May 11, 2019
Los Angeles, Californi

DNA ANALYSIS REVEALS DR. GEORGE HILL HODEL NOT BIOLOGICAL FATHER OF FAUNA HODEL

Fauna Hodel birth certificate 
Born in San Francisco on August 1, 1951
Place of Birth- St. Elizabeth’s Infant Hospital, 100 Masonic Avenue, San Francisco
Mother-Tamar Nais Hodel  “Age 16” Female, Single
Father-“Information withheld concerning father” Race -“Negro”

“Ghost Adventures and Black Dahlia House” Excerpted Interview of Steve and Fauna Hodel at Sowden/Franklin House(2015)
Aired January 30, 2016  (3 minutes)

Verbatim transcription of Fauna’s on-air statement:

“I’m Tamar’s firstborn child after the incest trial.  And I was named Fauna Hodel. My birth certificate says that George Hodel picked my name Fauna. * Whatever he did that was evil needs to be really told.

Q:  When did you realize that you were related to Dr. George Hodel?

F: Imagine meeting your birth mom for the first time, and she’s sitting there telling you that her father had been investigated in the Black Dahlia Murder.** So, I was creeped out to say the very least.”

Fauna Hodel
Travel Channel
“Ghost Adventures and BlackDahliaHouse”
Zak Bagans”Inside the Black Dahlia House”
Aired Jan 30, 2016                                            

• No, George Hodel did not name her Fauna. Her mother named her Fauna with no input from George Hodel, who was living in Hawaii. Tamar selected the name from a poem by Robison Jeffers, just as her father had selected her name “Tamar” from a Jeffers poem.

• Much has been made and even in this 2015 interview Fauna seems to be suggesting the possibility that George Hodel could have been her father. Not so. Her mother, along with other witnesses present during the sex act and who testified at trial, established the day of intercourse with her father was   “July 1, 1949.  Tamar testified that she only had sexul intercourse with her father that one time.” Fauna was born August 1, 1951.  (That would make it a scientific impossibility as it would require a 25-month gestation period.) Further recent DNA tests have confirmed that George Hodel has been eliminated as the father of Fauna Hodel. Tamar always maintained that Fauna’s biological father was “A White Male Italian in San Francisco.”

**  Note that Fauna in this 2015 interview never claimed that she was told by her mother that her mother believed her grandfather actually killed, “The Black Dahlia” only that” he was investigated as a suspect. “

In truth, Fauna’s mother, Tamar, my half-sister,  had no knowledge of any of the facts or details surrounding the investigation, only that detectives transporting her to the incest trial informed her “they thought George Hodel might have killed Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short some three years earlier.”

In the years prior to my publication of Black Dahlia Avenger (2003), Tamar maintained her personal belief that “Our father, George Hodel did not kill the Black Dahlia.”

Tamar stated her belief was based on communication with author Janice Knowlton and her book, “My Daddy was the Black Dahlia Killer.” Janice assured Tamar that “No, it was my daddy named ‘George’ that killed her. I saw him throw the bisected body parts off the pier and then wade out and recover them.”

 Tamar also consulted a friend “a highly respected psychic” in Hawaii,  who told me George Hodel didn’t do it.”

This, of course, all preceded the publication of my book, Black Dahlia Avenger and my investigative findings and linkage and discovery of the Secret DA Hodel Black Dahlia tapes (2003) containing our father’s confessions to multiple murders including the Black Dahlia and his forced overdosing of his personal secretary, Ruth Spaulding. (Investigated by LAPD in 1945)

 WHAT’S IN A NAME?

 We have seen time and time again how George Hodel was fixated on and totally obsessed with NAMES and NAMING.

This was true both in his personal family life and it carried through to his professional life, to his psychopathy as a serial killer. 

I have documented these his naming in earlier books and in blogs through the years. Here are a few reminders:

1.  “Dorero” for his wife, my mother Dorothy. (Dor, “A gift of” and Eros, “God of Sexual Desire”- “A gift of sexual desire.”
2. “Tar Baby” his 1937 Black Packard.  A roadside trap. Once a passerby was in it, there was no escape. Used in his multiple kidnappings of Lone Woman Murders.
3.  “Tamar” – His third child, a daughter,  after a poem on incest, by an esteemed California poet, Robinson Jeffers, then fourteen years later he commits incest with that very child.
4. “Steven” (myself) to honor Dublin novelist James Joyce who died in 1941, my birth year.  Naming me after the character,  Stephen Dedalus in James Joyce’s novels, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses.
5. Using the names of streets signs as “clews” in posing victim’s bodies in his “catch me if you can” taunts.
   (Hollywood, Winthrop, Degnan, Mountain View, Zodiac.)

 A NEW THOUGHTPRINT?

And now, thanks to another reader, it appears we have been given another name, another potential thoughtprint linking back to my father and his psychopathic thinking.

A few weeks ago, I received the following “comment” from Melissa Sklar, on my blog site. The following investigative research is a direct result of Melissa’s posting. THANKS, MELISSA, have to pin a detective badge and “deputize you” for your astute observation.

As we can see from Tamar’s signature on Fauna’s birth certificate (above) father named her, Tamar Nais Hodel.

A brief examination of the life of Anais Nin reveals the following:

• She met and fell in love with author Henry Miller in Paris and became both his lover and the editor of his most infamous novel, Tropic of Cancer (Obelisk Press 1934) His book, published in Europe and banned in the U.S, it “became an underground sensation, to the point where people were essentially drug mule-ing copies back home.” (See photo below where that original edition on sale for $12,000.)

