Did the same killer commit Hollywood’s Black Dahlia murder and the Torso Slayings in the Midwest?
Elizabeth Short, the “Black Dahlia”
Eliot Ness pursued the “Torso Killer”
CASE DETAILS
She was known as the “Black Dahlia”. She had jet black hair and preferred black dresses and lingerie. Those who knew her best said she had a tattoo of an exotic flower on her inner thigh. She wanted desperately to be a Hollywood actress, but her fame would not come from the movies. It would come from her death, a murder which has gone unsolved for 60 years.
Actual letter from “Torso Killer”
On a cold morning in January 1947, the nude, mutilated body of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short was discovered in a vacant lot in the Leimert Park area of Los Angeles. What made the murder so unique was the barbaric nature of the crime. The Black Dahlia’s body had been neatly severed in half, gutted and drained of blood. Author Lawrence P. Scherb put the unusual crime into perspective:
“Her face had been very brutally cut from ear to ear in a grin. Her throat had been cut and she had been mutilated sexually. Basically, she was the worst case of a sex crime in the history of Los Angeles County.”
The case of The Black Dahlia has fascinated crime writers for generations, and almost every one of them has a different theory about the killer. Lawrence Scherb has studied the Black Dahlia case extensively. Now, he believes he knows the identity of the man who so brutally murdered Elizabeth Short.
Did “Torso Killer” murder Dahlia?
Elizabeth Short’s life was as sad as it was brief. Like so many other young women, Elizabeth had been lured to Hollywood with dreams of becoming a star. Her career was going nowhere and she was running out of cash. According to some, she eventually drifted into prostitution.
In her final days, Elizabeth seemed to be constantly on the move. According to Lawrence Scherb, she was last seen leaving a diner in San Diego with a man who has never been positively identified:
“She called him Red when she spoke to him in the diner and he did have reddish colored hair. However, the police were never able to positively identify him, although some people felt that he might have been Robert Manley.”
Robert Manley was a hardware salesman who dated Elizabeth. Police brought him in for questioning but he was cleared of the crime. Other men who were involved with Elizabeth were also interrogated, but each, like Manley, had an airtight alibi. The authorities were completely stumped. Then a mysterious package was mailed to a local newspaper — a package from the killer. Lawrence Scherb described what it contained:
“Inside the envelope they found Elizabeth Short’s address book, which was in reality her trick book. And one of the pages in that book was missing. And it is undoubtedly true that upon that page was the name of the man who actually had killed her.”
Dahlia’s possessions were mailed by killer
The package was the closest anyone ever got to the Black Dahlia’s killer. Then Lawrence began to research the case and made a remarkable connection. The case had many of the same features as the Torso Slayings in Cleveland. That sensational crime spree was the case that baffled Eliot Ness, the head of the famed crime fighting team, “The Untouchables.”
Between 1934 and 1938, no less than thirteen mutilated bodies were discovered in the Kingsbury Run district and surrounding areas of Cleveland. The victims were all prostitutes or drifters. The killer had dismembered most of the bodies with surgical precision, just like The Black Dahlia case, nine years later.
Many people believe that Elliot Ness actually knew the Slayer’s identity, but never had enough evidence to prove it in court. His biographer, Oscar Fraley, says that Ness was approached by a member of Cleveland’s high society:
“This lady socialite who was working with him came to him and said, ‘A member of one of our influential families fits your profile.’ So Eliot said, ‘That’s fine, let’s meet him.’ This man admitted that he had been to medical school, so Eliot thought surely he had the guy.”
Ness said he gave the man two lie detector tests, and both times the suspect failed. Soon after he took the polygraphs, the suspect voluntarily committed himself to a mental hospital. Around that same time, according to Lawrence Scherb, the Torso Slayings in Cleveland abruptly stopped.
Ness believed that this would be the end of the case because the suspect was so deranged that he would probably remain in a mental institution for the rest of his life. But a few months later, a letter arrived from California. Lawrence Scherb has seen it:
“In that letter, the Torso Killer describes the fact that he has left Cleveland and has come to California, as he described it ‘sunny California’ and is now performing medical experiments upon his guinea pig victims here in Los Angeles.”
