February 25, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington

(Click on the above book cover to order audiobook and downloadable full text)

I am proud to announce that, The Early Years Part II (The 1930s)-The Further Serial Crimes of George Hill Hodel M.D. has just been released and is available for purchase effective TODAY. (As in Part I the purchase includes a downloadable 436-page text complete with photos and graphics.)

Once again, the narrator, Malcolm Hillgartner has executed a masterful reading of the text as a follow-up to his narration of Part I (The 1920s).

This is the fourth audiobook that Malcolm has narrated for me.

The three earlier volumes include: (1) Most Evil: Avenger, Zodiac, and the Further Serial Murders of Dr. George Hill Hodel (Dutton 2009); (2) Most Evil II: Presenting the Follow-up Investigation and Decryption of the 1970 Zodiac Cipher in which the San Francisco Serial Killer Reveals His True Identity (Rare Bird Books 2015); (3) The Early Years Part I (The 1920s)-The Further Serial Crimes of George Hill Hodel M.D. (Thoughtprint Press (2021)

“…a great storyteller—no half-bored professor intoning a history lecture here.” — AudioFile, September 2013

​“…one of the more accomplished audiobook narrators at work today, and his range is extraordinary…” — Salon.com, September 2012

​“…Hillgartner’s phrasing and pace are nothing short of remarkable…a real treat.” — AudioFile, October 2014

“His voice has the authoritative, assured presence necessary for a story…” — AudioFile, October 2013

Malcolm Hillgartner

The post Malcolm Hillgartner’s Audiobook Narration of “The Early Years Part II – The Further Serial Crimes of George Hill Hodel M.D.” Now Available (Includes Downloadable Copy of Full Text and Graphics) appeared first on Steve Hodel.

March 3, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington

As previously referenced in my writings, it is my belief that my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel drew his “inspiration” for his serial crimes from many sources; art, literature, and films.

In drama critic, Ted Le Berthon’s 1925 article (reproduced in full below) he names George’s favorite authors/poets:

…Of course, George could have pointed to Keats, Rupert Brooke, or Stephen Crane for precedent, but…”It’s not George’s gloom, his preference for Huysmans, De Gourmont, Poe, Baudelaire, Verlaine, and Hecht that pains us,” these “friends” would parry, “but his stilted elegance, his meticulous speech!”

The following article, written by drama critic, Ted Le Berthon, appeared in his weekly column “The Merry-Go-Round” in the Los Angeles Evening Herald, on December 12, 1925.  The article describes my father, George Hodel, who had just turned eighteen but was passing himself off as “twenty-one” so he could drive a taxi in downtown Los Angeles. (Le Berthon changed his name from “Hodel” to “Morel” and dad’s self-published elitist magazine Fantasia to “Whirpools.”  I quote the article here in its entirety:

Los Angeles Evening Herald
December 12, 1925
The Merry-Go-Round
By Ted Le Berthon

The Clouded Past of a Poet

GEORGE MOREL is tall, olive-skinned with wavy Black hair and a strong bold nose. His eyes are large, brown, somnolent. A romantic, hawklike fellow, a pianist, a poet, and editor of Whirlpools, a bizarre, darkly poetical quarterly.

“George is a nice boy but…”
How often did one hear that!
What his friends hinted was that George, being young, was inclined to write of melancholy things.

Of course, George could have pointed to Keats, Rupert Brooke, or Stephen Crane for precedent, but…”It’s not George’s gloom, his preference for Huysmans, De Gourmont, Poe, Baudelaire, Verlaine, and Hecht that pains us,” these “friends” would parry, “but his stilted elegance, his meticulous speech!”

George drowned himself at times in an ocean of deep dreams. Only part of him seemed present. He would muse standing before one in a black, flowered dressing-gown lined with scarlet silk, oblivious to one’s presence.

Suddenly, though, his eyes would flare up like signal lights and he would say, “The formless fastidiousness of perfumes in a seventeenth-century boudoir is comparable to my mind in the presence of twilight.”

One might have answered “What of it?”- but one just didn’t.

As one of George’s “friends” put it: “He’s young. He’ll get over it. What he needs is contact with harsh realities. At present his writing is tenuous, dreamy, monotonous–and he is like his writing.”

A Future Realistic Novelist

I HADN’T seen George for about a year…
And last night, strolling up Spring street in a sort of Morelian reverie myself, I was startled by hearing a familiar voice. The next moment I saw a tall young fellow in a taxi driver’s uniform seize a burly, argumentative man by the coat lapels and growl menacingly:
“Come across with that taxi fare or I’ll smack you in the nose, right here and now!”
The speaker was GEORGE MOREL.

Drama Critic Ted LeBerthon (on left) with city Councilman Marque Neal.
(Councilman Neal was married to Jazz singer Ivie Anderson.)

120 Days of Sodom: Or The School of Libertinage

The original manuscript (above) was written by Marquis de Sade in 1785
and was found hidden in his cell in 1789 after the storming of the Bastille.
If you have a spare $3600.00 in your pocket you can obtain the “First Edition” below.

1904 First Edition For Sale $3,654.35  Listed on Abe Books 

Below is a scan from my book, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder originally published in 2003. Chapter 17, LAPD Secrets and the Marquis de Sade.

As stated in that chapter, it is my belief that my father, George Hodel would have read (possibly in the original French edition) or if not, then in a later English printing, Sade’s writings of 120 Days of Sodom. Further that Sade’s writings and “Sadistic tortures” as described in the book, were very likely one of the early “inspirations” for GHH’s many sadistic crimes inflicted on men, women, and children.

All of these criminal acts (binding of victim’s arms and legs, extended tortures, cigarette burns to bodies, strangulation, rape, and sodomy, writing words and letters on the body) as described in horrific detail in Sade’s 1904 publication, were acts committed by GHH in his many serial crimes believed to have spanned some fifty years. (1921-1969)

Interestingly, GHH’s last known crime, the murder of cab driver, Paul Stine occurred in San Francisco in 1969, the same year that the De Sade film was released to the public. The De Sade’s film U.S. release was on August 27, 1969, and Paul Stine’s execution murder occurred just six weeks later on October 11, 1969.

Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder (Arcade 2003 /HarperCollins 2004)

Ironically, George Hodel’s good friend, actor/director John Huston played the part of “The Abbe”, debauchee-extraordinaire,  in the production, de Sade released in the U.S. in August 1969. (Talk about type casting!)

Dr. George Hill Hodel’s good friend John Huston
plays the part of  “The Abbe” in the 1969 film, De Sade.

De Sade video trailer (age restricted) 

The post Sad, Sad, Sade-The Surrealists “Divine Marquis” and Publication of his Writings in 1904 “The 120 Days of Sodom or the School of Libertinage” was the Probable “Inspiration” for Many of Dr. George Hill Hodel’s Serial Murders appeared first on Steve Hodel.

March 10, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington

Amazon Prime Video’s new hit show, “Daisy Jones & the Six” is featured in today’s Variety Magazine shown being filmed at Los Angeles’ Historic Landmarks which include: The Whisky a Go Go, Filthy McNasty, The Troubadour, Chateau Marmont and…wait for it, wait for it, yes the Sowden/Franklin House.

In the Variety article, by Pat Saperstein, “‘ Daisy Jones & the Six’: Why Shooting at Actual L.A. Rock ‘n’ Roll Landmarks Was a ‘Gift to the Actors’,  it is not known if the author or the actors were aware they were filming at the actual 1947 Black Dahlia Murder crime scene or not?
In referencing the Sowden House Saperstein writes:

The John Sowden House

Also known as the “Jaws House” for its dramatic facade of textile blocks, this Franklin Ave. house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son Lloyd Wright in 1926 makes the perfect backdrop for a decadent Hollywood rock ‘n roll party. Reminiscent of a Mayan temple, the courtyard design enables sightlines to pretty much every room in the house from every other room, which is very helpful when checking out the other party guests. It’s not clear who lived there in the 1970s, but there was definitely no pool in the middle of the courtyard at the time.

When shooting the party where Simone meets Bernie for the first time, Kender was excited to showcase the house despite worries it was too over-the-top. “This show is a little bit of a love letter to L.A.,” she says, “and this is a part of L.A.”

