Los Angeles, California

In a new chapter, A Surrealist Signature written in Black Dahlia Avenger II, I review the previously stated links and include several new findings supporting my belief that the carnage performed on and carved into Elizabeth Short's body was my father's deliberate signature as a "surreal artist."

 In 2002, I wrote:

                        The killer had to make her death extraordinary both in planning and in         execution.In his role as a surreal artist, he determined that his work would be a masterpiece of the macabre, a crime so shocking and horrible it would endure, be immortalized through the annals of crime lore.  As Avenger, he would use her body as his canvas, and his surgeon's scalpel as his paintbrush.

In the past decade, much new evidence has been discovered to support my original hypothesis and can be found in my own and other writer's books on the subject. ( See the Mark Nelson and Sarah Hudson Bayliss book, Exquisite Corpse: Surrealism and the Black Dahlia Murder).(Bulfinch Press, Hachette Group 2006)  I will not here attempt to restate those many references and links which most of my readers are probably already quite familiar with.However, here is a new observation that has previously gone unnoticed and offered here for the first time.  

             Elizabeth "Black Dahlia" Short right hip             (Enlarged showing "crosshatching" incisions

SKH Note: I am in possession of another original autopsy photograph (not shown) revealing that similar crosshatching incisions were performed on the victim's pubic area.  Additionally,  the autopsy surgeon describes a third crisscross pattern cut into the surface of the piece of flesh which was removed from the  left thigh and then inserted into the victim's vagina and discovered during the postmortem examination. Here are the Coroner's original 1947 notations referencing and describing the trauma to all three locations:

...There is a square pattern of superficial criss-cross lacerations in the skin of the right hip. ... There are multiple criss-cross lacerations in the suprapubic area. Which extend through the skin and soft tissue. ....Within the vagina and higher up there is lying loose a piece of skin with fat and subcutaneous tissues attached. On this piece of loose skin there are several criss-crossing lacerations. ( SKH- As an unrelated side note on this same page the coroner states, "The uterus is small and no pregnancy is apparent.") 

 Below shows a page 4 scan of the original Elizabeth Short autopsy summary copied by me from the DA Investigative File in 2004 which references the three separate "crisscross incisions" and "no pregnancy." 

CROSSHATCHING

Below is a 2013 Email message I received from Steve Lamb in which he states his belief that Elizabeth Short's killer "signed his work with crosshatching", an art term I was not familiar with until his recent communication.

Steve- The Autopsy lists "Tick Tac Toe" marks. I looked at the photos. That's not what those are. Those are CROSSHATCHING. It's how pencil and engravings are traditionally shaded. Every artist develops his own and it's more difficult to forge by far than a signature or most other technique. For an art appraiser or critic the crosshatching is AS GOOD AS A SIGNATURE. Elizabeth Short was signed by her killer. 

Sample of crosshatching from YouTube explanation of Crosshatching for Beginners

Local Altadena architect Steven Lamb, originally contacted me back in 2011 and provided a fascinating and significant contribution and corroboration to my ongoing investigation by way of a chance conversation he (Lamb) had with famed Hollywood Surrealist photographer, Edmund Teske back in the late 1970s.  (Edmund Teske was a   friend to both my father, George Hodel and Man Ray during our residency at the Sowden/Franklin House,

Teske, along with Man Ray, had also taken several Hodel family photographs during his frequent visits. Teske at that time he maintained a friendship with George Hodel was residing at the Aline Barnsdall Hollyhock House (Studio B) which had been designed and built by, Frank Lloyd Wright, father to Lloyd Wright, who built the Sowden/Hodel House in 1926.) 

Steve Lamb's account of his meeting and conversation with Edmund Teske is reported in full in Black Dahlia Avenger II in the Chapter, "Hollywood Roomers."

Below is a copy of Steve Lamb's letter, "Meeting Ed Teske", which he sent to me, and is reproduced in my 2012 edition of BDA II:

Hodel Boy's photo by Edmund Teske circa 1948. 
Taken inside Soweden/Hodel House courtyard.

Below photo by Edmund Teske taken from inside the living room on the same day
Note how different the inner courtyard appeared circa 1948 than it does today. 

 

 

 

KMEX 34 NEWS ANCHORMAN - LEON KRAUZE

May 2, 2013
Los Angeles, California

Just three months after taking over the Six O'clock News Hour at KMEX, Leon Krauze made the decision to reexamine one of La Ciudad de Los Angeles' most taunting mysteries, The Black Dahlia Murder.

