The Black Dahlia - Part 1

Warning the following podcast it contains graphic content and material intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised.

Welcome to Wicked and Grim.

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Right? What really doesn't get better? Do you want to know? Do you want to know? Yeah, in like two weeks or something like that one year motherfucking anniversary.

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And we would have never in our wildest dreams expected it to be this like at this point right now.

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We are.

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Sure, I mean if you want to. Sure, we haven't decided, have we No, We're kind of.

Tossing around ideas, but there's probably going to be a giveaway of sorts.

Yep. We're probably going to do a live stream of sorts, our first ever live stream, some.

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Of Wicked and Grim.

Yeah. Wow, one wicked year Hey, oh shit, that'd be a cool fucking thing that's actually really cool. One wicked year.

I just came up with that, your head, Wow, well done.

Look at me. I deserve a pat on the back, you do.

Yeah, maybe that's what happens when you're not drinking beer. Maybe you have ideas.

I got to present today, so I need to not have consumption of alcohol consistently throughout me listening. I got to actually speak words.

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Oh? Goodness. We had one other thing, and that is that we have officially switched over from anchor to a cast.

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It will get fixed for sure.

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It is, And I think what was our last episode, sixtieth episodes, We've done sixty ad free episodes.

So far, which is actually pretty dope.

It is.

Yeah, So honestly, I don't know, I'm just like so excited that at this point we're like a year in and we're already have like I don't know, signed with a network and stuff like that.

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We would not be here without you.

You guys are wicked, wickedly awesome and you made our first year one wicked year I love that.

I love that. That is dope. And I just realized you're wearing a Jacko shirt. Well done, Yeah, I am. I did not get the dress code.

For your wearing a Cinderella shirt.

Yeah. That says I'm on my way and I'm in bed.

Yeah. Glorious. Very representative of who we are, I think.

Hmm.

Okay, So you ready to buckle down and talk about today's episode?

I am. I'm pretty pumped for this one, actually so, because I don't know a lot about it.

Our patrons got a heads up on what this one was. And then of course we did the clue over on Instagram and Facebook. Some of you guys got it right over there. And of course thank you to the patrons for not not a letting the cat out of the bad and keeping it secret. You guys are awesome for that.

I never even thought that they Yeah, they don't. Well, thank you.

Yeah. So this is the Black Dahlia, the infamous Black Dahlia. And for anyone out there listening, this is going to be a two parter. So if you really want to listen to it all in one part, maybe wait for the second part to come out. But this is a doozy. There is like no way this can be done in one episode because there is a lot to go through.

Yeah, you've been spending a lot of time on this case, that's for sure.

Yeah, So let's buckle down and let's get right into it.

You ready, I'm totally ready. I'm pumped.

Okay. So it all started at around ten am on January fifteenth, nineteen forty seven, a woman by the name of Betty Bursinger was walking and pushing her young daughter in a stroller while she was on her way to a cobbler to have shoes repaired. As they strolled down the sidewalk in the thirty eight hundred block of Norton Street in Leemurt Park, Los Angeles, she caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a broken department store mannekin lying in the weeds on the side of the street.

Wow, so had Okay, that's just like so innocent that you just like think that it's a mannequin. Yeah, and then as you approach that it's like a fucking human.

Yeah, definitely not a mannequin. So you don't know much about this case. What do you know about this case?

That that's it?

Really?

I know, I don't know how I've lived this long?

Okay, Okay, Well you're about to learn a lot more because this goes deep. So the woman's body lay on the grass in an odd fashion. She was, of course newt as I had mentioned, her lower half being cut from her top half at the waist. Her top half laid about a foot away from her bottoms, with her arms extended above her head bent almost in like a flexing muscle type pose. But she wasn't clearly wasn't flexing right, but just kind of like in that arms up pose.

Okay.

She had obvious signs of other mutilation, including one of the most notable her mouth. She had lacerations extending from the corner of her mouth going upwards to her ears, approximately three inches long on each side, an injury which is also known as the Glasgow smile.

Good lord, Okay, because like whoever did this to her, like there was some serious like either the person was completely psychotic or just like hated her with a fiery passion. Yeah, because that's sentence.

