Black Dahlia, The Murder, The Mystery

January 15, 1947. It was Wednesday and the sky was an overcast, dreary
gray without a glimmer of improvement on the horizon. Housewife Betty
Bersinger and her three-year-old daughter set out from their home on Norton
Avenue in the Leimert Park section of Los Angeles toward the shoe repair
shop. As they reached Norton and 39th Street, they passed by several
vacant lots overgrown with weeds. The development of this area south of
Hollywood had been slowed by the war.

In one of the vacant lots, Betty caught a glimpse of something near the
sidewalk. It looked like part of a broken mannequin lying in the weeds. The
lower half of the department store dummy had been separated from the
upper half and twisted in a macabre
way. The closer she got to the strange ghostly white object, the more she
realized that it wasn't a department store dummy at all. She grabbed her
daughter up, whisked her away from the macabre sight and called the police
at a nearby house.

Officers Frank Perkins and Will Fitzgerald were at the scene in minutes to
find the naked body of a woman who had been cut in half. They called
immediately for assistance. The dead woman seemed posed, lying on her
back with her arms raised over her shoulders, her legs spread eagle. She
had been cut in half at the waist. Her face and body had been slashed
viciously. Bondage marks on her ankles, wrists and neck indicated a very
nasty scene before she died.

She had clearly been killed somewhere else and dumped in the vacant lot
during the night or early morning. There was no blood on her body nor on the
ground where she lay. It appeared as though her bruised and broken body
had been washed clean of blood before it had been dumped onto the lot.
When Captain John Donahoe of LAPD's Homicide Division was notified of the
murder, he assigned very senior men to the case, Detective Sergeant Harry
Hansen and his partner Finis Brown. Donahoe added Detective Herman
Willis, a bright young man from the Metro Division, to work with the
Hansen-Brown team.

By the time the detectives got to the scene, it was alive with reporters,
photographers and a crowd of curious bystanders. Hansen was furious that
the crime scene was being trampled by outsiders who were most certainly
destroying evidence and inadvertently leaving contaminants of their own.
While the detectives looked for evidence at the crime scene, the body was
taken to the Los Angeles County Morgue where her fingerprints were taken.
With the help of the assistant managing editor of the Los Angeles Examiner,
the fingerprints made their way to the FBI in Washington using the
newspaper's Soundphoto equipment.

The FBI had a match. The victim of this brutal murder was a 22-year-old
woman named Elizabeth Short who was born in Hyde Park, Massachusetts
on July 29, 1924. During World War II, she had been a clerk at Camp Cooke in
California, which is why her fingerprints were on file with the federal
government.

Dr. Victor CeFalu assisted Dr. Newbarr, Chief Surgeon, on the young
woman's autopsy. The cause of death was "hemorrhage and shock due to
concussion of the brain and lacerations of the face." Dr. Newbarr's report in
part: There are multiple lacerations to the midforehead, in the right forehead,
and at the top of the head in the midline. There are multiple tiny abrasions
and lacerations. The trunk is completely severed by an incision, which is
almost straight through the abdomen.... There are multiple crisscross
lacerations in the suprapubic area, which extend through the skin and soft
tissues.

Beth at LA
Morgue

There are lacerations of the intestine and both kidneys. The uterus is small
and no pregnancy is apparent. The tubes, ovaries, and cul-de-sac are
intact.... Within the vagina and higher up there is lying loose a piece of skin
with fat and subcutaneous tissue attached. On this piece of loose skin there
are several crisscrossing lacerations. Smears for spermatozoa have been
taken. The anal opening is markedly dilated and the opening measures 1
1/4" in diameter.... There are multiple abrasions.... Smear for spermatozoa
has been taken.....

The stomach is filled with greenish brown granular matter, mostly feces and
other particles, which could not be identified. All smears for spermatozoa
were negative.

It appeared as though many of the lacerations, including the dilation of the
anal opening, were done after the woman's death.
On the day of the autopsy, January 16th, Dr. Newbarr spoke with Detectives
Brown, Hansen and Willis. Author John Gilmore in his book Severed: The
True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder reports an important conversation:
Newbarr told the detectives that "It is impossible to tell you if she was raped
because traces of spermatozoa are negative, and she did not have fully
developed genitals... The area is shallow indicating that she did not have a
completed vaginal canal."

The Black Dahlia was the name given to Elizabeth Short, an aspiring actress
who often dressed completely in black. Her hair was jet black, her skin was
very pale and her nail polish and lipstick very red. The contrast of these
colors, combined with her nice figure and very attractive face, created a
most dramatic effect even in a place like Hollywood.
Elizabeth had done some modeling on a small scale before she came to
California. The department store manager remembered her as "having a
real flair about her." So much so that her audience paid more attention to
her than the clothes she modeled at fashion shows.
Men couldn't keep their eyes off her. "She was a natural vamp," her friend
said, "one who brings out the wolf in all men, no exceptions, and she didn't
even have to try...."

When Elizabeth went to Hollywood, she roomed with Lucille, a girl who was
trying to make a career as a dancer. Through Lucille, she met Barbara Lee, a
young actress at Paramount. Barbara was well connected and took the
Black Dahlia to the "right" places to be seen. The Hollywood Canteen was
one such place where she met up with a wealthy socialite her own age,
Georgette Bauerdorf.

Like countless pretty girls before and after her, Elizabeth came to Hollywood
hoping to break into the movie business. She was smart enough to
understand that getting a break was often because the right person
happens to see you at the right time. She did her best as a newcomer to
position herself at the right nightspots and finagle her way into view of some
relatively important people in the entertainment business.

Elizabeth had done some modeling on a small scale before she came to
California. The department store manager remembered her as "having a
real flair about her." So much so that her audience paid more attention to
her than the clothes she modeled at fashion shows.
Men couldn't keep their eyes off her. "She was a natural vamp," her friend
said, "one who brings out the wolf in all men, no exceptions, and she didn't
even have to try...."

When Elizabeth went to Hollywood, she roomed with Lucille, a girl who was
trying to make a career as a dancer. Through Lucille, she met Barbara Lee, a
young actress at Paramount. Barbara was well connected and took the
Black Dahlia to the "right" places to be seen. The Hollywood Canteen was
one such place where she met up with a wealthy socialite her own age,
Georgette Bauerdorf.