Elizabeth Short was infamously given the nickname 'The Black Dahlia'. Elizabeth was born on the 29 July 1924 in Boston, Massachusetts and was brutally murdered on the 15 January 1947. Making her 22 when she died. Elizabeth was an American woman, who aspired to be an actress. However on the 15 January 1947 she was dismembered (Cut in half) and mutilated, snatching her dreams away. Her body was found nude and posed by a local female resident on the 3800 block of L.A.'s South Norton Avenue. The female walking past, actually mistook it for a mannequin. Elizabeth's mouth had been cut from ear to ear to give a haunting smile. It seemed her murderer had drained her corpse's blood and scrubbed her clean, making it clear she had been moved after she was murdered.
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9 days later, a letter was received by an examiner. The words from the letter were cut out from movie ads. It read: 'Los Angeles examiner and other Los Angeles papers. Here is Dahlia's belongings, letter to follow.' As promised, the letter contained shorts, a social security card, birth certificate, snapshots and an old address book with some pages missing. Gasoline was rubbed on the contents to remove any finger prints. More notes were sent to the police and press. That followed, one hand written letter, which read: 'Turning in Wednesday Jan 29, had my fun with police. Black Dahlia Avenger'
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Before arriving in L.A., Elizabeth spent time in San Diego with Robert Manley, who drove her over to L.A. and helped her check into the Biltmore Hotel, in downtown Los Angeles. Many reports say, that this was the last place that Elizabeth was seen alive. Some say after Manley left, the guy who dropped her off, Elizabeth headed to the nearby Crown Grill Bar, which stands today as the Club Galaxy. This is meant to be the true last sighting of Elizabeth. Although this case has been listed as being unsolved for nearly 70 years, there's no shortage of suspects.
The case quickly became publicized by the media. Brian Carr, a detective with Los Angeles Police Department stated that "The case itself took on a life of its own. Early on, I think for two months it was front-page news in all the local papers every day." Elizabeth then was widely known as The Black Dahlia, her new given name by the press.
An in-depth, lengthy investigation by the L.A.P.D. ensued, leading to a number of false reports—including several false murder confessions—and ultimately leaving detectives grasping at straws. The sole witness of the murder had reported seeing a black sedan parked in the area in the early morning hours, but could provide police with little else.
The lack of hard evidence surrounding the case and faulty witnesses lead them to a dead end, meaning they had close the case. Therefore Elizabeth's murderer was never found. Today, the Black Dahlia murder remains one of the oldest cold case files in L.A., as well as the city's most famous.