Amazon Prime’s trailer for “Daisy Jones and the Six.  (Looks like a very cool series.)

The below photographs show how the Hodel/Sowden house appeared in the 1970s (it had been vacant for twenty years after Dr. George Hill Hodel sold it and fled the country in 1950.)

The post Amazon Prime’s New Hit Series, “Daisy Jones & the Six” Actors Filmed at 1970s Los Angeles Most Historic Landmarks Which Included the George Hodel/Sowden Franklin House–the Actual 1947 Black Dahlia Crime Scene appeared first on Steve Hodel.

March 14, 2023
Birch Bay,Washington

I just received word that my friend, poet/author Jean Barrett Holloway has published her new book, KWAJALEIN ISLAND: How My Family Came to Live There and How the Big Bombs Came to Blow.

Jean Barrett Holloway

I was fortunate to get to read a pre-published proof sometime back and here’s my blurb review on her book:

“This book reveals her many talents as: poet, family biographer, historian, psychologist, anthropologist, and environmentalist. The final result is nuclear…Highly Recommended Reading.” —Steve Hodel, New York Times bestselling author of Black Dahlia Avenger

Here’s a flyer from the publisher:

I met Jean Holloway Barrett about ten years ago in Los Angeles and she graciously allowed me to publish her Black Dahlia Museum: An Installation in Four Poems in my 2014 revision of Black Dahlia Avenger II.  (Chapter 26-pages 441-447) Reproduced below.

Congratulations Jean on your most recent publication and wishing you and yours the best of health and happiness.

The post Author/Poet Jean Barrett Holloway Publishes Her Newest Book, KWAJALEIN ISLAND: How My Family Came to Live There and How the Big Bombs Came to Blow appeared first on Steve Hodel.

March 17, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Top of the mornin’ to all.

I AM THE NIGHT– A Review in Daylight

I have deliberately avoided watching the miniseries I Am The Night for the past four years, knowing a “fictional version” about my family and the Black Dahlia investigation would only get my blood up after spending twenty years compiling and presenting—”just the facts.”

This weekend (March 11-12, 2023), I decided it was time to get over my reluctance to view the series, so I have just finished binging the six episodes.

Here are my thoughts/review of the series. I present them as objectively as possible, considering it is not just “close to home” but goes inside the walls and presents a “real life interpretation” of both my father (Dr. George Hill Hodel) and my mother, Dorothy Jean Hodel (name changed to Corinna Hodel in the series.)

The Good

Though 95% fictional, the series makes it clear that Dr. George Hill Hodel was the prime suspect in the original Elizabeth Short, “Black Dahlia” murder, and further, that he committed the crime. That he was a powerful mover/shaker in 1940s Los Angeles and had connections,  influence, and control over local L.A. politicians and law enforcement.

The series presents a brief but reasonably accurate summary of the 1949 Incest Trial, where my father was charged with sexually molesting my half-sister, Tamar, then, age 14. That Tamar, in the trial, is painted with a “pathological liar” brush which included a defense rebuttal to the seated jury that she also, in addition to the sexual allegations, made the outlandish claim “that her father killed the Black Dahlia.” (Which in the series was presented with actual laughter coming from the jurors.) What happened in real life was that Tamar was told by the LAPD officers taking her to and from Juvenile Hall that “they suspected that George Hodel killed the Black Dahlia” and let her know that they were actively investigating him. This Tamar told an unknown person, and it got back to defense attorney Neeb, who used it to ridicule and support his claim that “Tamar was a pathological liar.”

Also included in the series was George Hodel’s connections to the L.A. Abortion Ring and his being protected by corrupt LAPD officers who looked the other way and allowed him to operate freely. (pun intended.)

Overall, the series provided extended exposure and reached out to a broader audience with the basic fact that Dr. George Hill Hodel was a psychopath that committed the 1947 Black Dahlia murder and was a major force of Evil.

The Bad

From a production standpoint, on a scale of 10, I would rate the overall series as a 5.
I found the biggest problem was—Dialogue. The script was poorly written and totally out of sync with the Sixties. The conversations between the characters came off as stilted and phony. Consequently, it turned some excellent actors into bad ones. Caca in, caca out. Not their fault.

Ditto on the police procedures. The LAPD of the 1930s and 1940s was pulled out of the past, and the screenwriters had them operating in the mid-1960s. Again, totally out of sync. By the Sixties, Chief William H. Parker had mostly cleaned up the Department, and none of the on-screen brutality would have been tolerated. “The New Breed” of policemen was in full swing, but without batons. (I know, I was there.) The police corruptions and brutalities, as shown in the series, were long gone. It was as if the screenwriters were trying to steal from Polanski’s Chinatown of the 1930s and time warp it and its characters into the 1960s.

The Ugly

Mostly this has to do with fact vs. fiction. As I indicated, the series was about 95% total fiction.

Fact– My niece, Fauna, Tamar’s daughter, never met my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, in life and was never followed by him or any of his confederates. He fled L.A. in 1950 to Hawaii, then on to Asia and Manila, P.I.

Fact- Fauna was never inside the walls of the Sowden/Franklin home which was sold by George Hodel prior to her birth and no longer the Hodel residence.

Fact- My mother never had contact with Fauna Hodel’s family, never interacted with Fauna’s adopted mother and only met Fauna on one brief occasion (I was present with my two brothers) when Fauna came to L.A. in search of her mother, Tamar, in the Seventies.)

Fact- Fauna was NOT the child of George Hodel and Tamar, as represented in the series. (That fiction is right out of Chinatown, “she’s my sister, she’s, my daughter.”) Tamar was already pregnant when she came to George Hodel, and the father was Joe Barrett, a 25-year-old tenant living at the Sowden/Franklin House. Tamar’s pregnancy was attempted to be aborted by our father who gave her Ergot, (documented in police/court files) that failed and he secured a Beverly Hills doctor (Dr. Francis Ballard) who performed the abortion and was arrested and charged along with George Hodel in 1949.

Fauna’s father was a Male, White, Italian who liquored up Tamar when she was sixteen, home from Juvenile Hall after the trial, and living in San Francisco with her mother, Dorothy Barbe.  He had sex with her, resulting in the pregnancy and Fauna’s birth on August 1, 1951. The producers of I Am The Night knowing that DNA confirmed the truth, refused to release the information and deliberately misrepresented the truth as it conflicted with their about-to-be-released production—which falsely purported that Dr. George Hill Hodel was her father.

The Actors

These are just some general observations regarding the main actors in their roles in I AM THE NIGHT.

I am a big fan of Chris Pine and consider him a highly gifted actor. His role as a has-been reporter with PTSD and a taste for cocaine and searching for the truth of who killed the Black Dahlia was totally over-the-top. Again, not his fault. Terrible dialogue and his scripted scenes went from bad to worse.

She is a great actor, but the dialogue pulled her way down from her usually outstanding abilities. Again, I thought her performance was the best of show, but again it fell back on the writing. As they say, “you can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shi*.”

I am unfamiliar with actor May’s prior roles but believe me; I knew George Hodel, and Mr. May’s performance was no George Hodel. The actor’s performance as GHH was a total bust. The real Dr. Hodel possessed abundant charm and wit and could fit himself into any social situation. He was loved by all. Charismatic and the life of the party. He was the last person you would suspect was a psychopath. Sadly, Mr. May’s performance as GHH on a scale of 10 was—a 3.

Dorothy “Dorero” Hodel

I wanted to like Ms. Nielsen’s role as my mother, but again, she was way off the mark. Like the rest, it was not her fault, but whoever was responsible for backgrounding and researching Dorothy Hodel didn’t do their homework. Mother was intelligent extremely literate but soft and unaffected. Men loved her for her sensuousness, coupled with her vulnerability. Ms. Nielsen played her as just the opposite, hard, bitter, and affected. She would have been perfect for the role if she had been so informed.

   In the past I have referenced the completed, but never released film, “Pretty Hattie’s Baby-The True Story of Fauna Hodel” which was produced and completed in 1990, with no mention of “The Black Dahlia” because Fauna Hodel would not become aware of any Black Dahlia linkage to our family and the name HODEL until my investigation and book, Black Dahlia Avenger, published some thirteen years later in 2003.

