July 25, 2018
Los Angeles, California

Sketch of GHH in preface to 1966 publication,
“The New Far East: Seven Nations of Asia”

“These surveys were directed in their entirety by Dr. George Hill Hodel. Dr. Hodel is an American social scientist and psychiatrist who is internationally known for his contributions in the field of attitude research, consumer and marketing analysis, and motivational research. He coordinates the activities of INRA organizations in Asia. Dr. Hodel has been active in research in the Pacific and Far East areas for the past 20 years.

The New Far East: Seven Nations of Asia Survey
(Book pub. by Readers Digest 1966)

After spending three years in Hawaii (1950-1953) Dr. George Hodel relocated with his new wife, Hortensia Laguda Hodel and their infant daughter to Manila, Philippines. They took up residence in a suburb known as “Forbes Park” in Makati Rizal, just a few miles from downtown Metro Manila. Forbes Park, a gated community was known as “the Beverly Hills of Manila.”

In the following four years Hortensia would give birth to three more children, a second daughter and two sons.  A divorce (actually, a dispensation from the Pope) was granted to Hortensia in the late Fifties and George Hodel would go on to develop his Public Opinion Research and become President of INRA-ASIA.

By the mid-1960s he would become internationally renowned as the leading Market Research expert in Asia and throughout the Far East.

In 1965 GHH conducted a Seven Country Survey for Reader’s Digest, the results of which would be published the following year in a 169-page-book, “The New Far East.” The seven countries included: Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, Manila, Bangkok and Singapore.

I quote from page 159:

THESE RESEARCH STUDIES were administered and interpreted by Dr. George Hill Hodel, Director-General of International Research Associates (Far East), who wrote the conclusions and analytic commentaries.
… More than two hundred INRA workers participated in collecting and processing the data. The team comprised a veritable cross-section of peoples in itself–Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Thai, Malayan, British and American. Field-work was supervised by Daphne Ko, and Data-processing was conducted by Dr. Frederic L. Ayer.

In Most Evil II (Rare Bird Books 2015) I explained and published the evolution of the three Zodiac composite drawings. Below are those three artist renditions based on witness statements from 1969, 1971 and 1974.

I find the 1966 “New Far East” GHH sketch to be an exceptionally close likeness to the Joe Barros sketch as seen below. (Barros composite was obtained by the artist/journalist’s interviews of Zodiac witnesses who stated it was a much more accurate depiction of the suspect. Naturally, SFPD brass disagreed stating they thought their composite was better.)

The post Dr. George Hill Hodel INRA-ASIA Becomes “Leading Market Research Authority” in Asia and the Far East –1966 GHH Sketch Compared to Zodiac Composites appeared first on Steve Hodel.

July 28, 2018
Los Angeles, California

Steve Hodel and Lou Boxer NoirCon 2014      Author presenting PowerPoint Talk to NoirCon attendees.

In 2014 I was privileged  to be invited to speak at the NoirCon Conference in Philadelphia, PA. (See original post HERE.)

A few months back Lou Boxer, the organizer of all things NOIRCON sent out a request for stories to be included in NoirCon’s online Journal, “Retreats From Oblivion.” 

In 2016 I had written a true-crime short story from my old Hollywood Homicide days, which was included as a chapter in the book, Los Angeles in the 1970s: Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine (Rare Bird Books 2016) edited by David Kukoff.  In that publication my story had to be edited down due to space limitations.

I submitted the full story to Lou Boxer and he has posted it on NOIRCON’S JOURNAL, “Retreats From Oblivion.”  Thanks Lou, and best to all of you at NOIRCON.

Link to Short Story HERE.

The post NoirCon Journal “Retreats From Oblivion” Features Author’s True Crime Short Story “The Snake and Bake Murder” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

August 12, 2018
Los Angeles, California

July 10, 1942 LAPD Police Academy
Dr. George Hodel (at lectern) then Head of the L.A. County Social Hygiene Department

Two hundred Southern California Law Enforcement officers attend lecture by Dr. George Hill Hodel on pandemic V.D. and the newly established Vice Law. (The May Act)

The original 1942 article (left)  reads as follows:

ARMY HEALTH PERIL FOUGHT

F.B.I and Southland Police Aid in Conference on Social Disease

In the last war casualties among American fighting men were caused more by tiny, invisible enemies than by the shells and bullets of Germany.
Seeking to prevent a repetition of the proportionate inroads of these microscopic menaces–the spirochetes of syphilis and the gonococci of gonorrhea–United States Army, Feberal Bureau of Investigation and Southland police authorities conferred yesterday.

ATTENDED BY 200

In charge of the conference was Richard B. Hood, chief special agent of the F.B.I. for Sourthen California. Two hundred Los Angeles and Kern County law enforcement officers , and Army representatives participated in the meeting at the Police Departmen’s Elysian Park training center.

After Hood had outlined the scope of the May Act, which empowers military authorities to police any area when local agencies cannot or will not control undesirable conditions, two physicians explained the toll of the two principal social diseases upon the nation’s armed forces.

FINDING PATIENTS

“The problem of controlling venereal diseases and prostitution is one of finding infected persons and then holding them in custody for treatment,” Dr. G. Hill Hodel, head of the county’s Social Hygience Bureau, told the group.He said that syphilis cases are 10 times more numerous than influenza and 100 times more frequent than infantile paralysis, with gonorrhea even more prevalent.

CO-OPERATION VITAL

“In the last war there were 156,000 more disability cases among soldiers than wounds,” Dr. Hodel said. “Health departments all over the United States are working to check venereal disease and prostitution and the co-operation of police is vital to their efforts.

“Dr. H.C. Pulley, city social hygience expert, reported that of 190 women examined in June, more than 60 were found to be infected with social diseases. He gave a breakdown of the source of infection of 1640 other cases reported to his department by physicians.

