Short Elizabeth. The murder of Black Dahlia

"If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans," says a famous proverb. Young and beautiful American Elizabeth Short had the standard dreams of her age - to marry successfully and become an actress. However, from the many coevals it was different that the girl did not spare neither time nor energy to achieve her goals. But fate decreed otherwise, in the American and world history Short Elizabeth entered not as a talented actress, but as a victim of a cruel and pointless murder at first glance.

Short biography of Elizabeth

The girl, famous for the whole world as the Black Dahlia, was born in Massachusetts (the city of Hyde Park) in 1924. Later, the family moved to Medford, Father Elizabeth engaged in the sale of equipment for golf. The business was quite successful, and the family could be safely called prosperous. Her mother did not work, but there were only four children. During the Great Depression, the company of Elizabeth's father went bankrupt, and he himself disappeared. The car of the head of the family was found near the river, the main version of the disappearance was suicide. From adolescence, Elizabeth Short began to often leave for her aunt in Miami, claiming that her home climate was bad for her health. At that time, the girl was burning with the idea of becoming the wife of a military pilot. The second dream of Elizabeth was a great movie, she really believed that she could conquer Hollywood and very soon the whole world would start talking about her.

The private life of Black Dahlia

While still a minor, Elizabeth tried to provide herself. The girl loved and was able to dress beautifully and take care of herself and realized that not only natural beauty attracts men. However, after working as a waitress, a dishwasher and even a model in a department store, she realized that all these activities in no way bring her closer to fulfilling her desires. After all this, Elizabeth Short arranges to work at the Camp Kook military base. However, it did not work for long in this place, ordinary servicemen liked the young beauty, but the leadership came to the conclusion that the girl behaves too provocatively, and dismissed her.

After that, Elizabeth met with the pilot Joseph Fickling long enough, but he went to war without a promise to marry his girlfriend. Probably, our heroine believed after such a free woman and very soon entered into a romantic relationship with the Air Force Major Matt Gordon. It is not known what Elizabeth felt, but the pilot really lost his head from love, made an offer. Unfortunately, the wedding did not take place, as the bridegroom tragically died in a plane crash, returning home. After such an event, Short for decency sobbed for several weeks, and then left for Miami, where she was regularly seen with different and quite respectable men. At the same time the girl moved regularly from place to place, rented new apartments and houses and still thought about the career of a film actress or model. She made new acquaintances and lived at the expense of her boyfriends. Most likely, sooner or later she would have succeeded, if something terrible had not happened.

Mysterious murder, struck by its cruelty

In 1947, the police in Los Angeles received a report about the discovery of a human corpse. At the intersection of 39th Street and Norton Avenue, a local resident noticed a motionless body in the grass and hurried to report this finding. The policemen who came to the challenge were shocked - on the ground there really was a dismembered corpse of a naked woman. The body of the victim was neatly cut at the waist, multiple traces of violence were present, and the face was mutilated beyond recognition. It is worth noting that the American history of horrors by that time already recognized the existence of serial maniacs and killers-psychopaths. But this crime made even the most experienced detectives shudder. In the city, a new sexy maniac? But who is this woman and why did they deal with such cruelty? Experts from the FBI were involved in the investigation, and very soon the forensic experts made even more incredible conclusions by conducting an autopsy and a detailed examination of the body.

Examination results

On the victim's body, during the initial examination, multiple violent injuries were found. On the wrists and ankles, with the naked eye, there were traces of the rope, on the face and body - multiple hematomas, and the mouth was cut. All these signs together with the lack of clothing gave grounds to make the assumption of rape in a particularly perverted form. However, after the autopsy, the experts unequivocally said that before the death, the victim had no sexual contacts, and there are reasons to believe that she was a virgin at all. It can also be concluded with certainty that the dismembered corpse was delivered to the detection site and discarded after the crime was committed. Moreover, the murder is committed deliberately. The victim was tortured for a while, then killed (death occurred as a result of multiple strokes on the head, causing a brain injury), then dismembered with a very sharp and thin object, washed and taken out. Particularly surprised policemen was the choice of the gun for separating the upper part of the trunk from the lower one. Most often in such cases, an ax or saw is used. When this crime was committed, a surgical scalpel or a very sharp knife was used.

Elizabeth Short is the victim of a terrible murder!