Yeah, there's there's a lot of theories about that.

So wow.

Yeah, and actually, well, kind of what you said there starts one of their the authorities what they go looking for and what they say. Okay, here's like the description of who are looking for sort of thing that's kind of along the same lines, like, Okay, someone didn't like her, someone knew her and didn't like her, and did this specifically targeted to her. So that's kind of what they were set out looking for in their their prime suspect.

Did she have a flower in her hair? Sorry at the time.

No, not at the time, but.

It just was part of who she kind of.

Was, reportedly a part of who she was. I couldn't I ever find any reports on her ever actually wearing a dahlia in her hair or a flower in her hair, but apparently I'm sure maybe she wore a flower in hair once or twice or something, but whether it was a thing, I could not find that.

Okay.

Yeah, so they did actually manage to identify who she was after shortly opening the case, which is good. The Black Dahlia turned out to be the woman by the name of Elizabeth Short, and they were able to identify her via fingerprints. It may have been a harder time figuring out who she was actually if it wasn't for a prior incident where she was actually arrested for underage drinking. Oh wow, So she had her fingerprints on file and luckily enough they were able to get a match pretty quick.

Yeah. So it wasn't for that, it would have taken much longer.

Yeah. Well, I'm sure family might have identified her sort of soon enough or whatever, but missing reports sort of thing, right, But needless to say, it was a quick process. They managed to identify her fast. Now we're going to go back a little bit here. I'm gonna start talking about Elizabeth's backstory and who she was.

Good. So.

Elizabeth was born in July twenty ninth, nineteen twenty four, in Boston, Massachusetts, the third of five daughters. Her parents were father Cleo Short, and mother Phoebe Sawyer. In nineteen twenty seven, the Short family briefly relocated to Portland, Maine, before settling in Medford, Massachusetts. Cleo had built a miniature had built miniature golf courses. I was gonna say, golf, that's super fun, right, that'd be a dope job.

Yeah, like that's her dad. Yeah, that is so fun. I know I want that job, no kidding.

Being like, yeah, I'm just gonna go build another course today and be like have a hole in one.

Uh huh. Or I have to test this shit like that's like the best.

Darn you know, we gotta quality test this course today.

Shucks up.

So anyways, he built these miniature golf courses until unfortunately he lost his savings in the historical nineteen twenty nine stock market crash.

Dang.

And then in the nineteen thirties, his car was found sitting on the Charleston Bridge. It seemed like many other people during the stock market crash, just like them before, Cleo had lost too much and took his own life by leaping off the bridge into the Charles River.

Dang. That's really fucking sad.

Yeah, so they only found his car sitting there, unfortunately.

Dang.

But life goes on right unfortunately. So Elizabeth's mother, Phoebe, began working as a bookkeeper to support the family, which wasn't easy as a single parent of five. I can't imagine having five daughters running around home and trying to support and look after them all. On my own, whether it's monetary or not, just emotionally having the capability of carrying for five young kids.

Holy fuck the poor thing. Yeah, it must have been exhausted. Yeah, that makes me want to refill my drink.

I I get exhausted, but our two dogs at times, huh. I get exhausted with you at times.

Wow, love you too, Thanks.

I do love you, But man, you exhausting sometimes. I'm sure I'm exhausting at times too. So holy shit, you are you pouring another drink?

Yeah? I already feel like I need more alcohol.

Just because I said you're exhausting.

I don't know. This is just an exhausting conversation.

Well, it's an exhausting case. So in some years later, Elizabeth underwent lung surgery at the age of fifteen due to bronchitis and severe asthma. Holy man, after which doctor suggested that she relocate to at least spend more time in a milder climate. So, whether it was permanent or temporary, they suggested she spend more time somewhere warmer.

Can someone suggests that to me, right, please.

Be like, you've got a bad case of needing to go to Mexico?

And drink tequila or needing to just move to like Hawaii somewhere. A lot of freaking warmer on this Doc Dishaustis.

I'd be like, hey, no kidding, well, I mean she at least had a medical.

Reason, I know. I just yeah, it.

