October 2, 2021
Los Angeles, California

On Thursday, September 30th, I attended a public talk at the Los Angeles Adventurer’s Club in downtown LA on North Broadway.

The talk, entitled, “The Crime In Your Backyard: Early Organized Crime Activity In & Around the Adventurers’ Club of Los Angeles” was given by historian, Dr. J. Michael Niotta based on his just-published book, Images of America: Los Angeles Underworld. (co-author, Avi Bash)

An excellent and informative talk by Dr. Niotta and I highly recommend his new book.  It is the only pictorial that I am aware of that contains photographs of  “all the main players” in Los Angeles’s early crime history.

Dr. Niotta in addition to being an expert on Los Angeles’ early gangsterism is also the grandson of Jack Dragna, who became boss of the Los Angeles crime family in 1931.

Author Niotta’s grandfather 1946

Jack Dragna

Click HERE for a full video presentation of the talk on YouTube 

Steve Hodel congratulates Historian Dr. J.Michael Niotta on talk and publication of his new book, Images of America: Los Angeles Underworld

Authored by J. Michael Niotta and Avi Bash

Early LA Gangsters known as, “The Spring Street Combination”

The post Historian, Dr. J. Michael Niotta, Grandson of Early LA Crime Boss Jack Dragna Gives Talk at Los Angeles Adventurer’s Club appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 3, 2021
Los Angeles, California

Once again my readers have come through with a new “clew” corroborating and linking my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel to the infamous serial killer known as, “Zodiac.” (Though this time it wasn’t an “armchair detective” but a longtime friend and actual “been there, done that” police officer.)

In Most Evil (Dutton 2009) I offered strong circumstantial evidence that my father was taking scenes from various classic films and using them as part of his crime-signature/M.O.  Those early films included, Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939) where the film had been shot on location at Treasure Island at the same time Dr. George Hodel was actually stationed there and doctoring to the Golden Gate Fair attendees/patients throughout the entire shooting of the film.

Additional films used by GHH as part of his M.O. were taken from Red Dust (1932), The Mystery of Mr. X (1934), Spellbound (1945), and (The Sniper (1952).

After noting these films linkages, I then devoted an entire Chapter 21 connecting GHH’s crime signature to the classic film, The Most Dangerous Game (1932).

Zodiac’s editing of his crimes was not speculative on my part, but, rather came from the mouth of the killer in his taunting letters to the press and police.

As presented in Most Evil, Chapter 21, it becomes clear that GHH assumed the role of The Most Dangerous Game’s book and film’s lead antagonist, General Zaroff. GHH copied him in words, deeds, and even in costume.  (In the Lake Berryessa attacks Zodiac appeared in a full costume identical to that of General Zaroff including All black clothing, a long-bladed knife worn at his side in a sheath, hunting boots, and a weapon.)

Zodiac sketch Lake Berryessa         Clip from 1932 film showing General Zaroff in costume

Excerpts from Chapter 21:
…
In his mailings, Zodiac left what I believe were three separate references to his “most dangerous game.” The first was pre-Zodiac and found in “the confession” mailed to Riverside police and the press on November 29, 1966. After recounting his murder of Cheri Jo Bates, he wrote:

I AM NOT SICK. I AM INSANE. BUT THAT WILL NOT STOP THE GAME.

On the five-month anniversary of the crime, April 30, 1967, the killer dispatched a sadistic hand-printed note to the victim’s father signed with a simple “Z,” which suggests that the Zodiac persona wasn’t fully realized. Perhaps the killer was paying homage to another hunter and a stalker. A man who, like himself, knew the game and played it with precision: Zaroff, the Minotaur’s alter ego.

The second reference to both the short story and the film arrived three years later, hidden in the Zodiac’s three-part cryptogram mailed to San Francisco newspapers. Deciphered by the high-school teacher Donald Harden and his wife, the excerpted portion reads:

“I LIKE KILLING PEOPLE BECAUSE IT IS SO MUCH FUN IT IS MORE FUN THAN KILLING WILD GAME IN THE FOREST BECAUSE MAN IS THE MOST HONGERTUE ANIMAL OF ALL TO KILL.”

The third and final reference is found in Letter 19, mailed in 1971 and printed in the May 8, 1994, San Francisco Chronicle article “On the Trail of the Zodiac, Part I, “along with a cipher that remains unbroken. Zodiac wrote:

“I’LL DO IT TO BECAUSE I DONE IT 21 TIMES I CANT STOP BECAUSE EACH THAT I KILL MAKES IT WORSE AND I MUST KILL MORE MAN IS THE MOST PRIZED GAME ILL NEVER GIVE MY NAME BECAUSE YOU DONT UNDERSTAND NEXT TIME I WILL SEND A PATCH OF HUMAN SKIN IF THEIR IS SOME LEFT OVER.”

In the 1966 Cheri Jo Bates murder, the killer sent the below letter to: the victim’s father, the police, and to the Riverside Press. Note that he signed it with the singular initial “Z”, which I believe was an added “clew” to his impersonation (at that time) of his antihero, General Zaroff, the “player of the game.” (Again, in his Bates letter he informs authorities, “I am not sick. I am insane. But that will not stop the game.”)

A NEW THOUGHTPRINT

In my past postings, I have referenced by longtime friend and sometime graphic artist, retired Dallas PD officer, Robert J. Sadler. Robert has been helping me with designing many of my graphics for many years now. I have Robert to thank for many of the graphics used in both my later books and in my postings.  Robert has an exceptionally thorough knowledge of all of my books and of late, I have come to refer to him as my “Dr. Watson.”

 Robert “Dr.Watson” Sadler Author of 18 ‘Michael Grant’ mystery novels

In recent days Robert, after rewatching the 1932 version of The Most Dangerous Game, sent me the below graphic.

There, in plain sight.  Another “clew”- another thoughtprint-another purloined letter. (I mean that literally.)

I missed it and to my knowledge so did everyone else.

General Zaroff’s signet ring, prominently displayed showing the letter “Z”!
“Z” for Zaroff and another major link to GHH’s copying and signage of “Z” in his 1966 Cheri Jo Bates letter.

Huge Kudos to Robert for finding this purloined “Z” which we can now add to the bulk of circumstantial evidence connecting Dr. George Hill Hodel to the serial killer known as “Zodiac.”

The post Author/Retired Dallas Police Officer Robert J. Sadler Discovers New “Most Dangerous Game” Clew- A Purloined Letter- Corroborating Zodiac Signage – “Z” Is For ZAROFF appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 4, 2021
Los Angeles, California

Will be doing a live YouTube interview this coming Friday, Oct. 8, 2021 at 3 PM PST.

The post Tony Stewart “Truth Be Told” Live YouTube Interview with Author Steve Hodel on “Black Dahlia Investigation” Friday Oct.8, 2021 3 PM PST appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 8, 2021
Los Angeles, California

For those who were not able to watch the interview live here’s a link to see the full show. Runs for about 90 minutes. Enjoyed my conversation with Tony Sweet at his Burbank Studio.  Also, got to announce the pending publication of my new two-book-set “The Early Years” presenting my father’s crimes from the 1920s and 1930s.  Book covers first released and shown in the below YouTube video. Thanks Tony!

Note:  The introduction volume is a bit low, but,  increases at the start of the interview.

The post Black Dahlia Interview with “Truth Be Told” Host Tony Sweet appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 15, 2021
Los Angeles, California

Update to “Zodiac Composites” blog original posted 2018

I am now reposting and updating a blog originally posted three years ago for those unfamiliar with the fact that THREE ZODIAC COMPOSITES exit all made from witness descriptions from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

My reason for reposting this is the inform new readers of the fact that two additional composites were made from interviews with original eye-witnesses. These composites were obtained by two separate professional artists and, in my opinion, provided a much more accurate rendition of “Zodiac” than the version that remains in general circulation and is mistakenly viewed as “how he appeared” in 1969.

Hopefully, in three more weeks on November 6, 1921, I will be publishing “The Early Years” in two editions; presenting my father’s suspected crimes from the 1920s and 1930s.

Included in those books will be additional dramatic new evidence linking him to his future crimes (1943-1969) in Los Angeles, Chicago, Manila, and as Zodiac in the San Francisco Bay Area.

For that reason, I wanted to repost the earlier blog information on the progression of the three “Zodiac Composites.”