With the identification of the body found, problems arose. The body was too much disfigured, documents, clothes and special signs were missing. Without special enthusiasm, the police conducted a fingerprint examination. And then they got a positive result. The FBI database found the right fingerprints. Doubts did not remain, before the detectives and experts, Elizabeth Short's body - beauties, who dreamed of conquering Hollywood. What is noteworthy, the fingerprints of the girl were in the database almost by accident - they were removed from her during her employment at the military base.

Legend of the Black Dahlia

Having established the identity of the victim, the police began to interview her relatives and friends. At the same time, information about a terrible crime began to appear in local newspapers. Journalists often called the unfortunate beautiful pseudonym - Black Dahlia. A version is widely spread that this girl's nickname really got from friends during her lifetime. Elizabeth was dark-haired and liked to dress in black, putting on her face a bright make-up. In combination with pale porcelain skin, a truly vivid image of the fatal seductive was obtained. However, it is possible that journalists themselves have come up with a beautiful name for the deceased. Interestingly, the police specifically concealed the fact that the alleged victim is a virgin. While newspapermen constantly called her a woman of easy virtue and assumed that it was this kind of life that caused the incident.

Course of investigation

All the people from the immediate circle of the deceased, the murder of Elizabeth Short very much struck and upset. Some close friends of Black Dahlia said that with men she was not always cautious. Elizabeth often acted defiantly, hinting at intimate relationships, but she did not have sexual relations with her boyfriends and fans. As soon as the adorer began to clearly hint at sexual intimacy or demand her, Elizabeth firmly and unequivocally refused. Detectives came to the conclusion that the motive for killing a girl could be from one of her boyfriends. However, they checked many close friends of the deceased, and they all had an absolute alibi.

Who is the murderer of Elizabeth Short?

During the investigation it was established that Black Dahlia met not only with rich secular men. After the death of the groom, the girl remembered her first pilot, Joseph Fliking, she was the first to write to him. And after a short correspondence, the man even took a short vacation in order to meet with Elizabeth personally. However, Black Dahlia behaved as always - "lovers" cute, talked, walked and went to a cafe, but they slept on different beds. However, it was impossible to make an official suspect from Fliking, since during the murder he was at a military base in Germany and had no opportunity to leave it. We also checked a few more admirers and lovers of the showy girl, but they all did not arouse suspicion and had an alibi.

Strange message

The story of Elizabeth Short only stopped appearing on the front pages of newspapers, as something strange happened. At the post office an envelope was signed, which was signed incorrectly. In it was a note composed of newspaper clippings: "So young! I will do it, as did Black Dahlia, "below the signature -" The Raider for Black Dahlia ", as well as a photo of a young man with the signature" Next. " In addition, it was written on the envelope that the things inside belonged to the Black Dahlia, and indeed, along with a note to the detectives, there was a birth certificate from Elizabeth, her medical insurance, business cards and a notebook of Mark Hansen. This man was found and interrogated, identified the person and the person shown in the photo with the signature "Next". However, both had nothing to do with Elizabeth herself and her death.

The circle of suspects is expanding

The murder of Elizabeth Short in 1947 produced a significant public response and simply could not remain undisclosed. After a strange message, about twenty other men were checked, which aroused the suspicion of the police. And then something incredible happened, a letter came to the police station, in which the anonymous author described in detail how he killed and dismembered the young girl. It is possible that it was just Elizabeth Short. With great difficulty, the detectives calculated the author of the message, it was Leslie Dillon. A man was found and interrogated, but it soon became clear that he was suffering from schizophrenia and in his letter only stated the personal reconstruction of events, which he learned from the newspapers. The next suspect was Al Morrison (aka Adam Smith, Jack Anderson Wilson), a police informant, to whom this person allegedly personally told about the committed one, pointed at him. However, as soon as the warrant for the arrest of this man was received, it happened incredible - he died as a result of a fire in the motel. Then the investigation worked out other versions, but to find the real killer and prove his guilt did not work out.

Elizabeth Short story: documentary and works of art

Since the tragic death of Black Dahlia more than half a century has passed, but this terrible and mysterious story is still not forgotten. In 1987, James Ellroy's book was published, based on a real crime. Its name is "Black Dahlia". I wrote about a high-profile murder and detective Steve Khodel. In addition, the American history of horror has received several films, documentaries and one multi-budget artistic, telling about this crime. The image of Elizabeth Short used Marilyn Manson, as well as many popular artists dedicated to the victim of an unknown maniac songs, which later became hits.