Lieut. Col. Paul Taylor provost marshal for the Southern California Sector, Western Defense Command, explained the organization and jurisdiction of various military police units in the area. Capt. Carl Williamson of the judge advocate’s office discussed legal details of the same subject.

The post 1942 L.A. Times Article on Dr. George Hill Hodel Giving WWII Health Lecture at LAPD Police Academy to 200 Law Enforcement Officers appeared first on Steve Hodel.

August 18, 2018
Los Angeles, California

November 12, 1959 UPI Photo

Those familiar with my investigation will recognize the name Lillian Lenorak Hamilton, who played a key role as a defense witness in both Dr. George Hodel’s 1949 Incest Trial and again in the January 1950 Abortion trial of Dr. Francis Ballard and his “assistant” Charles Smith.

Lillian testified in both trials as to having been present when my half-sister, Tamar was “examined” by Dr. Ballard, but testilied that “no abortion was performed.” Both Drs. Hodel and Ballard were acquitted based in part on Lillian’s testimony at both trials.

In late January 1950, after providing earlier false testimony at the December Hodel trial  (under duress and threats from Dr. Hodel) she again, for a second time repeated her perjury at the separate Dr. Ballard trial,

Lillian then went to the Sowden/Franklin home of Dr. Hodel, obtained his rifle from the bedroom closet and awaited his return to the home with the stated intent of “shooting him because she knew he had killed  Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short and he had to pay for it.” At this time, Lillian also threatened GHH that she was going to “recant her testimony and tell the DA investigators the truth that she lied.”

Upon George Hodel’s return home that afternoon, Lillian was disarmed, beaten, drugged and while unconscious, Hodel superficially cut both her wrists and then bandaged them, staging what he later described as “her attempted suicide.”

Santa Barbara policewoman Mary Unkefer (at the request of Lillian’s mother, Mrs. Hamilton) was summoned to the Hodel residence and transported Lillian to Santa Barbara where due to her “emotionally distraught condition” she was admitted to Camarillo State Hospital for observation after her mother, Mrs. Hamilton refused to take custody of her daughter.

Officer Unkefer would then write a detailed letter to the LADA’s Office describing the events and statements which became critical evidence connecting GHH to the Black Dahlia crime. However, this information was never made public and became part of the secret DA Hodel/Black Dahlia Files until finally discovered and revealed in my investigation in 2003.

See detailed summary in Chapter-4-Lillian-Lenorak

Lillian Lenorak Hamilton, aside from her day job as a film editor for General Studios, was an actress with thirteen film credits to her name in the 1940s-1950s. See her IMDB credits HERE.

One of her top roles was in the Ida Lupino groundbreaking film, OUTRAGE (1950) which was one of the first films to deal with the controversial and sensitive subject of RAPE and its far-reaching effects on the victim and her family.

The film starred Mala Powers as the rape victim and Lillian Hamilton played the role of her mother. (Seen standing below)

The following year actress Mala Powers (seen above) would go on to co-star as Roxanne in the classic film, Cyrano De Bergerac with Jose Ferrer. 

Jose Ferrer won the 1951 Oscar for “Best Actor” in his role as Cyrano.
Mala Powers seen above as his heartthrob, Roxanne.

Lillian’s tragic murder (completely unrelated to any Dr. Hodel connection) occurred in November 1959 while she was on a weekend date with a then-boyfriend in Palm Springs, California. The couple argued in his car, she demanded he pull over and she got out and walked away.

Lillian was confronted by a stranger, who abducted and beat her to death with the butt of his rifle.  Quickly identified as Tord Zeppenfield, age 21, he was arrested, tried and convicted of her murder.

The post 1949-50 Black Dahlia Witness Lillian Lenorak Hamilton Slain in Unrelated 1959 Palm Springs Murder –Her Killer Tord O. Zeppenfield Arrested appeared first on Steve Hodel.

September 1, 2018
Los Angeles, California

From Grobel’s book on “The Hustons” which author James Michener called “A Masterpiece” photo showing Walter Huston greeting his son John and his newly married first wife, Dorothy Huston circa 1926. (My mother, Dorothy would remain married to John for seven years, then divorce him and marry my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel in 1940.)

I attended an extremely entertaining evening at the South Pasadena Library last week.

The guest speaker was the author/UCLA professor Lawrence Grobel considered to be “The Mozart of Celebrity Interviewers.”

“Grobel was interviewed by actor, Playwright, and Teacher,  Dean Ghaffari followed by an audience Q&A.

“Larry is the author of 28 books, including bios of Marlon Brando, John Huston, Al Pacino, Truman Capote, Ava Gardner, James Michener, and many others.”

A highlight of the evening was when Grobel shared a number of videotaped Playboy interviews he had conducted in the 1970s and 1980s. They included excerpts with him interviewing Truman Capote, Miles Davis and Allen Ginsberg.

After the screening, Grobel shared with the audience an anecdote from his full Capote interview where Truman was dining at a Florida restaurant and was approached by a somewhat inebriated woman who raised her blouse, exposed her midriff and asked the author to “please sign your name in a circle around my belly button.”

Capote initially declined, but the woman was insistent, so never one to disappoint a fan, Capote complied and signed his full name making a complete circle as requested.

Immediately after “the signing” the woman’s indignant husband approached Capote, unzipped his pants, took out his “manhood” and insisted that the author sign it. “If you can sign my wife’s bellybutton, then you can sign my ….”

Apparently, without missing a beat the lispy author replied, “Well, I’m afraid there is not enough room to sign my full name. How about if I just initial it?”

I’ve always been a huge fan of Grobel ever since he wrote: “THE HUSTONS” which to my mind is the definitive biography on my mother’s former husband John and his famous family.