(Original 2018 blog)

“I am 100% certain that the book-cover sketch (Great Crimes of San Francisco) I drew back then [1974] was based on material that was directly related to the crime. ”
Neal Adams
Comic-Con, San Diego
July 23, 2014

Cover art by Neal Adams 1974

I have received numerous requests to explain the variations of “Police Composite Sketches” as relates to the Zodiac suspect.  I presented this back in 2014 and will here simply republish that original blog.  Most of the public remains in the dark on Zodiac’s actual appearance due to the fact that the media in the main keep reposting the earliest composite in which he appears younger than eye-witness SFPD officer Foukes stated age of “35-45 and more on the high end of that age range.”  See republished blog detailing the information below.

Los Angeles, California
August 11, 2014

Thanks to the above statement from artist/illustrator Neal Adams and some further digging, we now have the answers to the several questions I originally raised in my book back in 2009, relating to the then unidentified sketch, which appeared to be a dead-ringer, to my father’s likeness. I quote from Most Evil, Chapter 16, page 191:

…Because of the sketch’s striking similarity to my father (including his black horn-rimmed glasses) I was determined to find its source. Was I looking at an artist’s imaginary rendition of a reproduction or an actual police drawing from official files? If the Zodiac composite was simply the publisher’s decision to take “creative license,” then why place it on an official SFPD Police Bulletin connected to an otherwise completely factual true-crime story? On the other hand, if the composite was an official police drawing, why had it not surfaced earlier?

Five years later, we now have a definitive answer to those questions!
And, those answers come directly from the original source—Neal Adams, the man that drew the original Zodiac book-cover sketch!

George Hodel 1974. Zodiac as represented on paper-back cover of 1974 Great Crimes of San Francisco (Ballantine Books, New York) (SKH Note-The cover-artist, Neal Adams remained unknown and was not identified until post-publication of Most Evil.)

A Chance Meeting Provides the Answer

On Wednesday, July 23, 2014; I received a telephone call from a personal friend, artist/illustrator, Scott Gandell. Scott informed me he was at his booth at the 2014 Comic-Con Festival, in San Diego, California. He was participating in the four-day convention, and had chanced to meet, and was able to talk with a fellow artist/illustrator, Neal Adams, who as discussed here, was the artist that drew the illustrated Zodiac face for the cover of the 1974 true-crime book, Great Crimes of San Francisco. (Ballantine Books, New York)

Scott, being familiar with the facts and history of the sketch, as presented in Most Evil, seized the moment to take Neal Adams aside and question him as to what he remembered about his 1974 book-cover Zodiac sketch.

While, Adams could not recall the specific original source (more than forty years had passed,) he did say, “I am 100% certain that the sketch I drew back then was based on material that was directly related and somehow connected to the crime.”

Adams told Gandell, that under no circumstances would he have simply created his own imaginary suspect, but rather, his drawing of the Zodiac suspect, as rendered on the true-crime book-cover, Great Crimes of San Francisco, definitely was inspired by some outside source material, directly related to the official police investigation.

Based on Scott’s conversation with Neal Adams we have now established: 1) The drawing, was in fact drawn by Neal Adams and 2) Adams did not simply create the likeness from his own imagination, but based it on an official Zodiac investigation source, available and seen by him, between 1969 and 1973.

NEAL ADAMS SOURCE MATERIAL- “Sonoma Composite” Misnamed
In Most Evil, in addition to the known SFPD Police Bulletin of Zodiac, I included a second supposed, “Sonoma Police Composite” which had surfaced with little documentation other than it was referenced on a respected Zodiac website, “This is the Zodiac Speaking” run by, Jake Wark. Jake included the composite with a limited comment which simply stated, “It is unknown why Sonoma County would issue a Zodiac sketch, as no Zodiac crimes are acknowledged in that area.”

I included the “Sonoma Composite” because of the physical likeness it shared to both the SFPD and the Great Crimes of San Francisco composites.

Based on Neal Adams recent clarifications, I decided to conduct further research into the “Sonoma Composite” which has now resulted in its proper identification and revealed that this drawing was never from Sonoma, but rather its source was—the San Francisco Police Department’s 1969, Police Composite.

Denver Post Staff Artist/Illustrator Joe Barros
In Most Evil, I asked a second question. “Why would the artist who drew the book-cover composite place it on an official San Francisco Police Bulletin?” I believe we now have the answer, which is: Because the 1969 SFPD Zodiac suspect composite drawing was the source for his (Neal Adams) original drawing.

Thanks to a forty-three-year -old article from the Vallejo Sunday Times-Herald, written by then staff reporter, Dave Peterson, we have our answer.

Reporter Peterson’s original article (see attached PDF) appeared in the Sunday Times Herald, “Solano and Napa County’s Morning Newspapers” on February 28, 1971, with the headline: “NEW ‘ZODIAC’ ART WORK IS CRITICIZED.”

SFPD POLICE COMPOSITE SKETCH REDRAWN BY DENVER POST ARTIST JOE BARROS

The article included both the original SFPD composite and a revision (see above) drawn by JOE BARROS, staff artist for the Denver Post.

SFPD Homicide Bureau Chief Inspector, Lt. Charles Ellis, commenting on artist Joe Barros’ revision of the original SFPD police artist’s composite, indicated he believed that his department’s police artist rendition was, “more accurate.”

Following is an excerpt from an on-line eBay art sale bio on Joe Barros:
…
“Joseph “Joe” Barros (1921-2011) was an American artist, painter and illustrator who, for more than thirty (30) years, was the chief illustrator for the Denver Post newspaper. In addition to his newspaper work, Barros illustrated numerous books, many featuring western settings, including Place Names of the Medicine Bow National Forest (by Mel Duncan) and Prairielands of My Heart (by Clyde Brundy). Barros achieved some notoriety in the early 1970s when he created police-type composite sketches of the Zodiac Killer based upon descriptions and the sketches in the San Francisco police files. His sketches were published across the country by the AP Wire Services.[Emphasis mine]

EVOLUTION OF THE SFPD COMPOSITE SKETCH

         GOOD?           BETTER?                BEST?
(1969)               (1971)                   (1973)

Armed with this new information, it is my current belief that the “official source” for Neal Adams Zodiac drawing originates from this 1971 Sunday Times-Herald article and possibly additional AP circulated Barros articles showing his 1971 composite. It appears that Adams used both the SFPD and Barros composites and combined the two resulting in his own Zodiac likeness which appeared as the cover of the Great Crimes of San Francisco, true-crime book, just three-years later. This also answers why Adams placed his cover drawing on a SFPD Bulletin! Why? Because the police-drawing was its original SOURCE.

Above we see comparisons of Dr. George Hill Hodel to the Barros and Adams Zodiac and the 1969 SFPD composites. All three artist renditions show Zodiac as he appeared in 1969, so in the Hodel photo on the left one must subtract or “youthen” Hodel by five years and in the photo on the right, one must add, or age him, some seven years.

The evidence, as it now stands, is undeniable—Neal Adams likeness of Zodiac, based on his review of the official SFPD composite drawing and a merging of it with the follow-up composite by illustrator, Joe Barros, is a near a picture-perfect likeness to Dr. George Hill Hodel’s physical appearance in 1969.

Sunday Times-Herald “New Zodiac Art Work Is Criticized” click below for full article.

Joe Barros 1971 article

1969 SFPD Zodiac Composite Bulletin on Paul Stine Murder

Duffy Jennings Correction—For the Record
In my 2009 publication of Most Evil (Chapter 16, page 191) in addressing the then unknown source of the Great Crimes of San Francisco composite I wrote the following:

…If the composite was an official police drawing, why had it not surfaced earlier?
I found the answer with the help of a confidential source who contacted the author of the essay on Zodiac in Great Crimes of San Francisco, Duffy Jennings. Jennings, a former San Francisco Chronicle crime-reporter, confirmed that, “the composite originated from law-enforcement,” but couldn’t recall the specific agency. Since the sketch includes the correct date (October 18) and number (90-69) of a known San Francisco Police Department Bulletin, it would appear that this composite originated from the files of the SFPD.*

I then footnoted the above paragraph as follows:

*Despite Jennings acknowledgement and the fact that it is an almost picture-perfect likeness to George Hodel, I still have some doubts about this third composite. When I attempted to locate editor Dean W. Dickensheet, I discovered that he died in the 1990s. Further attempts to confirm recollection that this was an official police composite are being made through Dickensheet’s original publisher.

A year later, with the publication of the Most Evil paperback edition (Berkley 2010) I added the below “Author’s Note” identifying the true-crime book cover artist as Neal Adams, and indicating that Duffy Jennings was apparently mistaken in his recollection that it came from law enforcement.

Let me—For the Record—correct that statement. Mr. Duffy Jennings, former San Francisco Chronicle reporter, was NOT MISTAKEN in his belief that the “composite originated from law-enforcement.” He is in fact-correct. While, it was not drawn by law-enforcement, it did “originate from law-enforcement” as it is a rendition of the original SFPD police bulletin composite.

