Rosco, the much loved boxer dog, (whom many of you know from his having posed in photographs while reading all of my separate book translations) has passed on. Rosco died yesterday in Orange County. He was 12 years old.

Rosco, was a warm and loving companion to my girlfriend, Roberta McCreary, who visited him frequently at her daughter’s family home in Orange County. Rosco and Roberta’s bond was very special. They were as sunshine to each other and he will be greatly missed. The family has asked in lieu of flowers that you hug your own pet and or give it an extra treat in special memory of Rosco.  

Roberta & Rosco “Best Buds”

                                                              Rosco 2004

Boxer as a breed click here

Monday, March 29, 2009

Los Angeles, California

CBS2 / KCAL 9 veteran reporter, Stacey Butler interviews me tonight regarding the facts surrounding the 1968 child-rape and attempt murder of then 8-year-old, Tali Shapiro, as well as my 1971 follow-up arrest and extradition of Alcala, from Concord, New Hampshire.

The interview is tentatively scheduled to air tonight, Monday, March 29, 2010 in the 8:00 p.m. PST, newshour.

Crime Reporter, Stacey Butler, KCAL 9

Rodney James Alcala, 1979

                   Det. Steve Hodel (white tie)

3.24.08  UPDATE- 

SUPREME COURT STAYS TODAY’S TX EXECUTION SEE STORY

“The Innocence Project doesn’t represent Skinner, and we don’t know whether he is guilty or innocent. It is clear, however, that DNA testing should be conducted in Skinner’s case before he is executed.”

                                                                                             THE INNOCENCE PROJECT 

Texas Execution Set for Tomorrow Despite Untested DNA
   
Texas authorities are scheduled to execute Hank Skinner tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. CDT despite untested DNA evidence that could prove his innocence or guilt.

From the moment he was arrested more than 16 years ago for a triple murder, Skinner has maintained his innocence. He has requested DNA testing for a decade, but Texas courts have repeatedly denied the tests.

Thousands of people from around the world have sent letters to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, urging him to delay Skinner’s execution date so DNA testing can proceed. Will you join them by taking action right now?

Yesterday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles announced that it was not recommending clemency in Skinner’s case. His last hopes for a stay that could allow testing to proceed are the U.S. Supreme Court, where he has an appeal pending, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who can order a 30-day delay.

Skinner was convicted in 1995 of killing his live-in girlfriend and her two adult sons. His attorneys say they have developed evidence since his trial that calls his guilt into doubt and points to the possible involvement of an alternate suspect. Among the evidence Skinner is seeking to test are knives from the crime scene, hairs from the victim’s hand and a windbreaker possibly worn by the perpetrator.

The Innocence Project doesn’t represent Skinner, and we don’t know whether he is guilty or innocent. It is clear, however, that DNA testing should be conducted in Skinner’s case before he is executed.

Please take action today by calling on Texas Gov. Rick Perry to stay the execution. Photo: Texas Tribune

 

Post to Facebook — Tweet The Petition

I was filing some old photographs today, and chanced upon one that my father had sent me some decades back. In 2005, I had given a copy of this photo to authors, Mark Nelson and Sarah Bayliss, for inclusion in their book, Exquisite Corpse: Surrealism and the Black Dahlia Murder.

The photo was taken circa 1986, in my father’s penthouse home/office on Manila Bay, in the Philippines. It shows father posing with some of his friends/business associates in front of several of his prized art objects. His hand is resting on a wood sculpture that I believe was created by Filipino artist, Ramon Orlina.  (My father also made a later purchase of a large glass sculpture from the same artist, so hopefully I am not confusing the separate pieces.) 

The second art sculpture was created by the Surrealist artist, Man Ray in Hollywood in 1944 and given to his friend, George Hodel in 1948, just one year after the murder of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia”  Short. Man Ray entitled it,  Objet de mon affection-”L’oculiste”  (The term oculiste can also be interpreted as “The Witness”) After having it in his posession for over fifty-years, father decided to sell the Man Ray piece at auction at Butterfield and Butterfield’s in San Francisco. In the 1999 brochure the sculpture is authenticated as being an original Man Ray piece and described as: ”Fragments of lead and a rubber sink stopper on a curved piece of wood mounted on board.”

