Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder is a 1994 American historical true crime book by John Gilmore. The book details the life and death of Elizabeth Short, also known as "The Black Dahlia," an infamous murder victim whose mutilated body was found in Leimert Park, Los Angeles in 1947, and whose murder has remained unsolved for decades. According to Gilmore, he was inspired to write the book after having met Elizabeth Short when he was eleven years old. Published in 1994, it was the first and one of
William Short (American ambassador) 1783 to 1784. After serving as the U.S.'s "chargé d'affaires" in France during the French Revolution (1789–92). In 1792 he was appointed as America's Minister to the Netherlands, and from 1794 to 1795 he served as a treaty commissioner to Spain. Although his diplomatic career was not as celebrated or long as Short may have wished, and his love affair with a French noblewoman ended with her marrying another man, Short was a successful businessman and an opponent of slavery who died very wealthy in America. William Short was born in 1759 to William Short (the Fifth) and Elizabeth Skipwith