July 29, 2019
Los Angeles, California

New book will be delayed five days and now expected to publish on 27 August 2019.
Above is a little peek on what’s “under wraps.”  28 days and counting.

The post Author/Investigator Steve Hodel announces the Pending Publication of a New Murder Investigation “Case Solved” Embargoed New Launch Date August 27 2019 appeared first on Steve Hodel.

August 6, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Looking forward to the release/publication of my newest true-crime book in just twenty-one days. All systems are “Go” so embargo and publication should occur on August 27, 2019.  Here’s a hint. See clue to title above my name on above book.

The post New Cold Case True Crime Book by Steve Hodel To Publish August 27, 2019 – Author Claims “Cold Case Solved” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

August 7,2019
Los Angeles, California

I will be giving an overview of my investigation and conduct an audience Q&A on AUG 29th 2019 at 6pm in the DTLA Art District. 

This talk is in conjunction with House of Lucie’s exhibit-  “The Art of the Archive” which has been extended to September 15th.

Rick Morton, the former LAPD archivist, and owner of FOTOTEKA is exhibiting his collection of photographs from the Los Angeles Police Archives.

Currently, on display at the HOUSE OF LUCIE gallery are LAPD  crime scene photos from the 1920s through the 1960s.  My talk/Q&A  will be at the gallery on AUGUST 29, 2019  6 PM.

Come on by if you’re in the neighborhood. See detailed announcement CLICK HERE. 

DISCUSSION TO INCLUDE –

BLACK DAHLIA MURDER AS A FINE ART CRIME SIGNATURE LINKAGE

CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS TO HOUSE OF LUCIE DTLA GALLERY

The post House of Lucie Gallery Presents- “The Art of the Archive” LAPD Crime Scene Photos Exhibit and a Conversation and Q&A with Author Steve Hodel- Thursday, August 29, 2019 ROW DTLA 6 PM appeared first on Steve Hodel.

August 11, 2019
Los Angeles, California

The above article was first published in London’s, THE TELEGRAPH back on February 28, 2019. The three-thousand-word article was written by staff journalist, Alice Vincent.

I first became aware of the article in late June 2019 and published my fact-checking response in the “Comments” section of The Telegraph’s online website on July 6, 2019.

However, that response was only published on my personal Facebook page.
Consequently, I am here reproducing both the article in full and my full response below.    Click on below PDF below for both Ms. Vincent’s reportage and my corrections.

THE TELEGRAPH Party Monster pub 28 Feb 2019 and Steve Hodel response

The post Fact Checking a Major Newspaper Article in the U.K.’s THE TELEGRAPH: “Party monster: the deranged, decadent life of Black Dahlia suspect George Hodel” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

August 14, 2019
Los Angeles, California

As promised, wanted to give my online readers a FIRST LOOK at my new true-crime book before it goes to print. So here it is. Click on below link to get a few days head start on the printing.  Print copies should be available to order in next day or two.

EMBARGO LIFTED CLICK BELOW

All Best,

Steve

LINK TO STEVE’S 2019 TRUE CRIME “COLD CASE SOLVED”

The post Embargo Lifted on Author Steve Hodel’s New True Crime Book: Online Readers Get “First Look” with YouTube Video appeared first on Steve Hodel.

August 14, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Print Edition Available HERE.

Retired LAPD Homicide Detective III, Steve Hodel, brings over fifty-years of law enforcement, homicide, and private investigative experience to bear on what the Texas Rangers said, “Remains the biggest unsolved mystery in the American Southwest.” 

March 1938- The breaking story started out slow, announcing that a mother and daughter, traveling in their touring car, cross country from California to the East Coast, “were missing on a West Texas highway.”

Within days came a second announcement cautioning that “foul play was suspected.” Next, their abandoned car was found, and on the fifth day of the search, the nation’s worst fears were realized.

August 2019- Eighty-one years later, in what can be considered one of the nation’s coldest of cold cases, IN THE MESQUITE carefully reconstructs the chronology of the double-homicide based on original law enforcement documents, newspaper reportage, and eye-witness accounts.

As silent passengers in the back seat of Hazel and Nancy Fromes’ brand new 1937 Silver Packard, Series-Eight 7-seater touring car we ride along on their journey from California to visit their daughter and sister and family in the East Coast.

The identification and naming of the mother and daughter’s sadistic killer(s) and the evidence presented offering the solution will satisfy both sense and reason.

The author, a highly-skilled former LAPD homicide detective, provides his readers with the answer to the three basic requirements needed to solve this crime:- the MOM- the killer’s Motive, his Opportunity, and his Means.

Steve Hodel is a New York Times bestselling author. He spent twenty-four years with the LAPD, where, as a homicide detective, he worked on more than three hundred murder cases and achieved one of the highest “solve rates” on the force. He is a licensed PI and author and his first book, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder was a New York Times bestseller and was nominated for an MWA Edgar Award in the Best Fact category. Steve has written and published four additional true crime books His investigations, now in their twentieth year, have been featured on NBC Dateline, CBS 48 Hours, Court TV, A&E Bill Kurtis, Cold Case Files, Bill Kurtis Through the Decades, CNN Anderson Cooper, The Today Show, and the Discovery Channel. Steve most recently appeared in March 2019 on the Today Show
and Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz, where he with other family members discussed the making of the No. 1 national hit podcast, Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia Murder. Steve resides in his hometown of Los Angeles.

