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,"
Charlie Howard (murder victim) Charlie Howard (murder victim) Charles O. Howard (January 31, 1961 – July 7, 1984) was an American murder victim in Bangor, Maine in 1984. As Howard and a male companion, Roy Ogden, were walking down the street, three teenagers, Shawn I. Mabry, age 16, James Francis Baines, age 15, and Daniel Ness, age 17, harassed and assaulted Howard for being gay. The youths chased the pair, yelling homophobic epithets, until they caught Howard and threw him over the State Street Bridge into the Kenduskeag Stream, despite his pleas that he could not swim. He drowned, but his friend escaped and