In the letter, the killer referred to himself as a “D.C.,” that is, a Doctor of Chiropractic. In it, the killer said:
“I felt bad operating on those people, but science must advance.”
Lawrence Scherb said the letter is just the beginning of the Torso Slayer-Black Dahlia connection:
“The killer apparently had a fetish for cleanliness and cleaned the Dahlia’s body very carefully with water, washed it very carefully, shampooed her hair and scrubbed her with a bristle brush so severely that he left bristles embedded in her skin. The Cleveland victims also indicate that there were attempts to clean bodies. A butcher knife was used to bisect the Dahlia. And a butcher knife was used to dismember, decapitate and bisect victims in Cleveland.”
Police determined that Elizabeth had been tortured for several hours before being killed. We know that she had been tied up. She had rope burns on her neck, arms, and legs. In Cleveland, several victims had exactly the same type of marks. Also, the Dahlia’s body had been arranged in a sexually suggestive position, just like the Torso slayer’s victims.
But if the Torso slayer was locked away in an Ohio hospital, how could the murders have continued in other parts of the Midwest and, later, Los Angeles?
Lawrence Scherb wondered if perhaps one crucial point was overlooked by Eliot Ness when the killer entered the hospital:
“If one is voluntarily in a mental hospital, you are free to legally walk out any time you want. And I think that’s exactly what he did. I think he used the mental health system most of his career. When things got tough or the investigations heated up, he simply checked himself into a mental institution, waited until they cooled down and then checked himself out again and departed and continued killing.”
Eliot Ness never publicly identified the suspect. He took the name with him to the grave.
According to Lawrence Scherb:
“He was the most prolific mass murderer in the history of the United States. And to this day his true identity remains unknown.”
Watch this case now on Amazon Prime in season five with Robert Stack and in season two with Dennis Farina. Also available on YouTube with Dennis Farina. Various seasons available now on Hulu.
Anonymous
Because it is top secret, I only have so much access to it. But I can say for certain the guy who wrote Elliott Ness is the same person that wrote the San Francisco police department during the Zodiac killer rampage. However writing letters doesn’t prove murder.
Anonymous
After reading several books I’ve come to the conclusion that those were two different killers. They were very similar and even looked just like each other. But they were different people.
Erin
There are two important facts about Elizabeth Short’s murder that aren’t mentioned here. Her stomach was stuffed with feces, and the rose tattoo on her inner thigh had been sliced off then inserted into her vagina. These two facts (particularly the poop) are a huge deviation from the “cleanliness” displayed in the torso murders.
As a side note: The Glasgow Smile? I’ve always felt that was meant to mock her desire to be famous. Like, “Smile for the camera!” Just a feeling I get. The person who killed this poor, young woman was a special kind of sick. It was absolutely his goal to defile her. To desecrate her.
Anonymous
A sick medical examiner is not necessarily a killer if his samples were already deceased. Caused 9f death is all we really need.
Anonymous
The smile cut didn’t even reach the carotid artery. It is possibility the hemorrhage could have been caused by a possible overdose.
Tee
I personally think it was Dr. Sweeney.. Everything matches up except his whereabouts..
Anonymous
Did any of his clients have a psychological history? Hodel’s clients did.
Barry Guerrero
It’s a difficult situation, because it is now clear – just as Steve Hodel has maintained all along – that Dr. George Hodel was a master criminal who started his killing-spree hobby much earlier than his probable and highly infamous murder of Elizabeth Short (“Black Dahlia”). The question is, which of these earlier famous murder cases can be truly assigned to George Hodel. The passing of the years and the lack of hard forensic evidence makes it near impossible to say. I think there’s enough ‘thought print’ and m.o. material to at least consider Hodel as the perp of the Cleveland torso murders. The question is, does Steve Hodel have any evidence that places George Hodel near the ‘scenes of the crimes’, i.e. Cleveland? Steve Hodel has just released two books (Nov. of 2021) on his father’s early killings, so perhaps he does have something of a smoking gun. Let’s not rule him out yet. There are some problems with Elliot Ness’ fingered suspect, although he looks to be the most probable.