Book print orders can now be placed through AMAZON 

FOR THOSE DESIRING A SIGNED/PERSONALIZED COPY  a purchase can be made through PayPal (Include person’s name, mailing address for personalization) and email payment of $24.00 to:  steve@stevehodel.com

OR

Send a personal check in the amount of $24.00 to (include person’s name, and return mailing address) to:

Steve  Hodel
12400 Ventura Blvd Box 378
Studio City CA 91604
(Above purchase price includes U.S. mailings only)
Personalized Orders Available only after SEPT 1 2019

Other books by author Steve Hodel:

The post Steve Hodel’s New True-Crime Book, “IN THE MESQUITE: The Solving of the 1938 West Texas Kidnap Torture Murders of Hazel and Nancy Frome” Launches Today appeared first on Steve Hodel.

August 27, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Conversation Q&A with Steve Hodel 

Thursday, August 29, 2019, 6 PM

House of Lucie at ROW DTLA
777 S Alameda St.
Los Angeles, CA 90021
Building M1, Suite 140

Gallery Hours:
11am – 5pm Monday – Friday
11am – 4pm Saturday and Sunday

      THE ART OF THE ARCHIVE

Click HERE for details

 

The post House of Lucie: Talk with Author Steve Hodel This Week Thurs Aug 29th 6 PM + The Art of the Archive Exhibition Extended! appeared first on Steve Hodel.

August 31, 2019
Los Angeles, California

My sincere thanks to the fifty-plus attendees who braved the DTLA rush hour traffic to attend last Thursday night’s Fototeka crime scene exhibit and my talk/Q&A at the House of Lucie Art Gallery. The photo exhibit remains on display until September 15, 2019

A special THANK YOU to the organizers, Alice Dison, program director for House of Lucie and to Rick and Robin Morton, owners of Fototeka and the LAPD archival photographs.

The post Fototeka/House of Lucie DTLA Exhibit of Archival LAPD Crime Scenes (1920s-1960s) and Black Dahlia-LA Lone Woman Murders Author Talk Well Received- Photo Exhibit Extended to SEPT 15th appeared first on Steve Hodel.

September 6, 2019
Los Angeles, California

“The story boasts all the glamour and sinister mystique of film noir.”     
                                                        — The Daily Telegraph (London)

“Former Los Angeles police detective Steve Hodel has written one of the most compelling true-crime books of all time in Black Dahlia Avenger: The True Story….the most noir of noir stories.”                                                                                                                                        —Seattle Weekly, Seattle Weekly

You would think by now that after writing six true-crime books all focused on my father’s serial crimes, I would have come to “expect the unexpected.”

Not so!

One week after giving my talk at the House of Lucie Gallery against the backdrop of ex-LAPD photo archivist Merrick Morton’s exhibit, “The Art of the Archive” the truly UNEXPECTED arrived.

It arrived unannounced, as a simple attachment to an email from Rick Morton which read:

“Greetings Steve, here are a couple of photos from last week. I feel the talk was a great success and hope we have a chance in the future to work together again. All my best, Rick.”

Photo by Rick Morton,  taken on Aug 29, 2019

At first glance, it appears to be simply a photo of myself taken inside the gallery with a background of the LAPD archival crime scenes. Nice.

In fact, the photograph is much more than that. Rather it is beyond surreal–and because of that I have taken the liberty to name it- “Noir-Real-A Time Triangle.”

Let’s take a closer look. (Pushes open the glass door and steps through into the open gallery and approaches the enlarged photograph entitled:

“Noir-Real” – A Time Triangle

Photo text added to Morton photograph by my author/artist friend, retired Dallas PD officer, Robert Sadler

Closer examination reveals a photograph of Dr. George Hill Hodel taken and signed by his artist/photographer friend Man Ray. The photo was taken at the Hodel Sowden/Franklin residence on or about the doctor’s birthday on October 10, 1946. We now know and recognize  Dr. Hodel as “The Murderer” of both Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short and the other 1940s “Lone Women Murder Victims.”

Next, our eyes are directed to the crime scene photograph on the wall. It is the vacant lot at 3815 South Norton Ave and shows the naked bisected body of “Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short, “The Murdered” posed and taken by LAPD photographer on January 15, 1947.

Finally, our attention is directed to the third point of the “time triangle,” to the LAPD Homicide Detective, who stands in the present, in the now,  August 29, 2019, and has identified the killer and solved the crime.

PUSH PLAY:

 “Murder cannot be hid long; a man’s son may; but at the length, truth will out.”
                                                                        The Merchant of Venice, Act II, scene 2

P.S.  For those that were/are unable to attend the ongoing gallery exhibit, many/most of Rick Morton’s LAPD crime scene archival photograhs can be viewed online at the following address:

http://fototeka.com/lapd/gallery.html

The post NOIR-REAL-The Photograph: DTLA LAPD Archival Crime Scenes Fototeka Exhibit -Author Talk Results in Creation of “Noirest of the Noir” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

September 9, 2019
Los Angeles, California

“It is Midnight Dr. _____. ” (Oil on canvas) by William Copley (1961) 

Reproduced from the Mark Nelson/Sarah Bayliss book, Exquisite Corpse: Surrealism and the Black Dahlia Murder.