Steve Hodel and Larry Grobel at South Pasadena Library
August 23, 2018

The post Author/UCLA Professor Lawrence Grobel “The Mozart of Celebrity Interviewers” Speaks and Shares Taped Interviews at South Pasadena Library appeared first on Steve Hodel.

September 30, 2018
Los Angeles, California

Tamar’s mother, Dorothy Barbe testifies at 1949 trial.

(This is the first time I’ve seen a photo of Tamar’s mother from that time period.)

The caption above reads:
“Beautiful 22-year-old Barbara Sherman, above, denies 14-year-old
Tamar Hodel’s charges of Hollywood sex orgy, but admits intimacy
with Dr. George Hill Hodel, Tamar’s father.”

I recently discovered this October 30, 1949 article from the New York Daily News which contained additional details in their reportage on the Hodel Incest Trial.

• Witness Barbara Sherman and GHH were intimate and she refused to testify against him at trial.
• GHH and Barbara were naked in the bedroom when Tamar entered also present in the room were Fred Sexton and a second adult, Corinne (Connie) Tarin who was dressed.
• Barbara helped Tamar disrobe.
• Sexton and Tamar were kissing “then Fred and I had normal intimate relations on the bed, nude.”
• George Hodel then later “arranged an abnormal act between her (Tamar) and Barbara.”
• Tamar’s testimony was supported by Fred Sexton and Connie Tarin.
• Tamar’s mother, Dorothy Barbe claimed her daughter was a “pathological liar.”
• Tamar came to live with her father in June 1949 and claimed the sex acts occurred on “Father’s Day” of that year.
• Tamar admitted, “being intimate with other boys and becoming pregnant.”
• Tamar admitted staying out numerous times with boys after midnight.
• When asked where she had been prior to coming home on the night of the sex acts Tamar responded, “Out in a hot-rod getting the hair blown off my head.” When asked, “With whom?” she replied, “I can’t remember.”
• The article closes with naming Dr. Francis C. Ballard, 36 and an associate, Charles Smith 36, are being held in a connected case, charging them with performing an abortion on Tamar.

The newspaper includes the following trial testimony exchange between defense attorney Robert Neeb and Tamar:

NEEB:  ” Isn’t it a fact that you told your father you had intercourse with 40 boys in the month you had been in Hollywood? Didn’t you tell him you were pregnant and that you didn’t know who would be the father of your child?”

TAMAR:  “When I found out I was pregnant I wanted to call my mother and he didn’t want me to.”

NEED:  Had you ever had intercourse before?

TAMAR: Yes, with a roomer. I fancied myself in love with him.”   (This was likely Joseph Barrett, a roomer at the Hodel home then age 25. Barrett would later become an important Black Dahlia witness both with the DA’s office in 1950 (as their “mole” inside the castle) and then fifty-years later  in my investigation in 2000. During my interviews with him he admitted he had been intimate with Tamar in 1949.)

Complete Hodel TRIAL article attached as a PDF – HERE.   NEW YORK DAILY NEWS TamarTrial – Copy

The New York Daily News, officially titled Daily News was founded in 1919 and
was the first U.S. daily printed in tabloid format. It reached its peak circulation in 1947, at 2.4 million copies a day.

The post 1949 Article in NY Daily News Provides Additional Details and Testimony on George Hodel Incest Trial appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 8, 2018
Los Angeles, California

On Sunday Oct 7, 2018 I received the below Message from Gil Osgood, a retired computer programmer at the University of Oregon. It read:

Message
I was working today on a memoir about my sea voyage in 1952 on the freighter Hoegh Silvercrest on which one of the passengers was named von Herringa who was on his way to work on the Bakra Nangal Dam in India. I was just 11 years old but remember that trip well and especially von Herringa. I don’t know if what I know is relevant to your interest in him but I’d be glad to tell you what I remember about him if you are interested.

Gil Osgood

 

Knowing that Baron Ernst von Harringa had in fact left LA in the early 1950s “to help build a dam in India” I was confident that this was the same “Baron Harringa” taped recorded with my father in the basement of our Sowden/Franklin Home on February 18, 1950, and immediately responded back to Gil by email thanking him and requesting any additional information.

He responded the following morning.

Here is Gil Osgood’s fascinating reply giving us a fuller picture (figuratively and literally) of the mysterious “Baron” Harringa just two-years after his assault and or murder (accomplice to my father) of the unidentifed woman in the basement of our Hollywood home. As we recall her beating and screams by the two men were tape recorded during the LAPD/DA stakeout, with detectives just five minutes away, but officers made no response or rescue and the victim was never identified.

Here is Gil’s account of his meeting with “The Baron” as he crossed the high seas as an eleven-year-old boy in 1952.

I have attached a picture of the passengers from the November 52 to January 53 voyage of the Hoegh Silvercrest from San Francisco to Bombay.  Von Harringa is standing on the extreme left next to the Norwegian chief engineer.  I am the kid standing directly in front of my mother.  My father is obscured by a woman traveling to Indonesia to visit her daughter who was married to an Indonesian.  Von Herringa took a immediate dislike to her because he thought she was too sanctimonious.  However, he hit it off with my parents who were American Baptist missionaries, especially my father.  My dad was 50 when this picture was taken, about the same age as von Herringa, and had already spent more than 20 years in India.  Von Herringa told us he had worked in China before the war so he may have felt both of them were old Asia hands.  He was going to work on the Bhakra Nangal Dam, which was one of the first major irrigation and power generation projects undertaken after independence.  I  had always assumed he was an engineer until I started reading your web page.