• Both Henry Miller and Man Ray and Anais Nin were closest of friends (Henry and Anais remained lovers) in Hollywood and both Miller and Man Ray were good friends of Dr. George Hill Hodel during and through the 1940s until he fled the country to avoid arrest.
• Man Ray photo of Anais and Henry Miller
         
• Photo of Anais Nin and Henry Miller in California taken in 1947. (Same year as Black Dahlia Murder) Photo taken by MAN RAY.
• Anais Nin published her own Diaries writing about her incestuous affair with her own father and her sexual exploits.
• Excerpt from Anais Nin Diary (1939-1944) where she quotes a letter from her then lover, Henry Miller, who informs her is has “just met with Larry Powell Librarian and biographer to Robinson Jeffers and will be meeting Jeffers next week.”
• Excerpt from the Diary of Anais Nin 1939-1944           Jeffers Bio                   Excerpt from Review of Jeffers “Tamar”

“It has been written that at the time of the publication of “House of Incest,” which took place at around the same time that Anais Nin was having an incestuous relationship with her father, some members of the Nin family who knew about the incestuous relationship were “horrified” to know that Anais Nin was writing a book with this title. They assumed that the book was going to be an expose on the father/daughter incestuous relationship.”  Wikipedia

•  For the Record, Los Angeles Times article July 28, 2006, by Elaine Woo, The Ranger Who Told All About Anais Nin’s Wild Life. (Fascinating article referencing Anais Nin incestuous affair with her father, and her obtaining an abortion from a pregnancy fathered by Henry Miller and the fact that Lloyd Wright, designer of the Sowden/Hodel residence and architect for George Hodel became “family” to Anais Nin. (Head spinning.) See the attached PDF.  Anais Nin LAT article

Is Tamar’s middle name NAIS a true “thoughtprint”?  Did her father in naming her desire to connect both her first and middle names to the theme of incest?  The evidence presented here would appear to say, YES.

We know without question that her first name was selected by our father after Jeffer’s famous poem on Incest.  We also can be confident that George Hodel knew and was friends with Nin during the California years. He certainly would have been one of the first to read the banned book, Tropic of Cancer in 1934. How could he not be?

We also know as fact that George was close friends to both Henry Miller and Man Ray.  They made regular visits to the Sowden/Franklin Hodel House and according to my mother, they made regular visits to Big Sur. Man Ray was our family photographer.

Tropic of Cancer, written by Miller and edited by his lover, Anais Nin was born and published just months before the birth of Tamar Hodel in 1935.

As a P.S. on Henry Miller for those who have not read or seen him referenced in my books, I here reproduce an excerpt on Miller from BDA III:

Henry Miller: Novelist, friend to GHH and Man Ray. His novels, Tropic of Cancer, Black Spring, and Tropic of Capricorn were banned in the US for several decades on the grounds of obscenity and being “too sexually explicit.” We recall in an earlier chapter of BDA II my mention of Miller’s privately printed book, The World of Sex (NY 1940) where he writes,

“…I would recommend them [men] to have intercourse with animals or to fuck in public.”

“There is nothing in itself which is wrong or evil, not even murder. …”

“Some females ought to be raped to death and left lying on the spot for all to see.”

And here is a recent online discovery of a Henry Miller artwork that would suggest that his proof is in his painting as relates to “having intercourse with animals.” Possibly it is a self-portrait with the aging artist “looking on”? (We should cut the artist some slack for not “joining in” after all he would have been seventy-six at the time of the drawing.) Painting appears to depict a kangaroo getting his goat.

Original Henry Miller Watercolor painting SIGNED and dated 8/67 by Miller.
Asking Sale Price $7500.00 (as of July 27, 1998)

SKH Author’s Closing Thought: 

I think we have established a fairly strong circumstantial case that my father did likely name my half-sister Tamar Nais after two writers direct connections with INCEST.  I only remain slightly skeptical because he did not use her actual name- Anais. (But, again, that may have been too obvious and we all know just how subtle George “Keep Em’ Guessing”  Hodel loved to be.

That said, there remains a second possibility ( a separate possible thoughprint) that just might have been the source of the name. Here it is.

Nais

Merriam Webster Definition of nais. 1 plural naises\ -​sə̇z\ or naides\ ˈnāəˌdēz\ : a river nymph : naiad. 2 capitalized [ New Latin, from Latin, naiad ] : a large genus of small aquatic oligochaete worms that is the type of the family Naididae.

We are familiar with George Hodel’s encyclopedic familiarity and love for Greek Mythology.

We can be relatively certain that he would have been familiar with the term NAIAD/NAIS and perhaps it was as simple as that?

His newborn daughter would be his little NAIS, his water nymph?

The God’s Laughing Time AGAIN:

Excerpt from Most Evil I (Dutton 2009)

Exhibit 4

June & George Hodel, Bush Street residence, San Francisco, circa 1997

4b

        On the morning of June 2, 1999, my father’s widow, June, boarded the Neptune Society’s boat, Naiad, and powered out into San Francisco Bay. After passing under the Golden Gate Bridge, she scattered my father’s ashes in the waters off Point Bonita Cove. [1]

[1]   Though both the date of my father’s burial and the name of the boat that would transport his ashes were both random selections, I cannot help but wonder in amazement at the incredible synchronicity and how the Gods must be laughing. First the date. June 2^nd happened to correspond to the birth date of Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade, better known to the world as the Marquis de Sade. (June 2, 1740-December 2, 1814) The word sadism is named after this infamous French aristocrat, and is defined as: “ 1) sexual gratification gained through causing pain or degradation to others 2) any enjoyment in being cruel 3) extreme cruelty.” Dr. George Hodel copied Sade’s written funeral instructions to the letter, and his final order, found neatly typewritten and attached to his will, directed how his body was to be disposed. It read as follows: “TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: “I do not wish to have funeral services of any kind. There is to be no meeting or speeches or music and no gravestone or tablet. I direct that my physical remains be cremated and that my ashes be scattered over the ocean. There are several crematories in San Francisco which provide these services. If I die in a foreign country, cremation and scattering of my ashes may be carried out in that country, or the ashes may be shipped to San Francisco for disposition, with the choice to be made by my wife JUNE, or if she is unavailable, as the executor of my will shall decide. /s/ George Hill Hodel DATED: June 16, 1993.

Secondly, the name of the boat–The Naiad. Naiads, Naias, Nais, all three are the same word derived from Greek mythology. “Naiads or Nais were water nymphs, and the daughters of-ZEUS. They represented revenge for offenses and could lead an offender to madness.” (PandoraWordBox.com) George Hodel named his first born daughter (my half-sister)– Tamar Nais Hodel. Father chose the name Tamar after Robinson Jeffers 1925 poem TAMAR, a story of family incest. Fourteen years later, he would consummate the name with the act by having sexual intercourse with his teenage daughter, which resulted in his 1949 arrest and trial. Now we discover that father, a certified megalomaniac, had chosen to name his daughter just as Zeus did–NAIS a water nymph.  As I have noted so many times before in this personal Greek Tragedy, the Gods had to be laughing as the small craft NAIAD powered out under the Golden Gate bridge to escort George Hodel through the billowy waves to his suicide grave.