On page 145, regarding the Copley painting, the authors write:

“Copley was living in France and in frequent contact with Man Ray and Duchamp when he created this work. The painting shows a doctor surrounded by a scalpel, saws, and other tools. A reclining nude fills in the lower part of the canvas.”

12×15 backward = 5121

My response to John Scott:

John Scott’s comment is linked to his reading of an earlier 2015 blog (Black Dahlia Avenger/Zodiac: Unexpected Help from Home and Abroad- Announcing the 2015 Inspector Clouseau Award Honorees) in which I referenced a book, Alphabet For Adults, published jointly by Man Ray and his good friend, William Copley in Hollywood in 1948.
As demonstrated in the below graphic, in their book Man Ray and Copley include the then Sowden House residence, 5121 Franklin Avenue, Hollywood, California as represented by the letter “Q” for Quarrel. (A Man and Woman (His wife Dorothy? His girlfriend Elizabeth Short?) arguing in the courtyard of our former home.

Click on the graphic below to read complete blog.

My sincere thanks to John Scott for his truly amazing observation. He like so many other readers/researchers through the years has contributed what appears to be a fascinating new and important link to the many riddles wrapped in mysteries inside enigmas.

The post Has A DownUnder Reader Discovered A “Not So Over-The-Top” New Surrealist Artist William Copley Black Dahlia Art Clew Riddle Further Linking Dr. Hodel’s Historic Sowden House As 1947 Crime Scene? appeared first on Steve Hodel.

September 11, 2011
Los Angeles, California

IN THE MESQUITE LAUNCH ANNOUNCEMENT AS PDF LINK BELOW:

In The Mesquite Announcement

The post IN THE MESQUITE: The Solving of the 1938 West Texas Kidnap Torture Murders of Hazel and Nancy Frome Now Available in Print and Ebook- Cops and Writers Weigh In On 6th Book in Series appeared first on Steve Hodel.

September 18, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Enjoyed early morning interview with Rock Hosts Dale, Bob and Matt from Austin Rock radio KLBJ-FM  93.7. Check it out below.

Dale Dudley, Bob and Matt,  of Austin’s KLBJ  Dale Dudley Rock Show,  Interviewed me this morning on my Black Dahlia Avenger and In The Mesquite murder investigations.  (18 minutes) Good questions, enjoyed the talk.

Click below for full interview:

The post KLBJ-FM 93.7 Austin Texas Rock DJ’s, Dale, Bob and Matt, Interview Me on “Black Dahlia Avenger” and “In The Mesquite” Investigations appeared first on Steve Hodel.

September 21, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Before examining this new linkage, I would recommend that readers review Fred Sexton’s biography as summarized in my original blog of July 2007.

Fred Sexton Bio 1907-1995
HERE

As outlined in Fred Sexton’s biography we discover that prior to his painting the “Death of Monalita” in 1955,  Fred Sexton was involved in the sexual abuse and molestation of his own pre-teen daughter (ages 8-11) from 1940-1944.

In 1949-50, Sexton would subsequently admit, in court testimony, to being an accomplice with his good friend, Dr. George Hodel and two adult females to the sexual molestation of my then fourteen-year-old half-sister, Tamar Hodel.

In 1950, Sexton also admitted to his wife, Gwain Sexton to having had sexual relations with his daughter when she was a child.

Sexton divorces Gwain, remarries and commits additional and separate child molestation acts with his new stepdaughter in the late Sixties and after removing reportedly 1.5 million dollars from his wife’s bank account, subsequently flees to Mexico to avoid arrest where he remarries a teenager at age sixty and dies in Guadalajara in his eighties.

This quote from Mark Nelson/Sarah Bayliss “Exquisite Corpse”:

A Critical Examination of Fred Sexton’s artwork, “Death of Monalita” (1955)

Who was “Monalita”?
I do not know.  The name literally translates as “Little Mona.”
To date, I have no background information on Sexton’s painting other than it was reportedly created circa 1955. And at one time believed offered for sale at the Calabi Art Gallery.”

Sexton created the painting approximately eight-years after the murder of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short in 1947, and some five-years after his good friend, Dr. George Hill Hodel fled Los Angeles to avoid arrest for the crime.

Since “art” is in the eye of the beseer, I will describe what I AM SEEING.

• The center painting appears to be a skeletal structure showing what appears to be human vertebrae and ribcage.

• Next, my eye is drawn to a figure and upper torso bisected at the waist, with arm extended in the “Minotaur” position.

• Thirdly, there is a woman’s breast, which appears excised from the body.

• Finally, I see a pair of woman’s lips and lower jawline.

Are these depictions merely random or is the artist presenting “clews” to an infamous crime that he would have been directly aware of if not actually involved in as an accomplice to the murder?

• Human ribcage and vertebrae

• Woman’s Lips

3) Excised woman’s breast

• Duchamp’s “Please Touch” was published just six months after the murder and posing of Elizabeth Short’s body on the vacant lot in Los Angeles, California. See my 2016 blog “Were Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray’s 1947 “Priere de toucher” (Please Touch) Artworks Inspired by Dr. George Hodel’s Surrealist Crime Scene Masterpiece?

4) Posed Minotaur position

A Second Opinion: Graphics and Text Summary by Author and
Retired Dallas PD Officer Robert J. Sadler

 Review of the four surrealists paintings now linked as “Thoughtprints” establishing the separate artists’ knowledge of Dr. George Hill  Hodel’s “Murder As A Fine Art Sculpture.” (Shown in chronological order as they were presented to the public.) For a complete explanation of linkage, see author’s books and a keyword search on each identified painting in the author’s blog page.