The other three passengers in the picture are Mr. Frost (standing middle of picture) and Mrs. Frost kneeling in front and Mr. White kneeling in front of von Herringa.  The Frosts said they were traveling around the world to try to save their marriage,  Mr. White was a friend of theirs who was traveling with them for some reason.  They all three claimed to have some connection to the movie industry in Hollywood.  Von Herringa was openly skeptical of this and thought they were using fake names.  Our first three stops were on the island of Java before we docked in Singapore.  Von Herringa had decided that Mr. White bore some resemblance to the actor Clifton Webb who was then at the height of his fame.  He somehow managed to inform some Singapore reporters before we disembarked that Clifton Webb was traveling incognito on our ship.  I can remember peering into the small room on the ship that served as a library and gathering place where Mr. White was trying futilely to convince the reporters he wasn’t Clifton Webb!  During the days we were in Singapore Von Herringa and my dad made one excursion ashore alone to what I remember as some sort of “black market” that von Herringa knew about.

We disembarked at Columbo, Ceylon and von Herringa went on to Bombay.  He was by far the most memorable of the passengers on that voyage and my parents would mention him from time to time in conversation for years afterwards.  In the mid-1980s I encountered an American couple and their adult son who had worked on the Bhakra Nangal dam project in the mid-50s who remembered von Herringa.  Unfortunately, I didn’t think to ask them anything about him but they clearly thought him a memorable character.  That’s about all I know about him but you are welcome to telephone me if you want to at — ——-. I live in a retirement center in Eugene, Oregon so I’m in the same time zone as you.  Late afternoons are a good time for me up until 5PM or so when dinner is served here.

I am delighted to have found your web page and learned more about von Herringa.  I’m now 77 years old and must be the last person alive who was on that voyage.

The post On the High Seas with “Baron Ernst Harringa” Crime Accomplice to George Hodel as told by then 11-year-old Gil Osgood appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 23, 2018
Los Angeles, California

Back in 2011 I wrote a short blog on the advertisement by Givenchy for their just-released perfume, Dahlia Noir. (Link Here)

http://stevehodel.com/2011/09/givenchy_launches_new_black_da/

Below is a separate article that was written in 2012 which I had not previously seen. It was written by the author, Susan Amper. Her article “Death of a Dream: The Black Dahlia”   was posted in Criminal Element.  Well written and quite accurate, which contains a much fuller explanation. Well done Susan.

Death of a Dream: The Black Dahlia  by Susan Amper

And here’s a link to the original video advertisement announcing the release of their new scent.  HERE

Death of a Dream: The Black Dahlia

The post On the Scent of Dahlia Noir: Givenchy Presents Perfume as “A Fatal Flower of Unreal and Imaginative Compositon for Mysterious and Fascinating Women.” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

Los October 24, 2018
Angeles, California

Thanks to a most welcome invitation from my good friend and South Pasadena Librarian, STEVE FJELSTED, I will be presenting a PowerPoint Talk next week at the beautifully designed (1907) South Pasadena Library Community Room.  See below poster for details. Hope to see you there.  As indicated below, I will be making a dramatic “News Breaking” Black Dahlia related historic discovery, which is included in my new book, Black Dahlia Avenger III as the AFTERWORD chapter.  Hope to see you there.

SOPAS TALK SKH DAN PDF

The post Author Steve Hodel To Reveal Historic Black Dahlia Related “Breaking News” New Evidence At South Pasadena Library Talk- November 1, 2018 7:00 P.M. appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 29, 2018
Los Angeles, California

The following major “Breaking News” article written by Daniel Vasquez and Anne Vasquez as a Special to the South Pasadenan has just posted online. Click on photo to link to full article.

BLACK DAHLIA MURDER | Retired LAPD detective reveals new evidence pointing to prime suspect — his father

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: You’ve never heard a serial-killer story like this before. Newly discovered letter penned by police snitch in 1949 confirms Steve Hodel’s dark path of grim connections.

The post BLACK DAHLIA MURDER- Breaking News New Evidence from 1949 Letter Written by LAPD Paid Informant Confirms Prime Suspect Dr. George Hill Hodel as Killer appeared first on Steve Hodel.

November 2, 2018
Los Angeles, California

I originally reported the LAPD police informant W. Glenn Martin Letter appeared to be written on October 25th (written over Oct 26) but I have located the article he referenced in the newspaper and it is apparently from the Los Angeles Times, dated October 26, 1949.

Martin in his letter makes two separate references to the article shown below:

…”I saw in paper where a girl had been murdered at 116 E 3rd St. an unidentified body plus other conditions mentioned in paper.

Martin later in his letter then writes:

…Of course people from Okl. were sent word of a Lucille Bowen (Hodges) death I believe that a phoney made by G.H. as he knew all Okla City neighborhood. They would think it Lucille but where is Margaret Ellen Martin & Glenna Jean. G.H. was with Joe when he took her to hotel & knew he would get out of it.

Signed W. Glenn Martin

Here is a copy of the Los Angeles Times article of October 26, 1949:

The information contained in the LAT article both answers and raises questions as relates to Glenn Martin’s letter.  Here are some bullet points:

• Victim was Rena Lucille Hodge, aka Lucille Bowen, age 40.
• Lucille and an unidentified male checked into the hotel at 115 E. 3rd St by hotel clerk Myers who registered them as “Mr./Mrs. Johnson.” (As presented in BDA I)  I present evidence that a male who I believe was later ID’d as George Hodel, and Elizabeth Short checked into a hotel on East Washington Blvd on January 12, 1947. The hotel owners who checked them in were a Mr./Mrs Johnson, reported to police the male returned the day of Elizabeth Short’s murder and nervously checked out. His photo was identified by the Johnson’s as “a man connected to a foreign government.” As summarized in BDA I believe the photo shown was GHH’s UNRRA photo, where he is seen standing with Chinese government officials. Mr./Mrs. Johnson’s name and photographs were prominently displayed in LA local newspapers in 1947 as important witnesses.
• An anonymous caller (not Glenn Martin) calls police and informs them that the victim is at the hotel and “has been murdered and her killer is the same man who killed the Black Dahlia.” (George Hodel made numerous telephone calls to press and police informing them of his crimes in LA, Chicago, and San Francisco, prior to and shortly after the bodies were discovered.)
• “Courtesy Cards” from both LAPD Central Vice and Administrative Vice were found in her purse indicating she had close connections to both Vice Divisions. (At the time her body was found LAPD Vice detectives were undergoing major scandals which were actively being investigated by Glenn Martin’s “Lt. McCauley.” Major corruption cases were before the courts and the Grand Jury and LAPD Vice officers were on trial for corruption.)
• The victim, at the time of her death was found “to have heavy bruising about her head and face”, but despite those injuries her cause of death was allegedly found to be “due to alcoholism.” (No apparent follow-up information on either the “tipster” that called in her “murder” or the man “Mr. Johnson” that checked in with her at the hotel were released to the public.