The post Fauna Hodel Interview Inside the Sowden/Hodel House: No “Chinatown Scenario” (‘She’s My Daughter/She’s My Sister’); DNA Eliminates Dr. George Hodel as Father of Fauna Hodel- A New Thoughtprint? appeared first on Steve Hodel.

Click on above to play 

May 14, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Above is a four-minute Introduction/Teaser video clip from today’s Dr. Oz Show interview Science, Medicine and Mystery-True Crime, “Who is Responsible for The Black Dahlia Murder?”  If you missed it (like I did) looks like it will air again next week on May 21st.

The post Steve Hodel Interview with Dr. Oz “Who Is Responsible for the Black Dahlia Murder?” (4 Minute Video Intro Clip) appeared first on Steve Hodel.

May 15, 2019
Los Angeles, California

A few months back I was contacted by MWA’s Kris Montee (Edgar Banquet Chair and Annual Editor) and asked if I would be willing to contribute a short essay for the 73rd Anniversary Annual Program for the upcoming 2019 Edgar Awards Ceremonies. to be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on April 25, 2019.

As a former Edgar nominee, in the Best Fact Crime category, I was honored by the request.  My essay, “Following The Equator: A Journey Around the World” printed in the 73rd Anniversary Annual is reproduced below.

Click for PDF Hodel Essay, “Following The Equator: A Journey Around the Word”

             Steve’s Essay PDF  mwa anniversary annual skh essay

Below link shows 2019 Nominees and winners in red.

2019 Edgar Award Nominees and Winners 

The post Mystery Writers of America 73rd Annual Edgar Awards Dinner Focus on “True Crime and the Writers It Inspires” My Author Essay Inclusion for the Annual Program appeared first on Steve Hodel.

May 17, 2019
Los Angeles, California

After working LAPD uniform patrol for six-years, I transferred to Hollywood Detectives and one of my first case assignments was the investigation of the rape and attempted murder of the eight-year-old victim, Tali Shapiro.

Tali’s assailant was RODNEY JAMES ALCALA, who after serving less than three years for the attempted murder of young Tali in his “1 to 99-year indeterminate sentence” after a prison psychiatrist declared him “cured” was released from prison and would go on to become one of America’s most notorious serial killers.

To listen to Hollywood & Crime podcast “Tali”  Episode 1  Click Below.

Alcala circa 1971

Actor Jay Allen in 2017 episode Murder Made Me Famous, “The Dating Game Killer” Season 3, Episode 9, aired November 2017. (Steve Hodel interview lower right of photo.)

Alcala Hodel CBS News Interview (4 minutes)

Rodney James Alcala  circa 1969

CLICK TO HEAR FULL “TALI” PODCAST

Episode 1  TALI  (Hollywood Homicide Detective Steve Hodel’s investigation/arrest of Alacala)

The post Serial Killer Rodney Alcala “The Dating Game Killer”: Hollywood & Crime Podcast Episode 1 “Tali” Steve Hodel’s Investigation and Arrest of Alcala appeared first on Steve Hodel.

May 19, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Tamar Hodel circa 2001, Hawaii

I recently appeared on a nationally televised talk show, Dr. Phil, with my two great-nieces, Rasha and Yvette, who are the daughters (different father’s) of my niece, Fauna Hodel, who passed away from cancer in 2017.

During our interview with Dr. Phil, Rasha told the viewing public that she believed her grandmother, Tamar Hodel (my half-sister) was, “Pure Evil.”  I corrected her on the spot and attempted to explain that Tamar was a teenage victim of incest and sexual abuse at the hands of our father, which subsequently caused her to spin out of control and make some major bad choices as she grew from a teen into adulthood.

In my most recent publication, Black Dahlia Avenger III, I devote an entire chapter on my half-sister presenting as best as I could, both sides, attempting to provide readers with a fuller “Nature and Nurture” cause and effect, along with identifying some of the failures on her part to assume responsibility for her actions.

In January 2004 some nine months after the publication of my first book, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder, (Arcade 2003) Tamar wrote and emailed me the below six-page “Overview of the Tamar Chronicles.” This was a summary of what she intended to be her “autobiography in three parts. ”

In this opening introduction, Tamar presents me with the details of her teenage pregnancy and exactly how it happened and what followed during her “placement in an unwed mothers home.”

Tamar gives us the true story of how once she was hospitalized, “a very kind and loving Black man offered to help me…offered to marry me…, but authorities refused. Based on this the HOSPITAL AUTHORITIES AND PERSONNEL ASSUMED THAT THIS FRIEND (A NEGRO) WAS THE FATHER, and Tamar continued to let them believe the father was black.  (See full description and details in Tamar’s own words as to the how and why of it below.)

The actual facts surrounding Tamar’s pregnancy and adoption and Tamar’s motives, are very different from how they have been portrayed by others, so best to hear them told, as they actually occurred, in the very words of Fauna’s mother, Tamar Nais Hodel.

SKH Note:  Fauna’s autobiography would not be written until 2008, some five years after the publication of my book, Black Dahlia Avenger and some four years after Tamar wrote and sent me the below account of the facts, to be told in The Tamar Chronicles. 

Unfortunately for us, Tamar’s autobiographies were never completed.

T

Tamar late 1951 or early 1952 (age 16) in Mexico with her mother, Dorothy Barbe (wearing sunglasses left).
This photograph would have been taken shortly after the birth and adoption of her first child, Fauna Hodel, who was born August 1, 1951.

Below is a PDF containing the complet seven pages as included in BDA III Chapter 6, Tamar Nais Hodel.

Tamar in her own words bda III all seven pages

The post In Her Own Words-Tamar Nais Hodel Tells the True Story of the Circumstances Surrounding Her Daughter Fauna Hodel’s Birth and Adoption appeared first on Steve Hodel.

