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.

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 the 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 I republished it verbatim, as he wrote it, in 2011 and only added an Introductory Chapter and photographs to introduce Sgt. Stoker to Angelenos some five decades later.  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.

Ironically,  the hotel where “Mr. and Mrs. Johnson” registered at and where the victim’s beaten and bruised body was found the following morning was- THE ST. GEORGE HOTEL.

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 9, 2018
Los Angeles, California

Here is a November 9, 2018  article “Black Dahlia Murder Comes Full-Circle at So Pas Library,” by South Pasadena Review Editor, Steve Whitmore. Steve met and interviewed me at the library. It was a first meet for both of us.

Here’s an introductory link and personal bio written by Steve when he took over the helm of the South Pasadena Review in July 2018.

Small World Department- A Little Hollywood Trivia- 

One of my all-time favorite film-noir classics is Director John Huston’s THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (MGM 1950)
(If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.)

A poster for John Huston’s 1950 crime film ‘The Asphalt Jungle’ starring Marilyn Monroe, Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, and John McIntire, and Roy Ward Baker’s 1952 drama ‘Don’t Bother to Knock’ starring Richard Widmark and Marilyn Monroe. (Photo by Movie Poster Image Art/Getty Images)

As many of my reader’s know, my mother, Dorothy, was married to John Huston for seven years (1926-1933) and she and John remained friends after their divorce and my mother’s marriage to my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel in 1940. George Hodel and John Huston were friends since their high school days in Los Angeles in the 1920s.

Below photo  (left) Walter Huston meeting newlyweds Dorothy and his son John at the train station in Los Angeles circa 1927.  Photo (right) of Dorothy in 1944, now married to Huston’s friend, my father, Dr. George Hodel. Photo taken by our family photographer and father’s Surrealist friend, Man  Ray.

The Asphalt Jungle was filmed in Los Angeles from Oct-Dec 1949, which was the exact time that Huston’s good friend, Dr. George Hodel was arrested for Incest and Child Molestation by LAPD (Oct 6th) and then bound over for a jury trial, which lasted three weeks in December 1949.

Adding insult to irony, Huston edited the crime noir film in Feb/March 1950 during the exact time the LADA and LAPD were conducting electronic surveillance of George Hodel at his Hollywood mansion where they obtained tape-recorded admissions and confessions to his multiple crimes, police payoffs and the murders of his secretary, Ruth Spaulding and of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short.

At first handshake with Editor, Steve Whitmore at the South Pasadena Library last week,  to my eye, was the striking resemblance to his father, actor James Whitmore.  Below photo (left) we see Steve compared to his father, James, in a scene from Asphalt Jungle.  At scene right, “Gus” is being questioned by police.

A common Hollywood legend/myth has it that “John Huston filmed actress Marilyn Monroe in her first film (The Asphalt Jungle) and her last (The Misfits).  Well not quite.  Marilyn had seven-bit parts in films from 1947-1950 before her small role as Angela Phinlay in The Asphalt Jungle. According to IMDB her last film credit came one-year after Huston’s “The Misfits” (1961) in the role of “Ellen Arden” in “Something’s Got to Give.” (1962)

Marilyn Monroe as “Angela Phinlay” in The Asphalt Jungle  in a scene with her sugar daddy Alonzo D. Emmerich played by actor, Louis Calhern. 

MM’s last film 1962 I quote from IMDB:

Something’s Got to Give (1962) -“Unfinished remake of “My Favorite Wife,” due to the firing of Marilyn Monroe from the film. She was eventually re-hired but died in August 1962. The film was never completed.”

The post South Pasadena Review Editor-Veteran Journalist/Son of Famous Father Interviews Veteran Homicide Detective/Son of Infamous Father appeared first on Steve Hodel.

November 29, 2018
Los Angeles, California

After nearly of month of SNAFU’s the November 1st publication of BDA III is now available in the print edition on at Amazon.

My publisher Rare Bird Books had copies available to the public on the launch date of November 1st and made them available at my South Pasadena Library Talk on that date.  Hopefully, the Ebook edition will quickly follow for online purchase in the next few days.

Ebook is currently available at these links:

IBook Black Dahlia Avenger III

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/black-dahlia-avenger-iii/id1441520435?mt=11

Ebook B&N:Black Dahlia Avenger III

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/black-dahlia-avenger-iii-steve-hodel/1128311245?ean=9781644280201#/

Amazon Print Edition Now Available- $13.13   

SEE ATTACHED BDA III SUMMARY AS PDF

2018 Summary BDA III Summary OCT 23 8pm FNL

The post Black Dahlia Avenger III Print Edition Now Available Online at Amazon appeared first on Steve Hodel.

December 2, 2018
Los Angeles, California

Here is my original Press Release (October 29, 2018) describing the discovery of LAPD police informant W. Glenn Martin’s handwritten “Death Declaration” naming George Hodel as the killer of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short (1947) and further identifying him as the killer of L.A. Lone Woman Murder victim Louise Springer in 1949. Martin in this letter informs us that he was personally acquainted with George Hodel and that he and Hodel were both personally acquainted with the victim Louise Springer and that George Hodel in the summer of 1949 was taken in by LAPD detectives  “and grilled about the Springer murder, but released due to his friendship with corrupt detectives.” * This original Glenn Martin Letter which remained hidden for seventy-years is the most important document linking Dr. George Hodel to the two 1940s murders and second in importance only to the secret LA DA Hodel/Black Dahlia Files and recorded transcripts secreted in the DA vault for over fifty-three-years as revealed in BDA in 2003.

*SKH Note- George Hodel’s “grilling” by LAPD detectives as revealed by his acquaintance, Glenn Martin, is the third known murder interrogation as a suspect by LAPD.  Officers first suspected and “grilled” him in the suspected overdose of his personal secretary/lover in 1945.  The second was as a suspect in the Elizabeth Short “Black Dahlia Murder” where he was “grilled” by LAPD and DA detectives at the Hall of Justice in 1950.  Now, Martin informs us that he was taken in in the summer/fall of 1949 and “grilled” as a suspect in the Springer murder, but released by corrupt and “friendly” detectives.

Full details as described in the Martin three-page letter are presented in full to the Who, What, Where and Why in the AFTERWORD chapter of the recently published Black Dahlia Avenger III (Rare Bird Books 2018). 

Click below for full Press Release as PDF

HODEL_press_release_FINAL (2)

LOUISE SPRINGER MURDER JUNE 13, 1949 

ELIZABETH SHORT MURDER JANUARY 15, 1947

Amazon paperback $14.22

The post Press Release-Historic 70-Year-Old Black Dahlia “In Case of Death” Letter Written in 1949 by LAPD Undercover Informant Identifies “GH” (George Hodel) As Killer New Discovery Reveals George Hodel “Grilled” By LAPD as the Suspect in Three Separate LA Murders appeared first on Steve Hodel.

December 18, 2018
Los Angeles, California

TNT and Cadence13, a leading podcast media company, today announced an eight-part podcast documentary series, Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia – a companion to TNT’s six-episode suspense drama I Am the Night. (Clip on below photo to read the full article in Eclipse Magazine posted yesterday, 12.17.18)

I have received numerous inquiries from readers asking for information on the upcoming television miniseries, “I Am The Night.”

Questions range from: Is it your Black Dahlia Avenger investigation?  Are you a consultant and involved in the making of the series? Is it a true crime documentary?

The answer to all of those questions is–NO.

Regarding the TNT dramatized fictional miniseries.

I have not been contacted by anyone connected with the TNT “I Am The Night” miniseries, which is scheduled to air in late January.  I have no “inside information” on it other than they claim it is “based on a true story” from the book written by my half-sister’s daughter, Fauna Hodel. (Fauna, my niece, died from cancer on September 30, 2017, at age 66.)

So, like you, “I Am In The Dark” about where they are going with the dramatization, other than the glimpses offered by way of the promo/trailers. I have had no contact with TNT, nor have I been contacted by Fauna’s children who are standing in on the TNT promotion for their mother after her unexpected passing last year.

We will just have to wait and see where they go with it come late January.

That said, this previous summer, I was contacted by Zak Levitt, an Emmy Award-winning director-producer-documentarian, hired to create a “companion piece” (audio only) as a follow-up to the, “I Am The Night” dramatization.

Zak Levitt, Executive Producer of Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia, an eight-part podcast to air beginning February 13, 2019

I initially “passed” on Zak’s invitation to be part of it because having investigated and written five true crime books over the past seventeen-years, documenting my father’s life and serial crimes, I did not want to be involved or associated in any way with a fictionalized version of the truth.

Levitt recontacted me and explained that though TNT had partnered with Cadence 13, that his podcast would be produced as an eight-part true-crime podcast and would be independent and tell “the true story of the Hodel Family.”  Zak informed me that the podcast would “mostly involve interviews with Hodel family members and stress and examine the varying impacts  the Black Dahlia findings had on each of your separate lives, and the damage to the family left behind by George Hodel.”

After multiple conversations, which included his assurance that his production would only focus on the facts, I reluctantly agreed to be interviewed.