• Fred Sexton’s “Death of Monalita” (1955)

 William Copley’s, “It is Midnight Dr. ____.” (1961)

• Marcel Duchamp’s, Etant Donnes (1969)

• Man Ray’s Les Invendables (1969)
  

SKH Note–  The additional surrealist artworks used as “inspiration” by Dr. George Hill Hodel are not shown in this summary, which is limited to the surrealist’s works created after the murder and acknowledging their knowledge and linkage to the Black Dahlia Murder and her killer.

Those separate artworks inspiring and related to the Black Dahlia  crime include:

Man Ray’s- The Minotaure
Man Ray’s- L’Equivoque
Man Ray’s- The Lover’s Lips
Man Ray’s- Juliet Stocking Mask
Man Ray/Copley- Alphabet for Adults
Man Ray’s- The Occuliste
Duchamp’s- “Priere de toucher (Please Touch)
_________________________________________

HODEL, HUSTON, SEXTON, THE THREE AMIGOS

As previously documented, George Hodel, Fred Sexton, and John Huston were close friends from their high school years forward through the decades. Huston had Sexton sculpt his “Black Bird” for Casablanca in 1941. (Currently appraised at $4 million.) Below is a link to an excellent article published in Vanity Fair in 2016, documenting the history and mystery of Sexton’s sculpture.

The Three Amigos

BELOW PHOTO OF FRED SEXTON’S SCULPTURE OF “THE BLACK BIRD” USED IN JOHN HUSTON DIRECTED 1941 FILM, “THE MALTESE FALCON”

VANITY FAIR- HWD
The Mystery of the Maltese Falcon,
One of the Most Valuable Movie Props in History

A statuette from the John Huston-Humphrey Bogart classic, The Maltese Falcon is one of the most recognizable, and sought-after, pieces of movie memorabilia in history. In fact, Steve Wynn paid $4.1 million for it. But was it the genuine article? Bryan Burrough tracks down a flock of Falcons, with links to both Leonardo DiCaprio and a famous Hollywood unsolved murder.

By BRYAN BURROUGH

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/02/mystery-of-the-maltese-falcon#5

The post Fred Sexton’s Modernist Painting “Death of Monalita” Becomes Fourth Post Black Dahlia Artwork Believed Linked to 1947 Murder- A Sexton Confession On Canvas? appeared first on Steve Hodel.

September 24, 2019
Los Angeles, California

ATTENTION NIGHT OWLS!
Mark your calendars for late-night radio Coast to Coast AM this coming Sunday, September 29th, 11 pm to 2 am. (Normally they do two separate 90-minute segments, not sure yet if I will be first or second “on the runway”? I will be updating listeners to the lastest investigative findings with award-winning journalist, George Knapp.

The post Coast to Coast AM Live Radio Interview Sunday SEPTEMBER 29, 2019: Award Winning Journalist George Knapp and Steve Hodel Dicuss “Black Dahlia Investigation 2019” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

September 26, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Once again, like so many times in the past, a reader comes through with some excellent sleuthing.

Fred Sexton’s “The Death of Monalita” (1955)

Above  graphic showing highlighted blue shoe created by my good friend, mystery writer and retired Dallas Police Officer Robert J. Sadler

Fred Sexton c. 1946

The following comment received on my blog site on September 24, from “Bob L.”:

My response to Bob L on that same day:

An additional  “Shoeprint-Thoughtprint”?

“The toe of the shoe is at the left and the heel of the shoe appears to be superimposed on the woman’s vulva area.”
Bob L.

 Bob L. reminds us of the LA Hotel Incident circa 1969 (Fauna II was at the hotel with her grandfather, where she was drugged and photographed naked in his room but, that occurred the following day after the Tamar and George “foot stomping incident)

See attached PDF excerpt from Black Dahlia Avenger which details Tamar’s description of that event.

Click Below for excerpt as originally described in BDA:

The Los Angeles Hotel GHH/Tamar

SKH Note- To my mind, it is doubtful that Fred Sexton would have been aware of this occurrence since it was just between George Hodel and his daughter Tamar, but as Bob L. points out it does reveal a distinct M.O. that was used by both George and Fred on other crimes.

Here are just three known examples:

1. 1938 West Texas double homicide of Hazel and Nancy Frome in which the two suspects tortured victims in the remote desert and then foot stomped on the partially nude body of Nancy Frome prior to executing both victims with handguns.

2. 1947 Murder of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short. Believed killer(s) likely stomped on her body at some time during earlier extended torture, or more probably at the vacnt lot after posing body, as a bloody footprint was found and photographed at the vacant lot on or near the sidewalk.

3. 1947 LA Lone Woman Murder of Jeanne French (Dahlia connected three weeks after Elizabeth Short murder.)  In this crime two males were seen with victim at a restaurant some hours prior to her actual murder. (Witness/waitress believed they were arguing over which one would go with French.) George Hodel later dined at a separate restaurant with victim and drove her to an isolated lot where he (possibly Sexton joining him?) beat victim to death with tire iron and stomped her leaving a heelprint on body. Cause of death foot stomping which resulted in a rib piercing the heart.