May 22, 2019
Los Angeles, California

I received an email today from a reader of my books and a regular commentator to this blog site. His name is Lucas Pickford.

Lucas wrote the following:

In a follow-up email today he informed me that this was his first video and that he had “zero experience in film making” and had recently purchased some video editing software and was just beginning to learn the “how to” of it.

The following “first-time” video is quite remarkable and Lucas readily admits it was a collaborative effort with his wife, Kristin, being, “the real editor behind the scenes.”

WARNING:  This video is labeled by its creator for “MATURE” audiences.  Some of the imagery is shocking and though it is “true crime” still in my opinion, is not recommended for viewers under age-16. The filmmaker’s imagery is not at all gratuitous, but used as  a highly effective  means of conveying  the artist’s original belief, which is:

“There exists no light in the psychopath, none at all…only darkness.”

Click below to watch the 6-minute video, “The Darkness”

And here is my Email response to Lucas thanking him for his remarkable “First Effort.”  Really amazing.

P.S.  Super thank you to Kristin and her outstanding “collaboration” as co-editor to THE DARKNESS.

P.P.S.

Here are the incredible lyrics to The Wolf That Lives in Linsey which begin:

Of the darkness in men’s minds
What can you say
That wasn’t marked by history
Or the T.V. news today
He gets away with murder
The blizzards come and go
Full Lyrics by Joni Mitchell

The post Out of “The Darkness” Comes Light: A Short Video by a Reader and Regular Contributor to this Blogsite appeared first on Steve Hodel.

May 26, 2029
Los Angeles, California

Here’s a recently recorded seven-minute interview I did for Sydney, Australia’s morning show, “Today Extra” where I  provided a quick summary/overview of my investigation.

“Today Extra” Hosts David Campbell and Sonia Kruger interview Steve Hodel Downunder

Click to View

The post Australian Morning Television Show “Today Extra” Interviews Author Steve Hodel on Black Dahlia Investigation appeared first on Steve Hodel.

May 29, 2019
Los Angeles

“There is much more incest out there than people are aware of. It’s hidden and it destroys lives. I look at Mackenzie and realize I was fortunate: I was raped only one time by my father.” 

                                                                                    Tamar Hodel
Excerpt from 2009 Vanity Fair article by Sheila Weller
           “Michelle Phillips and Friends Speak Out about Mackenzie’s Incest Allegations”

A friend recently sent me a Vanity Fair article by Shelia Weller highlighting Mackenzie Phillips 2009 disclosure of being an incest victim of her father, John Phillips, famed songwriter, and singer for the Mamas and the Papas. 

The Tamar Hodel quote, once again confirms, in her own words, that Tamar only had intercourse with her father on one occasion and court documents establish that date as being, July 1, 1949, which resulted in an abortion in September 1949. As recently established by DNA analysis, Fauna Hodel was not the biological daughter of George Hodel.  According to Tamar, Fauna’s father was “A White Italian American who plied her with alcohol and raped her in November, 1950”, more than a full year after she had obtained the abortion in Los Angeles.

Mamas and Papas Ed Sullivan Show 1967

John Phillips and daughter Mackenzie

Mackenzie Phillips 2008  

See Shelia Weller’s Vanity Fair full article below:

Michelle Phillips and Friends Speak Out about Mackenzie

THE MICHELLE PHILLIPS/TAMAR HODEL FRIENDSHIP

Tamar Hodel                                           Michelle Phillips

Here are some excerpts from my book, Black Dahlia Avenger (Arcade 2003) that talk about the Tamar/Michelle relationship in Michelle’s own words.

BDA Chapter 15  page 176:

Maybe it was my own design and not simply the passage of time that kept the true story of Tamar and the family scandal a dark mystery to me for many years. Even in my adult mind, Tamar was the image of the adolescent temptress Lolita. She would go on to blaze a trail from the beat generation of the middle 1950s to the street generation of the late ’60s, bouncing off poets, folk singers, druggies, and hippies.

Tamar was described by singer Michelle Phillips in her book California Dreaming’: The True Story of the Mamas and the Papas as her “very best friend, who got me interested in folk music, or at least into folk music people.” Michelle’s description of Tamar is a snapshot of the young girl who, a decade earlier, unwittingly had come within a hair of playing a critical role in the Black Dahlia investigation. Phillips writes:

So, off we went to Tamar’s. As soon as I set eyes on her, I thought she was the most fabulous, glamorous girl I had ever met. She had a wonderful lavender-colored room, with lavender pillows and curtains, lavender lead-glass ashtrays, all of that. I thought it was just great. She had just acquired a new pink and lavender Rambler, buying it on time.

She hung out with a very hip Bohemian crowd—Josh White, Dick Gregory, Odetta, Bud and Travis. Tamar was incredible. She gave me my first fake ID, my first amphetamines (“uppers” to help me stay awake in class after late nights). This was a girl after my own heart, and we became very close . . . and now she was my idol.

I recommend you check out Michelle Phillips autobiography, California Dreamin’: The True Story of the Mamas and The Papas (Warner Books 1986). It contains a lot more information on Tamar and Michelle life together in San Francisco.  Tamar and Michelle remained life-long friends and Michelle was Godmother to Tamar’s children.

The post 2009 Vanity Fair Article Confirms Fauna Hodel Not Biological Daughter of Dr. George Hill Hodel- Michelle Phillips on Her Tamar Hodel Friendship appeared first on Steve Hodel.

31 May 2019
Los Angeles, California

“…George Hodel, was likely the Black Dahlia killer and, it is widely believed, her [Fauna Hodel’s]
biological father (after raping her mother).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Carlita Rizzo
  “How ‘When They See Us,’ ‘Dirty John’ Depicted Notorious Crimes for TV” (May 30, 2019)

“You’re not going to use the story, Mr. Scott?”

“No Sir. When the legend becomes fact. Print the legend.”

Following in the footsteps of the old adage from the classic film, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1962) it would seem HOLLYWOOD is determined to perpetuate the myth that George Hodel is the biological father of his granddaughter, Fauna Hodel.  “Print the Legend.” 