Like many requests for audio interviews over the past eighteen years, it is a “Catch 22”.

If I don’t participate and involve myself in it, then the truth is lost. The public will continue to be led by fiction and the Dahlia Myth and Legends remain in place.

This point is made crystal clear at the end of John Ford’s classic film, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence” starring John Wayne and James Stewart.

Senator Ransom Stoddard (actor James Stewart) who has become famous for killing a notorious outlaw, Liberty Valence (Lee Marvin) returns decades later to “tell the truth” but the editor of the local newspaper opts to keep the legend alive and pass on the truth. (Play 15 second video below.)

 My point and position are 180′ opposite and I would have it,

 “This is the West Sir. When the legend is replaced with fact, print the fact.”

Consequently, with Levitt’s assurance that he would remain true to the facts as presented, I agreed to participate in the audio podcast.

After conducting several days of audio interviews, I came away highly impressed with Zak’s personal research, backgrounding and knowledge of not only the Hodel Family but also on the related Dahlia investigation (no easy task) and believe and trust that his “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family” podcast will result in an honest examination of the facts and provide an important window for the public as a balance to the many preconceived Dahlia Myths and Legends.

I quote Zak Levitt from yesterday’s “Root of Evil” announcement:

“This is a story more than 70 years in the making. The Black Dahlia has generated incredible interest and attention through the years, but nothing has gotten to the heart of the incredibly painful, and ultimately triumphant story of the family that has had to carry the Hodel name – a name synonymous with the most brutal unsolved murder in American history,” said Zak Levitt, EVP of Documentary Content at Cadence13. “Through fresh interviews with the Hodel family and a trove of never-before-heard archival audio, we hope Root of Evil will be the most three-dimensional Black Dahlia story yet.” 

The post Root of Evil – Eight-Part (Audio Only) True Story Podcast Series To Air After Fictionalized TNT Dramatization – “I Am The Night” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

December 30, 2018
Los Angeles, California

Location?      Location?      Location?

Dorothy “Dorero” Hodel with author Steve age 1 (standing on the railing) looking at his newborn brother Kelvin (born Oct 4, 1942) Photo taken in October 1942 at previously unknown Hodel residence. Photo analysis of T.O.D. (Time of Day) presented by former Dallas P.D. officer and mystery writer, Robert Sadler. Photo believed taken at approximately 1:00 p.m. 

The only other clues and description I had to our former mystery home came from my parent’s former lover then eighteen-year-old, Madi Comfort, who in 1950 would become a prime Black Dahlia witness interviewed in the LADA secret Hodel/Black Dahlia Files. (DA File included nude photographs of her with George Hodel) Here are some descriptive excerpts of the mystery house from BDA II (2014) Chapter 1, “Madi Comfort, Duke Ellington’s Original “Satin Doll.”

Mady Comfort in her private manuscript (page 29) described the entrance to the Hodel Residence as follows:

“George and Dorero lived in this tremendous mansion in Pasadena. Once entering the driveway one would wind, in this case, I would wind with George and Dorero in their…[in their car up the driveway]…last to be made after or before the war. It was a gorgeous black Lincoln Continental convertible with a wheel on the back. It was pure gorgeous. Round and round and up and down for what seemed like blocks to this four-story mansion. ” 

Driveway video -Entrance to George Hodel Private Residence (1942-1944)  CLICK HERE.

And here is her overall description of the actual residence along with a description of their menage a trois lovemaking and a few additional  recollections of note from her manuscript:

“…The top floor was a ballroom; the third floor was a nursery for their three gorgeous children. The second was their bedroom quarters, I guess I should say playground because that’s where we played. They were both completely sensuous. George a very handsome polished tall lean born rich man indulged and adored by his father. George had beautiful black hair with a sophisticated wave in front, a classic nose with a perfectly trimmed mustache and very nice lips.

…George and Dorero led me gracefully and pleasurably, into sharing their joys in many exciting ways of the art of making love. It was all done so tastefully and made us very close friends. We liked very much bringing such joy and pleasures to one another’s life, yet we all maintained our dignity and self-respect.”

…George and Dorero had me over to their home for dinner quite often. They would take me out, come all the way to Willowbrook to pick me up…Dorero was having guests for dinner who had arrived from New York. They had both been put under contract. Their names were Van Heflin and Vincent Price. Actually, we were having hors d’oeuvres and cocktails at their [the Hodels] home first then we were going to Chinatown for dinner afterward. Chinatown was fairly new (remodeled) then and quite fancy and intriguing. It was a fun evening. Van and Vincent were both very charming and witty and they talked about New York and the theater. I just mostly remember what nice down-to-earth gentlemen they were.

…One morning around ten a.m. or so I was lying in bed and I hear the crash and Dorero crying. I ran into the bathroom. Dorero was in the bathtub, crying. George cool as you please explains to me Dorero is an alcoholic and has “sneaked a drink.” He was reprimanding her for her own good. I’m protesting. “You could break her neck! George, I cannot stand to see you knocking poor Dorero around like this. Please don’t treat her like this.” Meanwhile, I’m busy trying to pull Dorero out of the tub. We were all stark naked.

Madi Comfort photos

Photographs of Madi Comfort. Above photo was taken at the Plantation Club, 108th and Central Ave in Watts in  May, 1943, nineteen-year-old newlywed Madi is seen dancing with her husband Joe Comfort, which resulted in a short-lived, abusive marriage. Madi wrote the following in her manuscript about their quick decision to marry:

“…Here comes Joe Comfort on his first furlough from Camp Rucker, Alabama. What a thrill. Joe proposed marriage. Naturally, I said “yes. ” There was a problem.  One had to wait three days after getting your license at City Hall plus the blood test. Well, Dr. George Hodel solved that problem for me. He pulled strings at City Hall and we got our marriage license in one day. Off we went with my sister and Joseph’s sister Laura as witnesses to the preacher.”  (Photo of them dancing above would be how Madi appeared during her sexcapades with George and Dorero at the 335 Monterey Road residence.)  Joe Comfort would go on to become a well-known LA bassist who played with Lionel Hampton, Nat King Cole, and Frank Sinatra in the 1940s and 50s.

Once Again a BDA Reader Provides the Answer

On December 7, 2018 (ironically what would have been my parent’s 78th wedding anniversary) I received an Email from a BDA reader, Mr. Lawrence Stevens.  His email was titled:

“GHH 1943-1945 address: 335 Monterey Rd., South Pasadena, CA”

I here reproduce Larry’s communication in part:

____________________________________________________________________

Dear Steve,

I was reading BDA III tonight, and on page 108, at the start of the video transcript of Tamar, there was this note:

[This would be the yet unidentified home we lived in circa 1943 as described by witness Mady Comfort…]

I just now looked up my notes from my March 7, 2018 visit to the South Pasadena Public Library, and here is my entry—I copied the entry from the city directory character for character, case sensitive, under Hodel:

“1943 George H Dr. Dorothy phys h 335 Monterey rd”

This identical entry was also there for 1944 and 1945.

Is this helpful? Maybe you already got the address.

It would certainly make my day if I provided you with some help, no matter how small!!

When reading all your books on GHH, I received the odd impression that somehow you wanted this address not to be made public. Because there was the description of the interesting house and its view, but no address or photo.

But I was wrong! I would have sent you this email back in March!

So, therefore, I was very curious about this house location, and other GHH addresses.

I started at the Pasadena Public Library and the city directories there. I did I find the GHH 1800 Huntington Dr. address there. But the other residence did not turn up.

So I went to the South Pasadena library and found the 1943 entry there.

I drove over to 335 Monterey Road and parked and looked at the hill from across the street, but it’s thoroughly wooded and I could not see much at all. But I think I remember remarks from your books that from the house you could look north and have a good view of the San Gabriel Mountains to the north. That would be true of this location. I would assume that the trees 75 years ago might not have as complete a cover.

Best Wishes,

Larry Stevens

_______________________________________________________________________________

Thank you Larry!  You Made my  month!

After conducting follow-up research/investigation I can now confirm your discovery.  YES, the 335 Monterey Road residence address you provided was, in fact, the hitherto unknown home that was our family residence from 1942-1944.

Here’s what I have discovered.

335 Monterey Road, South Pasadena   

The Craftsman style residence was designed and built in 1910 by Lester Sherwood Moore (1871-1924), a well-known Los Angeles architect. Originally built and known as the Ezra & Ida Thompsan Residence

After a “two-year green renovation process” the home opened as a BnB in  2007 and is now known as “The Arroyo Vista Inn”

The Inn offers a selection of nine different bedrooms. They include: The Oak Terrace, Veranda Room, Sunrise Room, Daybreak Terrace, Tree House Room, Cozy Nook, Monte Vista, San Gabriel, Forrest and Elenora.

I immediately booked an overnight stay for December 16 choosing the elegant Daybreak Terrace, which I now suspect was quite probably my parents Master Bedroom from 1942-1944.

