Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder section with many never before-published photos from the life of Elizabeth Short and from the case, including graphic crime scene and postmortem police photos. The book was well-received upon publication, receiving praise from publisher Larry Flynt, as well as David Lynch, who optioned the book for film rights in 1995; the film eventually fell through. 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,"
Charles Walton (murder victim) and the only similarity with Walton's murder was the fact that a pitchfork was used in both instances. There is no evidence that the Charles Walton mentioned in Bloom’s book was one and the same as the murdered Charles Walton. The latter had three older sisters and two younger brothers. If the Charles Walton in the story was subsequently the murder victim, he would need to have had a sister who died during 1885. However, his sisters Mary Ann and Martha Walton both married in 1891 and lived for some years thereafter, while Harriett – in reality Charles’s half-sister –