February 20, 2019
Los Angeles, California

It keeps happening!  (It is what my dear brother Mike Hodel on his KPFK program ‘Hour 25’ used to call- “The Group Mind.”)

This email received from a reader, Todd Jaeger, on Jan 30, 2019:

Maybe I’m just seeing things after reading your books, the way one sees all the cars on the road that are the same as the one you just bought, but I was looking at a website about a Man Ray exhibition at the Copley Galleries in 1949 and one particular photograph stood out. About six images down the page (link below) is a photograph of two pieces, one is the well-known “The Lovers” piece and the other appears to depict a woman with arms over head and a surgeon’s scalpel cutting across the body with a stream of blood on the floor. I don’t remember if you made reference to this in your books, if so then I’m just late to the party.
Thanks

Above we see Man Ray’s “Black Widow” (1915) painting on exhibition in Beverly Hills at his close friend, William Copley’s Gallery circa 1949. Man Ray’s painting depicts a woman posed with her hands above her head in the Minotaur position. A bloody surgeon’s scalpel is bisecting her body with blood flowing out of her lower left leg. On the adjacent gallery wall we see Man Ray’s Les Amoureux “The Lovers”

Is it mere coincidence that these two artworks (The Minotaur and The Lovers) would be paired and placed together by George Hodel’s two close friends?

 As Todd Jaeger, correctly points out, in the gallery they are paired together, just as I believe my father had suggested in his macabre Black Dahlia crime signature, using a surgeon’s scalpel to carve the grotesque “Lover’s Lips” on the face  of his victim, then posing her in the Minotaur position as an homage to his friend Man Ray?

 Was the gallerist/artist William Copley and his good friend Man Ray, in the exhibition, just two years later, providing a very public yet secret homage back at George Hodel?  Was this their way of saying, “We Know”?

Also, let’s keep in mind that just prior to this exhibit Man Ray and Bill Copley had published their “Alphabet for Adults” (1948) which included a drawing of the interior of the Sowden/Franklin House as the letter Q for quarrel with the “L’Occuliste, (as an eye-witness, to the quarrels in the Hodel courtyard.)  Man Ray gifted his “Occuliste” (Witness)  sculpture to George Hodel in 1948, which would have been just shortly prior to this Beverly Hills exhibition at Copley’s Gallery.

MAN RAY’S- EMAK BAKIA*

+ Emak Bakia translates from the Basque language as, “Leave me alone.”

 On February 12, 2018 I received the following Email from a reader, “Alexander L”:

                                        Mr. Hodel,

There is a 1926 Man Ray short film titled “Emak Bakia”. The film can be found on YouTube. The film does not seem related in any way to the subject of the Dahlia killing, but at about 8:14 into this film, there appears a silhouette of a body, posed similarly to how Short’s body was positioned. The silhouette also appears segmented or divided at the arms, leg, and between the legs. Maybe you have already seen this image from the Man Ray film I am referencing.

Best,

Alex

I thanked Alex for the reference and yes, I had seen the early (1926) Man Ray experimental film.

However, I had not reviewed it in many years and went to the 8:14 position identified by Alex.

Amazing.

Not only is the woman “segmented” but she is literally posed in the Minotaur position and physically bisected on screen.

See for yourself, I have edited the video to show just that section.

emak bakia fnl

Thank you, Alex. I totally missed this in my earlier viewings. I am continually grateful to readers like you that keep adding to the mass of evidence.

For full viewing of Emak Bakia Man Ray film click HERE.  (16 minutes) 

MAN RAY’S “LABORATORY OF THE FUTURE”

Once again, a reader/friend comes through with a startling “new clew.”

This email came from a friend and fellow investigator, Karen Smith, retired  Major Case Detective formerly with the Jacksonville Florida, Sheriff’s Office.

January 17, 2019

Hi Steve!

Don’t know if you’ve seen this before, but it’s a 1935 Man Ray photo titled “Laboratory of the Future”. If you zoom in, you’ll see the Zodiac symbol on the back wall, and it looks like the table below the sphere has painted symbols of the Zodiac constellations/animals on it. Thought you might find it interesting. 😉

Here’s the Man Ray photo image Karen sent me which I enlarged for clarity:

“Laboratory of Future (1935)                                           Enlarged

                                                            (Enlarged)

The obvious question:

 What is the Zodiac symbol (or rather, what would become the Zodiac symbol in 1968-9) doing in the background of a photograph taken by Man Ray in 1935?