In making IATN, Fauna, a credited producer, would cut and paste from the detailed Hodel biographies and my father’s crime signatures as presented in BDA I, (2003) BDA II (2014), and BDA III (2018) and create a whole fictional “Black Dahlia Scenario” for the miniseries in 2019.

In closing this “review” let me just say STAY TUNED.

We will be presenting, the non-fiction, Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius For Murder (I, II, and III, (now in production) which will adapt my books and investigation to film.

The post A Daytime Review of the 2019 Hodel Docuseries, “I Am The Night” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

March 22, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington

BEFORE 2001 RENOVATION

1969 photos show the “Before” taken twenty years after George Hodel sold the residence in 1950.
As pictured in the above photographs had been vacant/unoccupied since that date.

Developer Xorin Balbes bought home in 2001 for 1.2 million and spent another 1.6 million in restoring the residence. (March 17, 2017)

AFTER 2001 RENOVATION

Above paragraph from Sowden House Virtual tour “History”, inaccurately states that “…Dr. George Hodel was never actually named as a suspect at the time of the investigation.” and…”his son claimed that his father had murdered Elizabeth Short in the basement”… Neither of these statements are true.  Fact- Dr. George Hill Hodel was named and actively investigated as the prime suspect and tape-recorded confessions were obtained during a “bugging” by LAPD and LADA during the original investigation. Secondly, I never claimed Elizabeth Short was “murdered in the basement”. It is my opinion she was slain in the center courtyard and her body was bisected and washed clean in the master bathroom.

SKH Note- 

A Virtual Tour of Renovation Click HERE.

Dan Goldfarb purchased the home for 4.7 million.

Marijuana millionaire turns LA’s infamous Sowden House into cannabis oasis
(January 29,2018)

Dan Goldfarb sells Sowden House for 6.2 million to Nate Daneshgar owner of DTLA’s Grand Central Market
(June 21, 2022)

John Sowden House by Lloyd Wright (Virtual Globetrotting article)

The post The Sowden/Hodel Franklin House History Link-Some Historical Corrections and a Virtual Tour appeared first on Steve Hodel.

April 4, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington

Here is a live interview I did in the studio with Tony Sweet for his show, “Truth Be Told” about 18 months ago.  I think the in-person nature always adds a little more oomph and energy to the final product than say a “Zoom” talk.  This interview runs about eighty minutes and I think gives a good summary of “the truth being told.” Thanks Tony.

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.

Tony Sweet and Steve Hodel “Black Dahlia Avenger” Interview

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

April 11, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington

Background 

A decade prior to my father’s death, after retiring from Hollywood Homicide, in 1986, I obtained my California State Private Investigators license and began conducting criminal defense investigations in Los Angeles.  After three years I then moved my family (wife and two young sons)  to Bellingham, Washington in the Pacific Northwest.

In Bellingham (Whatcom County) I obtained a WA State P.I. license and remained active in criminal defense investigations. I served as a court-appointed defense investigator for  Whatcom County as well as local private attorneys.

In 1992 I received a telephone call from Los Angeles Attorney Gerson Horn, who was considered one to the top defense attorneys in Los Angeles and whom I had worked for prior to moving to Bellingham, WA.

LA Attorney Gerson Horn

Gerson wanted me to “come down for a few months to help him on a murder case.” He was representing Yoshikuni Okubo, a Japanese businessman, who had been accused along with Miura (Miura was not represented by attorney Horn) of the 1981 murder of Miura’s wife, Kazumi Miura, age 28.

Above 1981 photo showing Miura allegedly wounded in a “street robbery” while his wife, Kazumi (photo left)
remained ‘critical’ and comatose and after being air-evacuated back to Japan, would later die from her head wound.
Facts would later indicate her husband likely committed the “murder for hire” for insurance purposes.

Absent a “shooter” LAPD Cold Case detectives focused on Miura’s “business partner” Yoshikuni Okubo.
Detectives attempted to get a felony filing and warrant on Okubo in Los Angeles, but “the evidence” linking him to the crime was so thin and absent that the local LADA’s office rejected any complaint against Okubo.
Consequently, when Okubo returned to Japan authorities there charged him as an “accomplice” and he was jailed in Japan with “no bail” in 1988. (The conviction rate in Japan is “99.7%” so basically our legal system of “presumed innocent” is non-existent in Japan.  It would appear that in Japan, if you are arrested/you’re GUILTY.

When attorney Gerson Horn contacted me, in 1992, Okubo had been incarcerated in prison for four years while ‘awaiting trial.”

My defense investigation on behalf of Okibo required I temporarily return to Los Angeles and ultimately, I was able to PROVE OKUBO’S INNOCENCE, which resulted in the Japanese tribunal ordering his release from custody and his return to his family and young children in Osaka, Japan.

The assigned Cold Case detectives (Jackson, Lambkin, and Carr) were obviously not happy with the fact I had established that their “alleged accomplice Okubo” was innocent and not the shooter, which resulted in his release from custody.

The Miura/Okubo investigation by LAPD had been deemed “The Los Angeles Suspicions Case” by the Japanese newspapers and was headline news both in Tokyo and Los Angeles for years. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on scores of investigators from LAPD and Tokyo 5-0 flying back and forth and conducting “crime scene reenactments” in DTLA. The investigation by them continued for nearly three decades and ultimately resulted in the arrest and extradition of MIURA to Los Angeles where on October 10, 2008*.   Miura allegedly hung himself while in LAPD custody prior to his trial in Los Angeles. (An independent pathologist hired by the defense attorney stated the evidence showed Miura was murdered while in jail, the LA County coroner ruled the cause of death was suicide.)
Kazuyoshi Miura Wikipedia Summary HERE. 

*October 10, is the birthdate of Dr. George Hill Hodel. (File under, “you can’t make this shi* up.”) In the early/mid-2000s my father was “fascinated” by my ongoing investigation into  the Okubo/Miura case and wanted me to write a book about it called, “Murder Across the Pacific.” (His title, not mine.)  Miura was born in 1947, the year Dr. George Hodel murdered Elizabeth Short. His birthdate was July 27, just two days before that of victim Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short.)

Imagine their thoughts a decade later when these same detectives were confronted with my “solving of the Black Dahlia Murder” and being ordered by “the brass’ to attend my and Head DDA Steve Kay’s “briefing” at Parker Center in 2003.
There can be no doubt that these three detectives were angry and hostile and viewed me just as the fictional character, Det. III Harry Bosch.  In their minds, Detective III Hodel, as a criminal defense investigator,  had “gone to the dark side.”

LAPD BLACK DAHLIA BRIEFING 2003

PRESENT AT LAPD PARKER CENTER BRIEFING:

HEAD DDA STEVE KAY

CLICK TO PLAY

RICK JACKSON (now ret.)

Assigned to the Cold Case Unit. Worked on the “Miura/Okubo” unsolved murder.

“LAPD detective in Miura probe a cold case expert”
(The Japan Times newspaper photo)

BRIAN CARR-Cold Case Detective (now retired)

DAVID LAMBKIN Cold Case Unit Supervisor (now retired)

 COMMANDER JIM TATREAU (retired and deceased. See obit below)
(Former Capt. Robb/Homicide Div. Established Cold Case Unit 2001)

CHIEF JAMES MCMURRAY (Now retired)

ASST CHIEF SHARON PAPA  (Now retired)

UNNAMED MALE CIVILIAN/POLICE COMMISSIONER OR ??

A White Hat.  One of the good guys- Commander Jim Tatreau.

SKH Note- After the presentation of the briefing by myself and Head DDA Kay,  Cmdr. Tatreau, who just a year earlier was Captain of the LAPDs Robbery/Homicide Division, compliment us and felt the evidence was strongly compelling and looked forward to the follow-up by the Cold Case Unit, which he had established just a few years earlier. (Sadly, the ‘follow-up” by Brian Carr never happened.)

lapd tatreau obit 2007

The post 2003 LAPD “Black Dahlia” Briefing – Attending Cold Case Detectives Remain Frigid- Head Deputy DA and Chief of Detectives say, “It’s Solved!” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

April 16, 2016
Birch Bay, Washington
Happy Birthday to my son, Matthew!

