Q: Mr. Hodel, I recently read in a blog that you claim the photographs in your book on page 79, were sent in by the Black Dahlia killer to the newspapers. They were not. What gives? Did you make a mistake?
A: No. Your information is incorrect and totally misstates the facts as I presented them.
I never claimed the photographs shown in my book were mailed to the press. I said they were removed by the press from her photo albums. I quote from pages 78-79 of Most Evil:
Pg. 78: “I asked her [handwriting QDE expert] to examine handwriting samples that appeared on four snapshots that had been removed by newspaper reporters from Elizabeth Short’s personal photo albums back in 1947. These four original Elizabeth Short snapshots were eventually sold as part of a Los Angeles Examiner’s archive collection and put up for auction years later in February 2003, when I acquired them. These four snapshots were all originally owned by Elizabeth Short. All four were pasted into one of her several personal photo albums that were recovered by police during the early stages of the 1947 investigation.
I then go on to explain that these four photographs were “part of a set of five separate photographs mentioned in the DA secret files that were mailed in by “ The “Avenger”…
Let’s set aside the issue of the inked handwriting on these four photographs for the moment. [Both I and the handwriting expert believe the names and notations on the photographs were written by George Hodel. The common belief until this new evidence came forward was that the handwriting on the photos was that of Elizabeth Short or possibly newspaper reporters from the Examiner.] What the documentation in the DA Files establishes is that- Elizabeth Short’s killer at some time before her death had access to and at least temporary possession of her photo albums and removed the other five photographs which he kept and later mailed to the “Examiner and other newspapers.” We know this because the writer also made notations on the actual black paper inside the photo album, which was later photographed and preserved. (See evidence photo below.) Journalists, not aware that the suspect had access to her personal albums speculated that the photographs may have been carried by her in her purse. The purse was not mailed in and was left by her killer outside a restaurant on Crenshaw Blvd in a direct line and halfway between where Elizabeth Short’s body was found and George Hodel’s private residence.
DA Black Dahlia Files- “The five separate photographs”
Seen below are the “five separate photos” which I reference as being sent in by “Avenger” to the L.A. Examiner newspaper. I have placed the appropriate LAPD item numbers from the secret DA Files for identification purposes.
SKH Note- Photo number 20 is “the unidentified man” confused by many as being, “Mr. Barnes” the individual that checked into a hotel with Elizabeth Short on January 12, 1947. This “strip photo” was enlarged and used by the press to identify Elizabeth Short (only) which lead to the original confusion. A second half of this same strip photo was found in Elizabeth’s photo album later recovered from storage. Both LAPD in 1947 and I in 2005 personally interviewed and eliminated the man in the photo after establishing this photo with Elizabeth Short was taken circa 1946, in Indianapolis, Indiana and the man was never in Los Angeles. See FAQ numbers FAQ 10.1 and FAQ 23.1 for details on the man seen in the photo.
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A very good FAQ, Steve. A couple of observations:
You have four photographs originally belonging to Beth Short. You have determined these were from her photo album, and were removed from it by reporters from the local newspapers. (You eventually purchased them on eBay a few years ago.)
However, your statement “these four photographs were part of a set of five separate photographs … that were mailed in” makes it sound like there were 5 photos only, of which you now have 4 of them, and they were all mailed in by the BDA. I think I understand the circumstances, but your wording is muddied.
Also, I don’t see any photographic evidence of the actual photobook from which these photo were removed. Do you have a better scan?
Is there writing evident on any of the BDA photos?
Yes, in MOST EVIL you can clearly see the HW on each photo, which I identify as my father’s. Also HW comparative samples in Chap 15 are taken from photographs inside Elizabeth Short’s album as documented by police/press back in 1947.
The HW on the photos is very apparent, but you say there is writing evident on the actual photobook, which is not apparent. This is what I was referring to. Do you have a scan of the photobook? Also, regarding the photos sent in by the BDA, is there HW evident on them?
I have a photo of the Elizabeth Short photo album showing the HW entered in the actual book. Will try to do a Blog on it in the near future and include the photo which is buried somewhere in my files. As to the five “separate” photos sent in by BDA, which I believe were removed from Elizabeth Short’s album, I don’t know for sure as I have never seen them close up?
Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?
Polpray:
Hello from California. Certainly. Feel free to use any quote.