Why would George Hodel choose that symbol, as his taunting crime signatory and call himself “Zodiac”?

What is his connection to that symbol pre-zodiac?

Well, as briefly mentioned in my book, MOST EVIL , Chapter 21, page 240, here is one possible answer:

Dali’s Secret Society: Zodiac Group 

(A talk was given on January 3, 2019 by Shaina Harkness, The Dali Museum Librarian. )

“I was going to succeed by having them come and lean on me”—Dali, discussing his Secret Society, the Zodiac Group. …The Zodiac Group. In 1932 Gala [Dali’s wife] concocted an ingenious marketing plan. She created a group of 12 society figures, artists and royalty, to provide Dali with a monthly stipend in exchange for work created during their given month. For this talk Harkness has unearthed new research, shedding light on just who these Zodiac collectors were, how they interacted with Dali, and which Dali works they acquired. Come and learn about this remarkable marketing plan, these famous members, and how Dali thrived amongst the elite.

The below excerpt is from an article, “Inside Art” by Carol Vogel from the New York Times, February 24, 1995. The article describes the discovery of an original Dali painting found and purchased in a Thrift-Shop for $40.00.  The subject of the painting, “Portrait of the Marquis de Cuevas.”

“…Research turned up more information about the painting’s subject. “The Marquis was one of the Zodiac Group, which was started in France in 1932 and consisted of 12 collectors who paid a monthly sum to Dali and in return, each received one painting a year,” said David Norman, a vice president in Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern art department. “Mr. de Cuevas was an elegant, cultured man who had a dance troupe and who was married to Mary Rockefeller Strong.”

The relevance to us, of course, is THE ZODIAC GROUP.  Twelve patrons supporting Dali in Paris, 1930.

Man Ray, friend to fellow surrealist Dali and living in Paris in the 1930s certainly would have known, and likely photographed most of the secret members of The Zodiac Group.

In 1935 Man Ray took the below cover photograph of Dali that appeared on Time Magazine.

     Man Ray Dali Cover Photo 1936                      Dali and Man Ray “Hanging Out” 1945  

“Art of Radio: It Reminds Dali of Wormy Apples and Dismembered Torsos”
Life Magazine, January 1, 1945

I believe that my father’s knowledge of this long forgotten “Zodiac Group” could well be the source for his choosing and naming himself, “ZODIAC.”

In resuming his macabre serial murders, and transforming his former 1940s self as “Black Dahlia Avenger” George Hodel reinvented himself in 1960s San Francisco selecting a new pseudonym, “Zodiac.”  A renewed urban terrorist, continuing his serial crimes just as he had some twenty years prior.  More secret taunts to new locations,  using cryptic symbols again taken from surrealist’s art, this time he would honor and support Dali, his homage making himself the silent thirteenth member of the former Secret Society known as—The Zodiac Group.    

Many thanks to my reader-super sleuth email contributors:  Todd Jaeger ((“The Black Widow”), Alexander L. (Emak Bakia); and Karen Smith (“Laboratory of the Future”).

The post George Hodel, Surrealism, Man Ray, Dali and New Zodiac Connections appeared first on Steve Hodel.

September 26, 2019
Los Angeles, California

The below family photographs were included in Black Dahlia Avenger (Arcade 2003). The top photo is of George’s mother, my maternal grandmother approximately age-29.  The lower photograph was taken at the Hodel family residence circa 1919-1923.  The world-renowned composer Sergei Rachmaninoff is seated center between an individual believed to be Alexander Zelenko, who at that time was the Russian Minister of Culture and one of Russia’s most famous architects.   (Mrs. Zelenko is seen seated to the left of Rachmaninoff)

Zelenko, a good friend of my grandfather was commissioned and brought from Russia to Los Angeles,  to design and build the Hodel residence on Monterey Road, in South Pasadena. Zelenko also built a second residence on the property, a “Tea House” specifically for my father to reside in, which was completed and gifted to the boy genius then attending the California Institue of Technology (CalTech)  by my grandfather as a 15th birthday present. (1921)

Hodel Family Photograph was given to me by my grandfather’s third wife, Alice Hodel after his passing.

Original 2003 HB ed.         “Boy of Nine Chief Soloist at Shrine”

  Sergei Rachmaninoff California 1919               Sergei Rachmaninoff  1921

Hodel Residence and Tea House Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Monument No. 802
Designed and built by famed Russian architect, Alexander Zelenko

The post Musical Prodigy George Hodel Raching Out with World Renowned Composer Sergie Rachmaninoff – Family Photo Circa 1917-1923 appeared first on Steve Hodel.

