted to exploit or tell the story of the Black Dahiia. Various theories have also been advanced as to who murdered Elizabeth Short but the most compelling I've encountered is that set forth in Steve Hodel's book Black Dahlia Avenger. Steve Hodel spent twenty-four years with the LAPD, rising from patrol officer to homicide detective-supervisor and was working as a private investigator when he came across some photos his deceased father had left behind with other belongings. Thinking the woman in the photos resembled Elizabeth Short, Steve Hodel opened a pandora's box that led him to the unmistakable conclusion that his father, Dr. George Hodel, was not only Elizabeth Short's murderer but likely a serial killer, operating out of a unique house on Hollywood's Franklin Avenue.
Designed by Lloyd Wright - son of Frank Lloyd Wright - the house was built like a fortress with no "yard" front or back but an interior courtyard onto which all the rooms opened. Steve Hodel spent part of his childhood there and speculates it's where Elizabeth Short - among others - lost their lives. That house is now available for rental, beginning at $3,000 a night...
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