Marilyn Manson - “The Black Dahlia”

Elizabeth (“The Black Dahlia”) Short’s Murder Still Unsolved

On January 15, 1947 a woman walking on the sidewalk in the 3800 block of Norton St., in Liemert Park, Los Angeles caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a department store mannequin lying in the weeds; the top half separated from the lower half. As she approached the mannequin, the woman realized it was actually the unclothed body of a dead woman. Officers Frank Perkins and Will Fitzgerald were the first upon the crime scene. What they saw both shocked and appalled them. The body had been severely mutilated and in fact, cut in half. The dead woman had been posed with her arms above her head and her face and breasts had been slashed. Rope burns marked her ankles and her legs were spread eagle with the letters “BD carved into one thigh.

The officers surmised that due to the lack of blood both on the body and around the scene, the woman was killed elsewhere and her body was dumped in the lot sometime during the night or early morning. By the time the officers phoned for assistance a gaggle of reporters and photographers had swarmed the scene, infuriating investigators Harry Hansen and Finis Brown. Hansen and Brown had been assigned to the case because of their veteran status within the homicide department.

Upon the release of the murder to the press, confessions began to pour in to the police department, straining the resources of the LAPD homicide team. But none of the stories could ever be validated. The case later recognized more interest when James Ellroy wrote The Black Dahlia in 1987. To date, according to the LAPD, the case goes unsolved. Though Janice Knowlton has authored a book naming her father as the killer, police have not reported Ms. Knowlton’s statements or information as holding any water at all.

The case remains on the back burner of the LAPD cold case file until some new writer stirs up renewed interest in a book or news report. The files are briefly opened once again, but the lack of evidence, and openness regarding Beth’s life force the case back into the depths of some file cabinet within the Los Angeles Police Building.