February 24, 2019
Los Angeles, California

As presented in my earlier investigative findings, it would appear that Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short actually signed her own death warrant by actively traveling to Chicago, Illinois in the summer of 1946 (while her “former suitor” Dr. George Hodel was temporarily doctoring in Hangkow, China for the UN. (See details in BDA I and II)

In today’s blog, I want to focus on and offer the proofs that not only, “A Doctor Did It” but that doctor in both cases (Degnan-Jan 1946 and Short Jan 1947) was a skilled surgeon who performed a specific and difficult procedure known as a “Hemicorpectomy.” 

First the definition:

SKH Note- The procedure requires that the division be performed between the 2nd and 3rd lumbar vertebra, which is the only way a body can be divided without having to cut through bone.

SKH Note- To be clear, in my previous writings I have quoted an expert surgeon who indicated, “this procedure was taught in U.S. medical schools in the 1930s.” By that, I do not mean to imply that Dr. George Hodel was performing this radical procedure on his living patients. He was not. Those skills (see photo below) would not be developed for another twenty years.

Rather, in those early years, the surgical procedure was performed on cadavers, human corpses, in order to divide the body in half without having to saw through bone—just as was done on the bodies of victims Suzanne Degnan (1946) and Elizabeth Short. (1947)

“A Doctor Did It”

From Black Dahlia Avenger (Harper Collins 2004) page 530:

“A Doctor Did It”

In previous chapters, I presented evidence from a number of authoritative sources (including LAPD’s own respected criminalist Ray Pinker, who conducted tissue studies in conjunction with Dr. Lemoyne Snyder) confirming that the bisection was performed by a medical doctor.

In October 2004, CBS’s 48 Hours television producers, in preparation for an hour-long special, decided to test the theory independently. The network went to Dr. Mark Wallack, chief of surgery at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York, and asked him to examine the crime scene photos, as well as a summary of the Short autopsy, and render an opinion. Dr. Wallack confirmed my, and LAPD’s, previous findings. Here is his on-air statement from the special, Black Dahlia Confidential:

Dr. Wallack:

You don’t get this kind of training where you can invade a human body unless you’ve had some sort of medical training.

Erin Moriarty:

So you’re saying you think it must have been a doctor?

Dr. Wallack:

In my opinion—yes!

In early 2005, I was contacted by the son of a prominent Los Angeles physician, whom I shall refer to as Dr. G. The son, a surgeon and professor of anatomy, * informed me that his father had been the personal physician to legendary LAPD chief William H. Parker. He stated that I had incorrectly attributed Chief Parker’s death in 1966 to a heart attack and went on to inform me that “Parker died of an abdominal aortic aneurysm that ruptured as he was preparing to give a dinner speech.” According to the son, Dr. G. had previously referred Chief Parker to the Mayo Clinic for treatment, but the clinic’s doctors felt repair was too risky, though they did provide him with a pacemaker.

* The professor identified the medical bisection performed on Elizabeth Short as a “hemicorpectomy.” He informed me that the procedure was taught at medical school during my father’s years (the 1930s), and in his opinion, could be performed by any skilled and anatomically trained M.D.

SKH Note- Over the years no less than five separate surgeons have reviewed the photos and all are in agreement that the bisection “had to have been performed by a highly skilled surgeon.”

The Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short Autopsy 

TRANSCRIPT OF INQUEST
HELD ON THE BODY OF ELIZABETH SHORT
AT THE HALL OF JUSTICE, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
JANUARY 22, 1947 AT 10:30 A.M.

…

FREDERICK D. NEWBARR, being first duly

Sworn, testified as follows:

Q:        BY THE CORONER; Please state your name.

A:         Frederick D. Newbarr

Q:        What is your occupation?

A:         Physician and Surgeon.

Q:        And you are the autopsy surgeon for the coroner?

A:         Yes, sir. Chief autopsy surgeon, Los Angeles County.

Q:        Did you perform an autopsy on the body of Elizabeth Short

Over whom we are holding the present inquest?

A:         Yes sir.

Q:        When did you perform the autopsy?

A:         January 16, 1947 at 10:30 A.M.

…

(SKH Note-  Dr. Newbarr begins reading from his autopsy protocol as to his findings and is interrupted.)

Q:      Doctor, I don’t believe it will be necessary for you to read all this. It is rather long and I don’t think we need               to read all of it here. … Then the next paragraph with regard to the severing of the body.