Anonymous
He is a very good suspect. But we can’t just stack up unsolved crimes on just one suspect. It’s possible the killings in Cleveland stopped because Elliott Ness destroyed Kingsbury run. It may have had nothing to do with that suspect apprehended. Not to beat around the bush. But we are really settling for two in the bushes. I don’t even know if Hodel was even the guy Elliott Ness was looking at. If he wasn’t, that would make it impossible. But I may still read his sons books just to see his side.
Anonymous
The problem with George Hodel is I can only go by incidents. He was known to give unnecessary prescriptions. One of the post cards to Elliott Ness showed a clipping of when heroin was legal. And the writer misspelled nothing explosive underneath. Many of the decapitated areas were areas that would show and overdose. (Even private parts containing urine.)And the person messed up a couple of times. One of the victims was confirmed to have had drugs. Some were even killed on the spot and not taken anywhere. I think Sweeney was just abusing the corpses of already deaf bodies. And at the time there where no laws against it. They couldn’t even charge him. Same situation with Hodel. They knew he gave prescriptions. But he couldn’t even admit it caused her death. (Not with all the extra stuff done.) He joked and said to ask his secrecy. They couldn’t charge him either.
Melinda Dawn Millard Duncan
What if it was Elliott Ness himself why would he not name the man?
Courtney
Possible!!! Very good perception!!! Wow!!!
Anonymous
He wanted to enter politics. And the man was related to a US Congressman. The only thing they had on him was abusing a corpse. So by taking him away from the corner, evidence was no longer contaminated. They would catch who was really doing the killings and how they died. In the Hodel interview with police, he kind of hints he may have been responsible. Even his secretary overdosed. So the crazy guy was just covering up and only offering political connections to the physician prescribing drugs. Their is evidence the physician also wrote Elliott Ness the letters.
Peppa Pig
I think that one of her special “clients” did it because they were not satisfied with her “job”
someone
after reading lot of stuff about black dahilla i realized that she was killed by her boyfriend. her boyfriend didn’t actually killed her but he made people to kill her for money. you’re maybe wondering why? the answer to your question is b/c elizabeth short went crazy after realizing that her ex-boyfriend was getting marryed to other girl. she first went to california and after she become crazy ex-girlfriend , she was NOT LETTING him to marry that girl. then she lied about being pregnant by her ex-boyfriend and HE finally decide to kill her. he sent 2 guys to kill him. she was walking around the park when one guy put gas mask on her and make her to pass out (but not kill her), then they used her… (i mean she was completly naked )after they sliced her in half (close to the place where baby”s grow) so they started looking for “baby” and didn’t find anything . then they left. after few days her boyfriend get married and in few months he killed himself…i’m not sure why but i tink because of the murder…. if you want to know details and want to know where i get the information from email me at : someone4u@gmail.com
Anonymous
If she called her boyfriend Red heprobably was the guy she was last seen with. But that doesn’t make him the killer.
Robert the Wallace
Having been extremely interested in both cases: The Black Dahlia because the crime was so horrific and unsolved; and The Cleveland Torso Murders since my Grandmother and Mother { who were both living in Cleveland at the time }, had told me just how very scary a time it was! I firmly believe Mr. Eliot Ness had it all wrapped up with the Demented Dr. Francis E. Sweeney as the Mad Butcher Of Kingsbury Run! ! ! The only reason his inability to prosecute, was because Sweeney’s relation to the Congressman Martin Sweeney prevented arresting him. Also, I believe that either Sweeney, or George Hodel was responsible for Elizabeth Shorts’ heinous demise. . .hopefully some smoking gun evidence will come forward to fully wrap–up the undecisivenessof these two cases.