SKH Note– Several readers have emailed me inquiring as to why I used a “confidential source” to check with Mr. Jennings, as opposed to contacting him direct? The answer is: In 2007-8, I was conducting a sub-rosa investigation and, 1) did not want a former San Francisco Chronicle reporter to know that the author of the Black Dahlia Avenger was actively investigating Zodiac and 2) I was under contract with Dutton Publishing and had signed a confidentiality agreement and the book and its contents were embargoed.

As published in MOST EVIL (Berkley 2010) paperback edition:

 GHH Photo from 1979 showing him without a mustache.  (Helicopter pilot standing beside him is his then INRA Hong Kong Manager, Leo Murray.)

Dr. George Hill Hodel sans moustache (1979)

The post Artist/Illustrator Neal Adams 1974 Zodiac Book Cover Sketch Original Source Traced To SFPD Police Composite Drawing Update 2021 appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 20, 2021
Los Angeles

SKH Note:  I am reintroducing some previously published facts from my earlier books/investigations as a reminder to readers in preparation for new/additional information that will be forthcoming in the about to publish “Early Years” 1920s/1930s on November 6.
SFC reporter Avery played a key role for decades in his attempts to identify Zodiac and his discovery and linkage to the Riverside PD, Cheri Jo Bates’s murder will, as we shall soon learn, will prove to be a solid and invaluable thoughtprint.  

Newspaper Reporter Paul Avery Twenty Years post Zodiac

Reporter Paul Avery Nov.17, 1987 (Note newspaper artist Barros older Zodiac composite in the background, which has been mostly ignored by “Zodiacologists” and “armchair detectives” and bloggers  for the past fifty years, but clearly, as the article shows, NOT BY ZODIAC EXPERT PAUL AVERY.)

Paul Avery – San Francisco Reporter/Leading Expert on “Zodiac”
1934-2020

Excerpt from Wikipedia on Paul Avery Bio:

San Francisco Chronicle career

Avery joined the San Francisco Chronicle in 1959. In the second half of the 1960s, Avery took a leave of absence from the Chronicle and moved his family to Vietnam. In Saigon, Avery co-founded Empire News, a freelance photojournalism organization. He expanded Empire News, opening a branch in Hong Kong, before returning to San Francisco, in 1969 after three years in Asia. In the mid-1980s, after working for The Sacramento Bee and writing a book about the Hearst kidnapping, he signed up with the then- Hearst-owned San Francisco Examiner, where he stayed until his retirement in August 1994.

Zodiac Killer
…

Avery reported on the Zodiac case, a series of killings that began in December 1968 and ostensibly ended with the death of a San Francisco cab driver in October 1969. At the time, Avery was a police reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle.^[2]

For a long time, it was thought that the Zodiac‘s activities were limited to the Bay Area, but Avery discovered a 1966 murder in Riverside that he linked to the Zodiac.^[2]

The Zodiac soon wrote Avery (misspelled by the Zodiac as “Averly”) a Halloween card, warning, “You are doomed.” The front of the card read, “From your secret pal: I feel it in my bones/you ache to know my name/and so I’ll clue you in…” Then inside: “But why spoil the game?”^[3] Just as quickly as the threat was made public, a fellow journalist made up hundreds of campaign-style buttons, worn by nearly everyone on Chronicle staff, including Avery, that said, “I Am Not Paul Avery.” It was at this time that Avery began carrying a .38 caliber revolver.^[4]

Obituary Here –

“I don’t care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right.“

                                                                                 P.T. BARNUM

Below we see the Halloween Card sent to SF Chronicle reporter Paul Avery in 1970 from Zodiac.

Observe that Zodiac has misspelled the reporter’s name as-AVERLY not AVERY. It is my belief that George Hodel, (himself a former reporter for the SF Chronicle in 1932) was very much aware of the famous quote, attributed to P.T. Barnum, deliberately misspelled the name, as his own personal affront to his fellow journalist.  (As a point of interest, that same quote has been attributed to: Mae West, George M. Cohan, W.C. Fields, Will Rogers, Oscar Wilde, and Mark Twain. ) See the interesting article HERE.

Note on the envelope below Zodiac signatory in the upper left (return address) has a cipher or sigil and is signed “Z” as well as reproduced again as Zodiac’s signature in the interior, lower right of the card.

After threats from Zodiac, SF Chronicle reporter Paul Avery’s request to carry a concealed weapon.

Yves Person, Paris France High School teacher cracks the Zodiac Halloween Card “You Ache To Know My Name and so I’ll clue you in” and reveals it contains five ancient Ogham letters which read: H O D E L.  See solution below and video HERE. 

Zodiac Composites- Primary Mythstakes

In the Zodiac lore, the largest collective myth has to do with Zodiac’s AGE.

Despite verbal and written evidence to the contrary most readers continue to believe Zodiac was somewhere between “25-30.” NOT SO.

Here is the 1969 SFPD Wanted Bulletin that clearly states Zodiac is “A White Male 35-45 years.”  SFPD Officer Donald Fouke, who participated in the drawing of the below composite and was the only known witness (along with his partner officer Zelm) to stop and talk with the suspect. (Zelms independently confirmed this as fact.)  Officer Fouke in later interviews stated, “Zodiac was closer to the high end of that age.” (45 years).

Below original composite is compared to Dr. George Hill Hodel. GHH while age 61 at the time of the SFPD Paul Stine murder could easily pass for a much younger man, say in his “mid-Forties.”

Dr. George Hill Hodel compared to Neal Adams composite

“Great Crimes Of San Francisco” – Published Jan. 1, 1974

HUNTED AND HUNTER/SHARED BURIAL SITES

In another “the Gods are laughing” moment the hunter and the hunted share nearby gravesites in San Francisco Bay.

…

“He plunged himself into the billowy wave
and an echo arose from the suicides grave. 
titwillo   titwillo titwillo

(Excerpt from The Mikado)

(Dr. George Hill Hodel committed suicide in San Francisco
by ingesting an overdose of pills (Seconal) in 1999)

Zodiac Letter to San Francisco Chronicle Jan.29, 1974

THE MIKADO: TITWILLOW LYRICS

On a tree by a river a little tom-tit
Sang “Willow, titwillow, titwillow!”
And I said to him, “d***y-bird, why do you sit
Singing Willow, titwillow, titwillow’?”
“Is it weakness of intellect, birdie?” I cried,
“Or a rather tough worm in your little inside?”
With a shake of his poor little head, he replied,
“Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!”
He slapped at his chest, as he sat on that bough,
Singing “Willow, titwillow, titwillow!”
And a cold perspiration bespangled his brow,
Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!
He sobbed and he sighed, and a gurgle he gave,
Then he plunged himself into the billowy wave,
And an echo arose from the suicide’s grave –
“Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!”

Now I feel just as sure as I’m sure that my name
Isn’t Willow, titwillow, titwillow,
That ’twas blighted affection that made him exclaim
“Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!”
And if you remain callous and obdurate, I
Shall perish as he did, and you will know why,
Though I probably shall not exclaim as I die,
“Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!”

The post Paul Avery, San Francisco Crime Reporter and the Important Role he Played in the Search For Zodiac: Reintroducing the Three Zodiac Composites appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 29, 2021
Los Angeles

In reviewing some books on my bookshelf that had been gather dust for over the past twenty years I came across the book, “On Listening” by UCLA Professor Carl Faber. I opened it and out fell a note from my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel.

Apparently, I had loaned him the book back in the Nineties, and he was returning it with a note to me and signed it “Love! Dad”.
Fast forward to 2001 and I’m in full investigative mode on my Black Dahlia and other Lone Woman investigations and had by then had multiple handwriting samples of my father compared by a Questioned Document Expert, Hannah McFarland. Hannah as presented in my book, Black Dahlia Avenger, had positively ID’d multiple writings by my father to known notes/letters written by the “Black Dahlia Avenger” which he had sent to the press.

Included in these handwriting comparisons was the crime scene photograph of 1947 victim Jean French. Her nude body posed on a vacant LA lot showing that her killer had written in lipstick, “Fuck You, B.D. (Black Dahlia)

As published in BDA in 2003, her forensics identified the writing on the body as that of Dr. George Hill Hodel. (To date, no expert has contradicted her analysis saying it IS NOT his writing.) This newly found sample is the best one I’ve seen showing his “D” in comparison with the “D” on her body.

Judge for yourself.

P.S.

I’ve blocked out some of the text on the typed note as it is personal and of no relevance to forensics.

The post George Hodel’s Newly Discovered Handwritten Note Compared To Killer’s Lipstick Handwriting On 1947 Jean French Nude Body appeared first on Steve Hodel.