Robert F. Kennedy’s speech at the Ambassador Hotel, moments before he was fatally shot. Sandi Gibbons is the woman in the white dress at the bottom right of the photo. On June 5, 1968, Sandi Gibbons was working as a news reporter for the City News Service covering Senator Kennedy’s primary win in California.

Click on the link HERE to read KPCC’s Susanne Whatley’s published account, “Veteran reporter, DA spokesperson Sandi Gibbons is retiring.” (Bizarrely published on Jan 15, 2013. (the 66th anniversary of the murder of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short.) Be sure to click on the LISTEN box at that link to hear the 4-minute interview with Sandi about her account at the Ambassador on the assassination of RFK.

I had the pleasure of knowing and meeting Sandi Gibbons, Chief spokesperson for the LA County DA’s Office and am remiss for not acknowledging and thanking her for her many years of service to the citizens of Los Angeles. She had a stellar career and covered many if not all of the high-profile cases that were filed for prosecution. She was the public voice of “Mr. & Ms. DA” for four LA DA’s: Ira Reiner, Gil Garcetti, Steve Cooley and Jackie Lacey.

DA Spokesperson Sandi Gibbons

I have the highest praise for her public service. Sandi was always fully informed and articulate and open when presenting the DA’s office’s position on the latest high-profile arrest and prosecutions. Huge KUDOS Sandi.

In early 2003, just a month or two before the publication of my book, “Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder” LA Head DDA Steve Kay met with then DA Steve Cooley to be briefed on his (Kay’s) six-month review of my investigation. Also, in attendance at that briefing were Cooley’s Number 2 man, Head DDA Curt Livesay, and Cooley’s Public Spokesperson, Sandi Gibbons.  Kay briefed Cooley, Livesay, and Gibbons on my overall investigation.

Shortly after that briefing, Los Angeles Times reporter Steve Lopez published two back-to-back articles on my investigation along with his blockbuster finding and partial publication of the “Secret Hodel/DA Black Dahlia Transcripts” which had been secreted in the DA vault for over fifty years and were discovered during his own followup interview with DA Cooley regarding my investigation.

Within a few weeks of Lopez’s publication of his findings and the existence of the Hodel Transcripts, I requested and was granted permission to review and copy these files from the LADA’s office. I was met there by Sandi Gibbons who assisted me and helped facilitate my review and copying of the hundreds of pages from the Hodel Files.

Here is a copy of my original thank you letter and “notes” to Sandi Gibbons dated May 31. 2003 – written some twenty years ago.

Sandi Gibbons Cooley skh Ltr May 2003

The post Los Angeles News Reporter and LADA Spokesperson Sandi Gibbon-A Remarkable Woman-A Remarkable Career appeared first on Steve Hodel.

April 15, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington
Happy Birthday, Mother!

BACKGROUND ON 146-PAGE 6 WEEK (2/15-3/27 1950) BUGGING TAPES OF HODEL RESIDENCE BY DA’S OFFICE

Naysayers of my investigation will tell you, “Dr. Hodel’s residence was staked out just because he was one of the many doctor’s they were routinely checking out and because of his trial in December 1950, and he was cleared.” NOT SO.

Dr. George Hill Hodel initially came under suspicion for murdering (overdosing) his personal secretary, Ruth Spaulding in May, 1945. He fled the country by joining UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation) and being assigned to China which effectively stopped the investigation.
Dr. Hodel then became a suspect in the June 1949 kidnap/murder of Louise Springer after an LAPD CI (Confidential Informant), Glenn Martin, working undercover as a snitch for LAPD named him as an associate of the victim and identified him as the killer of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short as well as Lousie Springer. In July 1949, (seven months prior to the bugging installations)  LAPD brought Dr. Hodel in for questioning on both murders but according to CI Martin, as excerpted in his letter, “G.H. was grilled by police on Louise Springer death; he and I both knew her. The investigating officers became G.H. friend so matter dropped. He threatened to get even with me. He bragged while drunk in a salloon (sic).”

Dr. Hodel was next arrested in October 1949 for Incest and Child Molestation with his 14-year-old daughter, my half-sister, Tamar, and the trial began in December, which is when CI Martin, fearing Dr. Hodel would kill one of his two daughters, wrote his three-page letter, dated December 25, 1949, to be opened, “In Case of Margaret Ellen’s Death or Glenna Jeans.” (Neither daughter was murdered so the unopened letter remained in his family’s custody until open and found by his granddaughter, Sandi Nichols in 2018, some sixty-eight years after it was written. Sandi contacted me by email and forwarded the original letter. (See the complete summary of Louise Springer and Glenn Martin’s letter linking George Hodel to both the Black Dahlia and Louise Springer murders in Black Dahlia Avenger III (Rare Bird Books 2018)

In February, 1950, the LADA having assumed investigation for the Black Dahlia murder by order of the 1949 Grand Jury and with Lt. Frank Jemison in charge, brought Dr. Hodel into the Hall of Justice for questioning and while he was in custody, broke into the Franklin House residence and secretly installed microphones in the living room and bedroom walls and monitored his live conversations for the next six weeks. As a result, they received numerous admissions from Dr. Hodel as to committing the murder of his secretary, performing abortions and payoffs to police as well as the murder of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia’ Short.

Today is the 117th anniversary of my mother, Dorothy Harvey Huston Hodel’s birth.
I felt it is appropriate to revisit her 1950 tape-recorded/transcribed interview by LADA Lt. Frank Jemison at her then residence of 410 Santa Monica Pier. (We actually lived in a small two-bedroom apartment, on the pier above the bait shop. (The other side of our apt wall was the Spade Cooley Ballroom.)

Santa Monica Ballroom and “Home of Spade Cooley”

SKH Note- Western singer Spade Cooley was arrested eleven years later (1961) for the bludgeoning murder of his wife.

Lt. Frank Jemison                                                                                                  Dorothy Harvey Hodel

                                                     
Lt. Jemison accompanied by a court-certified stenographer conducted an interview related to the 1947 murder of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short, with my mother, Dorothy Harvey Hodel on March 22, 1950, at her then residence apt on Santa Monica pier.
The following six pages are an exact transcribed copy of Lt. Jemison’s original interview as found in the secret LADA Hodel/Black Dahlia Files, hidden for over fifty years and allowed to be copied by me in 2003 by then DA Steve Cooley. (Not believed related to Spade Cooley?)
My relevant comments/observations are in red below each page of the six-page interview.

Divorced in 1945 was news to me. I and my brothers had assumed my parents were married up until our father fled the country in 1950. So we three boys and mother were living off and on at the Franklin House at our father’s pleasure.

Dorothy, questioned by Lt. Jemison, admits to knowing Lillian Lenorak and that she was admitted to Camarillo Hospital and offers her own “confirmation” that Lenorak must have been a mental case and “ill” (psychologically) and adds, “The little boy was running around and very distressed. Poor little kid.” This questioning by Lt. Jemison indicated he was aware of the letter sent by Santa Barbara police officer, Mary Unkefer describing the drugging of Lenorak by Dr. Hodel and his assault and staged “suicide” of Lenorak by superficially cutting her wrists and bandaging them while she was unconscious. (This assault by George Hodel on Lenorak was witnessed by her four-year-old son, John Lenorak. No wonder he was “stressed and running around.”)

Dorothy denies knowing Elizabeth Short. Claims “to the best of my knowledge George Hodel didn’t and doesn’t know her.”
Denies being out at 4:00 am with George on the night of the murder  (Jan 15, 1947) and being intoxicated. (Lt. Jemison had to have some information to ask this question. No idea who was his source on this?)

Lt. Jemison informs Dorothy he has information that both Dorothy and George Hodel were intoxicated and that George stated, “They can’t pin the Black Dahlia Murder on me.” Dorothy denies that occurred. Apparently, the source was my half-sister, Tamar as Lt. Jemison asks, “Do you remember telling Tamar that?” Dorothy denies she did.  Here she also establishes that she and we three sons were not living at the Franklin House on January 15, 1947 and were living with her brother at 2121 Loma Vista Place, Los Angeles. (About four miles away.)  Lt. Jemison informs Dorothy that witnesses place “the victim Elizabeth Short at the Franklin House prior to the murder.”  Dorothy denies knowing that. 