Approximate view 1942 compared to higher elevated  2018 view looking north to the San Gabriel Mountains from the deck of what is now the Arroyo Vista Inn’s, “The Daybreak Terrace.”  (Original 110 year-old-railing replaced in 2007  remodel.) 

Map shows that my father’s childhood home, at 6412 Monterey Road (designed by noted Russian architect Alexander Zelenko) was less than one mile from our  1942-44  residence at 335 Monterey Road, now the Arroyo Vista Inn.

My Night at the Inn

Again, here is Madi Comforts description of the entrance to the home which I recorded upon my arrival:

“George and Dorero lived in this tremendous mansion in Pasadena. Once entering the driveway one would wind … Round and round and up and down for what seemed like blocks to this four-story mansion. 

CLICK HERE:

Driveway video -Entrance to George Hodel Private Residence (1942-1944)

I arrived at our former home just after 3:00 p.m., checked in to the BnB, obtained my room key and then decided to take some overall photographs to take advantage of the afternoon light.  Here are the results:

Front Entrance

Living Room

Dining room

My room “Daybreak Terrance”  (Suspect this was my parents Master Bedroom)

Master bathroom in “Daybreak Terrance”

View from my room

SteakOut – Dinner IN  2018-   (pun intended)

First, let me say without equivocation, my stay at the Arroyo Vista Inn was extremely pleasurable. The BnB is first rate and a class act. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to visit Los Angles. As far as I am concerned it is FIVE STAR. *****

That said,  my overnight “reunion” was one of the strangest “investigative stakeouts” of my career.  (I gave no indication to the Inn Keeper that this was my former home nor did I discuss any of my own or my father’s connections to the house. It was just another sub rosa overnight albeit very personal stakeout.)

Though the king sized bed with its 1500 count Egyptian sheets and soft comforter were top of the line and only the sound that could be heard came from the occasional chirping of a cricket, I had a very restless and mostly sleepless night.

My sleeplessness had nothing to do with the  Inn.

Rather the disturbances were strong and dark and came from within.  They were my own psyche, my own subjective thoughts surfacing and presenting me with a now “known chronology” from that long ago time.

They were not my childhood thoughts from having lived there, but rather came from a much newer adult knowledge. From what my almost two decades of recent investigations have taught me occurred during the years we lived there. (1942-1944.)

Each hour as I lay in bed I would awaken (not a dream) and be consciously presented with a thought, a reminder of something from my father’s timeline that my investigation had revealed. that had occurred.

I retired to bed at about midnight.

1:00 a.m    I awoke to the realization that I was likely sleeping in my parent’s master bedroom.  Probably the same room where George and Madi and Dorero shared their bed and lovemaking.

2:00 a.m.  Again, awoke and my mind flashed on my mother, in the tub being assaulted by my father with Madi Comfort running in to rescue her. All three nude, and Madi yelling, “Stop George, you could break her neck! George, I cannot stand to see you knocking poor Dorero around like this. Please don’t treat her like this.”

3:00 a.m.  Mind now focused on the Ora Murray “White Gardenia Murder” It is July 26, 1943.  George meets her at the dancehall just a few miles southwest of this home. Shows her “Hollywood” beats her to death on a golf course and returns here to a sleeping family.

4:00 a.m.  I awake to my mind picturing the Hodel family photograph taken by Galka Scheyer on November 7, 1943.  Probably taken here at this house? I realize that in the photograph I am seen  sitting on my father’s lap, just three months after he sadistically murdered Ora Murray after “showing her the town.”

5:00 a.m.  “The Bathtub Murder” of victim Georgette Bauerdorf comes to my mind.  It is October 11, 1944.  Late night. We, three boys, are asleep in the nursery as described by Madi Comfort. Early morning. George returns home after strangling and placing the twenty-year-old victim in her Hollywood apartment bathtub and turning on the water.

6:00 a.m.   I reawaken recalling the words of my half-sister Tamar’s. Her description of this home and her telling me of having witnessed our father’s abuse of my mother.

From a 2004 Tamar video interview:

“My earliest memories about my father were–I was about nine, and I begged my mother…my mother and father were separated and I wanted to see my father. He lived in a house at that time in South Pasadena. It was a wonderful house because you went round and round and round up the driveway to this magical lush house.

(In a separate interview, Tamar also describing this home)

…”I remember seeing George pulling Dorero around by her hair in the long driveway. “

 Up now, I dressed, took a few more photographs from the balcony, and went downstairs to a breakfast of espresso, fruit,  a spinach quiche. (All quite delicious.)

I thanked the Inn Keeper and headed back to my apartment in the San Fernando Valley–Mission Accomplished.

Again, my thanks to Larry Stevens for sleuthing out the address from the South Pasadena Library and providing it to me.

Expect this will be my final blog for 2018 so WISHING ALL OF MY READERS A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR.

(I am told 2019 is going to be “The Year of the Boar”, but somehow, I have my doubts.)

Steve Hodel
Los Angeles, California

The post Dr. George Hodel 1942 Mystery Residence Located in South Pasadena: Author Returns for a Sleepover at the Family Home after 74-Year Absence appeared first on Steve Hodel.

November 9, 2018
Los Angeles, California

Here is a November 9, 2018  article “Black Dahlia Murder Comes Full-Circle at So Pas Library,” by South Pasadena Review Editor, Steve Whitmore. Steve met and interviewed me at the library. It was a first meet for both of us.

Here’s an introductory link and personal bio written by Steve when he took over the helm of the South Pasadena Review in July 2018.

Small World Department- A Little Hollywood Trivia- 

One of my all-time favorite film-noir classics is Director John Huston’s THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (MGM 1950)
(If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.)

A poster for John Huston’s 1950 crime film ‘The Asphalt Jungle’ starring Marilyn Monroe, Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, and John McIntire, and Roy Ward Baker’s 1952 drama ‘Don’t Bother to Knock’ starring Richard Widmark and Marilyn Monroe. (Photo by Movie Poster Image Art/Getty Images)

As many of my reader’s know, my mother, Dorothy, was married to John Huston for seven years (1926-1933) and she and John remained friends after their divorce and my mother’s marriage to my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel in 1940. George Hodel and John Huston were friends since their high school days in Los Angeles in the 1920s.

Below photo  (left) Walter Huston meeting newlyweds Dorothy and his son John at the train station in Los Angeles circa 1927.  Photo (right) of Dorothy in 1944, now married to Huston’s friend, my father, Dr. George Hodel. Photo taken by our family photographer and father’s Surrealist friend, Man  Ray.

The Asphalt Jungle was filmed in Los Angeles from Oct-Dec 1949, which was the exact time that Huston’s good friend, Dr. George Hodel was arrested for Incest and Child Molestation by LAPD (Oct 6th) and then bound over for a jury trial, which lasted three weeks in December 1949.

Adding insult to irony, Huston edited the crime noir film in Feb/March 1950 during the exact time the LADA and LAPD were conducting electronic surveillance of George Hodel at his Hollywood mansion where they obtained tape-recorded admissions and confessions to his multiple crimes, police payoffs and the murders of his secretary, Ruth Spaulding and of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short.

At first handshake with Editor, Steve Whitmore at the South Pasadena Library last week,  to my eye, was the striking resemblance to his father, actor James Whitmore.  Below photo (left) we see Steve compared to his father, James, in a scene from Asphalt Jungle.  At scene right, “Gus” is being questioned by police.

A common Hollywood legend/myth has it that “John Huston filmed actress Marilyn Monroe in her first film (The Asphalt Jungle) and her last (The Misfits).  Well not quite.  Marilyn had seven-bit parts in films from 1947-1950 before her small role as Angela Phinlay in The Asphalt Jungle. According to IMDB her last film credit came one-year after Huston’s “The Misfits” (1961) in the role of “Ellen Arden” in “Something’s Got to Give.” (1962)

Marilyn Monroe as “Angela Phinlay” in The Asphalt Jungle  in a scene with her sugar daddy Alonzo D. Emmerich played by actor, Louis Calhern. 

MM’s last film 1962 I quote from IMDB:

Something’s Got to Give (1962) -“Unfinished remake of “My Favorite Wife,” due to the firing of Marilyn Monroe from the film. She was eventually re-hired but died in August 1962. The film was never completed.”

The post South Pasadena Review Editor-Veteran Journalist/Son of Famous Father Interviews Veteran Homicide Detective/Son of Infamous Father appeared first on Steve Hodel.

November 29, 2018
Los Angeles, California

After nearly of month of SNAFU’s the November 1st publication of BDA III is now available in the print edition on at Amazon.

My publisher Rare Bird Books had copies available to the public on the launch date of November 1st and made them available at my South Pasadena Library Talk on that date.  Hopefully, the Ebook edition will quickly follow for online purchase in the next few days.

Ebook is currently available at these links:

IBook Black Dahlia Avenger III

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/black-dahlia-avenger-iii/id1441520435?mt=11

Ebook B&N:Black Dahlia Avenger III

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/black-dahlia-avenger-iii-steve-hodel/1128311245?ean=9781644280201#/

Amazon Print Edition Now Available- $13.13   

SEE ATTACHED BDA III SUMMARY AS PDF

2018 Summary BDA III Summary OCT 23 8pm FNL

The post Black Dahlia Avenger III Print Edition Now Available Online at Amazon appeared first on Steve Hodel.