November 3, 2021
Los Angeles, California

(Two Book set)

Dear Friends and Readers:

After a twenty-two-year hiatus’ from my home in Bellingham, WA to investigate what would turn out to be my father’s serial crimes, I am about to move back to Bellingham.

When I moved to LA (where I was born and raised) from Bellingham after my father’s death in 1999, I was confident I would be able to quickly exonerate him from any suspicions of criminal activity or connection to the infamous “Black Dahlia” murder of Elizabeth Short in 1947. (Information first shockingly presented to me from my half-sister, Tamar, a week after his death in a transpacific call from Bellingham to Hawaii.)

I anticipated my investigative relocation, to prove my father had no connection to the crime, might last six months in LA then back to Bellingham, Washington.

That investigation is now in its 22nd year and has taken me one hundred eighty degrees in the opposite direction. (See Black Dahlia Avenger, Black Dahlia Avenger II and Black Dahlia Avenger III)

I uncovered proofs beyond doubt that my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, was not just the psychopathic kidnap-torture-murderer of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short, but a serial killer with a crime spree of twenty-four (24) additional murder victims spanning the twenty-years from 1943 to 1969.

Those investigations included linking my father to a dozen LA Lone Woman Murders, Chicago’s infamous “Lipstick Killer,” and Manila, Philippines infamous “Jigsaw Murder”.

Additionally, the evidence, which included two separate and long forgotten composite sketches, linked him as “a strong suspect” to the 1968-69 San Francisco Bay Area “Zodiac” murders and attempted murders (Most Evil Dutton Books 2009).

Then came the follow-up “cracking of the cipher,” proving he was “in fact” Zodiac as presented in (Most Evil II Rare Bird Books 2015.) That evidence included him signing his name to an authenticated Zodiac mailing and signing a sigil: H O D E L concealed as five ancient Celtic alphabet letters. (A second HODEL Zodiac sigil will be revealed in today’s publications of The Early Years.)

Three years ago, my investigation continued with the locating and writing of his 1938 double homicide near El Paso, Texas, In The Mesquite, unveiling the compelling evidence linking him to the kidnap/torture murders of mother/daughter, Nancy and Hazel Frome (Thoughtprint Press 2019.)

In the previous twenty years, I focused on providing the evidence that my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, committed the twenty-four murders from 1943-1969, as documented in the six books shown above.

THE EARLY YEARS

However, over the past two-plus years, my full-time focus has been spent going further back in time and investigating George Hill Hodel’s crimes from the Twenties and Thirties—HIS EARLY YEARS.

These early crimes are as shocking and sensational as his later ones and further, because of his consistency in using unique crime signatures: HIS FUTURE CRIMES PROVE HIS PAST, AND HIS PAST CRIMES PROVE HIS FUTURE ONES.

George Hodel started as a young teen (though not your average teen as he was just about to enter college), and he NEVER STOPPED.

THE EARLY YEARS unearths evidence linking GHH to another twenty-four crimes (murders and major felonies) leading up to the early 1940s.

Sadly, it is not hyperbolic to state that Dr. George Hill Hodel was one of the Most Evil criminal monsters that has ever walked the earth.

He was far worse than any of the arrested murderers I handled during my twenty-four years at LAPD Hollywood Homicide Division. (Including Rodney James Alcala, “The Dating Game Killer,” who I arrested for child rape/attempt murder in 1971. Though, admittedly, Alcala was right up there in the “Most Evil” category of rankings with GHH.)

George Hodel left in his wake immense death and destruction.

Though I have now uncovered and investigated the murders of forty-nine named victims, we know there were many more (like in the case of his fellow psychopath Alcala). Those unknown victims will, absent DNA, never be known or linked to him.

These then, are my final investigations, my final investigative revelations, offered to you for your review and understanding on this day, the day of my eightieth birthday, as I plan to retire for the second time.

I believe the reluctant karmic role which was thrust upon me at the death of my father in 1999 IS NOW COMPLETE and proves the old adage: “truth is far stranger than fiction”.

As I press the “publish” button on The Early Years Parts I and II I will soon head north to spend my second retirement with family and a new puppy, which I will look for and find immediately after moving into my new digs.

Most Respectfully Yours,

Detective III Steve Hodel, #11394, LAPD Hollywood Homicide (ret. ret.)

PRINT EDITIONS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE ON AMAZON ON NOV 6th
E-book editions should be available ASAP hopefully by NOV 11th?

BEFORE “BLACK DAHLIA AVENGER”

NOV 3-  BOTH BOOKS JUST WENT LIVE AND ARE AVAILABLE TO ORDER NOW:   

THE EARLY YEARS PART I- 1920S  CLICK HERE TO ORDER

THE EARLY YEARS PART II- 1930S CLICK HERE TO ORDER

The post THE EARLY YEARS: The Further Serial Crimes of George Hill Hodel M.D. Available Now on Amazon appeared first on Steve Hodel.

November 8, 2021
Los Angeles

I thought I’d give my readers a little taste and a big “clew” to demonstrate how Dr. George Hill Hodel’s early years’ crimes tend to prove his future crimes and how his future crimes prove his past ones.

The following is an extract from Chapter 7 of Part II: -The 1930s. (Pages 348-353)

It is just one of the dozens of thoughtprints (albeit one of the most dramatic in linking his past to his future) that together prove our case. This one, laying in plain sight for fifty years,  was discovered by my good friend, Robb Bindler, who is the director/film producer currently in production of adapting my series of books (BDA I, II, II, Most Evil I and II) into a documinseries hopefully to air in 2022.

Chapter 7 presents the potential linkage of the 1938 “Bud Lord” murder as a possible early Zodiac/Hodel crime.
Author Note- Whether the Lord murder  was or was not committed by George Hodel has no impact on the   newly discovered cracking of the sigil “clew” as shown below.)

Excerpt from The Early Years-1930s- pages 348-353

The Early Years Parts I and II are now available on Amazon click the links below to purchase:

Part I- 1920s

Part II-1930s

The post Excerpt from George Hill Hodel: “The Early Years” Part II Chapter 7: Cyphers and Sigils and Calligrams Oh My!- New Zodiac/Hodel Signage Link Discovered! appeared first on Steve Hodel.

November 13, 2021
Los Angeles

Just as I anticipated, readers of The Early Years have begun to send back potential linkage and “thoughtprints” that I missed during my initial investigations into the almost two dozen suspected serial crimes from George Hodel’s 1920s and 1930s.

Here’s the first return from my good friend, “LW”, Dr. Luigi Warren who has just finished both books and right out of the gate presents us with two powerful links (that I missed).

They were hidden in several 1921 articles reporting the murder of Father Patrick Heslin. Here is LW’s email message and observations:

Steve:  Just found an SF Examiner article from the day of Hightower’s
conviction about the role the number 13 played in his undoing. “It’s just one big thirteenth. “-LW

Excellent observation by LW.   And, while I find the newspaper reportage of the various “13’s” that played a role in the Hightower prosecution, very subjective in themselves, still it is the published article that is important. Of course, the press had no way of knowing that the number “13” also had direct meaning to the killer in that he was “13” at the time he killed Father Heslin in August, 1921. (George turned 14, on Oct. 10th,  just four days prior to the article’s publication.)

George Hodel in emphasizing the number “13” as Zodiac and for no apparent reason placed the sign of the cross directly below the large numeral “13.” Was he subtly referencing and “clewing us in” that he killed a priest when he was just 13? Further, it was reported that this cross under the number 13 was made with blood. Does it still exist?  Was it ever tested for DNA? The card was mailed by Zodiac to his former employer, The San Francisco Chronicle on Oct. 7, 1970, just three days before his 63rd birthday. (George was a columnist for the Chronicle in 1932)

With George Hodel’s perfect photographic memory and pathological need to leave hints of his crimes in his messages, I find LW’s discovery very much on point.

However, it is LW’s second discovery that really jumped out at me as a definite thoughtprint!

The Bleeding Knife

LW included a portion of an article from August 11, 1921, that was written by the killer and sent to Constable Landini, who was the investigating officer on the Father Patrick Heslin kidnap. The killer’s message read in part:

…: Don’t try to get Heslin any more. He is done for. This is the text of a letter received yesterday by Constable Landini. Then follows the imprint of a black hand, made with a soft lead pencil. “This is how we did it.” follows with a picture of the knife dripping with blood.