Was to prevent further respiratory problem.

We're in the thicker winter, and that just sounds real nice to me right now.

Yeah, that would just be for us to further prevent our face hurting from the air now you go, and our toes from freezing off as we walk. Anyways, Elizabeth would spend winters in Miami, Florida with family and friends over the next three years, as per doctor's orders.

Nice.

As time moved on, the family had adapted, and it was in the late nineteen forties when a letter arrived to Phoebe. It was from Cleo.

What okay, I'm like shocked.

It was an apology letter where he revealed that he was in fact alive and started a new life in California.

What the shit?

He faked his own death?

Okay, I was not expecting that. Actually when he first told me that, like he jumped us like, oh, like maybe that he'll come back. But like then I was like, no, what how long had this been?

Sorry between true? That would have been she like eight ninety or something like that. Whoa because when he left Elizabeth was I believe six, and she was like, oh, she would have been older. She should have eighteen when he came back, so longer twelve?

You're autually shit. So what the fuck was in this note? It must it better have been real good, because that's bad.

That's bad, you think, Well, it didn't sit well with the family. Clear wasn't much of a father or husband to any of them. While he was around, and just running away like that, it didn't make them think much more of him. So an apology letter and a second chance wasn't necessarily in the forefront of anyone's mind when they received this letter. That is, except Elizabeth.

Oh she's a good person.

She was eager to go spend time with her dad and learn who he was and get over it all.

Seriously, Yeah, holy, that shows a lot of her character.

So that December, at age eighteen, Elizabeth moved to California to live with her father, whom she had not seen until since he left when she was six. Now it was a romanticized reunion a bit, you know, it's very luss you know of like my father's back in my life, he wants to see me, all this sort of stuff. And the following year, arguments between the two of them led her to actually move out on January nineteen forty three.

So it didn't last very long.

It didn't last very long. And I'm not too sure if he was like out of the picture permanently again or if they fought terribly. I just she was there for about a year and arguments caused her to move out. That's about the extent that I could find. And it's not really a lot of important information, but it's just kind of building up who Elizabeth became and who she was and what her backstory is. So it's a little bit important to understand.

But well, ionestly think that's super impressive. Yeah, no kidding, because I'm pretty sure I'd have been like yeah bye, yeah.

Well it shows right there that she's a super trusting person, right, and super nice yeah, and super forgiving.

Yeah.

So she was now on her own though, when she moved to Santa Barbara. It was there where she was arrested on September twenty third, nineteen forty three for drinking at a local bar while under age. Now the juvenile authority sent her back to Massachusetts, but instead she went back to Florida, making only occasional visits to visit her

Saying, really what went through my mind? Love letters?

I want to read one exactly. I'm pretty sure those are kept fairly personal. I'm sure we could if we really dug we might be able to find them, but they.

Should probably be kept that way though exactly.

Gordon was held up at hospital at one point, actually from a plane crash, and it made their letter writing all the more abundant. Elizabeth later told friends that Gordon had written a letter and promised to propose to her once he recovered and returned home. However, Gordon would never make it home for the proposal. He died in a second plane crash on August tenth, nineteen forty five, less than a week before the end of the war. No I know, right why, I don't know? She gotten plane

I feel like this whole story would probably have been different if that didn't happen. Am I right?

It could have been very much so, very much so. Dang fate has a funny way of doing some fickle things to her lives.

But I just feel like Elizabeth deserved better karma than that, Not that it's karma, but it's just like she's a good person. Yeah, let her have the love of her life.

Well, she unfortunately didn't have this one. Maybe there was another to be the love of her life.

We don't know, let's find out.

Well. After that, she spent most of her time in la where she got an apartment behind a nightclub of one of the on Sorry on the famous Hollywood Boulevard. She worked as a waitress and apparently had begun to dream of being a film star. Now reports may say that she was an aspiring actress, they cannot be confirmed. I want to just clarify that now. It's merely hearsay that she was wanting to be an actress. She had no actual acting jobs or credits or anything to help

Uh? Do do?

Okay? Yes? Now, whether she did dream of it or not, in a roundabout way, she would actually get her stardom as Elizabeth would become the infamous Black Dahlia.