December 2, 2018
Los Angeles, California

Here is my original Press Release (October 29, 2018) describing the discovery of LAPD police informant W. Glenn Martin’s handwritten “Death Declaration” naming George Hodel as the killer of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short (1947) and further identifying him as the killer of L.A. Lone Woman Murder victim Louise Springer in 1949. Martin in this letter informs us that he was personally acquainted with George Hodel and that he and Hodel were both personally acquainted with the victim Louise Springer and that George Hodel in the summer of 1949 was taken in by LAPD detectives  “and grilled about the Springer murder, but released due to his friendship with corrupt detectives.” * This original Glenn Martin Letter which remained hidden for seventy-years is the most important document linking Dr. George Hodel to the two 1940s murders and second in importance only to the secret LA DA Hodel/Black Dahlia Files and recorded transcripts secreted in the DA vault for over fifty-three-years as revealed in BDA in 2003.

*SKH Note- George Hodel’s “grilling” by LAPD detectives as revealed by his acquaintance, Glenn Martin, is the third known murder interrogation as a suspect by LAPD.  Officers first suspected and “grilled” him in the suspected overdose of his personal secretary/lover in 1945.  The second was as a suspect in the Elizabeth Short “Black Dahlia Murder” where he was “grilled” by LAPD and DA detectives at the Hall of Justice in 1950.  Now, Martin informs us that he was taken in in the summer/fall of 1949 and “grilled” as a suspect in the Springer murder, but released by corrupt and “friendly” detectives.

Full details as described in the Martin three-page letter are presented in full to the Who, What, Where and Why in the AFTERWORD chapter of the recently published Black Dahlia Avenger III (Rare Bird Books 2018). 

Click below for full Press Release as PDF

HODEL_press_release_FINAL (2)

LOUISE SPRINGER MURDER JUNE 13, 1949 

ELIZABETH SHORT MURDER JANUARY 15, 1947

Amazon paperback $14.22

The post Press Release-Historic 70-Year-Old Black Dahlia “In Case of Death” Letter Written in 1949 by LAPD Undercover Informant Identifies “GH” (George Hodel) As Killer New Discovery Reveals George Hodel “Grilled” By LAPD as the Suspect in Three Separate LA Murders appeared first on Steve Hodel.

December 18, 2018
Los Angeles, California

TNT and Cadence13, a leading podcast media company, today announced an eight-part podcast documentary series, Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia – a companion to TNT’s six-episode suspense drama I Am the Night. (Clip on below photo to read the full article in Eclipse Magazine posted yesterday, 12.17.18)

I have received numerous inquiries from readers asking for information on the upcoming television miniseries, “I Am The Night.”

Questions range from: Is it your Black Dahlia Avenger investigation?  Are you a consultant and involved in the making of the series? Is it a true crime documentary?

The answer to all of those questions is–NO.

Regarding the TNT dramatized fictional miniseries.

I have not been contacted by anyone connected with the TNT “I Am The Night” miniseries, which is scheduled to air in late January.  I have no “inside information” on it other than they claim it is “based on a true story” from the book written by my half-sister’s daughter, Fauna Hodel. (Fauna, my niece, died from cancer on September 30, 2017, at age 66.)

So, like you, “I Am In The Dark” about where they are going with the dramatization, other than the glimpses offered by way of the promo/trailers. I have had no contact with TNT, nor have I been contacted by Fauna’s children who are standing in on the TNT promotion for their mother after her unexpected passing last year.

We will just have to wait and see where they go with it come late January.

That said, this previous summer, I was contacted by Zak Levitt, an Emmy Award-winning director-producer-documentarian, hired to create a “companion piece” (audio only) as a follow-up to the, “I Am The Night” dramatization.

Zak Levitt, Executive Producer of Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia, an eight-part podcast to air beginning February 13, 2019

I initially “passed” on Zak’s invitation to be part of it because having investigated and written five true crime books over the past seventeen-years, documenting my father’s life and serial crimes, I did not want to be involved or associated in any way with a fictionalized version of the truth.

Levitt recontacted me and explained that though TNT had partnered with Cadence 13, that his podcast would be produced as an eight-part true-crime podcast and would be independent and tell “the true story of the Hodel Family.”  Zak informed me that the podcast would “mostly involve interviews with Hodel family members and stress and examine the varying impacts  the Black Dahlia findings had on each of your separate lives, and the damage to the family left behind by George Hodel.”

After multiple conversations, which included his assurance that his production would only focus on the facts, I reluctantly agreed to be interviewed.

Like many requests for audio interviews over the past eighteen years, it is a “Catch 22”.

If I don’t participate and involve myself in it, then the truth is lost. The public will continue to be led by fiction and the Dahlia Myth and Legends remain in place.

This point is made crystal clear at the end of John Ford’s classic film, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence” starring John Wayne and James Stewart.

Senator Ransom Stoddard (actor James Stewart) who has become famous for killing a notorious outlaw, Liberty Valence (Lee Marvin) returns decades later to “tell the truth” but the editor of the local newspaper opts to keep the legend alive and pass on the truth. (Play 15 second video below.)

 My point and position are 180′ opposite and I would have it,

 “This is the West Sir. When the legend is replaced with fact, print the fact.”

Consequently, with Levitt’s assurance that he would remain true to the facts as presented, I agreed to participate in the audio podcast.

After conducting several days of audio interviews, I came away highly impressed with Zak’s personal research, backgrounding and knowledge of not only the Hodel Family but also on the related Dahlia investigation (no easy task) and believe and trust that his “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family” podcast will result in an honest examination of the facts and provide an important window for the public as a balance to the many preconceived Dahlia Myths and Legends.

I quote Zak Levitt from yesterday’s “Root of Evil” announcement:

“This is a story more than 70 years in the making. The Black Dahlia has generated incredible interest and attention through the years, but nothing has gotten to the heart of the incredibly painful, and ultimately triumphant story of the family that has had to carry the Hodel name – a name synonymous with the most brutal unsolved murder in American history,” said Zak Levitt, EVP of Documentary Content at Cadence13. “Through fresh interviews with the Hodel family and a trove of never-before-heard archival audio, we hope Root of Evil will be the most three-dimensional Black Dahlia story yet.” 

The post Root of Evil – Eight-Part (Audio Only) True Story Podcast Series To Air After Fictionalized TNT Dramatization – “I Am The Night” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

December 30, 2018
Los Angeles, California

Location?      Location?      Location?

Dorothy “Dorero” Hodel with author Steve age 1 (standing on the railing) looking at his newborn brother Kelvin (born Oct 4, 1942) Photo taken in October 1942 at previously unknown Hodel residence. Photo analysis of T.O.D. (Time of Day) presented by former Dallas P.D. officer and mystery writer, Robert Sadler. Photo believed taken at approximately 1:00 p.m. 

The only other clues and description I had to our former mystery home came from my parent’s former lover then eighteen-year-old, Madi Comfort, who in 1950 would become a prime Black Dahlia witness interviewed in the LADA secret Hodel/Black Dahlia Files. (DA File included nude photographs of her with George Hodel) Here are some descriptive excerpts of the mystery house from BDA II (2014) Chapter 1, “Madi Comfort, Duke Ellington’s Original “Satin Doll.”

Mady Comfort in her private manuscript (page 29) described the entrance to the Hodel Residence as follows:

“George and Dorero lived in this tremendous mansion in Pasadena. Once entering the driveway one would wind, in this case, I would wind with George and Dorero in their…[in their car up the driveway]…last to be made after or before the war. It was a gorgeous black Lincoln Continental convertible with a wheel on the back. It was pure gorgeous. Round and round and up and down for what seemed like blocks to this four-story mansion. ” 

Driveway video -Entrance to George Hodel Private Residence (1942-1944)  CLICK HERE.

And here is her overall description of the actual residence along with a description of their menage a trois lovemaking and a few additional  recollections of note from her manuscript:

“…The top floor was a ballroom; the third floor was a nursery for their three gorgeous children. The second was their bedroom quarters, I guess I should say playground because that’s where we played. They were both completely sensuous. George a very handsome polished tall lean born rich man indulged and adored by his father. George had beautiful black hair with a sophisticated wave in front, a classic nose with a perfectly trimmed mustache and very nice lips.

…George and Dorero led me gracefully and pleasurably, into sharing their joys in many exciting ways of the art of making love. It was all done so tastefully and made us very close friends. We liked very much bringing such joy and pleasures to one another’s life, yet we all maintained our dignity and self-respect.”