In writing today’s article for the Hollywood Reporter, I can only assume that Ms. Rizzo in interviewing the screenwriter, Samuel Sheridan (married to the IATN miniseries executive producer, Patty Jenkins) was not informed that TNT had requested and obtained a DNA analysis comparing George Hodel’s DNA to his granddaughter, Fauna Hodel and the results proved “to a scientific certainty” that she is NOT HIS DAUGHTER.

These dramatic results were presented for the first time, in person to Tamar and Fauna’s children in a taped sit-down interview which was included in of “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia”- Episode 8, “You Only Have One Family.”

Despite the fact that the companion miniseries, “I Am The Night” had completed airing the powers that be decided they wanted the DNA results removed from the podcast, and kept secret.

Consequently, other than my blog site announcements articles such as today’s in the Hollywood Reporter continue to  “Print the Legend.”

Excerpt from HR Carlita Rizzo’s  article addressing the miniseries,  “I Am the Night” (Bolded emphasis mine):

…

There are also occasions when using the source material only as inspiration serves the narrative best. Such was the case with I Am the Night, the dark coming-of-age story of author and motivational speaker Fauna Hodel’s search for her birth parents. Hodel discovered that her maternal grandfather, George Hodel, was likely the Black Dahlia killer and, it is widely believed, her biological father (after raping her mother). In the TNT series (which debuted Jan. 28), Fauna and George face off at his iconic residence, Los Angeles’ Sowden House, to dramatic consequences. “The true story is incredibly complicated and [wouldn’t be] as satisfying [onscreen], because in reality Fauna never came face to face with George Hodel,” says writer Samuel Sheridan, who was also wary of turning the story into another Black Dahlia murder mystery. “Our central truth was about this girl who set out to find who she was and discovered the worst things were true and found a way to come through that.”

Sheridan and his wife, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins, who executive produced and partially directed the limited series, had for years discussed how to turn this fascinating character study into a narratively cohesive story. With the resurgence of the miniseries format and the invention of Jay Singletary, a fictional Korean War veteran and disgraced reporter (played by Chris Pine) who helped the narrative move forward more efficiently, the story started taking shape.

“I thought there was an interesting parallel to work with between Jay and George Hodel in that they both have killed people and felt some of the things you don’t ever want to talk about in killing people — the kind of surge of power and joy and thrill that might come to a certain kind of person,” says Sheridan. “Whereas Jay is tormented by it, Hodel has embraced it.”

It’s this exploration of moral complexity in the people who commit horrible acts that makes true crime such a draw, the writers believe. “In my life, I’ve never really known a pure good guy or a pure bad guy, and I think that when you have a true story, it gives you license to tell something that’s more truthful and honest about who people really are,” says Johnson. “I think people want those adult stories that are complicated and ambiguous and resemble a world that we’re familiar with.”

For those that haven’t seen my earlier May 11th blog on this subject. Here it is.

Fauna Hodel Interview Inside the Sowden/Hodel House: No “Chinatown Scenario” (‘She’s My Daughter/She’s My Sister’); DNA Eliminates Dr. George Hodel as Father of Fauna Hodel- A New Thoughtprint?

The post The Hollywood Reporter Perpetuating the Myth … TNT Executives Continue To “Remain Silent” On The Fact THEY Obtained DNA Analysis Proving George Hodel Is NOT Biological Father of Fauna Hodel appeared first on Steve Hodel.

June 2, 2019
Los Angeles, California

(Today is the 279th birthday of the Marquis De Sade and the 20th anniversary of the day George Hodel’s ashes were scattered by his wife June, into San Francisco Bay directly off Point Bonita.)

Dr. George Hill Hodel circa 1952

Below section excerpted from “Dr. George Hill Hodel” Wikipedia Page:

Is George Hodel, the Biological father of his Granddaughter, Fauna Hodel?

In both Hodel’s granddaughter’s autobiography, “One Day She’ll Darken” (Outskirts Press 2008) written by Fauna Hodel and J.R. Briamonte and the “based on, inspired by” 2019 TNT six-part fictional miniseries, “I Am The Night” it is suggested that George Hodel may have been the biological father of Fauna.  Readers and viewers are informed of the real-life incestuous relationship between Hodel and his then fourteen-year-old daughter, Tamar and the subsequent trial. Despite the fact that George Hodel had fled the country prior to Fauna’s conception date in November 1950 (born August 1, 1951) and her mother’s identifying the father as, “A White, Italian American in San Francisco”, the book and miniseries more dramatic narrative that “George Hodel was likely Fauna’s father” prevailed. (This perception was likely fueled by the fictional account in the classic film,  Chinatown (1962) in which George Hodel’s longtime friend, actor/director John Huston plays the role of Noah Cross, a politically powerful Los Angeles millionaire whose granddaughter was born as a result of his incestuous affair with his daughter. Many believe the earlier 1949 Hodel Incest Trial (George and Tamar) coupled with the close Huston/Hodel friendship was the source of this being included in the “She’s my daughter, she’s my sister” screenplay dialogue.)

In 2019 the question of parentage was finally answered by SCIENCE.  It was revealed in the final episode of the No. 1 ranked eight-part podcast, “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia.” In a dramatic sit down with Hodel Family members, the shows executive producer, Zak Levitt presented the results from DNA testing.  Those results “proved to a scientific certainty that George Hodel was NOT THE BIOLOGICAL FATHER OF FAUNA HODEL.” (Unfortunately, TNT, the sponsor of the Root of Evil: True Story, requested that portion and those findings be removed from the final Episode No. 8. Consequently, hundreds of thousands of listeners were deprived of hearing the truth as Tamar Hodel had always maintained, “Fauna Hodel’s father was not George Hodel, her father was a White Italian Male in San Francisco.”

DR. GEORGE HILL HODEL WIKIPEDIA LINK

The post Wikipedia Update DNA Comparison Reveals Dr. George Hill Hodel Not Father of His Grandaughter: “I Am The Night” and “One Day She’ll Darken” Suggestions of “Chinatown” Parentage Disproven appeared first on Steve Hodel.

June 4, 2019
Los Angeles, California

The following NEWSWEEK article, “True Story Behind ‘Root of Evil’ Podcast, Black Dahlia Murder and Fauna Hodel”- Who Is George Hodel?” by Culture Writer, Kelly Wynne was published this morning.