G Kamin
Sweeney with an accomplice
Anonymous
You are right G Kamin. I see those two working together. The only thing Hodel did however was write prescriptions and letters to the police. The victims truly were “guinea pigs”. The Zodiac killer may have also used the same accomplice. (The hand writing is very similar and uncanny.) Sweeny was dead by that time period.
Anonymous
I didn’t know that Sweeny wrote the letters to Elliott Ness. His cousin was in politics and would later fund his opponent when Elliott ran for mayor. He can be accused for abuse of a corpse. But that doesn’t prove murder. The first two cases were solved in Cleveland. The suspect died in custody. But when you have a crazy guy throwing body parts all over Cleveland. Detectives will have a hard time solving u related homicides. (Because the evidence is contaminated.)
Dahlia
I want to correct some information regarding the murder of Elizabeth Short.
1. Elizabeth was not a prostitute. Her friends, boyfriends and the detectives all confirmed this. There is speculation she was actually a virgin.
2. Elizabeth’s throat was not slit. Despite some bruising, her autopsy report states that she bore no neck injuries whatsoever, and her hyoid bone was intact with no evidence of trauma to her thyroid glands or trachea also.
3. Elizabeth’s last known location was the Biltmore Hotel’s lobby, where she’d made several telephone calls to unidentified people. Robert Manley (nicknamed “Red” for his hair) was the unnamed man, who told investigators he’d dropped her off there.
@anonymous: George Hodel was not the killer. He was indeed a surgeon (and it’s documented that whoever did it had medical and biological knowledge) and lived in proximity to where her body was found, however this doesn’t sufficiently prove his guilt and he was later dismissed as a suspect due to lack of evidence as a result.
Unfortunately I believe this crime will remain unsolved forever.
Alex Cameron Dimez
I’d also like to add:
Elizabeth Short did not have a middle name “Ann”.
There is no proof George Hodel had even known Elizabeth. His son Steve, who I have interviewed myself, is a bit of a kook.
There was no missing pieces, it looks like that because the victim was still alive while being severed in half, causing muscular contortions.
The cause of death from my best research was the “Glasgow smile”, apparently she choked on her own blood.
It’s so heartbreaking because there is less and less hope of it being solved. I think this wasn’t an isolated accident. Whomever did it, this was clearly not their first or last victim.
William Kuhn
If I remember correctly, Madi Comfort – Duke Wellington’s “Satin Doll” identified Elizabeth Short as acquainted with Dr. Hodel. Comfort stated she was involved in a sexual alliance with Dr. Hodel & Dorothy Hodel. Of course, this doesn’t prove that Dr. Hodel killed Short – but it does open up the possibility thereof.
Anonymous
How many people had access to the deceased back then? The official cause of death is from lacerations to the face causing a hemorrhage. But if you look further into the autopsy report it also says the lacerations were done after death. That is really difficult to accept for an accurate cause of death. Today’s medical examiners will not conclude contradictions like that.
Anonymous
I don’t know. But when someone makes a mistake it is important to make them accountable. Most of the torso slayings where concealing unknown evidence. And killers will get over confident and take more risks. When a victim finally showed up with drugs in their system, that makes you take a second look at all the other victims. The black Dahlia’s right shoulder for example looks just like a heroin injection.
Anonymous
This case was recently solved. A man came forward and fingered his father who I am pretty sure was a surgeon or something to that effect. Dr George Hill Hodel. Look it up.
Katia
Asking questions are actually fastidious thing if you are not understanding something fully, except this
post offers pleasant understanding yet.
Anonymous
His son solved the Black Dahlia. Cleveland is more tricky. I believe his father wrote Elliott Ness in the 1950s though. And the Cleveland guy may have helped him in California.
LUIS FREEH
WHY DO YOUR “MURDERED VICTIMS” RESEMBLE PEOPLE “I” AM TALKING ABOUT LIKE “DAMEIN”? “CANCELLED” “CANCELLED” “CANCELLED”!
