What Really Happened? | Black Dahlia
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The Black Dahlia murder is a cold case from almost a century ago. I was so intrigued by it that I wrote a theory based on my web observations sitting halfway across the globe from where the murder happened.
LAPD if you’re reading this, de nada!
TW: violence
Elizabeth Short was found dead by a mother taking a walk in Leimert Park. at 10 am on January 15, 1947. Her body was extremely pale as the murderer had extracted all of her blood. Her body was found naked and it was smoothly severed at her waist. The killer didn’t leave any prints or DNA at the scene as he wiped the body with gasoline. Articles state that the body was cut with great surgical precision. Autopsy reports stated that only the blood was drawn but no other bones and organs were harmed. This implies that this job had to be done by a professional.
Who was George Hodel?
George Hodel was a highly intelligent person who studied surgery in medical school. He ran the LA county venereal disease clinic. He was a person who is highly capable of disemboweling Elizabeth and her mutilations. George had a secret room in his house. He didn’t even allow his children to enter this room.
George Hodel had a son named Steve Hodel. Steve grew up to join the LAPD. He was convinced that his father killed Short. Steve Hodel found pictures of Elizabeth short on his album. A forensic report in 2014 proved that the picture has a 90–95 percent match with Elizabeth. Steve also learned that his father’s handwriting was similar to the killer’s handwriting in the letter given to the executive officer of LA.
George Hadel was a venereal disease doctor and he sexually assaulted Elizabeth before disemboweling her and drawing all of her blood out
Beth and Aggie
Elizabeth Short was presumed to be lesbian since she was often spotted at dyke clubs. But the news of her sexuality didn’t reach the locals until after she was found dead, correction- murdered.
The picture shows Beth Short with an unidentified woman.
The other picture here is one of Aggie Underwood- a local journalist who claimed to have known who killed Beth.
(Theory)
Beth and Aggie were together but had to hide the truth of their love from the world as back then homosexuality was a sin.
However, Beth wasn’t a lesbian. Her bisexuality paved the way for her relationship with Robert ‘Red’ Manley, a 25-year-old married salesman she had been dating.
They both had been returning from a brief trip to San Diego and Manley dropped Short off at the Baltimore Hotel, LA. She was last seen at that hotel before Being reported missing on January 9, 1947.
Where did she go?
Who did this to her?
Why?
Elizabeth Short was with Robert Manley. And Manley was married to Harriette Manley.
Harriette or let’s call her Harry here, found out about her husband’s affair with Beth and was filled with hate and vengeance. She was a nurse and hence had contacts with several doctors and surgeons.
She chose to reach out to Hodel.
As mentioned earlier he was a physician and had a venereal disease clinic (STD clinic )
His son Steve Hodel told the LAPD that his father had murdered Short but his allegations were ignored after he started accusing his father of committing random heinous crimes.
It is also mentioned that Hodel had a room at his house where no one was allowed to go in. later, pictures of women very similar looking to Beth were also found
So did he do it?
Yes and No
Hariette couldn’t forgive Beth for an affair with her husband and saw her as a threat to her marriage.
She decided that the best way to save her marriage was to eliminate this threat and live happily ever after. She was filled with so much hate and disgust that killing Beth wouldn’t satisfy her. Therefore she chose to kidnap Harriette, torture her, and before killing her.
What happened?
After Beth was dropped off at the hotel she was kidnapped and taken to the Hotels residence on Franklin Avenue La which was approximately 12 minutes from the hotel.
Why was Hodel so keen on helping a nurse who wasn’t more to him than a colleague?
Hodel had invited Beth over for a minor procedure required for his research as a physician.
While at it, he assaulted her. His STD was transferred to her. This made it evident in her body that she was assaulted by Hodel. Her blood was all the proof required to send Hodel to jail and nullify all the research he had done.
After kidnapping her they tied her up which led to ligature marks caused by strangulation on her ankle wrist and neck
There were several other lacerations on her body and irregular tissue loss was seen as well
What was probably the most gruesome thing done to her over the course of 6 days she helped captive at the room in Hodel’s basement is that she had been assaulted and later cut with a method called Hemicorporectomy used by physicians in the 1930s-1940s.
Hemicorporectomy is a radical surgery in which the body below the waist is amputated, transecting the lumbar spine. This removes the legs, the genitalia (internal and external), urinary system, pelvic bones, anus, and rectum.
Hodel was a doctor and Harriette was a nurse.
They had more than enough knowledge about how to perform this procedure, drawing Beth shorts blood out so that there was no evidence of Hodel transferring an STD to her.
While at this they also removed her intestines and cleaned her with gasoline to remove any foreign DNA markers.
Hodel and Harriette later took her to Leimert park and her naked dead body was placed over the grass in a position mimicking that of a mannequin
What did Aggie have to do with this?
Aggie was a well-known journalist who solved this case but didn’t disclose her findings to anyone and later the answers to this mystery died with her. She did it for her own closure to a loved one’s death and didn’t want the world looming over her lover’s horrendous death.
The last story Aggie reported was L.A.’s most infamous murder, the January 1947 slaying of Elizabeth Short, aka “The Black Dahlia.” Aggie was one of the Herald’s best crime reporters, yet she was promoted to city editor smack in the middle of covering the Dahlia case. Dahlia conspiracy theorists sometimes point to the timing of Aggie’s promotion as proof that she was close to discovering the identity of Short’s slayer.
But what if she wasn’t just close? Many years after the Dahlia case went cold, Aggie told her grandsons that she knew who had murdered Elizabeth Short. When asked for the name of the killer, all she would say was “he’s dead and it doesn’t matter anymore.”
TL; DR
Harriette Manley (Robert Manley’s wife) and George Hodel murdered Elizabeth Short. Harry wanted revenge over her husband’s mistress and believed that killing her was the only way to save her marriage.
George Hodel had sexually assaulted Beth leading to evidence in her blood which would’ve been found sooner or later leading to his imprisonment or execution.
They both were trained medical professionals who knew EXACTLY what they were doing and how to do it