A:       The trunk is completely severed by an incision which is almost straight through the abdomen severing the intestine at the duodenum and through the soft tissues of abdomen passing through the intervertebral disk between the 2nd and 3rd lumbar vertebra.  [emphasis mine]  

(SKH Note- Here Dr. Newbarr confirms that the surgical procedure was, in fact, a -hemicorpectomy.)

The Suzanne Degnan Autopsy

On January 8, 1946, an autopsy was performed in Chicago at the Cook County Morgue on the body of Suzanne Degnan, age 6.

I am in possession of the complete Coroner’s Protocol, from the Cook County Coroner’s Office, but for the purposes of this reportage I am only going to provide the relevant confirmation that her body was divided identically to that of Elizabeth Short, by what medical experts consider to be a procedure known as –a  hemicorpectomy.

CORONER’S PATHOLOGICAL REPORT
HELD ON THE BODY OF SUZANA [SIC] DEGNAN
AT THE COOK COUNTY MORGUE, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
JANUARY 8, 1946

The undersigned has this date 1/8/46 performed an autopsy on the dead body of Suzana [sic] Degan at Cook County Morgue. …

DESCRIPTION: Age 6 Race: White  Sex: Female  Color of eyes: blue  Hair: light brown Weight: 78 Length: 4’ 2” Date of death: 1/7/46

…

Scan from actual Degnan Coroner Report (redacted)

From Most Evil (Dutton 2009) page 116:

Toxicologist Dr. William D. McNally reported that the victim [Degnan] had been strangled before her body was expertly dissected with a sharp knife. This conclusion was corroborated by Coroner Brodie, who told the press: “It was a very clean job with absolutely no signs of hacking as would be evident if a dull tool was used.”  Dr. Jerry Kearns, the coroner’s expert added: “the killer had to be an expert…. Not even the average doctor could be so skillful.”

January 6, 1946- Killer poses Degnan body parts off Street named “Hollywood”

“Dr. Jerry Kerns, coroner’s physician, identified the arms as belonging to the Degnan child and said, “they bore additional evidence of the skill with which the dismemberment of her body was accomplished. “(Chicago Daily Tribune, January 20, 1946)

Excerpt from a PowerPoint presentation I gave to Law Students at  Pepperdine College back in April, 2010.  At the end of the talk, I received a question from criminal defense attorney, Anthony Salerno related to the Suzanne Degnan Chicago Lipstick Murder and how it related to the Elizabeth Short murder one year later.

DEGNAN CRIME SUMMARY VIDEO EXCERPT (5 minutes)

Elizabeth Short Crime Scene Photos

January 15, 1947  Killer poses Short body parts of street named Degnan

Driving north on Degnan Blvd. the street magically changes names mid-block just south of the divider and becomes Norton Avenue. If the driver bears right he remains on Degnan. If he bears left he is now on Norton.
At the time of the crime on January 15, 1947 no center divider was at the location. Consequently, it was a coin toss as to which street the driver was on. I am confident my father, while bearing left, still believed he was on Degnan therefore in posing the body he was making his taunting “clew” to the police and press. “Catch me if you can.”

The post LA and Chicago Autopsy Reports Confirm a Skilled Surgeon Performed “Hemicorpectomy” on Both LA Victim Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short and Chicago “Lipstick Murder” Victim Six-Year-Old, Suzanne Degnan appeared first on Steve Hodel.

March 1, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Here is a Hodel Lineage graphic put together by my good friend, mystery writer and retired Dallas P.D. police officer, Robert J. Sadler. This helps us (including myself) understand at a glance who’s who in the Hodel Family lineage. The following family members contributed by providing interviews in the Cadence 13 Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia eight-episode podcast currently airing on a station near you: Rasha, Yvette, Tamar, Fauna, Deborah (Fauna II), Peace, Love, Joy, Kelvin, and Steve.

The post Dr. George Hill Hodel Lineage: Who’s Who in “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and The Black Dahlia? appeared first on Steve Hodel.

March 5, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia since its debut on February 13th has consistently been running No. 2-5 as the top podcast in the United States.

Episode 4 of 8 will air tomorrow, Wed March 6th.  Tune in to a podcast near you.  

The post Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia Ranked No. 2 Podcast in U.S. –Episode 4 of 8 Airs Wed March 6, 2019 appeared first on Steve Hodel.