So oh, I hate that. I thought you were going to say, oh, something happened cool to her prior to but.

Nope, Whether she was looking for stardom or not, she did get it in the end.

How old was she when she died? Have you mentioned that story? You know?

I'm not too sure the exact age I think she would have been. I talked about it later on. I think twenty two.

Oh okay, so it's not old at all. No, dang it. So I already hate this story.

It's not a fun story.

Okay, okay, So we are back.

Now that's the history of the Black Dahlia or Elizabeth Short and now we are back to where she was found and when she was found. At first, the news media is referred to the case as quote unquote were wolf murder because of how the body was mutilated, but soon newspapers would double Elizabeth the Black Dahlia. The mutilation of her body was far more than just being severed

And that means it's some one like a professional would have.

Done that, pretty much someone who knew what they were doing, because it's showing like there's no signs of hacking at the bone. There's no chips out of the bone in her spine. It's precisely cut wow, correctly through the tissue in a manner to not cause damage.

Not many people would be able to do.

That correct Someone who knew what they were doing did that. God how they knew what they were doing is up for question and debate. But someone did know what they were doing. Because there's a question of maybe a butcher or maybe a surgeon.

You know, yeah, I went to surgeon, but I guess it could be someone else.

A butcher too, for sure, So thank Dexter, right. I mean he was no surgeon, but he certainly knew what he was doing.

He was skilled.

Ye, man, I love that man.

Why do we love him?

He's just awesome.

Iol.

So moving on. There are multiple Chris Cross lacerations in the pubic area which extend through the skin and soft tissue. There were ligature marks on her ankles, wrists, and neck, and an irregular laceration with superficial tissue loss on her right breast. There are lacerations on the intestines and kidneys. The uterus shows no sign of pregnancy, but the tubes,

That's a lot of shit.

That's a lot to take in.

Wow, a lot, just a lot done to this poor girl. Yes, wow, okay, still absorbing that and I wish I wasn't.

Well, we're not quite done.

Oh okay, I definitely thought that was the end.

Nope, we're not quite done. So she had clearly been posed in a strange and deliberate manner, like I had said, with her eggs spread, her torso separated arms above her head, and as I had mentioned, she was found nude. Finally, with all this, there was no blood to be found.

Oh so she was put there?

Oh yeah she was.

I guess that makes sense.

Her pale white skin and lack of blood shows that her blood had been drained Oh wow, prior to being put there, and she had been carefully washed oh before being placed in the grass to be found.

Okay, that's really disturbing. Yeah, I hate that, like when people clean up the body. I don't know, Like that's just really disturbing.

Okay, well, why do you what about that? Do you specifically hate? Why is that disturbing?

I don't know, because it just like makes it a lot more like personal personal in a sense.

It does, it really does.

Because it's just like I don't know why, Like it was so thought through really and like they needed to clean up their me and like, I don't know, it's just so personal for me.

It shows that they're not done with this person. Killing them isn't enough. They have to do more. Yeah, and whatever that more is. I can't wrap my brain around. So it's a really scary thing because I can I personally don't get it, but I can understand someone just

Price to this was all that.

Yep.

So disturbing, yep.

Okay, So the marks found on Elizabeth's body suggested that she had been bound, tortured, and her official cause of death was cerebral hemorrhaging and shock, which would have been caused by blows to the head.

Really, yes, oh my goodness. I thought it was gonna be strangulation, which is no better really, but I don't know, just hitting someone in the head like how they die is horrific.

Yeah, she was legend or beat one of the two. So that's not cool.

So like, I'm like certain that this person really knew her? Well, you think so? I think so. Unless there was a lot of other surgically cut bodies found and it was a freaking serial killer on the loose, but I don't think that's the case.

There's a theory kind of along that line, but the the surgical part doesn't really fall in. Okay, So anyways, we'll touch on that later.

Well, this would just be like a super emo. I'm just saying, yes.

So, the Los Angeles Police Department estimated that since the murder, they have received and I mean like up to this day, like since then to now, they have received over five hundred fame seekers falsely confessing to the grisly murders of Elizabeth.