Hello Steve. I will like to meet you in person some day. It is so amazing how you finally solved the case by using your expert skills, law enforcement, investigation, and forensic skills. Do you think that maybe if you had access to you father’s DNA, such as Hair samples, would you be able to use this as hard evidence?
I think that you are one awesome detective, and if you were working on the case in the 1940′s or 50′s, it would have been solved. It is sad that poor Elizabeth did not live to see justice finally served, and Dr. George Hodel is not able to be prosecuted because he is now deceased.
Was Elizabeth Short cremated, or just embalmed and buried in Oakland, California?
Yvette France:
Thank you for the kind words.
I’m not positive, but believe she was not cremated
and yes, buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland which
was close to where her sister lived in 1947.
Dear Mr. Hodel,
I just finished reading your book and believe that even if your father was not the killer, the stories of your family history were worth publishing. I am a writer myself and a former detective in New Orleans Metro. I remember reading Michelle Phillip’s mention about “Tamar” years ago-not realizing the connection-because the name was so singular and I’m a very big fan of the Mama’s and Papa’s. But my question is about the photographs you found in your father’s private photo album that you identify as E. Short. I have a pretty good feel for faces and am sure that is not Short. The nose is all wrong. The eyes are not as sunken as those of Short’s. Surely some scientific comparison could be done? However, the rest of your novel seems very well put together. Could you please comment on how you find these pictures to be of E. Short?
JH:
A lot has been written about the two photographs since the book was published. Hopefully you read the latest updated HarperCollins book with the two added chapters. (July 2006) Would recommend you read FAQ 20 which documents my interview with and elimination of the person in the standing photograph. I eliminated that photograph on CNN in 2006. The second photo (reclining nude) is still in question. But, bottom line, even if this second photo is not Elizabeth Short it no longer matters. DA documents put George Hodel and Elizabeth Short together in the months prior to the murder. All the photos were was one of the catalysts (along with the handwriting and others)that started me to investigate.
http://stevehodel.com/faq/FAQ20.pdf
What do you know of a man named Arnold Smith? He had items that belonged to Beth Smart that he says were in her purse. He also claimed to be a friend of hers and had a picture of he and Beth together. He also described in detail how she was killed that the cops said only the killer and cops knew details about. He died in an apartment fire before he could be questioned.
Sherry:
Arnold Smith was a transiet alcoholic who traded “stories” for drinks. He never knew Elizabeth Short, and would have been completely incapable of performing the skilled surgery on the body. He claims the killer confessed to him, but the “confession” in no way fits with the now known facts.
Rest in Peace Elizabeth Short.
I hope your killer is still alive and close to death and will confess before dying and explain their motive.
Just curious, I was reading the BDA II on my kindle today and was reading how you think that your father could have a link to the Lipstick Murders that took place in Chicago and that could possibly be a motive for the death of Miss Short. I never read anything in these books (maybe I missed it, my kids were playing with my Kindle so I could have skipped some pages) that talked about your father actually being in Chicago at the time of those murders or what he would have been doing there.
Suggest you read MOST EVIL. I detail all the connections related to Chicago’s Lipstick Murders. My dad regularly traveled to Washington D.C. back then, and Chicago was a “hub” stop enroute. Also, he may have been studying Chinese at the University of Chicago, which offered a course for officers and military training students. The linkage of George Hodel to the Degnan case is circumstanial, but strong.
Steve,
I’m still a bit confused about why you believe the killer had access to the photo albums. He/she may well have, but I’m confused about the evidence of that. What would have prevented Beth from, at some point, removing the photos from her own album and placing them in her purse, for whatever reason?
FB7: Of course we can’t be 100% certain on this, but the photos mailed in are much more consistent with the other types kept in her albums, as opposed to ones she would carry in a purse. Add to that the fact that the photos taken from the album contain names written in a HW that the Questioned Document Expert indicated was highly probably written by George Hodel and add to that they were written on using a very rare and expensive “ballpoint pen” with blue ink, which was also used the “Black Dahlia Avenger” in writing his message to the police and press “Turning myself in ….” All those facts together to my mind make a fairly strong circumstantial case that GHH was in possession of one or more of her albums at some point during their relationship. Top of my list of “To Do’s” when the book first came out was to have LAPD compare the blue ink in the killer’s letter to my original sample of dad’s “Chinese Chicken HW” which was also written at the same time with blue ink. Of course at that point I had no idea that all the evidence had “disappeared” from LAPD evidence locker. Best, skh.