March 11, 2013
Los Angeles, California

Off to New York to make a brief appearance with Rasha and Yvette on NBC’s TODAY SHOW.
Short segment introducing Root of Evil podcast is scheduled for Wednesday, March 13, 2019, in the 9 AM hour.

And, unrelated, here’s a little levity from back in 2006 when my life was actually in Jeopardy.

The post NBC TODAY SHOW Appearance to Discuss Root of Evil Podcast on Wednesday March 13th 9 AM Segment appeared first on Steve Hodel.

March 13,
Los Angeles, California

Busy week!

Taped a nationally syndicated talk  show here in Los Angeles on Monday (to be announced at a later date)  then flew to New York on Tuesday and did a short promo with my great-nieces Rasha Pecoraro and Yvette Gentile on the TODAY SHOW . Then we went “down the road” and taped another talk show, also, “air date to be announced.”  Below is a link to the Today Show interview, which runs about six minutes.

Lt to Rt:              Al Roker             Craig Melvin           Yvette         Rasha                          Steve

Here’s a link to the TODAY SHOW six-minute video interview

                   Photo Above: Undisguised handwriting shown on Today Show has been previously identified as that of Dr. George Hill Hodel by son and court certified Questioned Document Expert reads: “Here it is. Turning in Wed Jan 29 at 10 a.m. Had my fun at police.  Black Dahlia Avenger.” (To date no handwriting expert has claimed  the handwriting “is not” that of Dr. George Hodel.)

LAPD’s response to “Today Show” Request for Information on the case status remains unchanged from that of their 2003 statement to DATELINE, and all the additional documentaries through the past decade.   Their written response to me remains unchanged,  “We [LAPD] don’t have time to prove or disprove Steve Hodel’s investigation, as we are too busy with current unsolved investigations.”

Below is a March 7, 2019, written response from LAPD spokesperson to the Today Show’s query on the status of the case:

Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia podcast No. 5 aired yesterday.  CLICK HERE or on a podcast of your choice.

The post Root of Evil Podcast No. 2 Nationally- Conducted Three Television Interviews In Three Days- The “Today Show” and Two Nationally Syndicated Talk Shows appeared first on Steve Hodel.

    Graphic by Robert J. Sadler

March 17, 2019
Los Angeles, California

My previous personal KUDOS to LA Times Journalist Steve Lopez  need to be refreshed,  restated and updated for “new readers.”

First, let’s start with a photo of Steve along with a short bio provided to the IMDb (International Movie Data Base)  by his employer, The Los Angeles Times.

LA Times “Points West” Columnist Steve Lopez

“Columnist Steve Lopez joined the staff of the Los Angeles Times in May 2001 after four years at Time Inc., where he wrote for Time, Sports Illustrated, Life, and Entertainment Weekly. Prior to Time Inc., Lopez was a columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Oakland Tribune. His work has won numerous national journalism awards for column writing and magazine reporting. A California native, Lopez is the author of three novels, Third and Indiana, The Sunday Macaroni Club, and In the Clear, and a book of non-fiction, The Soloist: A Lost Dream, An Unlikely Friendship, and The Redemptive Power of Music. That book is based on columns Lopez wrote for The Times about his friendship with Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless, Juilliart-educated Los Angeles musician. There is a film version of The Soloist, starring Jamie Foxx as Ayers and Robert Downey Jr. as Lopez. Steve Lopez is married and has two sons and a daughter. ”
– IMDb Mini Biography By:  The Los Angeles Times

Reposting and update from a six-year-old post (February 2013)  I wrote on Steve Lopez original titled, “Los Angeles Times Columnist Steve Lopez’s 2003 Black Dahlia Source Provides a Fourth Link to “Something Buried at the Hodel Home.”

Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Time

“… Dr. Hodel was involved in a noted case in 1947 and had poisoned his secretary shortly thereafter because she knew of the crime. The caller claimed Hodel had buried something in the yard of his Los Feliz home.” [SKH-emphasis mine]

Steve Lopez. Columnist
 Another Dance With L.A.’s Black Dahlia
Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2003

I had totally forgotten about the above quote from Times reporter Steve Lopez’s article until being reminded by one of my readers, “Bud White.” Thanks Bud

A week prior to the publication of my first book, Black Dahlia Avenger [now almost a decade past] I approached L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez and presented him with an advance copy of my book. I felt it was only appropriate that a Los Angeles reporter break the story, and I have always admired Lopez for his objective, watchdog, For The People kind of reporting.