  (SKH Note- Taking into consideration the time and conditions in Los Angeles in October, 1949, and the tremendous pressure that the LAPD and the politicians were undergoing from both the 1949 Grand Jury and the public, it is very conceivable that given the choice of calling a suspicious death a murder or a natural –that is a suspicious death with a beating and trauma, that could or could not have caused death, all things being equal, the coroner would most probably go for the non-homicide. “Natural causes due to alcoholism.” Last thing they would want was another “Lone Woman Murder” on the heels of the Louise Springer killing just months prior that they were looking at as being possibly “Black Dahlia” related. Now a new crime that the “tipster” is saying is “Dahlia connected, I did it.” NO WAY.)

For those that think I have “an active imagination” Let me quote directly from LAPD Vice Sgt. Charles Stoker’s book, Thicker’N Thieves, written at the exact same time LAPD undercover informant, Glenn Martin was working for Inspector William H. Parker and Sgt. Kenneth McCauley in their newly established Internal Affairs Divison.  October 1949. (Sgt. Stoker has just finished testifying in secret before the 1949 Grand Jury on LAPD Vice corruption and has named names resulting in multiple police officers indictments. He was Serpico twenty-years before Serpico.) SKH Note- Stoker’s book was virtually unattainable and so scarce that copies of his original 1950 edition were selling for $300-$500 a copy on Ebay. Because of his books historical importance II republished it verbatim, as he wrote it, in 2011 and only added an Introductory Chapter and photographs. It is now available on line for $8.00.

Thicker’N Thieves Page 162– (Inspector Parker has called Sgt. Stoker in to his suite at the Biltmore Hotel and wants him to join his newly formed Internal Affairs Division.)

…

After these pleasantries, Parker asked what I knew about the Brenda Allen investigation in Hollywood. When I related the story as I had told
it to the grand jury, he indicated that it was as he had suspected, since he knew positively that there were two sources of corruption in the
police administration.

According to Parker, one source was controlled by Chief of Police Clemence B. Horrall. Aligned with him as a lieutenant was Sergeant Guy Rudolph, his confidential aide. He then related this story concerning Rudolph, which I have never verified.

For years, while Bowron was in office, Rudolph had controlled the vice pay-offs in Los Angeles, and when Horrall held the chief’s job,Rudolph was under his wing. At one time, Rudolph had kicked a colored prostitute to death on Central Avenue; and during the investigation of that incident, he and his partner had gone to a local downtown hotel where they engaged in a drunken brawl with two women. Then, while Rudolph was out of the room buying a bottle of whiskey, one of the prostitutes had been killed.

He asked me if I had heard the story. When I replied that I hadn’t, Parker told me that he could prove what he had related to me. He  added that Rudolph also controlled the lottery and numbers rackets operated by Chinese and Negroes, and that he had a Chinese as a partner, and maintained a business office on San Pedro Street.

Armed with this additional information, to my mind it sheds a slightly different light on the writing/reading of W. Glenn Martin’s letter.

It sounds to me that Martin may be concerned that the initially “unidentified female victim at the hotel room” just might be one of his daughters, either Margaret Ellen or Glenna Jeans?  He writes, “They would think it Lucille but where is Margaret Ellen Martin & Glenna Jean.” He’s clearly worried.

Worried enough to immediately, that same day, write out his “In Case of the Death of Margaret Ellen or Glenna Jean’s” letter. Clearly, fearful that if “GH” hasn’t already harmed one of them he may do so in the future to get revenge on Martin for connecting him to the Springer and Dahlia crimes.

INVESTIGATION CONTINUED.

The post Update on Police Informant W. Glenn Martin Letter – Los Angeles Times Article Suggests Letter Written on October 26, 1949 – Lucille Bowen in Martin Letter a New Murder Victim or Natural Death? – Judge for Yourself appeared first on Steve Hodel.

November 3, 2018
Los Angeles, California

Thanks to all of the hardy souls that chose to battle Los Angeles afternoon/evening traffic to attend my PowerPoint Talk on Thursday at the South Pasadena Library. The talk hosted by the one and only Steve Fjelsted, Librarian extraordinaire! (Very cool guy who has become a good friend through the years.)   Also, special thanks to journalists Daniel and Anne Velasquez who shared their insights with the audience on taking on the challenge of backgrounding themselves in all things “Dahlia” then researching and reporting on my investigation. For those of you who have not read their remarkable 7000 word article, published in the SouthPasadenan it can be found HERE.

See recent SouthPasadenan article below on “how it went.”

Black Dahlia Avenger III Author Steve Hodel at the South Pasadena Public Library

The post Black Dahlia Avenger III: The New Evidence Well Received by Attendees to the South Pasadena Library Author Talk/PowerPoint appeared first on Steve Hodel.