…George and Dorero had me over to their home for dinner quite often. They would take me out, come all the way to Willowbrook to pick me up…Dorero was having guests for dinner who had arrived from New York. They had both been put under contract. Their names were Van Heflin and Vincent Price. Actually, we were having hors d’oeuvres and cocktails at their [the Hodels] home first then we were going to Chinatown for dinner afterward. Chinatown was fairly new (remodeled) then and quite fancy and intriguing. It was a fun evening. Van and Vincent were both very charming and witty and they talked about New York and the theater. I just mostly remember what nice down-to-earth gentlemen they were.

…One morning around ten a.m. or so I was lying in bed and I hear the crash and Dorero crying. I ran into the bathroom. Dorero was in the bathtub, crying. George cool as you please explains to me Dorero is an alcoholic and has “sneaked a drink.” He was reprimanding her for her own good. I’m protesting. “You could break her neck! George, I cannot stand to see you knocking poor Dorero around like this. Please don’t treat her like this.” Meanwhile, I’m busy trying to pull Dorero out of the tub. We were all stark naked.

Madi Comfort photos

Photographs of Madi Comfort. Above photo was taken at the Plantation Club, 108th and Central Ave in Watts in  May, 1943, nineteen-year-old newlywed Madi is seen dancing with her husband Joe Comfort, which resulted in a short-lived, abusive marriage. Madi wrote the following in her manuscript about their quick decision to marry:

“…Here comes Joe Comfort on his first furlough from Camp Rucker, Alabama. What a thrill. Joe proposed marriage. Naturally, I said “yes. ” There was a problem.  One had to wait three days after getting your license at City Hall plus the blood test. Well, Dr. George Hodel solved that problem for me. He pulled strings at City Hall and we got our marriage license in one day. Off we went with my sister and Joseph’s sister Laura as witnesses to the preacher.”  (Photo of them dancing above would be how Madi appeared during her sexcapades with George and Dorero at the 335 Monterey Road residence.)  Joe Comfort would go on to become a well-known LA bassist who played with Lionel Hampton, Nat King Cole, and Frank Sinatra in the 1940s and 50s.

Once Again a BDA Reader Provides the Answer

On December 7, 2018 (ironically what would have been my parent’s 78th wedding anniversary) I received an Email from a BDA reader, Mr. Lawrence Stevens.  His email was titled:

“GHH 1943-1945 address: 335 Monterey Rd., South Pasadena, CA”

I here reproduce Larry’s communication in part:

____________________________________________________________________

Dear Steve,

I was reading BDA III tonight, and on page 108, at the start of the video transcript of Tamar, there was this note:

[This would be the yet unidentified home we lived in circa 1943 as described by witness Mady Comfort…]

I just now looked up my notes from my March 7, 2018 visit to the South Pasadena Public Library, and here is my entry—I copied the entry from the city directory character for character, case sensitive, under Hodel:

“1943 George H Dr. Dorothy phys h 335 Monterey rd”

This identical entry was also there for 1944 and 1945.

Is this helpful? Maybe you already got the address.

It would certainly make my day if I provided you with some help, no matter how small!!

When reading all your books on GHH, I received the odd impression that somehow you wanted this address not to be made public. Because there was the description of the interesting house and its view, but no address or photo.

But I was wrong! I would have sent you this email back in March!

So, therefore, I was very curious about this house location, and other GHH addresses.

I started at the Pasadena Public Library and the city directories there. I did I find the GHH 1800 Huntington Dr. address there. But the other residence did not turn up.

So I went to the South Pasadena library and found the 1943 entry there.

I drove over to 335 Monterey Road and parked and looked at the hill from across the street, but it’s thoroughly wooded and I could not see much at all. But I think I remember remarks from your books that from the house you could look north and have a good view of the San Gabriel Mountains to the north. That would be true of this location. I would assume that the trees 75 years ago might not have as complete a cover.

Best Wishes,

Larry Stevens

_______________________________________________________________________________

Thank you Larry!  You Made my  month!

After conducting follow-up research/investigation I can now confirm your discovery.  YES, the 335 Monterey Road residence address you provided was, in fact, the hitherto unknown home that was our family residence from 1942-1944.

Here’s what I have discovered.

335 Monterey Road, South Pasadena   

The Craftsman style residence was designed and built in 1910 by Lester Sherwood Moore (1871-1924), a well-known Los Angeles architect. Originally built and known as the Ezra & Ida Thompsan Residence

After a “two-year green renovation process” the home opened as a BnB in  2007 and is now known as “The Arroyo Vista Inn”

The Inn offers a selection of nine different bedrooms. They include: The Oak Terrace, Veranda Room, Sunrise Room, Daybreak Terrace, Tree House Room, Cozy Nook, Monte Vista, San Gabriel, Forrest and Elenora.

I immediately booked an overnight stay for December 16 choosing the elegant Daybreak Terrace, which I now suspect was quite probably my parents Master Bedroom from 1942-1944.

Approximate view 1942 compared to higher elevated  2018 view looking north to the San Gabriel Mountains from the deck of what is now the Arroyo Vista Inn’s, “The Daybreak Terrace.”  (Original 110 year-old-railing replaced in 2007  remodel.) 

Map shows that my father’s childhood home, at 6512 Monterey Road (designed by noted Russian architect Alexander Zelenko) was less than one mile from our  1942-44  residence at 335 Monterey Road, now the Arroyo Vista Inn.

My Night at the Inn

Again, here is Madi Comforts description of the entrance to the home which I recorded upon my arrival:

“George and Dorero lived in this tremendous mansion in Pasadena. Once entering the driveway one would wind … Round and round and up and down for what seemed like blocks to this four-story mansion. 

CLICK HERE:

Driveway video -Entrance to George Hodel Private Residence (1942-1944)

I arrived at our former home just after 3:00 p.m., checked in to the BnB, obtained my room key and then decided to take some overall photographs to take advantage of the afternoon light.  Here are the results:

Front Entrance

Living Room

Dining room

My room “Daybreak Terrance”  (Suspect this was my parents Master Bedroom)

Master bathroom in “Daybreak Terrance”

View from my room

SteakOut – Dinner IN  2018-   (pun intended)

First, let me say without equivocation, my stay at the Arroyo Vista Inn was extremely pleasurable. The BnB is first rate and a class act. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to visit Los Angles. As far as I am concerned it is FIVE STAR. *****

That said,  my overnight “reunion” was one of the strangest “investigative stakeouts” of my career.  (I gave no indication to the Inn Keeper that this was my former home nor did I discuss any of my own or my father’s connections to the house. It was just another sub rosa overnight albeit very personal stakeout.)

Though the king sized bed with its 1500 count Egyptian sheets and soft comforter were top of the line and only the sound that could be heard came from the occasional chirping of a cricket, I had a very restless and mostly sleepless night.

My sleeplessness had nothing to do with the  Inn.

Rather the disturbances were strong and dark and came from within.  They were my own psyche, my own subjective thoughts surfacing and presenting me with a now “known chronology” from that long ago time.

They were not my childhood thoughts from having lived there, but rather came from a much newer adult knowledge. From what my almost two decades of recent investigations have taught me occurred during the years we lived there. (1942-1944.)

Each hour as I lay in bed I would awaken (not a dream) and be consciously presented with a thought, a reminder of something from my father’s timeline that my investigation had revealed. that had occurred.

I retired to bed at about midnight.

1:00 a.m    I awoke to the realization that I was likely sleeping in my parent’s master bedroom.  Probably the same room where George and Madi and Dorero shared their bed and lovemaking.

2:00 a.m.  Again, awoke and my mind flashed on my mother, in the tub being assaulted by my father with Madi Comfort running in to rescue her. All three nude, and Madi yelling, “Stop George, you could break her neck! George, I cannot stand to see you knocking poor Dorero around like this. Please don’t treat her like this.”

3:00 a.m.  Mind now focused on the Ora Murray “White Gardenia Murder” It is July 26, 1943.  George meets her at the dancehall just a few miles southwest of this home. Shows her “Hollywood” beats her to death on a golf course and returns here to a sleeping family.

4:00 a.m.  I awake to my mind picturing the Hodel family photograph taken by Galka Scheyer on November 7, 1943.  Probably taken here at this house? I realize that in the photograph I am seen  sitting on my father’s lap, just three months after he sadistically murdered Ora Murray after “showing her the town.”

5:00 a.m.  “The Bathtub Murder” of victim Georgette Bauerdorf comes to my mind.  It is October 11, 1944.  Late night. We, three boys, are asleep in the nursery as described by Madi Comfort. Early morning. George returns home after strangling and placing the twenty-year-old victim in her Hollywood apartment bathtub and turning on the water.

6:00 a.m.   I reawaken recalling the words of my half-sister Tamar’s. Her description of this home and her telling me of having witnessed our father’s abuse of my mother.

From a 2004 Tamar video interview:

“My earliest memories about my father were–I was about nine, and I begged my mother…my mother and father were separated and I wanted to see my father. He lived in a house at that time in South Pasadena. It was a wonderful house because you went round and round and round up the driveway to this magical lush house.

(In a separate interview, Tamar also describing this home)

…”I remember seeing George pulling Dorero around by her hair in the long driveway. “

 Up now, I dressed, took a few more photographs from the balcony, and went downstairs to a breakfast of espresso, fruit,  a spinach quiche. (All quite delicious.)

