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Myles Spivey

Professor Mohan

English Comp

3/17/18

The Black Dahlia Murder

Black Dahlia is a case that caught the eyes of a nation in the late 40’s. A case that still puzzles people to this very day. This case is found to be one of the best unsolved murders in

America history. The case follows the murder of an aspiring star after being found dead in the vacant parking lot. A Young lady who was trying to reach stardom in the glamorous city of Los

Angeles Before anyone could make a decision or guess on who committed the murder they would have to know who Elizabeth Short was exactly, and the possible reasoning behind her death.

Before we can discuss the investigation any further we have to learn about the victim

Elizabeth Short. Elizabeth Short was on July 29, 1924 in Hyde Park. Elizabeth Short grew up most of her life in Massachusetts with her five sisters, and her parents. Elizabeth was described to be a beautiful young lady who often appeared older giving her a more mature look than other kids her age. Elizabeth old classmate from Medford Highschool once told people that asked about Elizabeth that “Bette was a porcelain China doll with beautiful eyes — think of them as blue, but sometimes would change depending on color she wore, and became greenish.” . Even when she was young she knew she wanted to be an actress. She always was fixated on the movies her and her family watched. With these dreams of being an actress and her natural beauty young Elizabeth moved to California in 1943 to pursue her dream with her father. Spivey 2

But short after they moved in together her father had her kicked out leaving Elizabeth with no direction. A few years later after trying to find a stable job Elizabeth went missing without a trace of where she could have been. For six days police searched for Elizabeth before finding her body in a vacant lot on the morning of January 15, 1947. With this they began the search for possible suspects.

There were many suspects to this case. Some people said that Elizabeth did not know her killer and that she was randomly attacked, murdered, and dragged to the ditch. It was shown that around the time of Elizabeth’s death six other women surrounding the location of her death were also kidnapped and killed. They later Falsely accused and arrested a janitor named Hector

Verburgh of being the murderer, later they freed Verburgh. Other said it was someone close the

Elizabeth. The first suspect was Mark Hansen who had allowed Elizabeth to stay with him when she was looking for a job. Hansen was a prime suspect in the case but never was brought to trial and passes away in 1964, Fifteen years after the search. The second suspect was Doctor George

Hodel. Hodel who was already charged with the sexual assault of his own daughter was believed to be a possible suspect in the black dahlia case. The Los Angeles Police Department installed surveillance inside of Hodel’s home and monitored him. On February 19, 1950 around 8:25 pm police heard a woman begin to scream and later on heard him say to his confidant “Realize there was nothing I could do, put a pillow over her head and cover her with a blanket. Get a taxi.

Expired 12:59. They thought there was something fishy. Anyway, now they may have figured it out. Killed her.” Hodel also said that if he did commit the Black Dahlia murder that there was no way to convict him. They could not convict of Hodel due to lack of evidence and let him free.

The final main suspect was Patrick S. O’Reilly, O’Reilly had known Elizabeth through Mark

Hansen. Patrick O’Reilly was already being convicted of assault on her secretary with a deadly Spivey 3 weapon. Prosecutors had said that the only reasoning behind this assault was for O’Reilly’s own sexual desire. O’Reilly has also had his right pectoral removed surgically which matched the mutilation on Elizabeth’s body but due to again the lack of the evidence they had no choice but to let him go. There was also Joseph A. Dumais a twenty-nine-year-old soldier stationed in Fort

Dix New Jersey. Dumais who had previously dated Elizabeth Short claimed that he was the one who had murdered her. With a 50-page confession in which he said that he had a mental blackout after they had broken up, Dumais confessed to his murder. And even though some thought this was enough to lock him up there was the problem that Dumais was at base at the time Short was murdered according to eye witnesses. When police also saying his story did not stick to the plot of the murder it was clear to see that Joseph A. Dumais was a innocent man who needed to be seen for psychiatric reasoning. With the three main suspects out of the case due to various reasons, a false confession to the murder, and no other suspects with cases strong enough to bring to trial they were never able to find the true murderer of Elizabeth Short.

Elizabeth Short had the eyes of a nation in the 40’s just as she wanted but sadly for the wrong reasons. The Black Dahlia murder was a crime that was the main attention of detectives all over the Los Angeles. Still to this day detectives are trying to crack the case of Elizabeth

Short. The case itself is one of the most interesting murder cases ever. With the multiple accusations and lack of evidence this case may just be one of the hardest cases to ever happen, and therefore one of the most interesting.

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Citations: buzzfeedblue. “The Chilling Mystery Of The Black Dahlia.” YouTube, YouTube, 1 Apr. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gM6NG2PN4Q.

“The Black Dahlia.” FBI, FBI, 18 May 2016, www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/the-black- dahlia.

Deranged LA Crimes ®, derangedlacrimes.com/?tag=joseph-dumais.

“The Life of Elizabeth Short.” The Black Dahlia - The 1947 Murder of Elizabeth Short, blackdahlia.web.unc.edu/the-life-of-elizabeth-short/.

Carter, Claire. “Mystery of Woman Hacked in Half and Drained of Blood Finally Solved 70

Years On.” Mirror, 14 Sept. 2017, www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/tortured-hacked-half- drained-blood-11161233.