Dorothy admits on prior occasions to having lunch and dinner with George Hodel at the Biltmore Hotel in DTLA.
Admits knowing George stayed at the Biltmore Hotel on prior occasions.
Lt Jemsion states to Dorothy, “You know that Dr. Hodel has had practice with surgical tools?” Dorothy lies claiming “he never practices surgery. His branch of medicine is V.D. generally and Administrative Medicine.” Mother knew he was a surgeon in New Mexico and had visited him during his practice there in the mid-to-late 1930s. Lt. Jemison shows her a Booking Photo and she identifies it as being Dr. George Hodel.

Lt. Jemison shows Dorothy a photo of a nude Black Female and asks her if she knows her as they are attempting to identify her? Dorothy lies claiming only that she “looks familiar’ but claims not to know her name. BIG LIE. This photo is of Mattie Comfort, who was a sexual partner of both George and Dorothy for many years prior to 1950 and wrote in her personal diary of the “many pleasures that the three of them exchanged.” Lt. Jemison shows Dorothy a second photo with both Mattie Comfort and George Hodel standing nude and holding a cat. Lt. Jemison again asks Dorothy if she know her and he is “sincerely interested in contacting this girl for information.” Again, Dorothy lies and denies knowing her or her whereabouts.
Lt. Jemison categorically states to Dorothy, “Let me advise you that we do have information that he (George Hodel)  did associate with Beth Short.”

SKH Note- As transcribed in the LA DA Bugging Transcripts immediately following this interview by Lt. Jemison of Dorothy Hodel at her apartment on the Santa Monica pier, she immediately, the following day, went to her ex-husband’s residence, the Franklin House, 5121 Franklin Ave, and had a conversation with George Hodel. Clearly, this was to inform him of all that Lt. Jemison had questioned her about, the fact they had nude photographs and were attempting to identify Mattie Comfort and that they believed he killed Elizabeth Short.
Within five days of the Dorothy interview, George (at least temporarily) was “in the wind” and the bugging stakeout was apparently terminated on March 27, 1950.

To be clear, as I see it, the reason for my mother lying to Lt. Frank Jemison was twofold. 1) Knowing that her ex-husband was a serial killer and sociopath and if she disclosed any information he would come after her and us three boys, she was a mother bear protecting her young. 2) Having been involved and present in the Ruth Spaulding overdose and present at her apartment and burning Ruth’s writings disclosing George Hodel’s criminality, she was an accomplice to murder and would go to prison knowing if George was arrested he would implicate her. (Also, as documented in my follow-up books/investigation she was present on some of his “Early Years” crimes which made her an additional accessory to those crimes. Lots of reasons to lie and deny.

Lt. Jemison shows Dorothy Booking Photo 119364
which she identifies as her ex-husband, George Hodel.

Dr. George Hodel inside Franklin House 1950

Dorothy Hodel inside Franklin House courtyard circa 1949

Below are my summaries of day-to-day stakeout activities overheard by LADA and LAPD officers who served four-hour shifts for six weeks 24/7.  What is important to understand is the actual bugging transcripts only contain brief summaries by officers during the stakeout and the detectives are constantly advising “to listen to the full tape for complete conversations.” For example, they state, “Subject (Hodel) talking about Black Dahlia.”  (They don’t state what was said and leave that to be reviewed on the tape.)

Unfortunately, all the actual tapes after being ordered by DA Simpson to be turned over to LAPD Deputy Chief Thad Brown directly by Lt. Jemison then “disappeared” so the actual detailed conversations as well as the transcripts have been missing from LAPD Black Dahlia Files. (Fortunately, unbeknownst to LAPD Lt. Jemsion kept a second set of books and locked them away in the DA vault to be discovered some fifty-three years later and fully copied and published by me in BDA II in 2004.

The post Los Angeles District Attorney Lt. Frank Jemison’s 1950 Black Dahlia Investigation Transcribed Interview of Dorothy Huston Hodel At Santa Monica Pier Residence appeared first on Steve Hodel.

April 21, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington

The following pages (304-308) are an excerpt from my fourth book, Most Evil II: Presenting the Follow-up Investigation and Decryption of the 1970 Zodiac Cipher in Which the San Francisco Serial Killer Reveals His True Identity (Rare Bird Books 2015).

The section is entitled, “California DOJ (Department of Justice) and the Zodiac DNA Evidence.
It details my meeting with two DOJ detectives who flew down from San Francisco to Los Angeles and viewed my PowerPoint briefing.  Subsequent to the briefing I turned over to them my father’s handwriting samples and a summary (including the “cracking of the known cipher) that definitively linked and identified my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel as Zodiac.   Here is that summary as presented in Most Evil II:

Two years passed (2011) with no further contact from the assigned DOJ detectives.

It is now, April 2023, twelve years later, and still no further information has been provided.
Absent any information from the DOJ (Delay of Justice) I can only assume that the Stine Gloves, like the Black Dahlia evidence, “has disappeared or been lost.”

With the publication of Most Evil II in 2025 I took the highly unusual step of actually publishing my father’s DNA in the book. (See below) After considerable testing (and expense) of personal items belonging to my father, Bode Laboratory in Virginia (considered one of the nation’s leading law enforcement DNA analysis services) I was able to obtain my father’s full DNA profile.

I did this so that it would be publically available at no cost to Law Enforcement for comparison to all and any unsolved “Cold Cases.” (All that is now required by LE detectives is to pick up the phone and ask their SID (Scientific Investigation Division)  to see if any potential DNA exists on the specific item of evidence and if so, to obtain it and simply compare to the below George Hodel DNA.)

Those unsolved cases include but are not limited to the following police and sheriff’s departments and their unsolved cold cases dating back to my father’s “Early Years” up and including what I believe may have been his last murder, as Zodiac. That being, cab driver, Paul Stine in October 1969.

LE unsolveds and known evidence that potentially contain Dr. George Hill Hodel’s DNA:

LAPD- Elizabeth Short 1/15/47; Jeanne French 2/10/47; Evelyn Winters 3/11/47; Rosenda Mondragon 7/8/47; Gladys Kern 2/14/48; Louise Springer 6/14/49; Mimi Boomhower 8/18/49; Jean Spangler 6/13/49;   William Desmond Taylor 2/1/22; Nina and May Martin 8/23/24; Doris Dazey 10/4/35; Thelma Todd 12/16/35;Madeline Everett, Melba Everett, Jeanette Stephens 6/26/37

KHJ TV Letter/Envelope sent by Zodiac in 1978 “Helter/Skelter” in LAPD custody. Strong possibility contains DNA. (Not analyzed to date. (2023)

LASD- Ora Murray 7/27/43; Georgette Bauerdorf 10/12/44; Gertrude Evelyn Landon 7/10/46; Dorothy Montgomery 5/2/47; Geneva Ellroy 6/22/58; Bobby Long 1/22/59.

SANTA MONICA PD- Lillian Dominguez 10/2/47

PASADENA PD- Dr. Leonard Siever 12/12/33

LONG BEACH PD- Laura Trelstad 5/11/47

OCEANSIDE PD- Ray Davis 4/11/62

SAN DIEGO PD AND SD- Marian Newton 7/17/47; Francis Conlon/Lois Kentle 8/26/30; Virginia Brooks 2/11/31; Louise Teuber 4/19/31; Dolly Bibbens 4/23/31; Hazel Bradshaw 5/2/31; Maude Detweiler 8/28/31; Mary Adams 3/4/34; Celia Cota 8/18/34; Ruth Muir 8/1/36

RIVERSIDE PD- Cheri Jo Bates 10/30/66

SAN FRANCISCO PD- Father Patrick Heslin 8/5/21; Paul Stine 10/11/69
SOLANO SD- Betty Jensen and David Faraday-12/20/68
NAPA PD- Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell 9/27/69
VALLEJO PD-Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau 7/4/69

EL PASO PD (Texas)- Hazel and Nancy Frome 4/3/38.