Finally, as Bob L. has correctly pointed out, the positioning of the footprint superimposed over what appears to be a woman’s private parts, would support Sexton’s intent to reveal both extreme misogyny and sadism consistent with Sexton’s known crime signatures.

Thank you Bob L. for adding your excellent observations which add much to our attempts to ferret out the hidden meanings in this macabre 1955 Fred Sexton painting.

For previously discussed connections see earlier blog:

Fred Sexton’s Modernist Painting “Death of Monalita” Becomes Fourth Post Black Dahlia Artwork Believed Linked to 1947 Murder- A Sexton Confession On Canvas?

The post Fred Sexton’s Macabre Painting, “Death of Monalita” Revisited- A Footprint-Thoughtprint? appeared first on Steve Hodel.

September 28, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Gemma Taccogna 

Born May 10, 1923-Died May 8, 2007

RIP GEMMA

“Spring Flowers” by Gemma

In the summer of 2003, just a few months after the publication of my first book, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder, I was invited to give an author book signing in Torrance, California.

As is common in all my presentation, after giving an overall brief summary of the roles of the two primary suspects, my father George Hodel and his accomplice, Fred Sexton, I concluded my talk and opened it up to an audience Q&A.

An unknown woman of forty-something raised her hand and upon calling on her she responded by saying, “I know you are telling the truth. Fred Sexton was my step-father and he molested me when I was a child and then left to Mexico.” (The audience immediately fell to a hushed silence and all I could say was, “could you please remain after the signing as I would like to talk to you.”

We talked that night and she identified herself to me as Gemma (named after her mother) a daughter from Gemma’s prior marriage and informed me she had two brothers, Juan and Zen. She provided me with contact information for her mother and I  called that evening and a date and time was set for me to interview Gemma Taccogna Sexton at her apartment in Torrance.

SKH Gemma Taccogna Sexton Interview Notes/Info

• Skh Note- Below are my original notes from 2003, however, I have redacted certain portions that relate and refer to yet undisclosed references which connect to additional criminal behavior and will be presented in a future publication “The Early Years.”

(June 17, 2003 interview Redondo Beach, present: Roberta McCreary, Gemma Taccogna’s daughter Gemma (48) and son Juan (50)
Gemma is Italian, age 80. Parents came through Ellis Island.

 Met Fred Sexton when she was a single mother of three. Two sons and a daughter. (Juan, Gemma, and Zen) Lived in Mexico. Highly successful artist. Attended art school and lived in NY. Attended NYU. Originated the papier-mache process which made her a fortune.

 Seduced by Sexton’s charms they married in the early 60s. Had a studio and large home in an expensive suburb of Mexico City. (St. Angel) 

 Relocated to Palos Verdes Peninsula, where they lived with Sexton.  Fred then molested (oral sex) Gemma’s ten-year-old daughter. (Also named Gemma) The mother describes an incident where after discovering the molestation she took Fred’s gun while he was sleeping, put it to his head and pulled the trigger. But the gun would not fire, as it apparently was on safety, and she knew nothing about guns.

Fred fled the U.S. to Mexico, where he removed all the cash they had in joint Mexican savings accounts, which amounted to 1.5 million dollars.

Gemma divorced him in 1968 and made no attempt to report the sex crimes due to fear she would harm her and her children’s reputations.

Sexton remarried a teenage Mexican girl and lived in wealth and comfort in Mexico until dying in 1995. No, recontact by Gemma after the molestation.

During their marriage, Gemma would visit Gwain (Fred’s former wife) with Fred at the White Knoll residence. Gwain (now senile) has lived with “Raymond” who is 30 years her junior and has been with her since her divorce from Fred in the 60s.

(Note- During the interview I provided Gemma with the residence telephone for Gwain, which is still listed under “Fred Sexton”. She called and spoke briefly with Gwain verifying her senility and discovered that Raymond is still living at the house. Gemma will recontact Raymond and see if she can obtain any info or photos. Gwain has some of her artwork from the 60s, which Gemma would like to borrow for a show.)

Gemma aware of Fred’s darkness, but no specifics related to any crimes. She believes he was having affairs during their marriage, but no specific information. He beat Juan with a belt severely on several occasions.

Fred worked as an L.A. cab driver in his early years. Also worked for the film studios as a set-designer. Knew Huston and others. Believe that Fred went to Europe, possibly Paris sometime in the 1930s.

(Paragraph redacted)

After Fred fled with the money, Gemma was eventually forced to sell her home in Palos Verdes and now lives in a small apartment, with little or no money.

(Paragraph redacted)

 Three photographs loaned to me, by Gemma. Two depicting Fred circa 1962, and one of Gemma during that time period.

END OF SKH 2003 Interview Notes

_________________________________________

GEMMA- An Artist of International Reputation 

Gemma posing with her large papier mache dolls

by Dona Z. Meilach (Crown Publishers NY 1978)

From interior of book photo by Dona and Mel Leilach
Gemma tiles artwork in Palos Verdes Estates, California

GEMMA/FRED SEXTON ARTWORK

During their time together in Mexico, Fred Sexton took advantage of Gemma’s already well established world-wide reputation and thriving business and added his own name to her techniques and designed some bracelets and other artworks. Consequently, some of the art pieces will be found to contain his name, and or both their names.