August 12, 2018
Los Angeles, California

July 10, 1942 LAPD Police Academy
Dr. George Hodel (at lectern) then Head of the L.A. County Social Hygiene Department

Two hundred Southern California Law Enforcement officers attend lecture by Dr. George Hill Hodel on pandemic V.D. and the newly established Vice Law. (The May Act)

The original 1942 article (left)  reads as follows:

ARMY HEALTH PERIL FOUGHT

F.B.I and Southland Police Aid in Conference on Social Disease

In the last war casualties among American fighting men were caused more by tiny, invisible enemies than by the shells and bullets of Germany.
Seeking to prevent a repetition of the proportionate inroads of these microscopic menaces–the spirochetes of syphilis and the gonococci of gonorrhea–United States Army, Feberal Bureau of Investigation and Southland police authorities conferred yesterday.

ATTENDED BY 200

In charge of the conference was Richard B. Hood, chief special agent of the F.B.I. for Sourthen California. Two hundred Los Angeles and Kern County law enforcement officers , and Army representatives participated in the meeting at the Police Departmen’s Elysian Park training center.

After Hood had outlined the scope of the May Act, which empowers military authorities to police any area when local agencies cannot or will not control undesirable conditions, two physicians explained the toll of the two principal social diseases upon the nation’s armed forces.

FINDING PATIENTS

“The problem of controlling venereal diseases and prostitution is one of finding infected persons and then holding them in custody for treatment,” Dr. G. Hill Hodel, head of the county’s Social Hygience Bureau, told the group.He said that syphilis cases are 10 times more numerous than influenza and 100 times more frequent than infantile paralysis, with gonorrhea even more prevalent.

CO-OPERATION VITAL

“In the last war there were 156,000 more disability cases among soldiers than wounds,” Dr. Hodel said. “Health departments all over the United States are working to check venereal disease and prostitution and the co-operation of police is vital to their efforts.

“Dr. H.C. Pulley, city social hygience expert, reported that of 190 women examined in June, more than 60 were found to be infected with social diseases. He gave a breakdown of the source of infection of 1640 other cases reported to his department by physicians.

Lieut. Col. Paul Taylor provost marshal for the Southern California Sector, Western Defense Command, explained the organization and jurisdiction of various military police units in the area. Capt. Carl Williamson of the judge advocate’s office discussed legal details of the same subject.

The post 1942 L.A. Times Article on Dr. George Hill Hodel Giving WWII Health Lecture at LAPD Police Academy to 200 Law Enforcement Officers appeared first on Steve Hodel.

August 18, 2018
Los Angeles, California

November 12, 1959 UPI Photo

Those familiar with my investigation will recognize the name Lillian Lenorak Hamilton, who played a key role as a defense witness in both Dr. George Hodel’s 1949 Incest Trial and again in the January 1950 Abortion trial of Dr. Francis Ballard and his “assistant” Charles Smith.

Lillian testified in both trials as to having been present when my half-sister, Tamar was “examined” by Dr. Ballard, but testilied that “no abortion was performed.” Both Drs. Hodel and Ballard were acquitted based in part on Lillian’s testimony at both trials.

In late January 1950, after providing earlier false testimony at the December Hodel trial  (under duress and threats from Dr. Hodel) she again, for a second time repeated her perjury at the separate Dr. Ballard trial,

Lillian then went to the Sowden/Franklin home of Dr. Hodel, obtained his rifle from the bedroom closet and awaited his return to the home with the stated intent of “shooting him because she knew he had killed  Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short and he had to pay for it.” At this time, Lillian also threatened GHH that she was going to “recant her testimony and tell the DA investigators the truth that she lied.”

Upon George Hodel’s return home that afternoon, Lillian was disarmed, beaten, drugged and while unconscious, Hodel superficially cut both her wrists and then bandaged them, staging what he later described as “her attempted suicide.”

Santa Barbara policewoman Mary Unkefer (at the request of Lillian’s mother, Mrs. Hamilton) was summoned to the Hodel residence and transported Lillian to Santa Barbara where due to her “emotionally distraught condition” she was admitted to Camarillo State Hospital for observation after her mother, Mrs. Hamilton refused to take custody of her daughter.

Officer Unkefer would then write a detailed letter to the LADA’s Office describing the events and statements which became critical evidence connecting GHH to the Black Dahlia crime. However, this information was never made public and became part of the secret DA Hodel/Black Dahlia Files until finally discovered and revealed in my investigation in 2003.

See detailed summary in Chapter-4-Lillian-Lenorak

Lillian Lenorak Hamilton, aside from her day job as a film editor for General Studios, was an actress with thirteen film credits to her name in the 1940s-1950s. See her IMDB credits HERE.

One of her top roles was in the Ida Lupino groundbreaking film, OUTRAGE (1950) which was one of the first films to deal with the controversial and sensitive subject of RAPE and its far-reaching effects on the victim and her family.

The film starred Mala Powers as the rape victim and Lillian Hamilton played the role of her mother. (Seen standing below)

The following year actress Mala Powers (seen above) would go on to co-star as Roxanne in the classic film, Cyrano De Bergerac with Jose Ferrer. 

Jose Ferrer won the 1951 Oscar for “Best Actor” in his role as Cyrano.
Mala Powers seen above as his heartthrob, Roxanne.

Lillian’s tragic murder (completely unrelated to any Dr. Hodel connection) occurred in November 1959 while she was on a weekend date with a then-boyfriend in Palm Springs, California. The couple argued in his car, she demanded he pull over and she got out and walked away.

Lillian was confronted by a stranger, who abducted and beat her to death with the butt of his rifle.  Quickly identified as Tord Zeppenfield, age 21, he was arrested, tried and convicted of her murder.

The post 1949-50 Black Dahlia Witness Lillian Lenorak Hamilton Slain in Unrelated 1959 Palm Springs Murder –Her Killer Tord O. Zeppenfield Arrested appeared first on Steve Hodel.