 CHICAGO PD- Josephine Ross 6/5/45; Frances Brown 12/10/45; Suzanne Degnan 1/6/46.

MANILA PD- Lucila Lalu 5/28/67

FBI- Scorpion Letters (1990) Mailed to “America’s Most Wanted Host” John Walsh. High potential for DNA on/under stamps on letters turned over to the FBI by Walsh. (One letter “signed in blood”)

The post The California DOJ Meeting/Briefing with Author on Dr. George Hill Hodel as Zodiac- DoJ Handwriting Expert Analysis Opines, “Cannot Exclude George Hodel as Zodiac”-Dr. Hodel’s Full DNA Profile Made Public for Law Enforcement appeared first on Steve Hodel.

April 28, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington

The below photograph was taken “inside the palace walls” at our Sowden/Franklin House in 1948.  (Unknown photographer possibly tenant and later star/DA informant, Joe Barrett.)

It was sent to me by artist/tenant Chris Dawn (“C.D.” in the photo, lower left) who was a friend/roommate of Barret’s at the home both of whom were living/renting the large studio room at the far end of the home. I received it in 2004 about a year after my book, Black Dahlia Avenger was published.

Sowden/Franklin House tenants 1948 (top-down)

1) Suzanne D’Albert, 2) Gladys Krenek, 3) Dorothy Bowman
4) Fuji Walker, 5) Tony Walker, 6) Chris Dawn, 7) George Hodel,
8) Ellen Taylor  (Tenants artist Joe Barrett and Actress Carol Forman
not shown in the photograph.)

Dorothy Bowman enlarged

Past (1948) Meets Present (2023) Through Artist’s Serigraph

A few days ago, I was fortunate to find and purchase the below serigraph made by Dorothy Bowman Bradford in 1960, some twelve years after she resided with us at the Franklin House where the “Tree of Life” photo was taken.

Signed serigraph “Summer Colt” by Dorothy Bowman Bradford (1960)

I would have been 7 or 8 years old when the Shangri-LA photo was taken at our home in Hollywood. I recall the two budding artists, Chris Dawn and Joe Barrett, but not the other tenants. (Several, Suzanne Dalbert and Carol Forman (not in photo) went on to become successful film actresses. Ellen Taylor was our maid and would figure prominently in the 1950 DA/Hodel Black Dahlia Files Bugging Tapes as sexually servicing George Hodel, or as the late-night stakeout detective candidly put it, in the transcripts, “Ellen just gave George another blowjob.”

1949 Life Magazine article/photo of “future Hollywood stars”
which includes Franklin House tenant, Suzanne D’Albert and a then relatively unknown,
Marilyn Monroe

Excerpt from Black Dahlia Avenger II (Thoughtprint Press 2014)
Chapter 10 – Hollywood Roomers pages 165-166:

…

DOROTHY BOWMAN

At the time Dorothy Bowman was renting a room at the Franklin house, she was twenty-one and was already a recognized Los Angeles artist. Her works had been shown at galleries throughout the Southland and she most certainly would have been a friend and acquaintance of fellow artist and regular houseguest Fred Sexton and his wife Gwain.

Dorothy attended L.A.’s Chouinard Art Institute, where she met fellow painter Howard Bradford. The two also studied together at the Jepson Art School in Los Angeles. This is the same school where Fred Sexton was an art instructor and was fired, because according to Joe Barrett, who also attended the school, “He (Sexton) was hitting on all the young girls and half the class left, so Herb Jepson fired him.”

Dorothy Bowman and Howard Bradford relocated to the California coast of Big Sur around 1950, where they became part of that community and befriended writer Henry Miller, another famous Franklin house visitor. The two artists eventually married. Both Dorothy and Howard became internationally respected and their paintings and serigraphs can be found in museums throughout the world. End of excerpt Chapter 10.

SKH Note-
To put Dorothy Bowman’s 1948 tenancy at the Hodel Franklin House in historical perspective:
Just a year earlier (Jan 1947) her landlord, Dr. George Hodel had slain and surgically bisected victim Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short in the courtyard perhaps 75′ south of where the “Tree of Life” ladder is placed. In the same year Dorothy is residing at our home, George Hodel commits the brutal bludgeoning/stabbing murder of real estate agent, Gladys Kern, just two miles away from the residence. And in the following year, 1949, George will commit the kidnap/murder of Louise Springer, followed a month later by the incest and child molestation crimes with his fourteen-year-old daughter, my half-sister, Tamar.

For those desiring a more detailed backgrounding I have included the full Chapter 10 ‘Hollywood Roomers” as a PDF HERE: BDA II Chap 10

Here is an updated biography of Dorothy Bowman courtesy of The Annex Galleries

My purchase of  Dorothy’s “Summer Colt” was on Ebay sold to me by her son, Tal Bradford. Tal kindly included an interesting article on the Bradford family with the serigraph which I reproduce below:

In closing below is a link to a family-made YouTube interview with Dorothy Bowman Bradford made by her daughter, Heather.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKYDZ0izF20

The post “Tree of Life-Shangri-LA 1948”- Dorothy Bowman 75-Years Later Past and Present Reunited Through Internationally Recognized Artist’s Vintage Serigraph appeared first on Steve Hodel.

May 1, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington
“It’s May, it’s May, the lusty month of May. Where everythings…” (Camelot)

The Medusa Touch

I received the below ‘comment’ from my good friend and fellow sleuth, Dr. Luigi Warren just a few days ago. As a result, and having a life-long crush on Lee Remick (those eyes) and never having seen “The Medusa Touch” movie, I decided to watch it. (Remick had just co-starred in THE OMEN two years earlier.)

          1976                                                                                                         1978

                                                                                                       Click on poster to see trailer

As a detective with fifty-four years of experience, I have been trained to conduct  “Just the Facts” investigations. Rational and Objective. In my presentation of my findings through the decades, in the many separate homicide investigations, I have done my best to present to you, my readers the same.

That said, there is another part of me.  Not sure if it is my Irish/Druid roots; or my Russian Rasputin Mystic roots) but either way, I am a strong believer in Hamlet’s, “There are more things in Heaven and Earth Horatio than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Now that I have entered my Eighties, I tend to favor more of the Jungian thinking. (Pun intended)
Throughout my writings, I have referred to this as “synchronicities”.  Strange events. Unexplainable to the rational mind, but nevertheless-that appear as “door openers” that have led me to discover truths, that without these synchronicities, would forever have remained hidden.  Since I do not believe in “coincidences” then there must be another explanation.  Some sort of mental/metaphysical “more things than in heaven and earth” connection.

Let me give you a real-life example of just one of the many synchronicities.

It is 1998, I am working as a Criminal Defense Investigator and am living in a rented house on Lake Whatcom in Bellingham, Washington. This is prior to my father’s death and I have no clew as to what is about to unfold in my life with my father’s death the following year.

As I step outside the front door, preparing to drive into the city on a case, I look down and see a single playing card on the front steps. It’s apparently been dropped or blown by the wind and laying in the dirt. It is the Queen of Clubs and has a single hole punched in it. (I have the original somewhere in a box in storage, but have reproduced its image below.)

(Simulated reproduction)

I find it curious and for some unknown reason, I picked up the card and kept it.  (Threw it in my desk drawer and forgot about it.)

Fast forward four years to 2002.

My father died the following year (1999) and I am now deep into the weeds of the Black Dahlia and L.A. Lone Woman Murder investigations.

I have conducted an in-depth investigation of my father’s background and early years and have discovered his newspaper articles and writings for the LA Record in 1924 as a young “crime reporter” riding around with LAPD Homicide Detectives and writing his tabloid accounts of the murder investigations.
The following article was written by George Hodel in 1924 and I included it in my 2003 publication, Black Dahlia Avenger.

Excerpt from the above article from Black Dahlia Avenger:

Other than the surprising discovery that my father was a young crime reporter riding along with LAPD homicide detectives and reporting the gruesome crime scenes, I merely document a “just the facts” accounting of his biography and let the article speak for itself.