As many of my readers familiar with George Hodel’s later crimes are aware, this is an important crime signature that GHH drew and sent to the press “crude drawings of a knife dripping blood.”  He did it both as the Black Dahlia Avenger and as Zodiac. (As mentioned in prior blogs I believe his “inspiration” was his knowledge and familiarity with the drawing of a crude knife dripping blood, sent to the press and police by “Jack The Ripper”  in 1886.

See December 2017 blog addressing earlier “bleeding knife” linkage HERE. 

Attached below is a two-page PDF recounting the full story as reported in the Red Bluff Daily News on Aug. 11, 1921, headlined: LOST PRIEST MURDERED; BODY FOUND IN TINY CAVE.

Red_Bluff_Daily_News_Thu__Aug_11__1921_ (1)

Red_Bluff_Daily_News_Thu__Aug_11__1921_

Huge KUDOS to LW for both of these additional links to the Father Patrick Heslin murder, which I believe was my father’s first murder and the precursor to his later “Zodiac Murders.”

Author Note:  A number of you have inquired as to when/if a Ebook version will be available on The Early Years parts I and II.  The answer is yes. Hope to have it out within the next four days.

Author Update 11/13/21

Here is an article from the San Francisco Chronicle dated June 18, 1904 referencing that the victim Rev. Patrick Heslin, then pastor of St. Columbia’s Chruch in Golden Gate was charged with a felony based on allegations made by an eleven-year-old- girl.  NFI at this time.

However, in my opinion, this having occurred some seventeen years prior would have no bearing or relationship to his 1921 kidnap/murder. 

The post New Crime Linkage to George Hodel’s “Early Years” Crimes Begins to Funnel Back from Readers appeared first on Steve Hodel.

November 18, 2021
Los Angeles, California

Now Available in both Print and Ebook editions

The just-published two book editions of “The Early Years” completes retired LAPD Detective III Steve Hodel’s investigations into the further serial killings of his father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, presenting a crime spree spanning some fifty years. (1921-1969)

Click below to purchase

The Early Years Part I-1920s  Paperback & Kindle 

The Early Years Part II-1930s Paperback & Kindle

Complete series of murder investigations presented in eight books (2003-2021)

The post The Early Years: The Further Serial Crimes of George Hill Hodel M.D. Parts I & II Now Available in Print and eBooks appeared first on Steve Hodel.

Thanks to an astute reader and long-time “honorary Detective II”, Dr. Luigi Warren, I have a “For The Record” correction to make in The Early Years Part I, Chapter 4, as relates to the “Father Patrick Heslin murder.”

What I initially interpreted as a George Hodel thoughtprint in a taunting letter sent to Archbishop Hanna was in fact, NOT A THOUGHTPRINT, as proven by the further sleuthing of Dr. Warren, who discovered the additional message text. His findings prove that my initial interpretation based on incomplete information was incorrect.

(Bottom of page 196 to top of 197, reads):

“Let’s play a game. Below is a reproduction of the second ransom note delivered to Archbishop Hanna at his San Francisco church. It followed shortly after the first lengthy typewritten and handprinted note confirming the kidnap of Father Patrick Heslin.”

…

And continues to page 200:

AUTHOR CORRECTION –

NOT A THOUGHTPRINT

Taken at face value, in reading the above note, my original logic was sound. Clearly, the torn note sent to Archbishop Hanna, and printed in the newspaper appears to end with, “Please forgive this act. ib

But, it does not.

Thanks to the sleuthing of one of my regular readers, Dr. Luigi Warren, we discover that in fact, as printed in another newspaper, another source, missed by me, the note actually continues on and reveals that what I thought was a taunting intellectual thoughtprint left by George Hodel, was in fact incorrect.

Here is the full text of the killer’s message as found in a separate newspaper article. (The full handwritten text was not shown, just the complete message as written by the killer and addressed to Archbishop Hanna.)

 Sacramento Bee, Aug.10, 1921

It reads:

                   “Don’t be surprised to get this. It is to tell you, Father Heslin, is not dead. Neither is he injured yet. Fate has made me do this. Sickness and misery has compelled my action. I must have money. Please forgive this act if you can. Have $15,000 ready. You will hear from me very soon. The manner in which this is to be paid will be revealed to you in my own way very soon. In fact now that the excitement is died down Father Heslin is brave and says for you help him. Have money ready for my future instructions. You will hear from me very soon. You will know I am the right person as will have the piece of paper that fits on this letter.”

Major Kudos to Dr. Warren for his follow-up correction and discovery of the additional text of the letter which clearly establishes and allows us to eliminate what initially appeared to be a George Hodel taunting thoughtprint, as something completely different, as just part of a larger ransom demand.

The post Author Correction to “The Early Years: Part I- Chapter 4 -Father Patrick Heslin: Second Note to Archbishop Hanna Not A Thoughtprint appeared first on Steve Hodel.

December 7, 2021

81st Wedding Anniversary of George and Dorothy “Dorero” Huston Hodel
(Married, December 7, 1940, one year to the day before the bombing of Pearl Harbor)

I wanted to share a reader, Larry Stevens Email received today where he comments on various aspects of the “Early Years” investigations related to crimes committed in both the 1920s and 1930s. I here include my answers and the Q&A between us needs no further explanation. As mentioned in my response to Larry S. as an author/investigator I find it exceptionally rewarding to see how exceptionally well versed he (and many others) are with “the facts” spread throughout the eight separate books, which I’ve stated many times are really one ongoing investigation.

Author’s Note-  For those of you who have not yet read the two “Early Years” editions, be warned there are “spoilers” as relates to several of the early crimes and you may want to first read the books before reading the below commentaries. 

Email from Larry Stevens:

The post A Reader’s Insights and a Q&A on “The Early Years”-The Further Serial Crimes of Dr. George Hill Hodel appeared first on Steve Hodel.

December 10, 2021
Blaine, Washington

Greeting from my new home in Blaine, Washington.

Just within the past four days, I have received some remarkable comments/observations from two “EarlyYears” readers, who have both completed their reads on Parts I and II. The first, posted just two days ago, on December 7th,  was from Larry Stevens. Our Q&A can be found HERE.

 
Ms. Evans website can be found HERE

The second reader,  Ms. Viktoria Evans, an artist/writer sent me her comments yesterday, and to my mind, they, like so many other contributors,  show some remarkable, “out of the box” thinking that could well be classified as GHH thoughtprints. Again, I’ll let her words and graphics speak for themselves.

Author’s Note-  For those of you who have not yet read the two “Early Years” editions, be warned there are “spoilers” as relates to several of the early crimes and you may want to first read the books before reading the below commentaries. 

Viktoria’s initial email to me received December 7th:

Hi Steve,

I hope this email finds you well.

Right to the point: I noticed handwriting in the Big “T” 1924 CalTech yearbook that appears to be that of a young George Hodel, the Editorial Assistant. It is strikingly BDA/Zodiac styled.

It seems likely that he annotated and designed some of the pages. I looked at the 1923 and 1925 yearbooks and the style is nothing like that of 1924.

Dear Editor 

Style of cut out heads with comical quip, “THESE CAME OUT AHEAD” (p.214)

Hell-hole compared to Hell-en 

Smut. 

Sinclair Smith R.I.P
MAR.20 ’99 – MAR.20 ’24

*Sinclair Smith obtained his Ph.D. that year at CalTech. He was born March of 1899 but on the 24th not the 20th and he died May 18th 1938 in Pasadena. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Smith_(astronomer)

This was all very bizarre to come across. Thoughts?

Cheers,

Viktoria

My response to Viktoria on Dec. 8th:

Hi Viktoria:

Excellent sleuthing.  Very impressive.  You are truly underscoring my frequent statement that “George Hodel’s future proves his past and his past proves his future.”

Hope it’s OK with you if I present your findings on a blog, giving you full credit of course.

I have to ponder your linkage for a bit, but it really hits home. We are hearing the same voice and seeing the same ” layout ” in the 40-year-old, Black Dahlia Avenger, as we see in the 14-year-old “Assistant Editor” of the Yearbook.  Huge Kudos.

Steve

Viktoria’s response back on Dec. 8th:

Hi Steve,

Present away – I attached the images I was working on, please feel free to use them. Nothin’ like saving time.

I have been looking for other possible connections between the yearbook and his BDA/Zodiac letters, i.e., similar words and phrases.

1. This may be nothing but the way he hyphenated the name Hellen caught my eye (as if to say, she puts the Hell in Hellen).

Hell-hole compared to Hell-en 

This one is just weird:

Smut. Sinclair Smith R.I.P MAR.20 ’99 – MAR.20 ’24

*Sinclair Smith obtained his Ph.D. that year at CalTech. He was born March of 1899 but on the 24th not the 20th and he died May 18th 1938 in Pasadena. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Smith_(astronomer) Maybe they were friends?