(I have added the real Hodel family names to the characters portrayed in the above publicity photo. India Eisley portrays my niece, Fauna Hodel; Connie Nielsen in the role of my mother, Dorothy Hodel (Corinna”) and Jefferson Mays plays my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel.)

Full Article HERE. 

Fact-checking the Newsweek article:

1. “George was a gynecologist at the time of the Black Dahlia murder.”

No.  George was never a “gynecologist” he did, however, have specialized training in venereal disease control and in earlier years was the V.D. Control Officer for the entire L.A. County.

2. “Hodel was first suspected of the murder because he was accused, and charged, with sexually assaulting his daughter Tamar Hodel.”

No.   According to Tamar Hodel’s statements, “police were investigating and “first suspected” George several years earlier back in 1947” and George informed her, “No more nude sunbathing Tamar, the police are watching me.” We also now have documented evidence from the Glenn Martin Letters (Martin was a paid LAPD informant working undercover) that Martin’s acquaintance George Hodel “was brought in and grilled on the Black Dahlia and Louise Springer murders” shortly after the Springer murder in June 1949. (Three months before Tamar’s incest disclosure and arrest and placement in “protective custody”  by LAPD and six months prior to the incest trial.)

3. “…police bugged Hodel’s home in hopes of hearing something about the murder. It took a while, but the audio finally captured something incredibly alarming: the sound of a woman’s scream. …Hodel’s secretary was said to die of a drug overdose. It’s unclear if the screams came from her…”

No. It’s not unclear considering that his secretary, Ruth Spaulding and George Hodel’s suspected overdosing of her and the LAPD investigation of him as a possible murder suspect occurred in May 1945, nearly five years prior to the DA/LAPD taping of the woman’s screams. What is clear is that this February 18, 1950, tape-recorded beating and recorded screams of the unidentified woman very likely resulted in another George Hodel serial murder on tape, with the police taking no action or any attempt to make a rescue. (They were four minutes away from the residence at time of the assault and or murder.) Consequently, as documented in my investigation, their need to cover-up the case after GHH fled the country. They could not allow this to become public. 

4. …Because of the amount of time that’s passed since the Black Dahlia’s death, real name Elizabeth Short, it seems unlikely a full conclusion will ever be met.”

No. “A full conclusion” “Case Solved, Dr. Hodel Did It” has been made by many including at least seven (7) top law enforcement officers four (4) of whom were directly involved in the original case. They’re separate stated “conclusions” documented in below video “Case Solved”. 

LA Head Deputy DA Steve Kay’s Public Declaration that Dr. George Hodel Guilty Beyond a Reasonable Doubt and evidence enough to convict in a Jury Trial. (Play 30-sec video below)

“Case Solved- Dr. George Hodel Did It” conclusion has been rendered by the following top Law Enforcement officers:

LAPD Chief William H. Parker
LAPD Deputy Chief of Detectives Thad Brown
LAPD Chief of Detectives James MacMurray
LASD Commander Thomas Vetter
LASD Undersheriff James Downey
LA Head Deputy DA Steve Kay
LADA Lt. Frank Jemison

Original Top LAPD, LASO and DA Investigators Then and Now Confirm that the "Black Dahlia Murder was Solved"

TOP BRASS LAPD/LASA/LADA ‘CASE SOLVED’ (3 min video)

STEVE KAY HEAD DDA “CASE SOLVED” (3 min video)

The post Fact Checking Newsweek Article “True Story Behind ‘Root of Evil’ Podcast, Black Dahlia Murder and Fauna Hodel- Who Is George Hodel?” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

June 7, 2019
Los Angeles

( Below portion excerpted verbatim as typed and presented from a lengthy original email written to me by  my sister on 1/13/2004 and  published in author’s Black Dahlia Avenger III (Rare Bird Books 2018) Chapter 6 Tamar Nais Hodel 1935-2015)

Tamar
1/13/04

…

Life as I knew it… totally shattered.

My father was defended shamelessly by Attorney Jerry Giesler and Robert Neeb…”All a Fantasy of a young girl”! A smear campaign was created, and I was labeled inaccurately as a liar and a “bad seed”.

At the close of the court trial and my father’s acquittal…I was transferred from the Los Angeles Juvenile Hall to San Francisco Juvenile Hall as a Ward of the Court…suddenly I had become the criminal…without committing a crime!

I was incarcerated for almost one year. The system had no idea where to place me…In the end…I was released to my Mother in San Francisco…the first day home I walked across the street to see my childhood friend David age 15, and as I approached…I was startled to hear his Mother call out to him not to speak to me…telling me “to get away from her son…You Whore…You Whore”!!! He did not even speak…I returned home…shocked and confused…later that day David slipped away from his Mother’s watchful eye to tell me that the case had been in all the newspapers and Sex Magazines…that I was a Scandal!! Considered to be a Very BAAAAAD Girl…He asked me to meet him at his friends home nearby that evening so that he might show me the newsclippings and magazines…I arrived at his friends house…(a bachelor, about 25 years of age)…who kept me supplied with good tasting drinks (I learned later that I was being given Sloe Gin in mixed drinks)…I drank and waited…no David…finally I passed out and awakened to being raped by his friend…as soon as I could walk…I went home..and soon discovered that I was pregnant!!!

Still a ward of the court….a Baaaaad Girl.

And pregnant….I asked my Mother for help…She refused to help saying “she would not help…not after what I had done to my Father!!”

That I should take care of it on my own!

Wow!

A long series of painful attempts “to handle my pregnancy on my own” followed…all unsuccessful. That is a whole chapter to itself…

My Mother turned me into the court as a runaway…I had not…I was simply trying “to take care of it myself as instructed.” At the final point of this effort…too many people were becoming involved that could be hurt for helping me…including Gus Hall the distinguished leader of The Communist Party.

Rather than endanger any others…I turned myself into the Juvenile Court.

A very kind and loving Black man tried to help me…offered to marry me…which he thought would…give me my freedom as an adult…the court said no…it was actually illegal at that time in California!