I thanked the Inn Keeper and headed back to my apartment in the San Fernando Valley–Mission Accomplished.

Again, my thanks to Larry Stevens for sleuthing out the address from the South Pasadena Library and providing it to me.

Expect this will be my final blog for 2018 so WISHING ALL OF MY READERS A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR.

(I am told 2019 is going to be “The Year of the Boar”, but somehow, I have my doubts.)

Steve Hodel
Los Angeles, California

The post Dr. George Hodel 1942 Mystery Residence Located in South Pasadena: Author Returns for a Sleepover at the Family Home after 74-Year Absence appeared first on Steve Hodel.

January 15, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Today, January 15, 2019, marks the 72^nd Anniversary of “LA’s most infamous murder.”

In life, her name was Elizabeth Short, an attractive, and rather naïve twenty-two -year old woman from Medford, Massachusetts. In death, she became known as “The Black Dahlia.”

Even today if you speak her given name, few would recognize it. However, mention, her pseudonym,  “The Black Dahlia” and almost everyone knows it. “Oh Yes, The Black Dahlia. That was a famous unsolved murder in Los Angeles from the 1940s.”

Bill Kurtis 2018  “Through The Decades” Video Crime Summary on the Black Dahlia  (5 minutes) Click Here

In two weeks (January 28th), the viewing public will be presented with a highly promoted TNT six-part miniseries, “I AM THE NIGHT.”  Starring actors Chris Pine,  India Eisley, as my niece, Fauna Hodel, and Jefferson Mays playing the role of my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel.

Click on below graphic to view TNT trailer

Actor Jefferson Mays as Dr. George Hill Hodel in “I Am The Night”    Dr. George Hill Hodel circa 1952

Fauna Hodel        Actress India Eisley in “I Am The Night”

Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia

“As it turns out, even the eight-episode TNT series could not cover it all, which is when TNT, in coordination with filmmaker Zak Levitt, decided to work on the companion podcast to ‘I am the Night’ called ‘Root of Evil’, which will premiere via Cadence 13 on February 13 on Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms.”

Journalist, Mangala Dilip
(See his full article below)

Click on above graphic for the full article, by Mangala Dilip, ‘I am the Night’ finds perfect podcast companion in ‘Root of Evil’, where the Hodel family discusses the curse of the Black Dahlia legacy.”

Zak Levitt excerpts from the above ‘Root of Evil’ interview:

…

“It is going to be a much more sprawling, expansive story containing the stories of most of the living family members who have been affected by the legacy of carrying the Hodel name,” Levitt tells MEAWW, adding, “‘I am the Night’ is primarily focused on Fauna Hodel’s story, this is going to be the story of many of the Hodels, and kind of intertwining all of them into this one narrative about their family.”

“One of the most unique voices in this story is that of Steve Hodel, who during his tenure as an LAPD Homicide Detective gathered enough information to confirm that his father, George, murdered Elizabeth Short, more popularly known as Black Dahlia. “

…

Steve’s side of the events, along with that of the rest of his family made for a really unique story. “I really think it was a catharsis for every single one of them. I think that they have been carrying this story and their pain for their entire lives — since they were children and they have all had uniquely shocking stories about what they have been through — really heartbreaking,” says Levitt.

2018 New Dramatic Linkage Connecting  Dr. George Hodel to Dahlia and Red Lipstick Murders

The newest evidential linkage to Dr. George Hodel—The W. Glenn Martin Letter, written in 1949 by an LAPD paid police (Internal Affairs Division) undercover informant, W. Glenn Martin was discovered and presented to the public in BLACK DAHLIA AVENGER III (Rare Bird Books November 2018).

                                     Published November 2018 

(Graphic by Steve Lawrence, SouthPasadenan.com)

As revealed in the Afterword Chapter of BDA III, Martin’s Letter was in effect a “Dying Declaration” naming George Hodel as the killer of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short and identifying him to the police as the probable suspect in a second 1949 LA Lone Woman Murder victim, Mrs. Louise Springer who lived in Hollywood, just three directly west of Hodel’s Sowden/Franklin House.

Martin in his letter informed detectives that both he [Martin] and George Hodel were acquaintances and they both knew that victim, Mrs. Louise Springer,  prior to her abduction and murder.

Springer was kidnaped on June 13, 1949,  sexually tortured and then strangled to death. Her abduction occurred just two blocks from where Elizabeth Short’s body had been posed on the vacant lot some two years earlier in January 1947.

This new evidence confirms separate police documents establishing that Dr. George Hodel was “grilled by LAPD detectives” on three separate LA murders over a four-year period.   Those being:  1) Ruth Spaulding (his personal secretary) in 1945 for suspected forced overdose, 2) Louise Springer in 1949,  who he also knew and may have dated prior (?) and 3) Elizabeth Short  whom he knew,  dated  and was questioned by both FBI and the LADA detectives in the weeks prior to his taped confessions and admissions at his home in Feb/March 1950.

 BLACK DAHLIA MURDER/ Retired LAPD Detective Reveals New Evidence Pointing To Prime Suspect– His Father  Major article summarizing new evidence by journalists Daniel and Anne Vasquez  CLICK HERE.  

“We do have information that he [Dr. Hodel] did associate with Elizabeth Short.”

Lt. Frank Jemison, March 22, 1950 Page 5, LADA Secret Hodel Black Dahlia Official Transcript

On this, the 72nd Anniversary of my father’s horrific murder of Elizabeth Short I can do little more than  say to Elizabeth and to all the other LA Lone Woman Murder victims, may you all REST IN PEACE.

I can offer little more than my sincere solace to each of you and to your living relatives.

I am deeply grieved by the sins of my father and the only reparation I can provide you is some slight degree of closure found in the knowing and solving of my father’s many crimes.

Photo Credit Robert J. Sadler, true crime author/photographer

To the following additional Los Angeles victims, know that you were not forgotten and the truth of his terrible crimes and his name,  Dr. George Hill Hodel will live in infamy, and may that knowledge and the solution of his crimes provide you and your families with some small degree of closure.

MAY THE FOLLOWING LOS ANGELES LONE WOMAN MURDER VICTIMS, ALL SLAIN AT THE HAND OF  DR. GEORGE HODEL, BETWEEN THE YEARS 1943-1950–REST IN PEACE:

1. Mrs. Ora Murray, slain by George Hodel on July 26, 1943
   
2. Miss Georgette Bauerdorf, slain by George Hodel on October 11, 1944

3. Miss Ruth Spaulding, slain by George Hodel on May 9, 1945

4. Miss Elizabeth Short, slain by George Hodel on January 15, 1947

5. Mrs. Jeanne Axford French, slain by George Hodel on February 10, 1947

6. Mrs. Laura Trelstad, slain by George Hodel on May 11, 1947

 7. 

7. Mrs. Marian Davidson Newton, slain by George Hodel on July 16, 1947

8.  Miss Lillian Dominguez, slain by George Hodel on October 2, 1947

9. Mrs. Gladys Eugenia Kern, slain by George Hodel on February 14, 1948

10. Mrs. Louise Margaret Springer, slain by George Hodel on June 13, 1949

11. Ms. Mimi Boomhower, slain by George Hodel on August 18, 1949

12. Ms. Jean Elizabeth Spangler, slain by George Hodel on October 7, 1949
  
13,Ms. Jane Doe, slain by George Hodel on February 18, 1950 (crime tape-recorded by DA)

The post 72nd Anniversay of the Elizabeth Short “Black Dahlia Murder” Will Feature Two Major Productions Linking Dr. George Hill Hodel As Her Killer: Additional LA Lone Women Murder Victims Remembered appeared first on Steve Hodel.

January 18, 2019
Los Angeles, California

(Updated from 2006 original blog)

CLICK BELOW PHOTO LINK FOR  KAY VIDEO
(2 mins)

      Head DDA Steve Kay Dahlia Solved

Steve Kay and Steve Hodel 2002

“Steve Hodel has taken this way beyond the pictures. It no longer depends on the pictures.  I have no doubt in my mind that George Hodel murdered Elizabeth Short [The Black Dahlia] and Jeanne French [The Red Lipstick Murder, occurred three weeks after the Dahlia murder, her body posed in LA on a vacant lot five miles west of dahlia location.] And, were he alive today, and were the witnesses alive I would have no problem in filing two counts of murder against Dr. George Hodel and I believe that if I took that case in front of a jury, that I would convict him.”

Stephen Kay
L.A. County Head Deputy District Attorney
November 6, 2006 Documentary, “The Truth about the Black Dahlia”

Stephen Kay on Manson  (Dateline 5 min video excerpt 2008)

Excerpt from Black Dahlia Avenger Chapter 34: 

Filing My Case with the District Attorney’s Office

…

It had been almost twenty years since I had last walked into the district attorney’s office to present my investigation and request a murder filing on a suspect. None of the old guard in the DA’s office was around anymore, except one. Fortunately for me and for the public, he was among the best.