LUIS FREEH
THE “WHOLE” PURPOSE OF YOUR SHOW WAS “SERIAL KILLER’S STUPID POLICE & VOLUNTEER’S & HOMOCIDE CAN’T CATCH & DIDN’T KNOW WERE ALREADY CAUGHT OR SHOT OR APPREHENDED BY THE ***F.B.I***? “U” ARE NOW “CANCLLED”!
LUIS FREEH
YOUE A TV SHOW? ARE “U” LIKE “EXHIBIT A” IN “TORONTO” THAT ONLY HAS CASES “I’VE SOLVED OR WORKED”? WHO IS THE “***FEDERAL*** AGENT BEHIND YOUR SHOW”?
LUIS FREEH
OH COME ON NOW! “U” HAD CALLED “THE REPORTER’S WITH CAMERAS TO YOUR HOME BECAUSE U THOUGHT “U” SOLVED THE CASE! “U” ENDED UP “POINTING ME OUT TO THEM FOR SOME REASON. “I” LIVED DOWN THE STREET MAME!
LUIS FREEH
THAT’S TOO BAD! BECAUSE “I” HAD DISCOVERED THAT OTHER “POST” UWON’T SHOW IN THE 80’S WHEN SOMEONE WHO LOOKED LIKE NESS STOLE OR ERASED MY COMPUTER SO USELESS WHITE SLLUTS (LIKE YOURSELVES) CAN TRY TO RE- WRITE IT AS “U” SEE FIT (CUT TOO SHORT)
LUIS FREEH
HEY! DO *NOT* ADD IN THE “MARCH OF STOEGER ARMS” WAS “CUT SHORT”! SHE HSD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT, APARENTLY IT WAS “SL CAPONES” FAULT!
LUIS FREEH
SO! SOMEBODY “FOUND MISS BROWER” UNDER SOME “TREE BRANCHES” AND MOVED HER TO ANOTHER SPOT! IRON! & NORTH! ALWAYS IN THE “NORTH” & THERE HAS TO BE IRON INVOLVED! JUST LIKE “TYNONG NORTH” OR STAND BY ME.
LUIS FREEH
FRANK NITTIE “KNEW” THE KILLER AND SHOT HIMSELF IN THE HEAD IN 40 SOMETHING! THAT GAVE THE KILLER FREEDOM IN 1947!
LUIS FREEH
WEAR IS THE MISSING SECTION OF TORSO? SHUNTING TWO BLADES INTO THE “MAGIC BOX” CUTTING THEM IN HALF LESVES A MISSING SECTION FROM THE LOWER HALF TO THE UPPER HALF!
LUIS "CAPONEY" FREEH
CLEVELAND! “MY” CLK COUPE (CL) STEVE(EVE) LAND! OR CARIOT (C) THE LOX(L) & EVE OF THE RUFF RYDER’S LAND? WAS “OUR KILLER A DUP SHIT”? & NEED “STEVE (ST) IN “HIS” LAND (CLEVELAND) OR IS IT AN “OTHER”!
LUIS FREEH
DO “I” HAVE TO START CALLING “U” NESTLE MR. NESS? (GOOD PAGE!) BECAUSE RS IN TORSO REALY IS IN ODER & HI IN DAHILIA IS TO! SO ST IN STEVE OR UV IN OSTER UV SNAKE EYES IS ALSO IN ORDER “I” THINK IT’S WHY THE “CORONER” PUT “HIS” NAME ON THE REPORT! WRITE OUT YOUR ALPHABET NOW!
LUIS FREEH
CAPONEY AXE HOW DO “U” HAVE A “PRIME” SUSPECT WITHOUT THE “CORONER’S REPORT”?
LUIS "CAPONEY" FREEH
WHY DOES THE PHOTO OF BLACK DAHILIA LOOK LIKE RCMP CONSTABLE BENTON FRASER? ‘GORRILLAS” “J” FOR “WEARS IT’S MUTHER’S JAGUARS” !