By the time that I was about two months pregnant…I was placed in an Unwed Mother’s Home…and although my pregnancy was truly an unwanted one…my baby became the only family that I had in the world…and I wanted so very much to keep her…I was informed that would not be possible…unless my Mother agreed to be responsible…As they

Assumed that the father of my child was black (due to my friend who asked permission to marry me) …and…All my heroes were black…(I was not favorably impressed with the white race…I had been very shocked by the way I saw blacks being treated at Juvenile Hall..(I was embarrassed to be white) and I was also surprised by the fact that most of the beautiful black girls…had no idea that they were beautiful) Soooooo as they thought that the baby’s father was black, I continued to allow them to think so. Understanding that I would not be allowed to keep her…I wanted her to be in a loving environment. At that time (1950) I naively thought just being in a black family would accomplish this…

When she was born, I did not get to hold her…I was only allowed to see her through a glass window in the arms of a nun…and as I looked at her trying to project my absolute helplessness at the whole turn of events…she flashed an accusing look of betrayal.

I was not to look into her eyes again until 20 years later when we were reunited in Honolulu…She (Fauna) has made a film about her long search for her mother…and growing up white in a black family, called “Pretty Hattie’s Baby” with Alfre Woodard, Charles Dutton, Jill Clayburgh, Tess Harper, Bobby Hosea and Allison Elliot.

After Fauna’s birth, I was whisked away to Mexico City “to forget”. I was told that I must never attempt to find my daughter, that she had been adopted by two wealthy Interracial Artists…and that I must never interfere.

At the time I believed my Mother…however as it turned out my Mother actually had her given to a maid at the Silver Dollar Hotel in Reno Nevada!!

…

(SKH Note- Email continues describing later events in Tamar’s life.  See BDA III for full Tamar Hodel narrative.)

The post TAMAR HODEL: In Her Own Words: Relates Details of the Pregnacy, Birth and Adoption of Her First Daughter, Fauna Hodel appeared first on Steve Hodel.

June 9, 2019
Los Angeles

It was pure serendipity.

A few months back I was attending a talk at one of my favorite venues, the South Pasadena Library Community Center.

After the talk, my good friend and South Pasadena Librarian, Steve Feljsted approached and introduced me to fellow lecture attendees, Craig and Patricia Graham, who are the owners of Vagabond Books. 

The Grahams have been collecting and selling rare books for over forty years.

We shook hands and Craig reached into his jacket pocket and removed a small 4×7″ hardbound book and smiling, he handed it to me, and said, “Came across this recently and thought you might want to have it.”

To my great surprise, it was my paternal grandfather’s personal Calendar Book from the year 1935.

It was unused and in mint condition, contained no personal entries and as seen above it was embossed on the front with my grandfather’s name and work address: “George Hodel Annuities * Life Insurance* 111 W. Seventh St.”

I opened it and inside was a separately printed card, also in mint condition which read:

Thumbing through the book I discovered it contained no physical entries, was completely blank and pristine. The back of the book contained the usual miscellaneous information such as: weights and measures, postal mailing costs, interest rates, etc.  Also included was a list of “populations” for U.S. major cities as of 1920 and 1930.  Checking out “Los Angeles” the book showed it as:  “1920-876.000 and for “1930-1.2 million.” (Today’s Los Angeles population some eighty-four years later is over “4 million”.

My sincere thanks to the Graham’s for bringing my grandfather’s book “home” so to speak.

I can’t help wondering what “travels” the book experienced during the past eighty-four-years. Did it just remain on some lonely shelf for decades,  or in a weathered box in a garage, or did it get out and about and see a bit of the world?  I asked it, but whatever it saw and heard, it ain’t talking, so guess we will never know. But, rest I assured I gave it a big “Welcome Home.”

My grandfather, George Hodel Sr. had been a top insurance salesman in downtown Los Angeles joining the Equitable Life Assurance Society in 1915 in Los Angeles.  Below is a letter from 1950 acknowledging his “35th anniversary”

My father’s father passed away four years after the above letter was written.

He died on June 1, 1954 at age 81 and is buried in Forrest Lawn Glendale.

Interestingly, my grandmother, Esther Hodel, my grandfather’s wife died of tuberculosis in Los Angeles on August 3, 1935, the very same year as this newly discovered calendar book. My grandparents are buried side by side at Forrest Lawn.

*My thanks to “Laura Hardin” for the photographs and entries documenting my grandparent’s gravesites.

The post Grandfather George Hodel Sr. Calendar Book Finds Its Way Back Home After Eighty-Four Year’s “On The Road” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

June 16, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Happy Father’s Day-Dad’s.

Just wanted to acknowledge how fortunate we fathers are to be blessed with children.

Best presents EVER. 

Yes, I loved my 1964 Comet Caliente Convertible. And my cool home on its own “island” in Eagle Rock, in Northeast LA. I loved my first real microscope and my leather-bound Franklin book collection of “The Hundred Greatest Classics.”

But, no present has ever come close to that of becoming a father and being blessed with two beautiful sons.

Both have now grown to manhood and are strong, healthy, positive forces for Good in the world.

On this Father’s Day 2019 I say thank you, boys. Thank you both for BEING.

Much Love,

DAD

Michael                                Matthew

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June 21, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Greetings from Los Angeles and welcome to the first day of summer!

Please click below for my audio INTRODUCTION (five minutes) to this Special Report before proceeding, or alternatively click on readable text. (I have also included the full “Case Closed-Special Report” as a downloadable PDF containing full twenty-seven pages and photos.)

Special Report (Introduction only- two pages)  PDF text

Case Closed Special Summary PDF (twenty-seven pages photos and text)

The post Special Report: Black Dahlia “Voices from the Past”: Top City and County Law Enforcement Officers Declare “Case Solved”: LAPD Denies Request for DNA Testing, “Too Busy with Current Cases” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

June 30, 2019
Los Angeles

Greetings from Los Angeles.

Here’s a five-minute video on my earlier posted “Special Report” for those that want a briefed down version containing just the “Case Solved” statements from the LAPD, LADA, and LASD “high command.”  For those that want the full monty version (27 pages viewable online or downloadable) with all officers statements and linkage – click on below bolded link.

Special Report: Black Dahlia “Voices from the Past”: Top City and County Law Enforcement Officers Declare “Case Solved”: LAPD Denies Request for DNA Testing, “Too Busy with Current Cases” 

Five-minute condensed version click below.