In his thirty-fifth year of service in the DA’s office, Head Deputy District Attorney Stephen Kay had prosecuted many of Los Angeles’s most notorious murderers. His career convictions read like a Who’s Who of California killers, including the Manson case, where he was co-counsel with the celebrated prosecutor and author Vincent Bugliosi. He later personally prosecuted the rest of the Manson family members–Tex Watson, Bruce Davis, and Leslie Van Houten. Kay was the first deputy district attorney in California history to attend a lifer parolee’s hearing and argue before the parole board for denial based on the merits of the case. To date, Steve Kay has attended a total of fifty-eight parole hearings arguing against the release of the various Manson family members.

Kay prosecuted serial killers Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, who during the commission of their crimes had actually tape-recorded one of their vicious rape-murders. Bittaker and Norris would kidnap and murder four additional victims, ages thirteen to eighteen, before being apprehended, prosecuted, and convicted by Kay.

In 1996 Kay prosecuted and convicted killer Charles Rathbun for the vicious murder of Raiderette and beauty-queen model Linda Sobek, whose body was found in Angeles National Forest.

During my career I had gone to Steve Kay and presented dozens of murder cases for his review and filing of complaints. I had always found him to be highly intelligent, conscientious, and, most importantly, a man of total integrity. Knowing he could be trusted in all matters requiring confidentiality, and knowing that above all he would give me the benefit of objectivity, I decided to submit the Dahlia investigation to him as if I were asking for a criminal filing.

Sobek Prosecutor Has Other Big Cases on Resume

SKH Note/Update 2019:

Subsequent to the publication of Black Dahlia Avenger in 2003 both then active Head DDA Steve Kay and myself presented a briefing to LAPD’s brass and several detectives from  the Major Crimes Unit. ” One of these detectives was Brian Carr who was “assigned to the Black Dahlia case.”  In fact, Detective Carr was merely a “gatekeeper” to the case which had had no active investigation conducted for decades.  After the Kay/Hodel briefing at Parker Center, Detective Carr, on the defensive about the possibility that someone other than himself may have solved the Dahlia murder in responding to the press queries about Head DDA Kay’s conclusions that the “Case was Solved”, replied:

“The evidence linking Dr. Hodel to the murder of Elizabeth Short is incredibly thin. If I took that evidence to a prosecutor I’d be laughed out of the office.”

Detective Carr in a  followup to his statement was asked if he (Carr) had read Hodel’s book and investigation and had reviewed all of the evidence as well as the newly discovered secret DA Hodel Black Dahlia Files?  [Files containing Dr. Hodel’s admission to committing the Black Dahlia murder and that of his secretary as well as performing abortions and making payoffs to law enforcement.] Detective Carr’s response was, “No, I have only skimmed through Hodel’s book, but haven’t read it, and I haven’t had time yet to get the DA files review them. ” [Though the files were a five-minute walk from his office at Parker Center, Detective Carr would not obtain the files for another six months.]

Five Years later, in 2009, just prior to his retirement, Brian Carr, in an on-air television interview when asked about Hodel’s Black Dahlia investigation stated,  “I don’t have the time to prove or disprove what [Hodel] says. I’m buried in other cases.”

Brian Carr Retires from LAPD in May 2009

The post Former Charles Manson Prosecutor/ LA Head DDA Stephen Kay 2006 Video Interview on Black Dahlia and Red Lipstick Murders "Solved" Updated 2019 appeared first on Steve Hodel.

January 24, 2019
Los Angeles, California

C13 Originals/Cadence 13/TNT Audio Introduction (3 minutes)
“Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia”
Eight Hour podcast series begins February 13, 2019

DESCRIPTION:

“When Elizabeth Short, also known as The Black Dahlia was brutally killed in Los Angeles in 1947, it gripped the entire country and became Americas most famous unsolved murder. The case remains officially open, but many believe Dr. George Hodel to be the killer, thanks to the investigation by Hodel’s own son. For the first time ever, using unearthed archival audio and fresh interviews, the Hodels open up to tell their story, and the harrowing legacy of Dr. Hodel that has lasted generations. It turns out that this famous murder is only one of their awful family secrets. Through 8 episodes, sisters Rasha Pecoraro and Yvette Gentile will take a deep dive into their family history to try to figure out what really happened, and where do they all go from here?”

The post Three Minute Audio Intro to Upcoming Podcast “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia” (Debuts Feb 13, 2019) appeared first on Steve Hodel.

February 2, 2019
Los Angeles, California
(Orig blogged April 15, 2006, updated this date.)

Fiction and Fact- Actress Connie Nielsen plays my mother, “Corinna Hodel” (Dorothy Hodel) in the TNT miniseries “I Am The Night” – Here’s the real Dorothy

(SKH Note- Much of this blog was originally published by me in 2016, as a remembrance of my mother on what would have been her 110th birthday. It is here updated to included additional photos and text.)

Many readers have asked for more information regarding my mother, Dorothy Huston Hodel, or “Dorero”. “What was she like?” “Was she cruel and abusive?” “What were the “Gypsy years” like with her?”
Unfortunately, much of the biographical description of my mother was edited out of my original manuscript due to space restraints. This gave a very soft focus of her as a woman and a mother.

Quite simply, she was the most remarkable woman I have ever known. Possessed of a powerful intellect with the soul of a poet, she loved Nature and all things of Beauty. When I think of my mother, I think of the song, Vincent, and the line, “This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.” To me, mother was like, Rima, the other-worldly jungle-girl in Hudson’s romantic-novel, Green Mansions. A bird-woman, not really born or prepared for the harsh realities of, “civilization.”

Los Angeles Times 1918   12-year-old, Dorothy Jean Harvey  LA’s Queen of the May- Elysian Park

Los Angeles’ “Queen of the May” (Insert upper left of shows Dorothy Harvey age 12, “Queen of the May”)

Mother was born, Dorothy Jean Harvey, in New York (Central Park West), on April 15, 1906. Her parents moved west around 1913 and bought an orange grove, not far from Los Angeles, in Riverside, California. My grandparents then moved to Los Angeles where my mother attended high school. Still a teenager, she met and fell in love with John Huston. In 1925, the two teenagers ran off to New York, married and lived in Greenwich Village. They then returned to Los Angeles, and both began writing screenplays for the Hollywood studios. Their marriage lasted seven years, from 1926 to 1933. An article in the Los Angeles Times dated August 19, 1933, announced their separation and Huston’s desire to seek a divorce from Dorothy on the following grounds:

“being extravagant, and of keeping him in debt continually. He also accuses her of making no effort to become a good housekeeper.”

In author Martha Harris’ biography, Angelica Huston: The Lady and Her Legacy, (St. Martin’s Press, N.Y. 1989) the following quote was attributed to John regarding his first wife, Dorothy. In my mother’s later years she made it clear that John was “her one true love”. If the below quote is accurate, apparently Huston’s feelings coincided with her own.

Angelica Huston: The Lady and Her Legacy, page 49:

Peter Viertel, a writer who worked with Huston on various projects over the years including The African Queen, wrote a novel titled White Hunter, Black Heart that is reputed to be a very thinly veiled portrait of John Huston. Not at all flattering, the novel shows a lot of warts that the Huston aura usually managed to conceal. But there is a paragraph in it that might serve as a kind of epitaph for John and Dorothy’s marriage:

“I knew I had lost the best dame I was ever likely to meet, and I’d lost her because I’d acted like a horse’s ass. And it turned out that way. I’d done something wrong and I had to pay for it, and so every time I fell in love again after that, I knew the disenchantment would ultimately turn up. And it did. Never failed. Because you get one chance at everything in life, and that’s all.”

Walter Huston greeting Dorothy and John at the train station on arriving for their honeymoon in LA circa 1926

Dorothy age 19-  

        Mother’s typed private “reminiscence” of her former husband, John Huston,
found in her personal papers after her death. Dorothy and John were married seven years. (1926-1933)  It reads:

“All his life he was fascinated by boxers. He also loved bullfighters even before he read Hemingway. He had a brief enthusiasm for six-day bicycle racers and even looked into dance marathons and flagpole sitters. But boxers were the best specimens he felt, that the race of man had produced.

The first time he tried to tell me about all this, he was 19 years old. I was 19, too, and we were at this party where this shocking thing had just happened. I mean, it was shocking to me, but it left John in an exalted and unusually talkative mood. There was blood all over the floor and on some of the furniture, and my face was green and I was trying not to be sick.

“You’re missing the whole point,” John said. He pulled me to my feet and steered me to the front porch. With the sweet sick smell blowing away and everything outdoors swinging slowly back in focus again, I said weakly, “I am?”

Dorothy married my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, in Sonora, Mexico in 1940. She bore him four sons, Michael (1939), Steve and John (1941), John was my twin, died two weeks after our births due to “failure to thrive”, and Kelvin (1942).

We lived in the Franklin House from 1945-1950. After dad left the country, mother though ill-equipped and unprepared to be the sole breadwinner in the family, obtained secretarial type jobs in real estate and rental offices and would spend the next fifteen years, raising her three sons. Though alcoholic in the extreme, she managed to clothe and feed her sons and instruct us in what was truly important in life.