Fast forward to 2005

Steve and half-sister Tamar-Los Angeles 2005

Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder has been published and become a New York Times bestseller and I have conducted numerous interviews for Dateline, 48-Hours, Court TV, etc.
My sister, Tamar has arranged to travel to Los Angeles for an interview and we reunite in person for the first time in about forty-five years!  (Previous to this all my contacts with my sister were by telephone with her at her residence in Oahu, Hawaii.)

My sister has always been a believer in the paranormal and all things psychic; astrology, tarot, hauntings etc.

During her short visit, Tamar informs me she is currently into tarot card reading and tells me, “Steven, my birthdate is March 24, so I am the Queen of Clubs.”

Tamar then asks, “What was our dad’s birthdate?”
I reply, “October 10th” (She looks it up in her book) and replies, “Oh my God. George is also the Queen of Clubs.”
She then asks me my birthdate.  I respond, “November 6th”.
Tamar looks it up, “You are the Ace of Diamonds- That’s a good card.”

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth Horatio than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Hamlet.

The post Medusa Touch-Things That Go Bump in the Night-Synchronicities appeared first on Steve Hodel.

June 12, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington

Steve Hodel                                                Ralph Pezzullo

                                                     George Hill Hodel  M.D.                                 Elizabeth Short – “The Black Dahlia’

My friend and fellow author, Ralph Pezzullo has just posted his recent interview with me updating my investigation of the Black Dahlia and other L.A. Lone Woman Murders. This is the second season launch of “Heroes Behind Headlines”, Ralph’s highly-rated podcast series. Enjoyed the interview with Ralph, a NYT bestselling author in his own right, and co-author with me in the 2009 publication, ‘Most Evil: Avenger, Zodiac and the Further Serial Murders of Dr. George Hill Hodel. Enjoyed updating my original investigation with Ralph who is a true professional.
Here’s a link to the one-hour interview: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-black-dahlia-avenger/id1604942951?i=1000616585570 (also on Google and Spotify.)

https://www.hbhpod.com/

SKH NOTE- Just a couple of minor factual corrections. 1) The Jeanne French “Red Lipstick Murder” occurred just three weeks (not two years) after the Elizabeth Short ‘Black Dahlia” murder. 2) Witness Betty Bersinger discovered the body on January 15, 1947 (not January 5th).

The post Ralph Pezzullo Podcast “Heroes Behind Headlines” Season II Launch-Interview with Steve Hodel on his NYT Bestseller, “Black Dahlia Avenger” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

July 1, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington

Greetings and as my brother Mike Hodel always used to say about this time of year, “Remember- To be safe on the 4th don’t have a 5th on the 3rd.”  (Miss you big time Mike.)

Today’s “new clew” comes from a reader who mentioned it in a comment on my blog section:

“I just read the book and have been reading through comments on the blog but I haven’t seen this anywhere: am I the only one who sees the letters “G” and “H” in the positioning of the victims’ arms?”
A READER

Do you see it? Let’s take a closer look.

Graphics by author Robert J. Sadler

Strong potential for DNA link if evidence still exists.   Victim’s likely chloroformed using a handkerchief. Surgical gloves were found near bodies along with a partially smoked cigar. (Victim Nancy Frome’s hands/knuckles burned with the cigar.  Pieces of black hair found clutched in Nancy Frome’s hand should also result in DNA link to suspect.

It is highly unlikely that surrealist artist and close friend of Man Ray and George Hodel knew about GHH’s connection to the 1937 double homicide of Hazel and Nancy Frome when decades later he apparently provided his own version of a “G.H.” clew, to supplement his earlier “It’s Midnight Dr. ____” clews to the Black Dahlia murder where he actually spelled out the name HODEL. In this later version, we see Copley laying supine in the “Minotaur Position” in probable imitation of the Elizabeth Short crime scene and he uses the two “Alphabet for Adult” letters “G.H.” as an additional later clew to whodunit.

Surrealist friend of Man Ray and George Hodel’s. A “G.H.” Hat Trick?

Surrealist Artist William Copley’s New “Hat Trick” – A Third Drawing and Clue to Black Dahlia Whodunit?

The post Reader Discovers New “G.H.” Posing Clew-In The Mesquite Murders of Nancy and Hazel Frome appeared first on Steve Hodel.

July 8, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington

I was deeply moved in hearing this newly released music video, “Dorero” which is based on my mother, Dorothy Huston Hodel, known to all as “Dorero”. (My father gave her the name after they married in 1940, informing all that he derived the name from “Dor” “a gift of” and Eros-Sexual Desire.”  Hence Dorero, “a gift of sexual desire.”  The song, based on my mother, “Dorero” as portrayed in the podcast, “Root of Evil” was written by Hannah Aldridge and Lachlan Bryan and was just released in March, 2023. Hannah Aldridge (who is based out of Nashville) and her partner, Lachlan Bryan have created  haunting lyrics and the melody brought tears to my eyes as it perfectly captures the beauty and sadness of my mother’s life.  (See full lyrics below)

“I take back everything I said Dorero/I don’t believe a word I read about you..Well, I stumbled in to find that your not guilty of any crime..Dorero I’ve made up my mind about you.”

 My heartfelt thanks to Hannah Aldridge and Lachlan Bryan for a beautiful tribute to my mother and wish them both continued success.

Take a listen.

credits

license

Here is a link to a nice bio on Hannah Aldridge

https://scenestr.com.au/music/premiere-watch-hannah-aldridge-s-new-music-video-dorero-20230302

The post “DORERO”- Newly released music-video single by Nashville Based, Hannah Aldridge and Songwriter Lachlan Bryan based on Dorothy Huston Hodel -Inspired by the Podcast “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

July 18, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington

With the upcoming anticipated publication (late summer/early fall 2003) of Black Dahlia Avenger IV, I wanted to take time out to give a big THANK YOU to my many readers and reviewers of my BDA series.
As of this date, the Amazon reviews are just six shy of 1400 with an overall ranking of 4.5 out of a possible 5.0. I could not be happier with the response from readers and the fact that so many of you have taken the time to provide your personal reviews.

Here are just a few of the many reviews from individuals and newspapers through the years:

“The hardcover book was pretty compelling. Then when all the transcripts and stuff
came out from the D.A.’s Office that took it over the top for me. That would have been
enough for me to bring a case against Dr. Hodel. I have told my detectives unless they can
find some major holes in Hodel’s investigation–to go ahead and clear the Black Dahlia murder.”
James McMurray, LAPD Chief of Detectives

“In 1962 I was a detective and was the driver for Undersheriff James Downey who was the
sheriff department’s number two man. One day, he was going to lunch with his good friend,
Gordy Bowers, chief of detectives. Somehow, the Black Dahlia murder came up in the
conversation. I heard Jimmy say, “Oh, that had been solved, but it will never come out. It was
some doctor they (LAPD) all knew out in Hollywood.” In my own professional opinion, Hodel
has put the pieces together and solved the case.”
LA Sheriff’s Commander Thomas Vetter/Lt. Col. USMC (ret.)

And here’s the first full review from film critic David Thomson in the NY Times, just after my original publication in April 2003, which I am particularly fond and proud of. Thank you, David. (Click on the link below for PDF)

DAVID THOMSON NYT BOOK REVIEW BDA

Bellingham Herald April 12, 2003

The post A Twenty-Year (2003-2023) Thank You to Readers and Reviewers of Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder Series appeared first on Steve Hodel.

July 29, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington
99th Birthday of murder victim Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short

Date: Summer 1950
Location: Los Angele, California
Time: Time to get out of Dodge

Dr. George Hill Hodel is literally days away from being arrested by LA DA Lt. Frank Jemison. Jemison is about to seek two felony counts against George Hodel for the murders of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short and for GHH’s secretary, Ruth Spaulding. He’s tipped by insiders and splits, initially going to either Mexico or the then territory of Hawaii. Lt. Jemison is then “pulled off the cases” and ordered to return all the files and secret taped confession and surveillance tapes to LAPD and ordered to “hand deliver them to Chief of Detectives, Thad Brown.” He follows orders but secretly locks a second copy of the taped transcripts in the DA files. (Discovered by my investigation 53 years later.)