Oh, that's just pathetic, it is.

There was a waiter who phoned the police saying that he has guilty. Conscience forced him to confess. A couple of hours later, a woman claimed Elizabeth stole her man, so she killed her in retaliation. Then there was an army corporal who swore he chopped her up with a cleaver. The only problem was he was in New Jersey at the time of the murder and there was no cleaver

Basically that is another thing I cannot comprehend.

That's fucked up.

That happens in so many cases, Like I don't understand why people would want to be associated with that, Like is their life that like boring that they feel like they need to excite it by this.

I don't know for whatever reason they need that notoriety or they want it. I don't get it.

I don't get that. I really don't get that.

I can understand like someone maybe having some mental health issues.

Something like that, I could get that.

But just being like you know what, I want to take that credit, that's fucking not cool.

That's super weird. And just like the amount of resources it wastes and time is ridiculous, well five hundred false and they had to look into those right, every single one. Yeah, So.

Authorities believe that the real killer must have been known to Elizabeth. They must have known her, just like you.

Say, I completely agree with that.

They figured that they must have had some sort of emotional attachment to her, and somehow the horrific violence inflicted upon her and her body and leaving her in public was a on public display, sorry would indicate that the killer wanted the world to see Elizabeth and potentially her wrongdoings for what she had done to this person. So they believe that it's kind of a way of this person being like putting her on display and being like, look at this bitch, look what she did to me.

What you would possibly do to deserve something like that.

I don't think you can do anything to deserve something like that. There's way unless you are out there like mass murdering other people. But not that you deserve that.

But you know what I mean, I know that's horrific.

So the killer was assumed and described as a white male in his late twenties or older with a high school education. He lives alone, works with his hands, and is comfortable with knives and blood. Possibly a butcher or slaughterhouse worker. Potentially even a doctor.

So that would be a lot of blood that you would be dealing with. Oh yeah, like that's disgusting.

Well, it says right here too. With a high school education, So you're talking about people in the forties, So high school education. That's a well educated.

Individual, right, Okay, so they.

Are looking for someone well educated.

Okay.

Now, on January twenty second, exactly one week after discovering Elizabeth's body, a man called the editor of the Los Angeles Examiner. He called James Richardson and made a very bold claim. The caller never gave a name, but he told Richardson he was the one responsible for Elizabeth's death. He stated he planned on eventually turning himself in, but

Weird. Now they a game.

Take note of this here because this is potentially a piece of evidence, specifically within this Okay, calling Elizabeth Beth.

Oh my goodness, Okay, so that's what this person called her.

That's what this person called her. That's quote so that Beth. Some people rely on that for their theories later on, at least for one case that I've looked into.

Well, that to me, like I think, like family friend, like really good friend, or like significant other.

So yeah, anyways, that aside just keep that in your mind. It was three days later when the caller kept his word, and a mysterious Manila envelope showed up to the address to the Los Angeles Examiner and other Los Angeles papers. Sorry, it showed up to the address and showed up addressed too. That's what I meant to say, showed up addressed to the Los Angeles Examiner and other Los Angeles reporters. There we go. That took way too much effort to get out. But I got it.

You did good.

I done. Didn't do it. The envelope and its contents had been smeared in gasoline to remove any evidence of fingerprints that might remain. Even with gasoline, though, they were able to recover some fingerprints and quickly sent them off to try and find a match. However, there's always a fucking however. However, goddamn however, the prints were compromised in transit, thus they could not properly be analyzed.

What the frig Okay? Okay, So I just have to say two things. It's so interesting that this person would not be wearing gloves or bo was singerprints taking not a huge deal.

Back then, fingerprints was the main source of convicting back then for sure.

And then it just I don't know. I always think, like cases this old, how interesting it would be, but happened nowadays, like with the technology and stall he had, right, Yeah, no kidding, like, oh, I just always think that's so sad.

So Inside the envelope, though, was a note attached to the contents. The note had been written in letters that were cut from newspapers and articles and then pasted in for the writing. It read, here is the Dahlia's belongings letter to follow. The package contained newspaper clippings about the recent death of Mayor Matthew Gordon, photographs, her birth certificate, a bus station check in stub, and address book. The address book bore the name Mark Hansen on the cover

I am, Yeah, this is all very interesting.