She taught us to be tolerant and compassionate of others, to fight against bigotry and prejudice, encouraged us to read books and to love the beauty of Nature and strive for what is Good. What more could any son ask from a mother?

Dorothy Hodel with two sons, Steven (standing) and Kelvin newborn, Oct. 1942.

THE FRANKLIN HOUSE YEARS [1945-1950]

Dorothy posing for our family photographer Man Ray in 1944. Center photo his wife Juliet and Dorothy

Photo of mother taken by our father George Hodel in 1946

Mother with my older brother, Mike Hodel who had just won an LA county-wide public school essay contest circa 1951.

Here is a letter my mother sent me on my 33^rd birthday, in 1974. Despite her life-long struggles with “Demon Rum” there was never ever any doubt, at any time, that she loved her three sons. See how beautifully she communicates it here, with poetic elegance.

Birthday 1974

Dearest Steven:

How does one write to a son one loves, admires, venerates so completely that the only thing that sums it up would be to say: I dreamed a perfect son and you turned out to be that son in every way- and even more? Words are tired things and through reiteration seem to lose force and meaning- Fortunately, the emotion behind the words does not. Perhaps I should devote my remaining years to creating a new language which would convey strong emotions freshly and effectively. Or perhaps like birds and animals, we should go back to chirps and growls and grunts. Or perhaps-lovely thought! we could develop a coloration process, like some mating animals, so that looking at you and saying ‘love’ I should glow in a rainbow of colors. So, fortunately, since my pigmentation isn’t up to it, see me now, in your mind’s eye with a glowing purple beak, bright green hair and red blue and orange arranged in a gorgeous chromatic pattern saying ‘Love” in a way as fresh and new as a rainbow.

Spectroscopically,
Mother

Dorothy Jean Hodel died in late March 1982, just a few weeks before her 75^th birthday. I have no doubt that she KNEW that our father was a serial killer and was responsible for the murder of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short. Ever protective of her three sons, she took the knowledge of this secret horror, with her to her grave. I suspect her heavy drinking was her own way to try and drown the knowledge of the many horrors that she hid and held inside. Can one really blame her? I say NO! (Note the sadness that is reflected in almost every photograph ever taken of her.)

Here is a private poem written by my mother sometime in her 67^th year, some seven years before she would find her wished for– “oblivion”. It was found by me, after her death, hidden away in her papers. I pray she now– Rests In Peace.

To grow old
To lose the magic of lover’s nights
Not to wish to recall them even-
How many! How bitter sweet!
To wince away from old scars
Refusing even memory of sensation
Re-kindling of ancient pain-sweet fires
Wanting peace now –
No feeling to ruffle precarious peace
So hard won- so easily overthrown
Not to remember-
Refuse the nights-
Refuse now the sight of lover’s faces
In evening dark-
The swift knife in the dark of lover’s kissing
Awakening what I want forgotten
As I search my way to oblivion
In this my 67^th year
Trying to ease the threshold
Between life and not-life
Easing, the cowards way-
And How I welcome cowardice!
Close eyes-close ears-close memory-
Think only of the dark bridge ahead
Think only it is easier to die
If living is forgotten-

Dorothy Jean Hodel- 1975

March, 1982- Los Angeles

At her request, our mother’s body was cremated and her ashes recycled back to Nature. (Buried under a flowering Japanese Magnolia tree) A small group of close friends and loved ones attended the “service” and her three sons: Michael, Steven, and Kelvin each delivered a few words in eulogy to their mother. In remembering this most remarkable woman, I had this to say:

DEAREST MOTHER:

EULOGIES, FOR THE MOST PART, ARE WELL INTENDED DISTORTIONS WHICH GLORIFY A PART WHILE IGNORING THE WHOLENESS OF OUR EXISTENCE.

EACH OF US HERE PRESENT POSSESS OUR INDIVIDUAL AND PRIVATE THOUGHTS WHICH COMPRISE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT YOU WERE IN LIFE. THIS IS PRIVATE AND PERSONAL AND SHOULD REMAIN SO.

WHAT CAN BE RECOGNIZED AND SHARED ARE THE INFLUENCES WHICH YOU GAVE TO YOUR SONS AND FRIENDS.

INDEPENDENCE, ORIGINALITY, AND ROMANTIC INTELLECTUALISM PERVADED YOUR LIFE AND WERE YOUR SPHERE OF INFLUENCE.

WHITMAN, JOYCE, RACHMANINOFF—ALWAYS THE THINKER-OUTSIDE, THE LOVER-INSIDE. (EXCEPT WHEN YOU REVERSED THE TWO.)

YOUR LOVE OF NATURE WAS MOST PRONOUNCED. YOU LIVED LIFE PASSIONATELY AND POETICALLY. YOU SAW AND LOOKED FOR THE NATURAL BEAUTY IN MAN AND HIS UNIVERSE. LIFE WAS A DANCE, A POEM, A SONNET OF THE SEXES—A MATING RITE BETWEEN PAIN AND PLEASURE, GOOD AND EVIL.

YOU WERE NEVER RELIGIOUS IN THE TRADITIONAL SENSE, BUT EVER CONSCIOUS OF THE PERFECT ORDER HIDDEN IN ROCK, RIVER, STAR AND FLOWER. THESE WERE YOUR ANGELS AND YOUR HEAVEN.

YOUR STATED WISH, AT YOUR PASSING, WAS THAT WE WHO LOVE YOU, REUNITE YOUR ELEMENTS WITH THOSE OF NATURE.

THAT YOU MAY CONTINUE TO ADD BEAUTY AND BE OF INFLUENCE TO OTHERS, LET THIS TREE, A JAPANESE MAGNOLIA WHICH BEARS FLOWERS ANNUALLY, BE A SYMBOL OF YOUR IMMORTALITY.

YOUR LIFE SHALL CONTINUE THROUGH THE FORM AND FLOWERING OF THIS TREE. MAY THE LIFE YOU GAVE US BE RETURNED TO YOU THROUGH THE SAP, TRUNK, BRANCHES, LEAVES, AND BLOSSOMS OF THIS TREE.

The post “I AM THE DAY” – Dorothy Huston Hodel (1906-1982) The Real “I Am The Night- Corinna Hodel” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

February 8, 2019
Los Angeles, California

The post Jury Returns Verdict in Court of Public Opinion on Dr. George Hill Hodel in Elizabeth Short “Black Dahlia” Murder appeared first on Steve Hodel.

February 11, 2019
Los Angeles, California

ROOT OF EVIL: THE TRUE STORY of the HODEL FAMILY and the BLACK DAHLIA-
Podcast debuts Wed, Feb 13th.

              The podcast will be hosted by Fauna Hodel’s two daughters (my great nieces) Rasha and Yvette 

I have had an opportunity to preview Emmy Award Winning Documentarian Zak Levitt’s, ROOT of EVIL (seven of the eight episodes).  After listening to them, I can confirm that the series of family interviews does in fact capture “The True Story.” My family members have in their separate interviews, been brutally honest in conveying their unique experiences (most of them totally new and profoundly shocking to me.)  I highly recommend the series which will present our family truths which are far-far stranger than fiction.

LAPD Homicide  Detective III Steve Hodel #11394 (Ret.)

“This is a story more than 70 years in the making. The Black Dahlia has generated incredible interest and attention through the years, but nothing has gotten to the heart of the incredibly painful, and ultimately triumphant story of the family that has had to carry the Hodel name – a name synonymous with the most brutal unsolved murder in American history. Through fresh interviews with the Hodel family and a trove of never-before-heard archival audio, we hope Root of Evil will be the most three-dimensional Black Dahlia story yet.”

 ZAK LEVITT
Exec VP/Producer, Cadence 13

Rolling Stones Article on ROOT OF EVIL

The post ROOT OF EVIL: The TRUE STORY of the HODEL FAMILY and the BLACK DAHLIA Eight Hour Podcast To Debut Wednesday Feb 13th appeared first on Steve Hodel.

February 13, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Photo by Steve Lawrence

Here’s a lengthy interview I did with Joe McCann, Editor of the Budapest Pulse just posted today.  His intelligent questions allowed me to provide a good “overview” of family background and the Black Dahlia investigation.

(Click HERE or on photo for full interview)

The post ‘My Father Killed The Black Dahlia’: Steve Hodel Interview with Budapest Pulse Editor Joe McCann appeared first on Steve Hodel.

February 16, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Elizabeth Short and Steve Hodel                                                        Black Dahlia Crime Scene Jan 15, 1947

              (photographic by Steve Lawrence)

Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia

For a four-minute introduction to Episode 2, “Sneak Peak- You Couldn’t Make This Story Up” click on above photos.
Full podcast Episode 2 will air February 20, 2019

The post Episode 2 – Sneak Peak 4 minute introduction to “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia” Airs Wed Feb 20, 2019 appeared first on Steve Hodel.