Airing this week in a brand new three-part special investigation, "The Mystery of the Black Dahlia, Anchorman Krauze examined the 66-year-old murder--presented in Spanish to our large Hispanic community.

Part 1 reviews the history of Los Angeles in the 1940s, along with some of the early myths connected with of the infamous murder of Elizabeth "Black Dahlia" Short.

In Part II he reexamines some of the potential suspects as well as interviewing LAPD's newest heir-apparent to the case, Robbery/Homicide Detective Mitzi Roberts.  (Roberts volunteered to take over the case after detective and self-professed "Gatekeeper", Brian Carr, retired several years ago.)

In Part III Krauze interviews me related to my own now 13-year Black Dahlia Avenger investigation and introduces the public to some of the linkage to my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, who was the DA's and LAPD's original "prime suspect." 

The veteran author/journalist also introduces the public to one of my newest investigatory findings-- the discovery of hard physical evidence (cement bags) which along with other evidence, corroborates the original LAPD and DA suspicions that the Hodel/Sowden residence was the actual murder location.  (In 2010, cement bags documented as being at the Hodel residence on January 10, 1947, just five days prior to the body being discovered, were matched by me to identical bags found next to the victim's body. In 1947, LAPD detectives confirmed "on the record" that the cement bags seen in the crime scene photos were used to transport the victim's body parts to the vacant lot from a then unknown crime-scene residence.)

Kudos to Senor Leon Krauze for presenting our Hispanic community with a very professionally researched new look at one of Los Angeles' oldest historical and infamous whodunits. I for one would like to congratulate and welcome him with -- un trabajo bien hecho y la bienvenida a Los Angeles.

Below are a few bio links to Leon Krauze who will be co-hosting  a new show called, FUSION an  ABC and UNIVISION joint-programming-venture, anticipated to begin airing in December, 2013.(See link below.)

KRAUZE GETS START DATE ON KMEX

KMEX KRAUZE WILL HAVE SHOW ON FUSION

For those that speak Spanish, below are links to Leon Krauze's three-part series, "The Mystery of the Black Dahlia," and for those of us that no habla Espanol, the video segments, edited by Emmy Award winning producer, Andres Pruna, speak more than 10,000 words, and need no translation.

(Click inside box for viewing)

Dahlia Negra Part 1

Dahlia Negra Part 2

Dahlia Negra Part 3

CAN YOU SOLVE THE RIDDLE OF THE FOO AND DISCOVER WHAT YEAR THIS PHOTO OF ELIZABETH SHORT WAS TAKEN? 

Los Angeles, California

In its 2012 Black Dahlia Exhibit, the LAPD Historical Society made public several never before seen photographs of Elizabeth Short.

Photo above shows Elizabeth "Black Dahlia" Short standing next to one of the Shishi or Foo Dogs, who has been guarding the entrance to Hollywood's, Grauman's Chinese Theater since it was built in 1927.

Photo No. 2 (below) appears to have been taken at the same time and shows Elizabeth standing next to a billboard.

We know this photo was taken in Hollywood between 1943 and 1946.

The only immediate clue to help us possibly establish the year taken would be the partial wording written on the billboard behind Elizabeth's left shoulder which appears to read:

ELVIRA

-OGAN

(SKH NOTE- The Swedish film, Elvira Madigan was produced in Europe in 1942, which  likely would have distributed to the U.S. later, however, the spelling is not the same as seen in this picture.)

I suspect the above photo was taken in 1943, 1944, or 1945 as Elizabeth's face appears thinner in weight than in the later photos taken in 1946. See below comparisons.

I here offer a free personalized copy of Black Dahlia Avenger II, along with the honorary rank of ARMCHAIR DETECTIVE 2, to the first person who can Email me the documented solution to the billboard riddle and thus establish the year this photo was taken.

Was it 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, or 1946?

I am reposting below FAQ 53 from August, 2007, where I initially addressed and examined the possibility that Elizabeth Short was captured on some 16 mm stock film footage, seen riding in an open convertible down Hollywood Blvd., on VJ Day, in August 1945. Many who have seen this footage on television believe this rare footage is in fact, Elizabeth Short. (As do I.)  

Below is a comparison of the 1945 VJ photo to the known photo of Elizabeth Short taken in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.  Interesting to note that the two photos were taken only four blocks apart. The photo in the convertible was taken in the 6500 block of Hollywood and the known photo of Elizabeth taken in the 6900 block of Hollywood Blvd. 