September 1, 2018
Los Angeles, California

From Grobel’s book on “The Hustons” which author James Michener called “A Masterpiece” photo showing Walter Huston greeting his son John and his newly married first wife, Dorothy Huston circa 1926. (My mother, Dorothy would remain married to John for seven years, then divorce him and marry my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel in 1940.)

I attended an extremely entertaining evening at the South Pasadena Library last week.

The guest speaker was the author/UCLA professor Lawrence Grobel considered to be “The Mozart of Celebrity Interviewers.”

“Grobel was interviewed by actor, Playwright, and Teacher,  Dean Ghaffari followed by an audience Q&A.

“Larry is the author of 28 books, including bios of Marlon Brando, John Huston, Al Pacino, Truman Capote, Ava Gardner, James Michener, and many others.”

A highlight of the evening was when Grobel shared a number of videotaped Playboy interviews he had conducted in the 1970s and 1980s. They included excerpts with him interviewing Truman Capote, Miles Davis and Allen Ginsberg.

After the screening, Grobel shared with the audience an anecdote from his full Capote interview where Truman was dining at a Florida restaurant and was approached by a somewhat inebriated woman who raised her blouse, exposed her midriff and asked the author to “please sign your name in a circle around my belly button.”

Capote initially declined, but the woman was insistent, so never one to disappoint a fan, Capote complied and signed his full name making a complete circle as requested.

Immediately after “the signing” the woman’s indignant husband approached Capote, unzipped his pants, took out his “manhood” and insisted that the author sign it. “If you can sign my wife’s bellybutton, then you can sign my ….”

Apparently, without missing a beat the lispy author replied, “Well, I’m afraid there is not enough room to sign my full name. How about if I just initial it?”

I’ve always been a huge fan of Grobel ever since he wrote: “THE HUSTONS” which to my mind is the definitive biography on my mother’s former husband John and his famous family.

Steve Hodel and Larry Grobel at South Pasadena Library
August 23, 2018

The post Author/UCLA Professor Lawrence Grobel "The Mozart of Celebrity Interviewers" Speaks and Shares Taped Interviews at South Pasadena Library appeared first on Steve Hodel.

September 30, 2018
Los Angeles, California

Tamar’s mother, Dorothy Barbe testifies at 1949 trial.

(This is the first time I’ve seen a photo of Tamar’s mother from that time period.)

The caption above reads:
“Beautiful 22-year-old Barbara Sherman, above, denies 14-year-old
Tamar Hodel’s charges of Hollywood sex orgy, but admits intimacy
with Dr. George Hill Hodel, Tamar’s father.”

I recently discovered this October 30, 1949 article from the New York Daily News which contained additional details in their reportage on the Hodel Incest Trial.

• Witness Barbara Sherman and GHH were intimate and she refused to testify against him at trial.
• GHH and Barbara were naked in the bedroom when Tamar entered also present in the room were Fred Sexton and a second adult, Corinne (Connie) Tarin who was dressed.
• Barbara helped Tamar disrobe.
• Sexton and Tamar were kissing “then Fred and I had normal intimate relations on the bed, nude.”
• George Hodel then later “arranged an abnormal act between her (Tamar) and Barbara.”
• Tamar’s testimony was supported by Fred Sexton and Connie Tarin.
• Tamar’s mother, Dorothy Barbe claimed her daughter was a “pathological liar.”
• Tamar came to live with her father in June 1949 and claimed the sex acts occurred on “Father’s Day” of that year.
• Tamar admitted, “being intimate with other boys and becoming pregnant.”
• Tamar admitted staying out numerous times with boys after midnight.
• When asked where she had been prior to coming home on the night of the sex acts Tamar responded, “Out in a hot-rod getting the hair blown off my head.” When asked, “With whom?” she replied, “I can’t remember.”
• The article closes with naming Dr. Francis C. Ballard, 36 and an associate, Charles Smith 36, are being held in a connected case, charging them with performing an abortion on Tamar.

The newspaper includes the following trial testimony exchange between defense attorney Robert Neeb and Tamar:

NEEB:  ” Isn’t it a fact that you told your father you had intercourse with 40 boys in the month you had been in Hollywood? Didn’t you tell him you were pregnant and that you didn’t know who would be the father of your child?”

TAMAR:  “When I found out I was pregnant I wanted to call my mother and he didn’t want me to.”

NEED:  Had you ever had intercourse before?

TAMAR: Yes, with a roomer. I fancied myself in love with him.”   (This was likely Joseph Barrett, a roomer at the Hodel home then age 25. Barrett would later become an important Black Dahlia witness both with the DA’s office in 1950 (as their “mole” inside the castle) and then fifty-years later  in my investigation in 2000. During my interviews with him he admitted he had been intimate with Tamar in 1949.)

Complete Hodel TRIAL article attached as a PDF – HERE.   NEW YORK DAILY NEWS TamarTrial – Copy

The New York Daily News, officially titled Daily News was founded in 1919 and
was the first U.S. daily printed in tabloid format. It reached its peak circulation in 1947, at 2.4 million copies a day.

The post 1949 Article in NY Daily News Provides Additional Details and Testimony on George Hodel Incest Trial appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 8, 2018
Los Angeles, California

On Sunday Oct 7, 2018 I received the below Message from Gil Osgood, a retired computer programmer at the University of Oregon. It read:

Message
I was working today on a memoir about my sea voyage in 1952 on the freighter Hoegh Silvercrest on which one of the passengers was named von Herringa who was on his way to work on the Bakra Nangal Dam in India. I was just 11 years old but remember that trip well and especially von Herringa. I don’t know if what I know is relevant to your interest in him but I’d be glad to tell you what I remember about him if you are interested.

Gil Osgood

 

Knowing that Baron Ernst von Harringa had in fact left LA in the early 1950s “to help build a dam in India” I was confident that this was the same “Baron Harringa” taped recorded with my father in the basement of our Sowden/Franklin Home on February 18, 1950, and immediately responded back to Gil by email thanking him and requesting any additional information.