Lopez drove up to my then home in Lake Arrowhead and conducted an afternoon interview followed by interviews with LAPD detectives and District Attorney Steve Cooley. He then wrote two lengthy back to back articles in his L.A. Times column, Points West on April 11 and 13, 2003.

His first article, A Startling Take on Black Dahlia Case was published in the Times on April 11, 2003 and was published simultaneous to my press release at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Here is an excerpt from that original article that carried little meaning back then, but with the subsequent discoveries from the DA Files along with the recent news of Buster, the Wonder Dog’s forensic search and “alerts” this month, Lopez’s “source” statements take on new weight and meaning. From his original article:

…

“I can’t explain the screams just yet. But as for the secretary, I’ve learned that the LAPD investigated a report that George Hodel might have poisoned a secretary who was writing about him in her diary. The secretary whose name my source refused to divulge, died late in 1947 of an apparent poisoning, several months after the Black Dahlia murder.”

According to my contact, an anonymous caller told police “Dr. Hodel was involved in a noted case in 1947 and had poisoned his secretary shortly thereafter because she knew of the crime.” The caller claimed Hodel had buried something in the yard of his Los Feliz home.

SKH NOTE: In my original BDA investigation, I summarized the then known facts surrounding the suspected murder of George Hodel’s secretary who at the time of my writing was identified only as his “Jane Doe Secretary.” Also, the year and date of her death were unknown.

Subsequent to Lopez’s article and the independent confirmation by LAPD that his secretary’s “Suicide” Death Investigation was a suspected forced overdose by Dr. Hodel.”

I was in the following months after the Lopez articles,  able to identify dad’s secretary as Ruth Spaulding. and obtained her Coroner’s reports and learn that her death occurred on May 9, 1945, some eighteen months prior to the Black Dahlia murder.

Based on George Hodel’s 1950 tape-recorded conversation in which he provides information on how he killed her and admits to her murder, we now know that this is the same victim he is referring to on the 1950 DA electronic surveillance tape-recordings.

His statement, “Supposin I did kill the Black Dahlia they can’t prove it now because my secretary is dead,” obviously referred to the fact that as indicated in Lt. Jemison’s reports, “George Hodel and Elizabeth Short were acquainted.”

Dr. Hodel’s recorded statement “they can’t talk to her now, because she’s dead” relates to the fact that if his secretary, Ruth Spaulding had still been alive some twenty months later (January, 1947) she could and as a woman scorned most certainly would have been able to confirm the connection between George and Elizabeth, which most likely was both a professional and personal relationship. (As my readers are aware, it is my belief that George Hodel and Lt. Jemison’s “unidentified doctor” were one and the same individual. However, separate from this speculation on my part, Lt. Jemison does connect the two of them “as being acquainted” through multiple sources and says so in his police report

But, what is important here (again thanks to Bud White’s excellent recall) is Lopez’s independent reference to something being buried at the Sowden/Hodel house.  This statement made in 2003 corroborates the DA/LAPDs 1950 suspicions as noted in their tape-recorded crime, and their follow-up to determine if any digging or graves were seen by George Hodel’s plumber and as recently corroborated by Buster’s search and “alerts” in the basement in November, 2012.

Steve Lopez April 11, 2003 “A Startling Take on the Black Dahlia Case”.

Here are some ON POINT excerpts from Steve Lopez POINTS WEST second article published in the LA Times on April 13, 2003

ANOTHER DANCE WITH L.A.’S BLACK DAHLIA CASE

…

But who was the secretary? And who was the woman whose screams were recorded on the transcript after Dr. Hodel made that remark?

I can’t explain the screams just yet. But as for the secretary, I’ve learned that the LAPD investigated a report that George Hodel might have poisoned a secretary who was writing about him in her diary. The secretary, whose name my source refused to divulge, died late in 1947 of an apparent poisoning, several months after the Black Dahlia.

According to my contact, an anonymous caller told police “Dr. Hodel was involved in a noted case in 1947 and had poisoned his secretary shortly thereafter because she knew of the crime.” The caller claimed Hodel had buried something in the yard of his Los Feliz home.

The diary perhaps?

…It’s not clear from the record, according to my source, whatever came of the allegation that Hodel had killed his secretary.

…

That brings us back to Hodel’s, “Supposin’ I did kill the Black Dahlia,” and the remark about his dead secretary.

Lopez goes on in the article to relate his interview with Tamar and her account of a story told to her by George Hodel’s wife, Dorothy Hodel.