The post Voices from the Past: LAPD, LASD, LADA High Command “Black Dahlia Case Solved” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

July 17, 2019
Los Angeles

 Yesterday, I was doing some research and chanced upon an excellent article, “Laurel Canyon is where the new Hollywood lives.”  The article (full text as PDF) was written by journalist Nathaniel Freedland,  and appeared in the Toronto Daily Star,  on, Oct. 11, 1969.

Here is an excerpt from the article, referencing my ex-wife, Kiyo as a local Canyon resident and “Astrologer to the Stars”:

…

“the prototype of individualistic new-style Laurel Canyonite is Kiyo, the lovely Eurasian astrologer featured in Time magazine’s recent cover story on the revival of occultry. Kiyo casts horoscopes for clients like Jane Russell in a compound of forest chalets at the far end of one of the canyon backroads.

“There’s always something going on around here,” says Kiyo. “The kids are always sending runaways up to see me because they say I’m the only one they’d listen to. I try to get them off drugs because I don’t think they need it to expant their minds.”

The tenant in one of Kiyo’s bungalows is John Densmore, drummer with those controversial rockers The Doors.” (SKH Note- The other cabin was rented by singer Neil Young.)

Here’s a photograph of the Time Magazine cover and inserted photo of Kiyo and Neil Young from March, 1969 as referenced in Freedland’s article above.

Please click below to play 30 sec sound byte Intro before proceeding.

Twilight Zone Intro

A Bizarre Synchronicity

On the very same day ( October 11, 1969) the Laurel Canyon article appeared in the Toronto Sun publication featuring Kiyo, my ex-wife and the former lover/mistress of my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel; George is up in San Francisco and commits the brutal Zodiac execution murder of cabdriver, Paul Stine.

GEORGE HODEL AS “ZODIAC” EXECUTES SAN FRANCISCO CAB DRIVER ON OCT 11, 1969 at 10:00 pm

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18127217/paul-lee-stine#clipboard

Alice gazed into her looking glass and asked herself, “Can things get any tripper than this?”

The post The Sixties-Remembering Laurel Canyon- Kiyo, Neil Young, John Densmore and a Twilight Zone Zodiac Synchronicity appeared first on Steve Hodel.

July 24, 2019
Los Angeles, California
104’F (ouch!)

I will be publishing my solution to a  yet unrevealed murder investigation with a tentative launch date of AUGUST 22, 2019. (Yep, a Virgo this time.)

It is a —-ty-year-old infamous Cold Case murder that has remained unsolved for decades.

For those readers that are aware of my ongoing “Early Years” investigations, no this is not that book, which is probably a year or more away from publication, as I am actively conducting the simultaneous investigations and summaries on each of those separate crimes.

Stay tuned- 29 Days and counting.

p.s. If your reading this in the LA area stay out of the heat. Go see an A/C movie. I’m thinking maybe Hollywood Arclight Lion King?

The post Author/Investigator Steve Hodel announces the Pending Publication of a New Murder Investigation “Case Solved” Embargoed Until August 22 2019 appeared first on Steve Hodel.

July 28, 2019
Los Angeles, California

LOS ANGELES TIMES 50TH ANNIVERSARY RETROSPECTIVE 

MANSON 50TH ANNIVERSARY ARTICLE JULY 28 19 (click here for full article)

LADA Head DDA Steve Kay, AP reporter Linda Deutsch and City News reporter/DA Spokesperson Sandi Gibbons all three who have “been there/done that” provide their personal insights and reflections on the Manson case and trial.

AP reporter Linda Deutsch calling in Manson story from court.

                       Below City News reporter Sandi Gibbons (lower right) photo taken just minutes before Robert Kennedy assassinated in June 1968 at the LA Ambassador Hotel

Photo below, then active Head DDA Steve Kay and Steve Hodel circa 2002. At that time we were attempting to obtain a meeting with LAPD Command Officers and Robbery Homicide Detectives to present overall intelligence briefing on BDA investigation prior to publication of the book in April 2003. (LAPD canceled the scheduled meeting on three occasions, and eventually met and were briefed by Kay/Hodel in 2003 several months after the book was published and aired on Dateline and 48 Hours.

THREE OF MY “WHITE HAT” LA HEROES – THANKS TO THE THREE OF YOU
FOR YOUR DECADES OF DEDICATED SERVICE TO THE LOS ANGELES COMMUNITY

                         
LINDA DEUTSCH             SANDI GIBBONS                     STEVE KAY

Reporter/DA Spokesperson SANDI GIBBONS retires

Reporter/AP trial reporter LINDA DEUTSCH retires

Linda Deutsch AP BDA article/interview with author on May 11, 2003

The_Desert_Sun_Sun__May_11__2003_Linda Deutsch

Steve Kay 20th Anniversary article “Keeping Manson Behind Bars”

The post Los Angeles Times Publishes Major Retrospective for 50th Anniversary of Manson Murders: Interviews DA Steve Kay, and Veteran Journalists Sandi Gibbons and Linda Deutsch-Three LA Heroes appeared first on Steve Hodel.

July 29, 2019
Los Angeles, California

(Updated from original 2015 post)

Today is the shared birthday of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short and the lead investigator in her kidnap/torture murder, Detective Finis Brown.

In an ironic twist of fate both the murder victim and the prime detective assigned to investigate and solve her murder were born the same day–July 29th. 

Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short was born in Boston, Massachusetts on July 29, 1924 and slain in Los Angeles on January 15, 1947 at the age of just 22.

LAPD Detective Finis Brown, was born just 18 years before her birth on July 29, 1906. Detective Brown was the primary detective assigned to the Black Dahlia investigation and after retirement relocated to West, Texas, where he died in 1990 at the age of 84. (In another irony, the actual killer, Dr. George Hill Hodel,  returned to the United States in 1990, after residing in Asia for forty-years. The killer’s relocation to San Francisco occurred just weeks prior to Finis Brown’s death. Dr. Hodel would live for another decade, and ultimately take his own life (pills) in May, 1999 in his penthouse suite in San Francisco.

REST IN PEACE ELIZABETH AND FINIS

Dahlia photo by crime author/photographer, Robert Sadler

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