Over the past decade I have purchased several pieces. One is signed just by Fred Sexton and the other contains both their signatures.  See photos below:

Sexton’s “Nube Blanca” (“White Cloud”)

Gemma Taccogna/Fred Sexton Chicken

 Below is a link to an excellent Bio on Gemma

Mid2mod- a modern design blog- GEMMA TACCOGNA 10.7.2014
(This article also contains a link to her granddaughter, Elvie Elman’s documentary on Gemma.)

http://mid2mod.blogspot.com/2014/10/gemma-taccogna.html

Views of Gemma/Sexton residence locals in San Angel, Mexico and Palos Verdes Estates, California

Palos Verdes Estates, California

View of Palos Verdes Estates

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palos_Verdes_Estates,_California

SKH Note– Coincidentally, architect, Lloyd Wright (who designed and built the Sowden/Hodel residence in Hollywood) also in 1951, built the Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes,(seen below) which would have been just a short distance from the home bought and lived in by Gemma and Fred Sexton a decade later. See article at below link.

 http://ohbythewayblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/beauty-architecture-wayfarers-chapel.html

The post Gemma Taccogna: A Fred Sexton Survivor and Artist Extraordinaire appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 1, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Below scenes from Director Michelangelo Antonioni’s classic 1966 film, BLOW-UP showing “Thomas” (Actor David Hemmings) examining his “blown up photographs” which reveal evidence of a crime.

In the updated Black Dahlia Avenger (HarperCollins 2006) paperback edition I added several new chapters. One of these was entitled, “New Investigation: Hard Evidence and Forensics.

I quote from pages 544-45 of that chapter:

BLOWUP

As my Dahlia investigation comes to a close, I again find death imitating art.

Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni’s thriller Blowup, a seminal film of the 1960s, forced us to think and question lifestyles, mores, art, and the subjectivity of perception, all focused through the lens of a photographer’s camera. In the film, a whodunit or wasitdun existentialist mystery, David Hemmings plays a mod-fashion photographer who, while strolling through a London park, happens upon and takes photographs of a couple embracing.

In developing the photographs, he discovers that his camera has caught a possible murder in progress. Is there a hand showing a man holding a gun in the shrubbery? A dead body? He begins to enlarge small sections of his prints (hence the title), and as they grow, they enhance the mystery as distinct pieces of the puzzle.

Some forty years after seeing this fascinating film, I now find myself cast in the same role of protagonist-photographer. The only difference: we are in the year 2005, and I have traded Hemming’s 35mm Leica for a Hewlett-Packard computer and Adobe Photoshop!

What my investigation has revealed forces me to make public crime photographs that are graphically horrifying. In previous printings of my book I have been able to restrict this aspect of the investigation to verbal descriptions, which though shocking reduced significantly the violence. Hearing is a much kinder sense than sight. For the sake of truth, and the further need to prove my case, I must, I am afraid, cross the line and delve into that darker corner. I would ask that you, my readers, consider yourself a seated juror in a murder trial. Before showing you this evidence, I will do what most prosecutors do in court: apologize for having to show you scenes so violent that they will doubtless shock your senses; but this additionally compelling evidence must be added to our case.

BLOWUP FORENSICS 2019– A THIRTEEN-YEAR REEVALUATION

PART I- THE WATCH

In the 2006 examination and analysis, I suggested that an object seen inside the upper torso at the crime scene may well have been a military watch placed there by my father as a deliberate inclusion and posing of his “surreal masterpiece,”

This was based on several known factors which included:

1. A search of the vacant lot by LAPD recruits in the days following the removal of the victim’s body from the lot resulted in the “finding of a man’s military watch which was recovered and booked in evidence.”

2. A photo of George Hodel taken some two months prior to the murder showing him wearing a man’s military watch.

3. The fact that surrealists in their paintings were known to place a watch or other representation of “time” in their drawings/paintings.

4. A blowup of the upper torso showed what appeared to be a circular object with a dark face inside the body cavity at the crime scene compared to a second photo taken at the coroner’s office showing that object missing. (Did the watch fall out upon moving it from the scene only to be discovered by police recruits searching the location two days later?

Photos included in the original 2006 Chapter:

Man Ray photo of GHH taken in October 1946 showing him wearing his military watch.

Newspaper article describing “a man’s military watch” found two days by LAPD police recruits searching near where the body had been placed.

(Top) Crime scene arrow showing a circular object in upper torso appears to have a black face and resembling a man’s watch. (Bottom) Arrow taken at coroner’s office showing object missing from inside the upper torso.
(SKH Note- At the time of my original writing I assumed it would be a simple task to compare the watch booked in LAPD evidence to the watch seen worn by my father in the Man Ray photograph taken just months prior. Post publication, in a television interview, LAPD was forced to admit, “The watch is missing from our Property Division. We don’t know where it is?” Consequently, no comparison could be made to the George Hodel watch.)

2019 Forensic Reexamination

At my request, my friend and now frequent partner in my ongoing investigation, Robert Sadler, photographer, true-crime author, and ex-Dallas Police Officer, enhanced the original photographs as I wanted to see if we could obtain a more definitive answer that might allow us to rule “in or out” the suspected object. Was it or was it not- a man’s military watch?

Click photo to enlarge

In examining Robert’s photographic study and enhancements both he and I agree that the object can now most probably be ELIMINATED as being a man’s military watch.