…

“The story was about the dead employee. Tamar remembered her to be a nurse, but Hodel ran a VD clinic in downtown L.A., so it’s possible the employee performed clerical and medical duties

According to Tamar, her stepmother [Dorothy Hodel] said George Hodel urgently summoned her to an apartment late one night, and the stepmother found the doctor with a woman he claimed had overdosed. Tamar says that by her mother’s account, the doctor handed her some books the woman had written (diaries?), and told her to destroy them.

The woman died a short while later, and the diaries never surfaced.

Did Dr. George Hodel kill his secretary, the Black Dahlia, and a total of up to 20 women in the 1940s and 1950s?

…

I leave you with one last excerpt I dug up from the 1950 bugging transcripts. On the same night that George Hodel said, “Supposin I did kill the Black Dahlia,” he said this to the unknown man with the German accent who was accompanying him:

“Any imperfections will be found. They will have to be made perfect. Don’t confess ever. Two and two is not four.” Much laughter [police notation]. “We’re just a couple of smart boys.” More laughter.

Lopez full article Dance with LA’s Black Dahlia Case as PDF.

In 2000, almost four years prior to reporter Steve Lopez’s discovery of the LADA Secret Hodel/Black Dahlia Secret Files here is what/how Tamar told me the story during an early interview of her. At that time she had no idea I was investigating the Black Dahlia Murder and believed all I wanted was information on our father and was also working on a book about my career with the LAPD. After describing her abortion she went on to tell me the following.

Black Dahlia Avenger (2003) Chapter- “TAMAR, JOE BARRETT, AND DUNCAN HODEL page 203:

Here is a “Top of the Morning” updated partial summary of what we now know, as of March 17, 2019.

Keep in mind this information is the direct result of reporter Steve Lopez’s investigative sleuthing.

Had Steve not pursued this with DA Cooley and discovered the DA Hodel/Black Dahlia Secret Files locked in the vault, we would not know or have confirmed these facts independent of my own investigation.

We would not know that Dr. George Hill Hodel was the LAPD/DA’s prime suspect all along and had confessed to multiple murders and police payoffs and performing abortions ON WIRE RECORDINGS some fifty-years prior to my initiating my own investigation.

1.   The unidentified secretary was Ruth Spaulding. Her death occurred at Georgia Street Receiving Hospital on May 9, 1945, eighteen months prior to the Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” murder. GHH admits in the recordings to taking her to the hospital and “putting a pillow over her head” and killing her. “I think they figured it out. Maybe I did kill my secretary.” Had Ruth still been alive she could have placed GHH and Elizabeth Short together both as a patient/doctor and boyfriend/girlfriend.
2.    The unidentified “Jane Doe” who reporter Lopez describes in his article “screaming in the basement” was very likely drugged, taken to the basement and later struck and likely murdered.  GHH heard to say, “Don’t leave a trace.”
3. GHH’s drugging and staging of a fake “attempted suicide” in January 1950, of another of his girlfriend’s, Lillian Lenorak, (identical to that of his private secretary, Ruth Spaulding) revealed in the secret DA police officer, “Mary Unkefer Letter” to the DA.
4. Confirmation of detailed description of trauma to victim Short’s body on official police reports in the file.
5. Confirmation of the fact that GHH and Elizabeth Short knew and dated each other prior to her murder.
6. Witness interviews and subsequent positive ID of GHH photo by former DA investigator Jack Egger as person impersonating himself as a “Chicago Police Officer” and being with ES in line for a Jack Carson, Hollywood Radio Show. (SKH Note- As documented in BDA, this GHH ID was made by Jack Egger in 2004. Jack was then Head of Security at Warner Brothers Studio and we met and he positively identified the below  1950 photograph as the same “Chicago Police Officer” with Elizabeth Short. After the man “badged him” Egger, then the head usher, and as was the courtesy, escorted both out of line and took them directly to Studio A for the show.)The below photo was positively identified  by  Chief of Security Jack Egger in 2004 as “the man that was with Elizabeth Short and who showed me his Chicago Police badge while they were standing in line in 1947 to attend the radio show.”

A HUGE THANK YOU to Steve Lopez, of the Los Angeles Times who through persistence to get to the truth, literally opened the door to the secret documents in the DA’s locked safe.

Steve Lopez like Frank Jemison is one of the “Good Guys” and definitely, like Lt. Jemison, gets to wear a BIG WHITE HAT.