Dr. George Hodel sometime in the summer of 1950 accepts and moves to Hawaii where he assumes his new triple role positions as (1) “Psychiatrist of the staff of the Territorial Hospital in Kaneohe in charge of the rehabilitation program, and (2) Chief psychiatrist and the clinic at Oahu prison and (3) staff instructor and lecturer at the University of Hawaii.”

Below are two separate articles related to Dr. George Hill Hodel published on the same day in the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper. The first article (on the “Society” page ) announces his marriage to Hortensia Laguda Lopez and the second in the regular section announces his “initiating a unique rehabilitation program of ballroom dancing at the Kaneohe Mental Hospital.” I’ll let the article tell the story, but as you read his “new program” keep in mind that at least two of his serial crimes involved his meeting his victim at a Dance Hall, then ballroom dancing with his victim prior to inviting them out to “see the town” and murdering them. (Ora Murray 1943 and Marian Newton 1947). I keep repeating this same catchline, “You can’t make this shi* up”, but there it is.

The Honolulu Advertiser
August 24, 1952
Society Page

The Honolulu Advertiser 
August 24, 1952

Last Thursday on Oahu a murderer, a man who can’t remember the first half of his life, a combat pilot, and a commercial artist got together to learn the tango.
They are members of probably the most unusual dancing class ever held in Hawaii for the students are inmates at the Kaneohe Territorial Hospital who are dancing to regain their mental health.

THE CLASS MEETS for about an hour and a half every week and is directed by two professional instructors from a downtown studio who contribute their services. Between 30 and 60 patients at the hospital turn out for every session.
Dr. George Hill Hodel, psychiatrist at the hospital, is convinced the foxtrot is good medicine for his patients.
“Most of these people have failed in personal relationships,” he said. “More than half are withdrawn, reclusive, and poorly related to the outside world. What we’re trying to do here is make them realize other people exist.”
“I KNOW OF NOTHING that does it more vividly than social dancing.”
At the beginning of the session, the men lined up in a row on one side of the room and the women on the other. Their ages range from 24 to 60. First, the instructors put the patients through basic steps and then the students are paired off to try out what they’ve learned.
The patients attend the sessions eagerly enough, Dr. Hodel said, but getting them to step out on the floor is more difficult. Even then, a student will simply up and leave his partner every once in a while to go back to his chair and stare at the floor.
“IT’S JUST TOO MUCH for some of them,” the doctor explained. “But they come back.”
The class represents as strange an assortment of professions and talents as you’ll find anywhere. There was a good-looking man in a crisp white shirt and brown slacks who can’t remember the early part of his life. Some time ago, he was able to remember the early part but not the last half.
Now the doctors are trying to put his life back together, Dr. Hodel said.
ANOTHER MAN who is getting a little bald and walks with a slouch was a combat flyer during World War II with 266 combat missions and a whole string of medals.
One of the girls, dressed in a neat, colorful, Holeka, broke down after she had a baby. Her parents would not let her marry the father. The girl now refuses to admit she had a child.
Dr. Hodel pointed out a tall man in an aloha shirt as a commercial artist and author of a book on drawing.
ANOTHER HARMLESS-looking little man who was dancing with one of the instructors killed a man with a knife, Dr. Hode said, because voices told him the man was going to kill him first.
By the time the session was over, the patients danced much more freely than at first. The doctor said it takes a while to break through the wall of fantasy and daydreams that many of the patients build around themselves.
One of the advantages of dancing as therapy, he said, is that it gives patients a chance to function as a group. Most of them have fallen down in these relationships, he added, especially with the other sex.
“RELATIONSHIPS with the other sex are fraught with hidden fears for these people,” he explained. “Here the sexes can mix openly in a healthy atmosphere.”

Below are more than two dozen newspaper articles featuring Dr. George Hill Hodel during his three-four year stay in Hawaii from 1950-1953 or 54, prior to relocating with his wife to Manila, Philippines.

The post Psychiatrist Dr. George Hill Hodel – A Cinderella Psychopath: Meets His Victims at a Ballroom Dance then Murders them; Then As Chief Psychiatrist in Hawaii Introduces Ballroom Dancing Program for Murderers to Regain Mental Health appeared first on Steve Hodel.

August 8, 2923
Birch Bay, Washington

History’s Greatest Mythteries aired  8/7/2024

Hosted by Laurence Fishburne

Some months ago, I was approached by the producers of Histories Greatest Mysteries who wanted me to participate in a new “Black Dahlia” program currently “under production.” After some back-and-forth discussions regarding their intended content- I PASSED.

I watched the results of their “new program” last night, hosted by Laurence Fishburne-IT WAS PAINFUL AND SAD, and definitely got my blood up.

An hour program that rehashed all the MYTHS with interviews of individuals who had no real knowledge of THE FACTS and simply repeated what was speculated about in dime novels of the day.  The more farfetched and bizarre the better. Sensationalism totally ruled the night.

Along with amateur civilian “theorists,”  producers interviewed past and present LAPD officers none of whom were ever assigned to the investigation, had any access to the actual facts, or had even gone so far as to have read the DA Hodel/Black Dahlia transcripts or other related matters.

Rather than being of public service the program actually did the opposite by helping reintroduce long-discarded myths and reintroducing fictional “theories” of decades-old misinformation.

Particular galling was the ending that gave viewers the impression that new LAPD detectives “are on it” and will keep digging until they find the real killer-his motive, opportunity, and means. Totally ignoring the fact that the original LAPD detectives “on the case in 1947-1950” admitted “they solved the case and the killer was Dr. George Hill Hodel.”

The truth is today’s LAPD and its last three Chiefs (William Bratton, Charles Beck, and Michael Moore) have all publicly admitted that they are no longer working the case and “are focused on more current active cases.”
My recommendation on this newest Histories and Mysteries  “Black Dahlia” production- SKIP IT!

Steve Hodel
Birch Bay, Washington

The post August 7 2023 “Black Dahlia” Episode on Histories Greatest Mytheries/ A Sensationalized Rehash of All The Old Myths appeared first on Steve Hodel.

August 15, 2023
Birch Bay, Washington

This is the third time in as many days that I have had the same question from readers.

Q:  “Mr. Hodel, Is there any truth to the rumor that your grandfather owned Sowden house and just rented it to your father?

Apparently, one or more of the naysayers is out there spreading “rumors” (think deliberate lies) in an effort to create one of the many “smoke screens.” The simple truth is there will always be fantasists with other theories or simply just want the crime(s) to remain “unsolved” and they become angry with their, “Don’t Mess With My Myth” attitude. No matter how much hard evidence and proof is presented they are simply incapable of changing their beliefs–“No, the world IS FLAT.”

The short answer to the above question is: NO, No truth at all to the “rumor.” George Hodel was the sole owner of the Sowden property.

That is not to say that his father, George Sr. may not have helped with the downpayment, though I even doubt that. Considering the residence was purchased by my father for a whopping $37,500 in 1945. If he had to pay even 20% down ($7500) with monthly payments of around $200 a month, I’m sure as Head of L.A. County V.D. Control, he could have easily swung it by himself. Add to that the fact he bought it from “friends,” Dr. and Mrs. Mazur, who likely gave him liberal financing.

George Sr. and his short-lived second marriage wife, a French music teacher, did live there a short time while GHH went to China with UNRRA after joining in late 1945, but moved out on his return in ’46.

I have seen the sales documents and it was just the reverse. GHH’s father and wife were temporary tenants and lived (likely rent-free) at their son’s Sowden House. I have seen the signed, sales documents and they showed George Hodel Jr. as the sole owner of the property. Below is GHH’s clever sales brochure for the property which he sold in 1950, to pay for his defense attorney, Jerry “Get Me” Giesler to represent and help him beat the ’49 Incest charge. Then he gets bugged at the Soweden House, confesses to multiple murders, and  “got out of Dodge just ahead of the Sheriff” so to speak.

I provided the above-pictured sales brochure from my father’s personal papers and it was published in Mark Nelson and Sarah Bayliss’ book, Exquisite Corpse: Surrealism and the Black Dahlia Murder (2006)

GHH on his desk at his Franklin House 1950

The post Liars and Tigers and Bears-Oh My!- Sales Documents Prove Dr. George Hill Hodel was Sole Owner of the Sowden/Franklin House appeared first on Steve Hodel.