Based on the above comparisons, specifically, 1c (negative imagery) and 1d (high contrast imagery) we both agree that it is more likely a piece of human tissue or bone that appeared to be connected and hanging from the upper torso and  likely fell off during the autopsy procedure.

PART II OF FORENSIC EXAMINATION TO BE CONTINUED IN MY NEXT BLOG

The post Black Dahlia Crime Scene Photos: New Investigation-Hard Evidence and Forensics Revisited 2019 appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 3, 2019
Los Angeles, California

New Investigation-Hard Evidence and Forensics Part II-
The Earring

George Hodel Album Photo

Elizabeth Short Coroner’s Photo left Ear

Excerpt from Black Dahlia Avenger (Skyhorse 2015 ed.) Pages 492-3

Blowup 6: The Earring

I had found the trace evidence hair follicle on the body from the crime scene photographs.* Was I missing anything? To make sure, I decided to recheck the remaining few photographs taken at the coroner’s office. More scans, this time from foot to head. I moved slowly upward, forced to endure in magnification the many visible horrors of my father’s sadism. I finished with the head. I had seen enough. I reached to turn off my screen, and again, an object caught my eye. Perhaps, it was just a small white mark on the nearly sixty-year-old print? I zoomed in on it. Something was there. Inside her left ear. Too blurred to see. Again, I rescanned with higher resolution.

Another blowup. Now I could make it out. An earring. But not just any earring. It appeared identical to the earring seen worn by the woman in my father’s nude photograph. Small circular pearls. Is this an additional link to his album photo No. 1?

These links help us to close the circle. We have viewed and compared the actual hair follicle, photographically preserved and found on Elizabeth’s nude body, identical to George Hodel’s curly, black hair. * We have seen my father’s sardonic and surreal placement of a watch and an earring, inside the body. The pearl earring appears identical to the one worn by the woman in my father’s photograph Number 1. And we have documentation of law enforcement’s deliberate misstatement and falsification of evidentiary facts, (“no burn marks on the victim’s body”) formally presented to a seated grand jury.

We are left with one final question: the coroner’s report. Locked and never released to the public. What more can it reveal? Does it contain the evidence as shown in the photographs? Do the watch, and the earring, still exist? Or has the full and complete report, along with the physical evidence, also simply “disappeared”?

LAPD’s Chief Bratton has told us his department is off the case. “I just told our Cold Case Squad guys to give it [the Black Dahlia investigation] up.” All the LAPD evidence has disappeared. There is no “ongoing investigation” and there are no more secrets. The shadows are gone and the silence is broken. That should effectively remove any objection to a public viewing of this final document. The coroner’s protocol is not held within any LAPD (city) file but is locked within the purview of the county. Two years ago, District Attorney Steve Cooley opened his county vault and let me and the public read the “Hodel File.” Perhaps he will now take a second step and order the coroner’s vault open as well. We shall see.*

Steve Hodel
Los Angeles, California
August 2005

* On July 13, 2005, I conducted an interview with UK television journalist Sam Kiley for a documentary on the Dahlia story, to air in Great Britain in December 2005. During that interview, I was advised by Kiley that he had contacted personnel from the L.A. Coroner’s Office who had agreed to provide him with a copy of the complete protocol. However, a subsequent search for the records revealed that all the files “have disappeared.” Coroner’s officials added that they had no idea how or when the Elizabeth Short file became “lost.”

_______________________________________

In September 2019 I asked my friend/author/retired Dallas PD officer Robert Sadler to again see if he could “work his magic” in an attempt to enhance the GHH and Elizabeth Short Coroner’s photos for additional comparison. Here is his graphic and summary:

SKH Note:

• Below is the graphic (Exhibit 88) originally published in the 2006 BDA HarperCollins edition (and referenced above) showing the “black curly hair follicle” found on Elizabeth Short’s body during the autopsy. This follicle, as can be seen, is consistent with George Hodel’s black curly hair.

   1a) hair follicle on Elizabeth Short’s body; 1b) enlarged; 1c) GHH hair from LAPD booking photo for 1949 Incest Arrest.

  ---

  – I would like to address one further point as relates to the above GHH  album book photograph.

  Many Naysayers, Dahlia theorists, and critics with their own agendas and “solutions to whodunit” over the past several decades make the following claim: “The photo in George Hodel’s album is not Elizabeth Short, and so everything else that Steve Hodel has presented has to be thrown out and disregarded.”

  Obviously that is a ridiculous claim.

  The importance of the GHH photograph, if it is Elizabeth Short, only goes to address one point- that being that George Hodel photographed the victim. It irrefutably connects the suspect with the victim, and if the earring evidence is accurate, it would further indicate the photo was likely taken on the very night/morning of her murder, January 15, 1947.

  For argument’s sake, let’s set aside the Facial Recognition Software analysis that says it is “95% probable that it is the victim.” Let’s also set aside the above earring evidence that adds additional linkage and assume the photo is not Elizabeth Short , and it is merely some other woman that looks like her.

  It matters not since the official LA DA law enforcement reports unequivocally state that “George Hodel was acquainted with and dated Elizabeth Short prior to her murder.” *Add to that the multiple independent statements from both civilian witnesses and LAPD and  DA and Sheriff’s command officers that “The case was solved and George Hodel killed her.”

