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
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 –