LUIS FREEH
ALRIGHT! MR. NESS! “I” LUIS “CAPONEY” FREEH HAVE “LINKED” THE TEO CASES. THEY WERE *NOT* LINKED BECAUSE “OSTER UV SNAKE EYES NN” DID *NOT* COLLECT THE “CORONER’S REPORT”! THEREFOR WE DO *NOT* KNOW IF THE CORPS WAS DRAINED OF BLOOD LIKE IN “THE GREAT LAKES” FORT ERIE OR CLEAVELAND CASE.
LUIS FREEH
I THINK D.C REFERRS TO DAMIEN & CARIOT OR DMX & CARIOT ELIOT IOT X IS COMING FOR YA! CAN’T DO NOTHIN FOR YA! CUZ X IS COMING FOR YA! RUN HIDE DUCK DUCK. GET IT?
Luis Freeh
THE *”IRS”* KILKED ELIZABETH SHORT! LOOK TORSO BREAK IT APART U HAVE TO RS O! RS AS IN THE ALPHABET IN ORDER RS TU VW XY Z. DAHILIA ( I DON’T JUST “WANT IT TO BE”) BREAK IT APART DA HI LI A HI JK LM NO P. NO! WELL HL H-L H IJK L STILL IN ORDER! SO MUTHER C&&&& AND YOUR A^^ PLAYING “DETECTIVES CUZ YOUR FAT & ANGRY! OH! I FIGURED IT OUT ALRIGHT FAT FUC* ING AGENCY (AS IF) DETECTIVE UPHOLSTERY FOR A COAT. GO SUCK A PIPE (TRY LEAD) SH&T LOCKS HOLMES. THAT WAS THE CONSPIRACY! TAKE OUT “I” CUZ H-L IS STILL IN ORDER HURAHHHHH! POLICE! U PUT YOUR MUTHER’S .380 AUTO LOADER IN YOUR MOUTH (WHEN IT WAS LOADED) AND JIGGLED IT. THE PUBLIC THANKS U.
Anonymous
A guy named george hodel is the prime suspect
Anonymous
He probably was. But with a medical examiner contaminating evidence, we may never know. (If the guy from Cleveland had access to the LA morgue like he did in Cleveland.)
Anonymous
Sweeney without glasses looked very similar to Hodel. A photo lineup would be difficult. It is hard to tell who did the dirty work.
Rachele
Why is it that America is producing SO many fruitcake sexual predators? Why do they serve little or no time in jail? Why do judges and jurors have empathy and sympathy for societal termites who are crazy beyond repair? Why are the laws of reporting rape and pedophilia given a statute of limitations with forensic evidence, when DNA can produce a conviction for murder and there is no statute of limitations for murder? Why are the laws written by men? Why do women and children have to be murdered when raped for anything to be done about locking up the criminally insane for good???
kittycat
A lot of the killers are involved in high profile jobs and positions in society. They just don’t like the poor slave class. Don’t consider them human. Scotland and Ireland have strange extreme customs concerning smiles. Cheshire cats. Alice in wonderland.
Anonymous
I don’t think the case had anything to do with sex. She wasn’t trashy like some may depict. She had professionalism to her. And I wish Dr. G would have done the autopsy. Even the most obvious homicides she still looks for overdoses and stuff like that. The experts said she ate her own stools. The damage to her colon would have produced that in her intestines. The autopsy ruined the case.
MNM
Who wrote this article for citation?
unsolved
Hi MNM – this page was summarized from the segment on the show that was originally written by our show writers.
Gene
Sweeny was the name. Tie him to va hospital records
burke
it was the slender man
Anonymous
I can’t even track when they named Heroin after her. Street rumors just don’t have any validity anymore. The deadly form of heroine is called a Black Dahlia.
Anonymous
He was possibly a client for Hodel? He offered Hodel connections to a US Congressman. Hodel let him work in the morgue instead of staying at a mental hospital. (I think Sweeney was involved. But police had no laws to charge him.)
Anonymous
There is interesting politics. California reelected a governor the same week of the Black Dahlia. And a Chicago police officer turned himself in for the murder because Busby was accused of it. (Goes to show how easy it was to buy out a police department in the 1940s.) Having connections to a US Congressman was a lot of pull back then.