  *
  Scan of official LA DA Lt. Jemison’s 1950 interview with Dorothy Hodel where he admonished her:

   “Let me advise you that we do have information that he did associate with Beth Short and as you know the last place she…”

  *For the Record- I do believe, as stated in BDA II (Thoughtprint Press 2014) that:

  1.  The photograph in my father’s album is Elizabeth Short.
  2. It was taken at the Sowden/Franklin House prior to her extended torture and bisection of the body  in the early morning hours of January 15, 1947.
  3. Elizabeth Short appears drugged and unconscious.
  4. That the pearl earring she is wearing at the residence (possibly broken in half?) was inserted in her left ear by George Hodel at the crime scene as part of the “posing” of his surreal masterpiece consistent with his “Murder as a Fine Art” crime signature.

The post Black Dahlia Crime Scene Photos and Forensics Part II – “The Earring” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 10, 2019
Los Angeles, California
Today would be Dr. George Hill Hodel’s 112th Birthday

“There are no coincidences.”

                                                           Detective III Harry Bosch
LAPD Hollywood Homicide Division

Another William Copley Alphabet For Adults Clue?

Here we see a photograph of artist William Copley (undated). He is supine hands above his head in what surrealist recognize to be “The Minotaur” position.  He is laying in front of two of his paintings, both created in 1971.  On the right is a Glove, and on the left is a Hat. (Original acrylic paintings below.)

Is this another Copley “Alphabet for Adults” Letter Clue?
G for Glove and H for Hat? G.H. George Hodel?

And WHY does Copley assume the Minotaur position? Is he reminding us of his 1961 painting “It is Midnight Dr. ___” with his surgeon’s tools spelling out HODEL M.D.? His acknowledgment that he knew that George Hodel as the Minotaur slew Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short and posed her body on the vacant lot in Liemert Park, just as he has here posed his own?

Is this photograph another Copley SURREALIST MIND FU#K?
Another WORD GAME?
A ten year reminder that, “I know a secret”?

Copley’s “It is Midnight Dr. _____.” (1961)

Man Ray and William Copley’s “Alphabet For Adults” (1948)
Q for Quarrel showing interior of Hodel/Sowden House with couple quarreling. The L’Oculiste Man Ray Sculpture witness to the courtyard quarrel. (Man Ray gifted sculpture to George Hodel in 1948.)

Man Ray/Copley Alphabet for Adult Letters in original 1948 publication.

Left to Right: Man Ray, Juliet Man Ray, William Copley and Marcel Duchamp preparing to depart for France on ship in 1951. (Duchamp did not sail with them, just aboard to say “Goodbye.”)

The post Surrealist Artist William Copley’s New “Hat Trick” – A Third Drawing and Clue to Black Dahlia Whodunit? appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 19, 2019
Los Angeles, California

GEORGE HODEL’S EXQUISITE CORPSE(S): BEYOND THE BLACK DAHLIA

Here is a link to a just-posted interview I did with journalist Zack Kopp which deals with my overall investigations and setting the record straight regarding the fictional miniseries, I Am the Night. Here is the lead to Zack’s interview:

Former LAPD detective and prolific true-crime author Steve Hodel has pursued the Black Dahlia murder for years. The trail to that gruesome 1947 killing led him to investigate other famous crimes, such as Lipstick Murders and Zodiac Killings. The darkest of dark truths that he has emerged is that the prime suspect in all of these killings was his own father, George Hodel. A recent miniseries, I Am the Night, played fast and loose with his family’s history. Steve Hodel sets the record straight to Zack Kopp 

Full article click HERE.

Click Bio above to read full interview

SKH Note:  

Some minor corrections/clarifications to the most recent article, Exquisite Corpes (s) Beyond The Black Dahlia:

1.  First paragraph it’s not the “Snowden House” it is the Sowden House. (That’s a common error by many.)

2. “George Hodel’s presence in the vicinity of all the killings Steve’s accused him of, in all the different locations has been verified.”
   That’s true in the sense that he was known to pass through the cities, but I have not able to document his presence there at the exact time and dates of the actual crimes.  LA yes, Manila yes, but not able to establish he was in Chicago and San Francisco Bay Areas on the specific dates of the actual crimes. No known records exist that would allow us to make that determination. 

3. “As to whether he looked for these murders before or after researching his father’s whereabouts at any time is anyone’s guess.”

I never “looked at” any of these crimes before my father’s death, period.  I didn’t even know the “Black Dahlia’s” real name, and had never heard of Chicago’s “Lipstick Killer”, nor Manila’s “Jigsaw Murder”. This information surfaced years after the publication of Black Dahlia Avenger in 2003, some four years following my father’s death.

4. “For that matter, butchers might know how to avoid bones when they cut, too (not just surgeons).”
Based on the testimony of no less that five separate surgeons who have examined the photographs of the bisection it is their expert belief, along with the actual LA County Head Medical surgeon performing the autopsy on Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short that the procedure “had to be done by a highly skilled surgeon.” Most indicated the hemicorporectomy performed on the body exceeded their own abilities.

Here is a link to Zack Kopp’s excellent 2016 Review of my book, MOST EVIL II.

Denver Colorado Author/Journalist Zack Kopp Reviews "Most Evil II"

The post Author Interview with Journalist Zack Kopp-“George Hodel’s Exquisite Corpse(s): Beyond The Black Dahlia”: Setting The Record Straight On Miniseries, “I Am The Night” appeared first on Steve Hodel.