It's like I say this goes deep. Now. Under questioning, Mark admitted to knowing Elizabeth, but stated he had never been romantically involved with her and had no information about her disappearance. He did state that Elizabeth had taken the address book from him, although he had never used it himself. Nothing was ever found to link Mark Hanson to the murder of Elizabeth, and was soon released.

I wonder why she would take the notebook. That's interesting.

She needed an address book, he had one he wasn't using, so she yoinked it.

Oh okay. I was envisioning that it was like an address book filled with like his contacts and stuff.

No, he specifically said that it was let me see where. He stated that Elizabeth had taken the address book from him, although he had never used it himself.

Oh okay, well that makes sense then, yeah.

Blank address book he'd never used, so she just okay, he had no problem with it. Makes sense whatever. Now. On January twenty six, another letter had come in, this time handwritten, which read here it is turning in Wednesday, January twenty ninth, ten am had my fun at police black Dahlia Avenger.

Jeez, I don't like this person. What a piece of shit?

Oh this person is a piece of shit. Now there are I'm gonna throw this out there just to keep you in the loop on this. There are some speculation of whether the letters are completely valid. I mean, clearly one having evidence of her is. But authorities definitely received more letters false letters used to say that this one couldn't be a false letter too, right, Yeah, they.

Could honestly just be someone having fun too. So whether it seem to like to waste other people's.

Time, yeah, they were, I mean they were. They're pretty confident they were able to distinguish the fake ones from the real ones. Oh okay, so, but I mean there is a chance I just wanted to throw that in there, right. So. The letter also named a place, a specific location at which the supposed killer would turn themselves in. Police waited patiently at the given location on the morning of January

Oh gosh, so definitely deserves way more than ten years, because this is crazy what he did.

Yeah, so police were like clearly not taken that, and he didn't take likely to that, so he didn't turn himself into.

They glide they should have.

Newspapers began linking other murders to the Black Dahlia case. Many thought the so called lipstick murder was connected, since a badly beaten female body was found with a bizarre message scrawled on the victim's stomach in red lipstick that read fuck U b D. It was assumed that the bead stood for Black Dahlia. That, however, is a whole nother story in case.

Okay, sorry, sorry, she didn't like Elizabeth Beth didn't have lipstick on her. No, another murder had that on them. Yes, Oh okay, so.

That woman's body was also brutally mutilated, though as far as I have looked into that case, I haven't looked into it very deep yet. But as far as I have looked into, not with the precision of this one not as clean as this one. But it did have fuck you BD in the lipstick, and that b D assuming you stand for black Dahlia. So that's why some

Like, okay, so he's linked, or he got convicted for the lip stick murders and Elizabeth, No, just the lipstick murders, okay, but he confessed to them under police torture to stick ones.

Yeah, so that's a whole nother story though. But some people believe that whoever killed Elizabeth and is responsible for the Black Dahlia murder, is also responsible to that. And they believe that that fuck YOUBD is proof and the link of that.

And they believe that the person they have is potentially not the right person, correct, okay?

Or I mean maybe there's some that potentially think that he was responsible for Elizabeth too. I don't know that. Like I say, that's a whole nother case totally now. March fourteenth, an apparent suicide note scrawledon pencil on a bit of paper was found tucked into the shoe in a pile of men's clothing by the ocean's edge at the foot of Breeze Avenue in Venice. The note read, to whom it may concern, I have waited for police to capture me for the Black Dahlia killing, but have not.

Sorry Mary? Is that the mom? Or who's Mary? I can't remember who Mary is?

We don't know.

Oh.

The clothing that they found gave no clues to the identity of the owner, and nothing else has ever come of this suicide note.

Wow, Okay, there's like so many levels to this. Oh, this is unbelievable.

We just getting started seriously.

Oh yeah, okay, because I just feel like we're just like, I don't know, I feel like I'm like a fucking roller coaster that's just going up and down and over and blah blah blah blah blah.

Oh and underground in the sky, like to another dimension.