Bess Robison
1922-2009 ANOTHER SAD AND TRAGIC STORY

Los Angeles, California

I recently received an e-mail from Alan Robison, who informs me he is the son of one of Dr. George Hill Hodel's former victims. The crime reportedly occurred in Manila, Philippines circa 1958.

Here then is Alan's telling of the crime, in his, and his mother's own words. (I have omitted certain parts of his narrative, which are not directly related to the actual crime, and which I believe should remain private and confidential.)

              Dear Mr. Hodel,

My name is Alan Robison.  I am 61 years old. My mother's name was Bess Robison. She died in 2009.  My father died in 2012. I had been caring for him for fifteen months and he was suffering from five separate diseases.

In 1989 I was staying with my mother in her home in Tyler, Texas. At that time she disclosed to me that she had been raped in Manila in 1958 while working as a radio missionary with my father. At that time my parents were living in Manila and broadcasting a radio show across the Iron Curtain.

Mother told me that she was having "female problems" and had asked my father to find her an American doctor in Manila.  He found her one, and during my mother's telling me the story she also told me his name, which was "HODEL."

My mother took me with her to the first appointment to see Dr. Hodel. I was seven ½ years old. I recall the office, the nurse, her desk, the arrangement of furniture in the waiting room and remember seeing Dr. Hodel. He never spoke to me, but he made eye contact once, and it was icy to me.

In her conversation with Dr. Hodel mother informed me that she mentioned that she was a musical prodigy and could play five different instruments at the age of twelve.

Dr. Hodel brought up the fact of his piano expertise after my mother described, in her interview with him, her job of playing the piano on the radio.

I sat in a chair from which I could see his desk, him, and the window behind the desk, which showed a view of Manila harbor and the bay. I recall what he wore, his mustache, and his offhand, cool manner. He was not friendly or relaxed, but he was polite.

After the first visit when I went with her, I assume she returned alone to Hodel's office for treatment. Perhaps he told her to leave me at home? 

My mother told me that Dr. Hodel raped her at his office (I assume she was sedated), and she immediately afterwards wept when she reported it to my father. Mother never told me what Dr. Hodel was treating her for; she indicated that he told her he must do a "pelvic exam" as part of the general physical exam.

My father then did the wrong thing. He refused to get involved and believed she had "led him [Hodel] on." My mother told me that father "was shocked, but was afraid involvement would ruin his reputation."

Mother went on to tell me that she and my father were "having sexual problems", and in a conversation with Dr. Hodel he had asked her, "How often do you and your husband have sex?" She told him, "Once a month."  Hodel replied lasciviously to her, "But you, you are a WOMAN!", as if to alert her to his appreciation of her.

The relationship between my parents quickly degraded after mother telling father about the incident and his decision to not believe her.

Within a week or two after that mother decided to leave her husband and return to the U.S. with my brother and me.

Soon after our return to the U.S. mother contracted a serious illness, peritonitis, and she had to be operated on. To this day, I believe that her contact with Dr. Hodel caused this peritonitis, but I can't prove it. She almost died.

Both my parents suffered illnesses from living in the tropics.

Thanks for reading all of this, Steve. Bless you. If there is anything else I can try to provide, I will. But, as of now, these details are the most relevant. All else is another story. You are deeply appreciated by so many for your valiant career and sincere investigations.

Ken Alan Robison

See below obituary describing Bess Robison's life of service as a missionary:

Carolyn B. Smith aka Bess Robison

...

I am poor and dying of heart disease, severe aortic stenosis. I do not have cable or computer of my own. I use public computers at the local library, where I walk to, since I don't have a car--walking, however, is good for me. The Veteran's Association pays for my meds.  I want the world to know she [mother] was attacked.

To both Bess Robison, may she Rest in Peace, and to her son Alan, and to the rest of your surviving relatives, let me offer my most sincere apologies for my father's terrible crime.

Alan, I know the aftereffects of that sexual assault brought much pain into both your mother's and your own life, and surely contributed to ongoing emotional pain and traumas in the decades that followed.   For this, I am truly sorry, and hope that you may find some peace in publicly speaking out and informing us of the Truth of your mother's victimization. The Truth, in many ways, does help, "set us free."

Steve Hodel

PUBLISHED March 11, 2013
Print edition $12.80 - ISBN 978-0983074458
For 15 % Discount Code enter- 93YYJGUS @ below link

https://www.createspace.com/4148783https://www.createspace.com/4148783

FROM THE PUBLISHER (Thoughtprint Press 3.11.2013)

A Genius for Murder: A Play in Three Acts is a dramatization of 1940s Hollywood Noir.

