Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 - January 14 or 15, 1947), known posthumously as "the Black Dahlia", was an American woman who was found murdered in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Her case became highly publicized due to the graphic nature of the crime, which entailed her corpse having been mutilated and severed at the waist. A native of Boston, Short had spent her early life in Massachusetts and Florida before relocating to California, where her father lived.
Suspects and confessions
The notoriety of Short's murder has spurred a large number of confessions over the years, many of which have been deemed false. Since the initial investigation, over 500 people have confessed to the crime, some of whom were not even born at the time of her death. Sergeant John P. St. John, a detective who worked the case until his retirement, stated, "It is amazing how many people offer up a relative as the killer."  During the initial investigation into her murder, police received a total of 60 confessions, most made by men, but several from women.  In 2003, Ralph Asdel, one of the original detectives on the case, told the Los Angeles Times that he believed he had interviewed Short's killer, a man who had been seen with his sedan parked near the vacant lot where Short's body was discovered in the early morning hours of January 15, 1947. A neighbor who drove by that morning had planned on dropping a bag full of lawn clippings in the vacant lot when he saw a parked sedan, allegedly with his right rear door open; the driver of the sedan was standing in the lot. The neighbor's arrival apparently startled the owner of the sedan, who approached his car and peered in the window before returning to the sedan and driving away from the lot. The owner of the sedan was followed to a local restaurant where he worked, but was ultimately cleared of suspicion.  Suspects remaining under discussion by various authors and experts include Walter Bayley, Norman Chandler (whom biographer Donald Wolfe claims impregnated Short), Leslie Dillon, Joseph A. Dumais, Artie Lane (a.k.a. Jeff Connors), Mark Hansen, Dr. Francis E. Sweeney, George Hill Hodel, Hodel's friend Fred Sexton, George Knowlton, Robert M. "Red" Manley, Patrick S. O'Reilly, and Jack Anderson Wilson.
Who were the main suspects in the Black Dahlia case?
over 500 people have confessed to the crime, some of whom were not even born at the time of her death.
over 500 people have confessed to the crime, some of whom were not even born at the time of her death.