But, it is not the art work that interests me, but rather, my father’s hand drawn arrow (using a red marker pen) as compared to samples of arrows drawn by Zodiac (also using a marker pen) in 1969. Are they similar? Decide for yourself.

Just don’t get too complicated, Eddie. When a guy gets complicated he’s unhappy. And when he’s unhappy–his luck runs out…

                                                                    –Raymond Chandler, The Blue Dahlia

        Alan Ladd and Femme Fatale Veronica Lake in The Blue Dahlia  (1946)  

Q: Was the noir-film, The Blue Dahlia the inspiration for naming Elizabeth Short, “The Black Dahlia”?

A: While we cannot be absolutely certain, based on my research and investigation, I’d say there is a strong probability that the answer is - YES.  

In my 2003 review of the secret DA  Files, I found a 22-page LAPD entitled, “SUMMARY OF THE ELIZABETH (BETH) SHORT MURDER INVESTIGATION. That summary begins with this opening sentence:

“This case is better known as the Black Dahlia Murder which pseudonym was bestowed upon the victim by the newspapers and was not ever an alias of the victim in life.”

I believe that statement was written in ignorance. LAPD detectives, writing the summary some three years later, were simply unaware of the original facts as presented in several different newspapers, in the days following the January 15, 1947, discovery of Elizabeth Short’s body.

The best evidence supports the fact that Elizabeth Short was in fact, called “The Black Dahlia” [though she herself and her close personal friends were most likely unaware of the pseudonym.]The name was not “invented by the press” but rather given to her, by some of the local military men who were regular patrons and saw her frequenting a soda-fountain in Long Beach, in the months immediately preceding her murder. (The name they gave her was obviously a spin-off from the noir film, The Blue Dahlia, which was showing in theatres in the summer and fall of 1946.) 

No less a luminary than beloved LA columnist, Jack Smith gives us the facts taken from his original and first-person involvement in the case in 1947.  Here is his retelling from his L.A. Times article of January 1975- A Dahlia by Any Other Name.

Paramount Studio Kept Waiting for Whodunit

Below is a fascinating “insiders” article on the writing of the screenplay, The Blue Dahlia, by mystery writer, Raymond Chandler as told by his friend and producer, John Houseman. 

John Houseman Harper Magazine article: LOST FORTNIGHT: “The Blue Dahlia” and How It Grew Out of Raymond Chandler’s Alcoholic Dash for a Deadline.

September, 1946  The Blue Dahlia, “Now Playing in Hollywood”

In the fall of 1946, just a few months before the murder of Elizabeth Short, the film was showing at the Hunley Theatre. Ironically, as can be seen in the map below, that theatre was just one block from Elizabeth Short’s temporary residence on Hollywood Blvd., and just two blocks from Dr. George Hill Hodel’s “Franklin House.” According to DA reports Elizabeth Short moved into the Guardian Apts on October 10, 1946, which was George Hodel’s 39th birthday.

#1-  George Hodel’s residence, 5121 Franklin Ave.

 #2-  Elizabeth Short, Guardian Apts residence, 5217 Hollywood Blvd #726 (Oct 1946)

#3-  Hunley Theatre, 5115 Hollywood Blv d.

March 11,  2010, Los Angeles    

 LEFT COAST CRIME’s annual convention opened yesterday at the Omni Hotel, at 2nd & Olive in downtown Los Angeles. The annual four day convention brings together mystery writers and readers from across the nation. This year’s Guest Of Honor is Jan Burke, an Edgar Award winner in the Best Novel category. Jan by way of giving back to her public founded the Crime Lab Project, which supports and encourages the much needed expansion and funding of forensic crime labs throughout the country.

Black Dahlia 2010 Presentation

On Thursday, March 11, 2010 I presented an hour PowerPoint Talk, “Black Dahlia 2010″ where I gave an update as to new evidentiary findings and linkage of Dr. George Hodel to the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short.  

Some of the new information included the identity of “The Baron” overheard discussing the Dahlia murder on the DA bugging tapes,  as well as a presentation of photographs and physical evidence strongly suggesting and connecting George Hodel to the actual crime-scene. (Crime scene cement bags linkage to Franklin House.)

LAPD Historical Society Museum artifacts spanning 100 years will be on display at the annual CHIA (California Homicide Investigators Association) Training Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.