I’ve finished The Early Years Part I and am nearly through Part II. The books are fascinating – the work you’ve done is phenomenal. Thank you!

Cheers,

Viktoria

(In this email Viktoria attached a PDF with additional graphics. See below.)

GHH writing CalTech yearbook ’24

Again, huge KUDOS to Viktoria on discovering this apparent linkage. I do consider them to be actual GHH thoughtprints.*  The handwriting match is undeniable, as is “the voice” which is that of an immature 14-year-old college boy genius cast in the role as “Editorial Assistant” in writing for Caltech’s 1924 yearbook.

Fast forward some twenty-three years and while “the boy” is now “a man”, a respected physician who recently was the Head of LA County Health Department’s VD Control, having just returned from China, having served in UNRRA with the honorary rank of “Lt. General.”

Still, as the “Black Dahlia Avenger” in his 1947 kidnap/torture-murder of Elizabeth  Short, we  hear the same arrested immature voice of the 14-year-old student, (the “Assistant Editor of 1924) and see his cutting and pasting out of human heads and writing his childish notes to the police and press. “This is the werewolf killer” etc.

Again, twenty years later, in 1968-69 as “Zodiac,” we see the identical handwriting and hear the same childish taunts, the same words written, “Dear Editor” using his 1924 “copy.” And as Viktoria has noted even down to the same hyphenation, where young George writes “Hell-en” and the aging Zodiac writes, “Hell-hole”.

*Thoughtprints- ” The ridges, loops, whorls of the mind. A collective of our motives, a paradigm constructed from our individual thoughts, these elusive prints construct the signature that will connect or link us to a specific time, place, crime, or victim.”

The post A New “Early Years” Reader Discovers New Thoughtprints Adding Further Circumstantial Evidence Connecting George Hodel’s Early Crimes To His Later Crimes As “Black Dahlia Avenger” and “Zodiac” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

December 18, 2021
Blaine, Washington

AN OPEN LETTER TO MY FRIENDS AND READERS

Dear Friends,

First, let me wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Let’s hope that 2022 will bring an end to the Coronavirus pandemic that has threatened our world since 2019—wishing all of you good health and happiness.

As for me personally, the closing of 2021 signifies something much more. For myself, it represents the end of what has now become a twenty-three-year-long personal and criminal investigation into the life and crimes of my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel.

More than two decades ago, I wrote in my first book, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder, that I would begin a two-pronged investigation. One path would take me in search of a father I barely knew. What did his early life include? What had he done as a boy and young man? My knowledge consisted of just bits and pieces from his unknown past. I was determined to discover as much as I could of my father’s personal history through his living friends and relatives.

The second path would be down a professional road I knew well—that of a criminal investigator with twenty-four years of experience, seventeen of them as a homicide detective.  I thought I would follow the leads and most certainly be able to put to rest any suspicions that may have surfaced as slanderous rumors because of the 1949 incest trial. I suspected they were likely courtroom whispers coming from a fifty-year-old sexual molestation trial, attempting to upgrade a pedophile and make him into a murderer.

As stated in my early investigation circa 2000, while I was confident that my half-sister Tamar (fourteen years old in 1949) was telling the truth and that our father “beat the rap” on the incest charges—I was equally sure that he in no way could have committed the “Crime of the Century—Black Dahlia Murder.”

As then documented, I set out to follow the evidence that I believed would exonerate and free him from any further suspicions.

Realizing that I would not be able to conduct an “absentee investigation” from my then residence in Bellingham, Washington, I spent about six months “wrapping up” my ongoing P.I. investigations and by early 2000 made the relocation back to Los Angeles.

I anticipated that the background search into my father’s life might take six months and expected his exoneration of any criminal activity would take about the same.

I advised my friends and the half dozen attorneys that I regularly did investigative work for in Bellingham to expect my return no later than Christmas 2000.

Well, I am back in Whatcom County, Washington, and Christmas is just days away. Not bad. My timing was only off by about twenty-one years, ten books and one three-act-play later.

As I have said many times, all the published books as a collective are really just one ongoing investigation into the life and crimes of Dr. George Hill Hodel.

With the recent publication of “The Early Years,” we now have a total of forty-nine probable crimes committed over fifty years.

I say “probable” because while I am confident that the twenty-six (26) murder investigations (1943-1969, see victim chronology chart below) and their linkage to George Hodel as presented in the first six books meets the threshold of “beyond a reasonable doubt”—(I am not making that claim in “The Early Years” crimes.)

                                          (Below excerpt from a graphic chart prepared by author Robert J. Sadler)

In the Introduction to “The Early Years” editions, I write:

In the presentation of these crimes from long ago (the first one goes back one hundred years), I make no claim to a “solution.” I do not and am not saying that my father, George Hill Hodel, committed all of these crimes beyond a “reasonable doubt”—which would be the legal requirement to find him guilty.  Several of these crimes, without the Introduction of hard physical evidence or DNA, are not solvable. Other cases have been claimed to be “solved” by law enforcement, and each is considered “Case Closed.” In several of them, it is my position that 1) the wrong man was convicted or 2) the suspect committed the crime but had an unidentified accomplice(s) or 3) the suspect has never been identified, and the case remains an ice-cold whodunit that was filed and forgotten long ago.

That said, there exists no doubt in my mind that many, if not all, the crimes presented in The Early Years summaries (1921-1938) were committed by my father and his likely accomplice, Fred Sexton.

A number of the Early Years serial crimes do meet the threshold and present enough evidence to convict. Others are too old and cold, but based on the crime signatures and M.O., George Hodel is “the prime suspect.” I leave it for the individual reader to make the call on each separate investigation.

In just the few short weeks that The Early Years have been published, readers and “armchair detectives” have already developed additional “thoughtprints” and further evidentiary linkage to several of George’s early crimes.

As occurred in Black Dahlia Avenger, I fully expect many more links in the chain will come from astute readers as the new books reach a broader audience.          

As we enter the New Year of —2022, I am pleased to announce some personally rewarding and exciting news.

Beginning this coming spring, I will be assisting in adapting five of my books (Black Dahlia Avenger I, II, III, and Most Evil I and II) into a true-crime docu-miniseries for television.

Production began in 2021 and will continue after the Holidays.  I am working with some exceptionally talented, award-winning filmmakers and am confident the end product will be a true and accurate portrayal of my multi-year investigations.

So, stay tuned—a lot more to come.

Wishing all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Steve Hodel
Blaine, Washington

The post Author Publication of “Early Years” Crimes of Dr. George Hill Hodel Ends 2021- Adaptation of Black Dahlia and Lone Women Serial Crimes to Television Miniseries Resumes Filming In New Year 2022 appeared first on Steve Hodel.

December 26, 2021
Birch Bay, Washington

Wanted to wish all my friends and readers a very Merry Christmas and soon to be New Year. Also, wishing you good health in 2022.  If you haven’t already, get your vaccine, or booster and keep masking when necessary.

Last few days have been really special for me.

Past few days in Seattle with son, Michael, daughter-in-law Joyce, and my two grandchildren, Tucker (6) and Ella (4).

Then last two days with my son Matthew and his puppy, Rhodie here at my new home in Birch Bay, WA.

White Christmas, Warm Cinnamon Roll, Hot Coffee in Birch Bay, WA
Life is Good!

The post White Christmas, Warm Cinnamon Roll, Hot Coffee in Birch Bay, WA Life is Good! appeared first on Steve Hodel.

December 28, 2021
Birch Bay, Washington

I thought I would end this old year with a story that many would consider has a bizarre twist, but what unfortunately has become an all-too-common occurrence in the discovery and telling of the—Hodel Saga.

Here then is that story!

It began some sixty-two years ago, just a few days before Halloween, 1965.

I am married to Kiyo, the Leo, Astrologer to the Stars. We are in the kitchen high up in Laurel Canyon in our home on Utica Drive. We are arguing (not uncommon in our now three-year marriage) about what, I no longer recall.

Out of nowhere, Kiyo yells at me, “Well, you know you’re not your father’s son. George Hodel is not your real father!”

I respond, “What the Fu*k are you talking about? What do you mean not my father?

Kiyo: “Your real father is Rowland Brown, the film director. He was having an affair with your mother. Everybody knew it, and you are Rowlands’s son, not George’s.”

At the time, I dismissed Kiyo’s comments as a wrathful response, her attempt to hurt my feelings. Though, in later years, after my separation and divorce from Kiyo, I must admit that what she yelled at me in anger—struck home.

Why?