Holy crap.

Okay, So, in the coming weeks, Los Angeles Police Department interviewed over one hundred and fifty men who they believe to be potential suspects. I believe seventy five of them were from the address book alone.

Jeez.

It was from people who knew Elizabeth named from the address book or anyone they could link from their investigation.

It's a lot of people to have in your address book. I feel like I have like five people.

Well back then, though, like you don't have like your contacts, your phone, all that sort of Facebook and Instagram. Yeah, so, I mean that's how you kept the whole event. I remember growing up, my parents had a little phone index everyone's numbers and stuff in it, and it's like they had a lot of people in there like a lot.

That's how you remembered.

Yeah, and it could be.

Are you saying your parents are really popular?

No, I'm saying my parents are really old, like really old.

Oh it would be a while to really listen to this and we'll hear it. Yeah, we'll they'll be even older than.

One of the people they did interview was Robert Manly, who had been one of the last people to see Elizabeth live. Robert Manley also goes by the name Robert Red Manly. For the record, I just want to throw it out there. I'll be calling him Robert the rest of this. He is considered by many to be a prime suspect to this day.

Okay, so let's.

Get into this. Their relationship started when Robert struck up a conversation with Elizabeth at a bus station in San Diego. Now, according to Robert, Elizabeth at first kind of just tried to ignore him and brush him off and didn't speak back. But after he kind of persisted, she talked with him and they ended up, you know, kind of striking up a bit of a relationship. And from there their relationship

Look sounds like a good friend far.

Anyway, he paid for meals and for the room for her, and then he left her there and took off.

That would be like pretty hard to explain to your wife, though definitely now they're a little hard there.

I didn't want to dive into this too much because it was kind of like just excess information that wasn't important. But I guess Robert and his wife did have a bit of a rocky kind of marriage sort of thing, but they managed to make it work quite well. In this whole situation kind of brought them a little bit stronger because they were platonic and there was no cheating sort of thing. Yeah, that's a whole unnecessary story. So Robert did leave her there at the Baltimore Hotel at

Why was she dropped off at the hotel?

She needed a place to stay. She was currently living in San Diego with her oh right, okay for that month.

For some reason, I thought she was Okay, I get it.

So she was coming back to La right. She had just kind of gone to San Diego for like, I don't know, a couple weeks sort of thing, and it wasn't working out. So she's getting back to La right, okay, and so he dropped her off at the hotel to have a place to stay while she gets her shit together sort of thing. Right, So he was pretty much the last person to see Elizabeth alive now. Robert, however,

Yeah, no kidding.

So by the spring of nineteen forty seven, Elizabeth murder had become a cold case with few new leads. Now, one of the lead detectives on the case blamed the press for compromising the investigation through reporters probing of details and unverifieding unverified reporting. In September of nineteen forty nine, the grand jury convened to discuss inadequacies in the LAPD's homicide unit based on their failure to solve numerous murders,

I knew that was coming. I knew what I knew, and I knew it.

You knew it. So that is the first half of the Black Dahlia case and Elizabeth short.

There has to be some wild theories, like I really want to dive into those, Like right now.

There is one main theory that is a motherfucking roller coaster.

Okay, well, this whole case is a motherfucker roller coaster.

Oh it is. It definitely is. So stay tuned for Part two, coming out next week on Tuesday.

Why, yeah, good work. That's interesting. It's quite intense.

It's who I gotta buckle up like four or five seat belts just like researching this because man, it had me going all over the place.

Well yeah, but it seems like it's pretty interesting. It is, but like hard to put all together too, for.

Sure, very much, so very much. This was one of the harder cases for me to research because of trying to actually tell a linear story is difficult with this case. But doing the best we can. And we're going to start talking about those crazy ass stuff next episode.

Okay, all right, I'm ready, thanks for.

Listening, and guys, of course, don't forget to take a look at our social media. We've got our Instagram, our Facebook, all the good stuff. It's on the description of the podcast wherever you're listening, just like a little description and it's all there. Lazy website, Insta even have a merch it's right there, right on perfect cool.

Okay, Well, thank you, We'll see you next week, and of course stay wicked.