The play is a Hollywood Confidential, based on real people and real events taken from the actual newspapers, secret police files, recorded transcripts and courtroom documents of that day.

It centers on a five-year timeline (1945-1950) in the life of Dr. George Hill Hodel, then Head Venereal Disease Control Officer for the Los Angeles Health Department and a "prime suspect" in a series of LA Lone Woman Murders  the most infamous being the 1947 torture-surgical-murder of twenty-two-year-old, Elizabeth "Black Dahlia" Short, 

Did George Hodel actually commit these sadistic murders?  Or, because of his skill as a surgeon, was he just rounded up as "one of the usual suspects?" 

As a member of the seated jury, you will be asked to weigh the evidence, and then vote your mind at the close of Act III.

George Hodel, an LA born native, was a sophisticate and bon vivant extraordinaire. Possessed of a high-genius IQ he was a member of Hollywood's inner-circle of the rich and famous.

His personal friends were an eclectic group of actors, artists, and writers who make up the play's cast.

We meet and party with George's beautiful wife, Dorero, a screenwriter, recently divorced from George's longtime friend, famed film-director John Huston. 

We are introduced to George's inner-circle of avant garde intimates such as the surreal photographer, Man Ray and his wife and muse, Juliet.  We drink and philosophize with writer and fellow Dadaist, Henry Miller, along with George's confidant, the mysterious German Baron, Ernst von Harringa.

In the 1940s, George Hodel was the A-List doctor to Hollywood's A-List stars as well as LA's downtown politicos and high-ranking officers on both the Los Angeles Police and Sheriff's Departments.

As owner of the First Street VD Clinic, Dr. Hodel was the go-to-guy for "a girl with a problem" and was known and recognized inside the police department as a "High Jingo," one who is well connected, and a man not to be messed with. 

The play, as a historical drama, takes us back to relive and rediscover the noir-underbelly of Los Angeles, as a--City of Angles. Corrupt police and politics ruled the day. City Hall was surrounded by Machiavellian princes all with their long knives drawn. Nothing was as it appeared.

Throughout it all, one highly intelligent and powerful man knew the city's secrets and "how everything fit together" and that knowledge made him extremely dangerous. It also made him UNTOUCHABLE. 

This Play in Three Acts is based on that time and that man. A man who unquestionably had--A GENIUS FOR MURDER.

The play was written by Steve Hodel, the son of Dr. George Hill Hodel. Steve is a retired LAPD homicide detective and the New York Times bestselling author of Black Dahlia Avenger. (HarperCollins 2006-Skyhorse e-book 2012) His true-crime book became an international bestseller as well as being nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America in the Best Fact category.

The author and his story have been featured extensively both in television and in the print media in interviews on: Dateline, 48 Hours, Court TV, CNN Anderson Cooper, The View, NBC Universal, Newsweek, People Magazine, GQ France, the New York Times as well as dozens of local and national newspapers.   Below from NYT  Book Review on Black Dahlia Avenger:

"George Hodel, I think, is fit company for some of Noir's most civilized villains--like Waldo Lydecker in "Laura," Harry Lime in "The Third Man" or even Noah Cross in "Chinatown," the man who (thanks to the screenwriter, Robert Towne) warned us, "Most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and right place, they're capable of, anything." And what had Cross done? Rape his daughter, and his city, and lived into old age."

David Thomson
New York Times Book Review
 Excerpt on Black Dahlia Avenger

Author Website:  www.stevehodel.com
Author Email:      steve@stevehodel.com

BLACK DAHLIA "UNIDENTIFIED MAN" PHOTO IDENTITY MADE PUBLIC AFTER 67 YEARS OF SECRECY-

Black Dahlia Avenger's "Gerald Moss" real name is- 

GEORGE MAIN

Los Angeles, California

In a 2005 updated chapter of BDA, I informed the public that I had identified and conducted a follow-up interview with the "Unidentified Man" seen in the above photograph. 

At the time of my interview he was eighty-three years old and living in his hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. In the updated chapter, to protect his privacy, I gave him the pseudonym of "Gerald Moss."  

Below is a PDF as found in the updated version, which tells his story of meeting Elizabeth Short in Indiana and how the photograph was obtained as they spent a brief two hours together, as she was "passing through his hometown."