Because in the 1950s, after our father left the country, Rowland Brown became a good family friend. He helped us financially and even moved us to Rancho Mirage, then just a tumbleweed town outside of Palm Springs, where mother rented a home near his and his actress wife, Karen’s residence.  I liked his strong male presence, and the fact that he and I were even born on the same day (Nov.6^th), I thought was very cool. Add to that the fact that Rowland “saved my life.”

It was Thanksgiving 1952 or 1953, and I had just finished eating lots of turkey at our home in Rancho Mirage. I went outside to ride my bike, got on it, and started to pedal, but the front tire was flat, and I fell toward the front window. I put my hand up to stop my fall, and it broke the glass and went through the window, causing a severe gash in my left wrist. Blood was spurting everywhere.

Mom, who had no car, called Rowland, who rushed over, rushed me to the nearest hospital in Palm Springs some twenty miles away, and the doctor sewed me up. (I have the 4” scar to prove it.) But, “I was saved.” (At least in my 11-year-old mind.) Rowland was MY HERO.

Fast forward to 1968. I am now working LAPD uniform patrol in Hollywood and three years divorced from Kiyo.

Shortly after my divorce from Kiyo in ’65, I learned from papers I had discovered along with confirmations from my mother that Kiyo was actually twenty years older than myself and, as a nineteen-year-old teenager (circa 1940), had had an affair with both my parents.

At this revelation, I asked my mother to tell me the truth. Was Rowland Brown my birth father?

Her answer?  “No, Steven, George Hodel is your real father.”

I really wasn’t sure I believed her, and I felt much more kinship to Rowland than my father. I was determined to discover the truth of it.

I then went to a family friend, Joe Barrett, who in the 1940s was a young artist living as a resident-tenant at our Sowden/Hodel house in Hollywood. I felt he might know the truth.

I knew Barrett was living in an apartment in Hollywood, and one afternoon, while working patrol, I went, and door knocked on his apartment. Joe was home, invited me in, and I asked him point-blank, “Joe, you were close to mother back when I was small. What do you know about Rowland Brown and mom? Rumor has it that he was my real father? Do you know anything about it?”

Joe paused, then looked me in the eyes and said, “Well, everyone back then thought that. Your mother thought so too. She and Rowland were heavy into a romance at the time of your birth, so I was told. I think you were about six years old when I moved into the Franklin House. The war had ended, and I was just out of the Navy.”

   Joe Barrett circa 1946 and later as an essential Black Dahlia Avenger witness 2004

After that conversation with Joe, my biological parentage remained—UNKNOWN.

That is, until Dr. George Hill Hodel’s passing in 1999.

At this point, I informed his widow, June, that I really would like to know the truth. I suggested a DNA test could be performed from some personal item he had worn or owned.

June sent me George’s hairbrush, containing hair follicles that I had tested in a laboratory near Vancouver, B.C., just north of my home in Bellingham, WA.

Results were “Negative,” no root material available, hence no DNA.

Well, at that point, I figured it would remain a mystery. But then suddenly I realized, wait. I can have my DNA tested with my half-brother, Duncan Hodel, who resided in Daly City and had remained in contact with June and who I saw on occasions when visiting dad in the last decade of his life.

I called Duncan, explained the situation, and said he would be glad to cooperate. So I sent him a DNA test kit, and he returned it to me, which I forwarded to the same lab in Vancouver.

Results followed in two weeks: “In all probability, you and Duncan Hodel are not related.”  I was the odd man out.

So, perhaps it was true , Rowland Brown was most probably my father.

Several months passed, and I still had a gnawing in my belly for a definitive answer. The words from the lab technician, “In all probability…”,  continued to bother me.

Another eureka moment occurred to me: “Wait a minute. I can get DNA from my full brother, Kelvin, and my half-sister, Tamar, and have everyone one of us tested and the results compared.

I phoned Kelvin, “Sure Steve, happy to help.”  I called Tamar in Hawaii. “Sure, happy to help.”  And so it was done.  Kelvin, Tamar, Duncan, and my DNA were all sent to the lab to be compared.

It seemed like an eternity, but finally, I received the written results.

“Subject Kelvin Hodel is your full biological brother. Tamar Hodel is your and Kelvin’s half-sister. Duncan Hodel is not related to you or Tamar or Kelvin.”

Another full twist in the Hodel Saga- SOLVED.

I was not the odd man out, but rather it was Duncan Hill Hodel.

Duncan’s mother, Emilia, became pregnant in 1927, giving birth to Duncan in Los Angeles in March 1928. George Hodel assumed the role of “father,” and so it remained—another HODEL SECRET.

Another of George Hill Hodel’s  LIES, this one lasted an entire lifetime. (His and Duncan’s.)

This HODEL SECRET I have kept to myself since discovering its truth in 2002.

In 2008 I was able to obtain Dr. George Hill Hodel’s full DNA profile which confirmed that he was the biological father of Steven K. Hodel, Kelvin G. Hodel, and Tamar N. Hodel.

I chose to maintain George’s secret for almost twenty years because I expected, if revealed,  it would cause psychological trauma to DUNCAN.

Duncan respected, admired, and truly loved ‘our’ father. But, more than that, Duncan idolized George.  He was proud that he bore the same middle name-Hill.

When I learned the truth in 2002, I was sixty years old, and Duncan was seventy-two. So I decided not to reveal this truth until Duncan passed away.

 In this way, I could spare him the pain, knowing it was doubtful that he would ever be able to discover who was his biological father. Those who knew, or might know are all gone.

My contact with Duncan had always been infrequent. Just an occasional meet for lunch, usually with our father during my visits in the last decade of George’s life.

And, once I made the phone call to him in 2003, just before the publication of Black Dahlia Avenger, providing him with the facts and findings that “our father” was a serial killer, I knew he would find it very hard to believe it and would have no desire to speak with me again—even if the truth would separate him from my father’s crimes.

That call, I believe, was my last communication with Duncan.

The family photo below was taken by Galka Scheyer in 1943.

George and Duncan (top)
Steven, Kelvin Michael (bottom)
(Galka Scheyer died just two years after taking this Hodel Family photograph.)

Galka Scheyer was credited with bringing Modernism to Los Angeles (See full bio HERE).

“The Blue Four” artists: consisted of Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Alexej von Jawlensky.

In recent years, uncertain that I would ever be notified of Duncan’s passing and aware that he was now in his nineties, I kept checking Ancestry.com for an obit notification. None found, so I assumed he was still alive and living in Daly City, a suburb of San Francisco.

It was only a few days ago that I discovered the Facebook Page of Duncan Hodel’s son, Ken.  And though we have had no contact with one another through the years, I decided to ask how his dad was doing?

I left Ken a short message, and he responded to my great surprise that his dad “had passed away in 2019.” (So, Duncan would have been 91.)

I did want Ken to know the truth and that HIS supposed grandfather, George Hodel, was not biologically related.

I believed that contrary to Duncan’s being informed, which would have brought pain and sorrow, in Ken’s case, I expected it would bring RELIEF.

And, of course, after sitting on this information about his dad for twenty years, I wanted to notify Ken personally of the facts before making any public disclosure.

On Monday, December 27, 2021, I called Ken Hodel around 7 PM.

In a long conversation, I provided him with all the above details and what DNA testing has revealed.

We both filled in a lot of the blanks, as I had only met Ken on one occasion way back when Dad, June, and I were invited to dinner at Duncan’s home in Daly City.

Ken was about 15 years old then and recalls that I had mentioned having just taken a Hot Air Balloon ride with dad and June, so it must have been around 1978.

(I describe “the Balloon Ride over Mill Valley” in detail in my previous writings. (Unbeknownst to the naïve Big City Homicide Detective) his dad, the serial killer, was giving him a tour of some of his old killing fields near Sausalito/Mill Valley.)

George, Steve, June, and pilot and co-pilot circa 1978 about to ascend on a tour of SF Bay Area

My call with Ken Hodel lasted about 90 minutes. By the time it was over, I’m sure he was overloaded and overwhelmed with all the new information and various family connections and disconnections.

Ken was gracious and warm, and we both assured each other that the Hodel Story in all its bizarreness was “to be continued.”

With the death of both of Ken’s parents, I now feel comfortable to reveal the facts and results discovered in my DNA testing conducted over the years.

As I indicated above, my reason for withholding the information, George Hill Hodel was not Duncan’s biological father, was to spare Duncan any pain and suffering should this be revealed.

My decision was confirmed during my conversation with Ken.
He told me that learning the truth would have destroyed his father.

The post Was Dr. George Hill Hodel the Biological Father of Author Steve Hodel?  DNA Reveals ‘His’ Father’s Longtime Paternity Claim as a Lie appeared first on Steve Hodel.