He responded the following morning.

Here is Gil Osgood’s fascinating reply giving us a fuller picture (figuratively and literally) of the mysterious “Baron” Harringa just two-years after his assault and or murder (accomplice to my father) of the unidentifed woman in the basement of our Hollywood home. As we recall her beating and screams by the two men were tape recorded during the LAPD/DA stakeout, with detectives just five minutes away, but officers made no response or rescue and the victim was never identified.

Here is Gil’s account of his meeting with “The Baron” as he crossed the high seas as an eleven-year-old boy in 1952.

I have attached a picture of the passengers from the November 52 to January 53 voyage of the Hoegh Silvercrest from San Francisco to Bombay.  Von Harringa is standing on the extreme left next to the Norwegian chief engineer.  I am the kid standing directly in front of my mother.  My father is obscured by a woman traveling to Indonesia to visit her daughter who was married to an Indonesian.  Von Herringa took a immediate dislike to her because he thought she was too sanctimonious.  However, he hit it off with my parents who were American Baptist missionaries, especially my father.  My dad was 50 when this picture was taken, about the same age as von Herringa, and had already spent more than 20 years in India.  Von Herringa told us he had worked in China before the war so he may have felt both of them were old Asia hands.  He was going to work on the Bhakra Nangal Dam, which was one of the first major irrigation and power generation projects undertaken after independence.  I  had always assumed he was an engineer until I started reading your web page.

The other three passengers in the picture are Mr. Frost (standing middle of picture) and Mrs. Frost kneeling in front and Mr. White kneeling in front of von Herringa.  The Frosts said they were traveling around the world to try to save their marriage,  Mr. White was a friend of theirs who was traveling with them for some reason.  They all three claimed to have some connection to the movie industry in Hollywood.  Von Herringa was openly skeptical of this and thought they were using fake names.  Our first three stops were on the island of Java before we docked in Singapore.  Von Herringa had decided that Mr. White bore some resemblance to the actor Clifton Webb who was then at the height of his fame.  He somehow managed to inform some Singapore reporters before we disembarked that Clifton Webb was traveling incognito on our ship.  I can remember peering into the small room on the ship that served as a library and gathering place where Mr. White was trying futilely to convince the reporters he wasn’t Clifton Webb!  During the days we were in Singapore Von Herringa and my dad made one excursion ashore alone to what I remember as some sort of “black market” that von Herringa knew about.

We disembarked at Columbo, Ceylon and von Herringa went on to Bombay.  He was by far the most memorable of the passengers on that voyage and my parents would mention him from time to time in conversation for years afterwards.  In the mid-1980s I encountered an American couple and their adult son who had worked on the Bhakra Nangal dam project in the mid-50s who remembered von Herringa.  Unfortunately, I didn’t think to ask them anything about him but they clearly thought him a memorable character.  That’s about all I know about him but you are welcome to telephone me if you want to at — ——-. I live in a retirement center in Eugene, Oregon so I’m in the same time zone as you.  Late afternoons are a good time for me up until 5PM or so when dinner is served here.

I am delighted to have found your web page and learned more about von Herringa.  I’m now 77 years old and must be the last person alive who was on that voyage.

The post On the High Seas with "Baron Ernst Harringa" Crime Accomplice to George Hodel as told by then 11-year-old Gil Osgood appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 23, 2018
Los Angeles, California

Back in 2011 I wrote a short blog on the advertisement by Givenchy for their just-released perfume, Dahlia Noir. (Link Here)

http://stevehodeloldsite.staging.authorbyteshosting.com/2011/09/givenchy_launches_new_black_da/

Below is a separate article that was written in 2012 which I had not previously seen. It was written by the author, Susan Amper. Her article “Death of a Dream: The Black Dahlia”   was posted in Criminal Element.  Well written and quite accurate, which contains a much fuller explanation. Well done Susan.

Death of a Dream: The Black Dahlia  by Susan Amper

And here’s a link to the original video advertisement announcing the release of their new scent.  HERE

Death of a Dream: The Black Dahlia

The post On the Scent of Dahlia Noir: Givenchy Presents Perfume as "A Fatal Flower of Unreal and Imaginative Compositon for Mysterious and Fascinating Women." appeared first on Steve Hodel.

Los October 24, 2018
Angeles, California

Thanks to a most welcome invitation from my good friend and South Pasadena Librarian, STEVE FJELSTED, I will be presenting a PowerPoint Talk next week at the beautifully designed (1907) South Pasadena Library Community Room.  See below poster for details. Hope to see you there.  As indicated below, I will be making a dramatic “News Breaking” Black Dahlia related historic discovery, which is included in my new book, Black Dahlia Avenger III as the AFTERWORD chapter.  Hope to see you there.

SOPAS TALK SKH DAN PDF

The post Author Steve Hodel To Reveal Historic Black Dahlia Related "Breaking News" New Evidence At South Pasadena Library Talk- November 1, 2018 7:00 P.M. appeared first on Steve Hodel.

October 29, 2018
Los Angeles, California

The following major “Breaking News” article written by Daniel Vasquez and Anne Vasquez as a Special to the South Pasadenan has just posted online. Click on photo to link to full article.

BLACK DAHLIA MURDER | Retired LAPD detective reveals new evidence pointing to prime suspect — his father

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: You’ve never heard a serial-killer story like this before. Newly discovered letter penned by police snitch in 1949 confirms Steve Hodel’s dark path of grim connections.

The post BLACK DAHLIA MURDER- Breaking News New Evidence from 1949 Letter Written by LAPD Paid Informant Confirms Prime Suspect Dr. George Hill Hodel as Killer appeared first on Steve Hodel.