Black Dahlia Avenger excerpt containing George Main's interview on his  1946 chance meeting with Elizabeth Short in Indianapolis, Indiana and how above photo was taken, click below:

GEORGE MAIN (1921-2010)  R.I.P.

While the LAPD and the LADA's original Black Dahlia investigators identified and eliminated George Main as a suspect shortly after the murder, his true name was never released or made public.  After I discovered his true identity in 2004, I also, for George's sake, kept his name private. 

Only last week did I discover that George Main has passed on.  He lived to the advanced age of 89 and died in his hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana.  Since he has passed, I am here making his real identity public for the first time ever.

Here is a brief obituary on George Main, as posted on the Internet:

He was born August 39, 1921 in Ellwood City, PA, to the late George R., Sr. and Viola Dorothy (Flinner) Main. George was a graduate of Tech High School. He was employed with Chrysler Corporation in the computer and production divisions, retiring in 1982. He was a member of Westside Pentecostal Church.

George is survived by his wife, Viola A. Main; step-children, Anthony Briddle (Annette), Melvin Briddle, and Lola Kost (Dale); six grandchildren; ten great-grandchildren; sisters, Vallie Williams and Dorothy Vance.

Burial:
Washington Park East Cemetery 
Indianapolis
Marion County
Indiana, USA

My most sincere condolences to all of his family, whom I suspect were the only ones, other than perhaps a few of George's close personal friends,  to know his long kept secret connection to Elizabeth "Black Dahlia" Short.

May you Rest In Peace George, and thank you for your openness and honesty.

For those desiring a fuller knowledge of what role George Main, aka "Gerald Moss" aka, "The Unidentified Man" played in the Black Dahlia investigation, I suggest you read the below attached PDFs.

 

Here is a is a capsulated summary of the facts as they relate to George Main and his photograph:

1.       The strip photo with Elizabeth Short was taken in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1946, during the brief two-hour time that George and Elizabeth shared together on the bus and in the city.

2.       Mr. and Mrs. Johnson never identified the man in the photo (George Main), but only identified Elizabeth Short. (The newspaper text was misleading forcing the editor to make a retraction clarifying that the Johnsons only identified Elizabeth from the strip photo, and had no ideal who the male with her was?) The Johnsons did identify "Mr. Barnes" from another photo found in her luggage, but LAPD has "lost" that photo in which they described "Mr. Barnes was connected with a foreign government." (As indicated in BDA, I suspect they were shown a photo of George Hodel standing with the Chinese Generals, which he may have sent to Elizabeth from China.)

3.       The fantasies and websites that have built up a myth that the strip photo is of "Ed Burns", the real Black Dahlia killer, are false. No "Ed Burns" ever played a part in any official police reports that I have seen, either LAPD or the DA. As far as I can tell, he only exists in the minds of his creators.

4.       Based on my investigation it appears that at some time the killer was in possession of Elizabeth Short's personal photo albums and removed five photos from them, which he then included in his mailing, "Letter To Follow". One of these photos contained one of the four strip photos of George Main, taken in Indianapolis, IA. The other three from that same strip machine were found in her luggage. (See link summarizing the photographs HERE

5.       The identity and elimination of the photograph of George Main has been known by the LAPD and the DA's Office and can be found in their reports since 1947 and 1950.  Further, both agencies confirmed that the photo was taken in Indianapolis, IA and that George Main at that time had never been to Los Angeles, California. 

One copy of strip photo of "unidentified man" with Elizabeth Short (subsequently identified as George Main aka "Gerald Moss)" mailed to press by Black Dahlia Avenger in the week following her murder and below three attached photos found in her luggage a few days later. All four photos taken at the same time and place in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1946.

 Three photo set enlarged and shown to Mr. & Mrs. Johnson who identify Elizabeth Short only. 

March 4, 2013
Los Angeles, California

KUDOS  to journalist Mary Elizabeth Williams for last month's Salon article, "Science epic win of a week." 

In my opinion, her below extracted paragraph from that article perfectly expresses what drives us to search for the truth. Ms. Williams say's: 

"What's fantastic about all of these stories is how they all, in their own ways, demonstrate the unstoppable, magnificently human need to seek answers. We want to know what really happened to Richard and Mary and Elizabeth. We want to know what they sounded like and how they met their fates. And when we figure it out - or at least get tantalizingly closer - it's thrilling. It's satisfying. The past is never truly behind us. It lives in the questions we never stop asking, and it connects us, in real and lively ways, to the epic, amazing narrative of history. Science, you rule."

Tuesday, Feb 5, 2013 01:15 PM PST

·