January 2, 2022
Birch Bay, Washington

“I’m hoping to come back to the beauty and tranquility of Bellingham.”

                                                                                            Steve Hodel
Bellingham Herald Interview
April 12, 2003

Bellingham Herald April 12, 2003
(Suggest going back in time and reading the below article written 19-years ago before proceeding.)

“FULL CIRCLE”

I wanted my first blog for ’22 to be reflective.
To examine the truly amazing journey I have been on these past 22-years.
Let me put that journey in perspective.

When the above article was published (April 2003), Emily Weiner (who, incidentally, wrote an incredibly accurate reporting of the facts) was a news reporter for the Bellingham Herald. According to her LinkedIn resume, she is now (2022) “Director of Foundation Relations at Western Washington University in Bellingham.” 

My first book, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder (hardcopy) at Emily’s writing was just days away from publication.

The first television documentary (about seven more would follow over the next decade), DATELINE, produced and directed by David Browning, was just hours away from airing.

Then, I was unaware that the secret DA Hodel/Black Dahlia Files and tape-recorded transcripts of my father’s confessions existed. (They would be revealed and published in full for the first time in the HarperCollins paperback edition in June 2004.)

In April 2003,  my total “victim count,” as indicated in the article, was “seven definites and nine probables.” (A total of 16 murders spanning a period from 1943-1949).

In the years following, the doors kept opening up.  NEW WITNESSES KEPT COMING FORWARD after BDA became a NYT bestseller both in the U.S. and in Europe (France). Readers from the U.S. and abroad discovered new evidence, some that I had missed, as well as new connections.

Then I discovered the “Murder As a Fine Art” crime signature/MO and how it connected to my father’s surrealist friends, especially our family photographer and Dadaist, Man Ray. How each surrealist, ex-post-facto, paid their individual “tribute” to George Hodel in each of their separate works of art.

Then came the hard physical evidence establishing our Sowden/Franklin House as the actual original crime scene. Buster, the cadaver dog, and his handler, Sgt. Paul Dosti establishes “alerts to human remains,” and Dr. Arpad Vass confirms their findings through physical soil analysis.

This was followed by discovering the bloody cement and manure sacks used to transport Elizabeth’s body from the residence to the “dumpsite.” The bags were connected with original dated receipts showing work performed using the items at the Hodel house through architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s records at UCLA archives.

The years flew by more serial crime discoveries in Chicago, and Manila Philippines, just a few blocks from George Hodel’s then residence. Young kidnap/murder victim Lucila Lalu’s naked and posed surgically bisected body parts left for public display on a vacant lot.

Two more books, Most Evil I and II, investigating and further linking George Hodel to the Chicago Lipstick Murders and the San Francisco Bay Area and Riverside killing as “Zodiac.”

Those followed by the standalone publication, IN THE MESQUITE, presenting George Hodel’s double homicide of  Hazel and Nancy Frome near El Paso, Texas, in 1938.

Finally, my just-published two set volumes, “THE EARLY YEARS, presenting his serial crimes believed committed in the 1920s and 1930s, that completed my investigations, raising my father’s total victim count to forty-nine (49) in fifty (50) years of unrestrained savagery.

Closing the Circle:

What I thought would be a return to Whatcom County sometime in the spring or summer of 2022 was escalated thanks to the Herculean efforts of my editor on “The Early Years,” author and retired Dallas police officer Robert Sadler. Robert did all the graphics for both books, and together we finished the writing and published it on my 80th birthday in early November 2021.

Anxious to be closer to my two sons and two grandchildren (Michael and family in Seattle and Matthew in Bellingham), I contacted my good friend attorney Dennis Murphy (yes, the same Bellingham attorney interviewed in the 2003 Bellingham Herald article) and Marsha Brown, a highly respected professional real estate agent specializing in residential homes in Whatcom County.
Incredibly, within just a few weeks of “looking,” they found me the perfect home, located just twenty minutes north of Bellingham city limits in Birch Bay.
Despite five separate simultaneous offers, Marsha Brown was able to get the winning bid in and a quick thirty-day escrow, and HERE I AM.

The moving van and my possessions are still in CA (expected to arrive in about ten days or so?) but, I’m in the new home with a coffee pot, a bed, and a desk with a computer.

I was able to spend an overnight and Christmas Eve day in Seattle (just a short ninety-minute drive from my new home) with my son Michael and his wife Joyce and my beautiful two grandchildren, Tucker and Ella, and then Christmas Day and dinner with my son Matthew here in my new digs.

Great to be back FULL CIRCLE and close to family and friends.

Checking my bucket list, the only two things left for this coming spring/summer are:
A  one or two-year-old dog from the rescue shelter (I’ll skip the puppy-stage thanks) and a barbeque.  LIFE IS GOOD.

The post Full Circle-Coming Home: Reuniting with Old Friends and a New Beginning Back in the Great Northwest appeared first on Steve Hodel.

January 14, 2022
Birch Bay, Washington

Elizabeth Short circa 1946

Today is the actual 75th anniversary of the Kidnap/Murder of twenty-two-year-old Elizabeth Short.
Her nude and bisected body was found just fifteen hours later, carefully posed just a few feet west of the sidewalk on a vacant lot in the 3800 block of South Norton Ave in Los Angeles.

Myth Busting “The Missing Week”

Despite the evidence, the press and many “Dahlia theorists” continue to ignore the facts in preference for the story that “she walked out of the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles on January 9th into the mist and was not seen again until January 15 when her body was found on the lot.”

 “The Missing Week” myth was created by the press through a misinterpretation of the official LAPD Police Bulletin, seen below:

Note that the bulletin was made public and distributed just five days after the body was found. (January 21, 1947). Further, LAPD stated that their last known witness dropped her at the Biltmore Hotel on Jan. 9th and they are asking for witnesses to come forward who may have seen her. Their headline, in bold letters, reads, “WANTED INFORMATION ON ELIZABETH SHORT Between Dates January 9 and 15, 1947.
The press took this to mean she had not been seen during that six-day period and thus created the myth, which prevails to this day, some seventy-five years later.

 The real facts are that the victim was alive and well during that entire so-called “Missing Week” and was seen by fourteen separate witnesses who came forward as a result of the press publicity and in response to the Bulletin which was distributed and shown throughout the downtown area and reads: ” Inquiry should be made at all hotels, motels, apartment houses, cocktail bars, and lounges, night clubs to ascertain whereabouts of victim between dates mentioned.”

In 2002, I personally interviewed the last witness to see Elizabeth Short alive. That witness was LAPD policewoman, Meryl McBride, a foot beat officer working in DTLA who spoke with the victim on two separate occasions on January 14, 1947 at approx 4 PM. On that (the second occasion) the victim was exiting a bar with “two males and a female.” In my in-person interview, Officer McBride clearly confirmed that the person she spoke to was in fact, Elizabeth Short and that she positively identified her to her superiors in 1947, but stated, “the brass thought it would look bad and a few days later when they talked to the press they changed my positive identification and said, “Officer McBride indicated it was only possibly the victim.”

Officer McBride went on to inform me in my 2002 interview that “it was Elizabeth Short, no doubt. I spoke to her twice and the first time she came running up to me “in fear of her life.” A man had threatened to kill her.”

(See link HERE to more than a dozen witnesses who came forward and identified victim seven of whom KNEW HER, (and could not have been mistaken) during the so-called “Missing Week.”

Sadly, seventy-five years later, the myth continues, despite LAPD Officer Meryl Mcbride’s statement to having seen and spoken to Elizabeth Short just 18 hours before her body was found in the vacant lot. Add to that the dozen separate witness statements that establish her whereabouts on every day of the week between Jan 9-14, 1947.

As in the oft-quoted, saying (link to quote clip below)  in John Ford’s, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence:

“This is the West Sir when the legend becomes fact, print the legend” 

The post Today Is the 75th Anniversary of Kidnap/Murder of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short: Myth Busting “The Missing Week” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

January 15, 2022
Birch Bay, Washington

Here’s a quick summary presenting just some of the evidence in an interview I did for the TODAY SHOW Downunder, from Perth, Australia.  This was back in 2019, just as the fictional, I AM THE NIGHT was about to release as a six-part miniseries. back in 2019.

Author Note-  I had no involvement in the making of the I AM THE NIGHT fictional version and it in no way reflected my actual investigation and was 95% pure fiction. My niece, Fauna Hodel never met George Hodel in life and was never at the Sowden/Hodel Franklin House residence until many years after my father’s death. 

The post Australian “Today Show” Interview with Steve Hodel Summarizing Some of the Evidence Proving Dr. George Hill Hodel as the Black Dahlia Killer appeared first on Steve Hodel.