Brittany Finger

Criminalistics

Dr. Flowers

March 20, 2019

The Black Dahlia

The Black Dahlia murder is popular because it is so gruesome and to this day it is an

unsolved murder. This murder happened a long time ago in 1947 in Los Angeles. The victim of

this murders actual name is Elizabeth Short and she was on 22 years old at the time of her

murder (Dahlia). Since the Black Dahlia’s killer was never found it is one of the oldest cold case

files in Los Angeles, making it very famous (Dahlia). In some recent case developments in 2013

there has been a return to the case because of some soil samples (Dahlia). What makes this case

so gruesome is that Elizabeth’s body was found cut in half and extremely mutilated (Dahlia). The

Black Dahlia case is very popular because it is so gruesome and unsolved.

Elizabeth Short was nicknamed “The Black Dahlia” and she was born in Boston,

Massachusetts, on July 29, 1924 (Dahlia). Twenty-two years later Elizabeth was murdered in Los

Angeles aspiring to be an actress (Dahlia). Her body was January 15, 1947 in a vacant lot in the

Leimert Part neighborhood, on the 3800 block of Los Angeles’s South Norton Ave (Dahlia). The

investigating officer’s name was Brian Carr, and he was a detective for the Los Angeles Police

Department (Dahlia). He spoke about the murder and said, “It was pretty gruesome”, “I just can’t

imagine someone doing that to another human being.” When a local female resident found her

body it was found nude and posed, her body was cut in half and severely mutilated (Dahlia). In

addition, her body had evidence of being dissected, all the blood her the body was drained and

the body was scrubbed clean (Dahlia).

 In the recent case developments from 2013, a retired police sergeant by the name of Paul

Dostie uncovered incriminating evidence against Dr. George Hill Hodel. Dr. Hodel was the

prime suspect when this case was being investigated. A police dog named Buster that has a great

sense of smell and is especially good at detecting decomposing flesh, detected the scent of

human decomposition in several places in Dr. Hodels basement of his residence. Therefore, soil

samples were taken from the basement of Dr. Hodel’s residence for lab testing. Back in the

1950’s Dr. Hodel was the prime suspect for not only the Black Dahlia murder, but also ten Los

Angeles Lone Woman Murders, including the murder of his own secretary/lover, Ruth

Spaulding. There is actually evidence of Dr. Hodel stating, “Supposin’ I did kill the Black

Dahlia. They couldn’t prove it now. They can’t talk to my secretary because she’s dead.”

The soil samples were taken from Dr. Hodels residence and where the crime scene was

(Healy). The soil was tested for human remains in the soil, and after soil analysis the soil tested

positive and specific for human remains (Healy). These soil samples were analyzed by Dr. Arpad

Vass, who is a forensic expert (Healy). When Dr. Arpad Vass tested the soil samples, he used

gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify chemicals present in the soil samples

(Healy). Vass said that a number of human specific markers came up in the soil samples (Healy).

When doing chemical analysis Vass found out that the human decomposition was there for 20-

100 years (Healy). When testing for human decomposition in soil, there are important soil

properties you have to pay attention to (Surabian). Such properties such as depth of soil, rock

fragment content, pH of soil, soil temperature, soil texture, and soil moisture (Surabian). In this

case it is hard to use the soil samples against the Black Dahlia case, but it is helpful to the other

cases that Dr. Hodel was suspected for (Healy).

 Proper soil analysis for testing decomposition involves lots a key steps (Surabian). One of

the most important parts of the analysis is testing the pH of the soil, because if the soil is acidic,

it can make the corpse decompose more quickly than soil that is more basic (Surabian). If the soil

is more basic the corpse will stay in better condition and decompose slower (Surabian). In this

case, the bodies that were in Dr. Hodel’s basement were in shallow graves (Healy). Obviously

temperature of soil can affect the way a body decomposes, because the warmer the soil is the

faster the body will decompose, in comparison to colder soil where the body will decompose

slower (Surabian). It is also important to look visually with the eye at the characteristics of the

soil, if comparing soil to a crime (Surabian).

After carefully looking over all the information on this case of the Black Dahlia, I think

that Dr. Hodel committed the murder and the murders of the Lone Women murders, including

his secretary Ruth Spalding. There is so much evidence that makes him look like the murderer.

The fact that he said basically confessed when he said, “Supposin’ I did kill the Black Dahlia.

They couldn’t prove it now. They can’t talk to my secretary because she’s dead.” Also, when the

dog Buster sniffed out human decomposition in his basement. He actually at some point had

bodies in his basement. When the soil was tested they found out that the human decomposition

was there for 20-100 years. This was found out when doing chemical analysis on the soil, and it

is within the time frame of the murders. Unfortunately, chemical analysis cannot pinpoint exactly

when the decomposition was there. I find this case especially interesting, because of the way that

Elizabeth Short was killed. She was dissected and also drained of her blood. Whoever killed her

was using her as a guinea pig, and then she was just dumped. I also find it interesting that she

was posed at her dumping site. From this information, it seems like this killer is experienced, and

has to have some sort of medical background. This case also interests me because I want to be a
homicide detective and primarily work on cases with serial killers or gruesome murders like this

one. Also I find it very interesting how this case was never solved, because of how famous it is,

the police even had people fake confess to the murder. It was also the front page of the paper for

months.
 Works cited

Black Dahlia. (2019, January 21). Retrieved March 20, 2019, from

https://www.biography.com/people/black-dahlia-21117617

Healy, P. (2014, June 03). Ex-Cop Cites New Evidence His MD Father Was Serial Killer.

Retrieved March 20, 2019, from https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Lab-Results-

Support-Suspicion-of-Retired-Detective-Pursuing-Hollywood-Cold-Cases-261409101.html

Surabian, D. A. (2016, June 14). Soil Characteristics that Impact Clandestine Graves. Retrieved

March 20, 2019, from https://www.forensicmag.com/article/2012/02/soil-characteristics-

impact-clandestine-graves