Lt. Frank Jemison                                               LA Times Columnist Steve Lopez

Stay tuned, a lot more to come.

The post L.A. Times Investigative Reporter/Columnist Steve”Watchdog For The People” Lopez’s Investigative Persistence Pays Off–Helps Confirm LAPD’s Earlier Suspicions Dr. George Hodel Killed His Personal Secretary and the “Black Dahlia” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

March 20, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Episode 6 “Supposin’ I Did Kill The Black Dahlia” presents an overview of much of the evidence connecting Dr. George Hill Hodel to the infamous 1947 murder of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short. (1-hour recording)

Episode 6 of 8

                                                                        Photo Graphic by Steve Lawrence

The post Cadence 13 Root of Evil Podcast Episode 6 “Supposin’ I Did Kill The Black Dahlia” Airs Today- Wed, March 20, 2019 appeared first on Steve Hodel.

March 24, 2019
Los Angeles, California

The Missing Evidence and Hodel Files
Pompidou Centre, Paris France
June 1, 2006 

          In 2004, my book was translated and published in France as, L’ Affaire du Dahlia Noir, and became a national bestseller in that country. That same year, I was invited to Paris by my publisher, Seuil and did a number of press radio and television interviews.

Two years later, in June, 2006, I was invited back to Paris, to speak at the Pompidou Centre.

My talk included an hour PowerPoint presentation followed by a second hour of audience participation—Q & A.  A number of subjects were explored and the entire talk was videotaped.

One of the questions asked dealt with the subject of the LAPD. The questioner wanted to know what exactly they had done as follow-up in the three years since my investigation was made public.

Here is my unedited verbatim response to her question on the evening of June 1, 2006:

Q:  Has the Los Angeles Police Department responded to your Black Dahlia investigation?

PDF Verbatim Transcript text excerpted video answer The Missing Evid Pompidou transcript

THE TRAGIC RESULTS OF THE 1950 DA/LAPD COVER-UP AND OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE

Top Law Enforcement Officials independently confirming “Case Solved” Dr. Hodeel “Did it”.    1966 Chief Thad Brown Swearing-In Ceremony (A 33-year-old “Tell”)*

*(As I was exiting the Police Administrative Building auditorium Chief Brown’s photographer came up to me and asked, “Would you like your photo taken with the new Chief?”
Naturally, I responded, “Yes.”
We walked outside of Parker Center, posed for the above photo and went our separate ways. Two weeks later, I received the photo in inter-department mail, threw it in a box and forgot about it for another thirty-three years. Turns out, Chief Thad Brown, knowing what he knew, that my father was the killer of Elizabeth “Black Dahlia” Short, he simply could not resist the “photo op”. A photo which meant little to an unsuspecting/unknowing rookie officer meant everything to the chief who three decades prior had been “on the case.”)

The real tragedy in the original 1950 Cover-Up of the solution to the Black Dahlia Murder and Obstruction of Justice comes with the result and knowledge that all those involved: DA Simpson, DA Bureau of Investigation Chief H. Leo Stanley and his subordinate, Lt. Frank Jemison, LAPD Chiefs William H. Parker and Thad Brown all these men have blood on their hands. 

Not only the blood of Elizabeth Short and the rest of the LA Lone Woman Murder victims but of those victims that followed in the decades to come.

Had these named command officers and prosecutors taken action and done their duty, Dr. George Hill Hodel would have been arrested,  tried and convicted and there would be no future victims.

If my follow up investigation is correct, and I believe it is and expect DNA will eventually prove me right,  the below-named individuals would never have been slain and would most probably gone on to live happy and productive lives.

As a direct result of allowing a known/identified serial killer to remain free and by knowingly hiding the evidence and his confessions to multiple murders, that would convict Dr. George Hodel the officers actions and obstructions of justice allowed the following victims (1966-1969) to be murdered:

Victims Post LAPD/DA Cover-Up

1.  Cheri jo bates  10.30.66
2. Lucila Lalu  5.28.67
3. Betty Jensen 12.20.68
4. David Faraday 12.20.68
5. Darlene Ferrin 7.4.69
6. Michael Mageau 7.4.69 (survived attempt murder)
7. Cecelia Shepard 9.27.69
8. Bryan Hartnell 9.27.69 (survived attempt murder)
9. Paul Stine 10.11.69

SKH NOTE-  Knowing this it makes it easy to understand WHY LAPD HAS NO DESIRE TO PURSUE AND CONFIRM MY FINDINGS.  They cannot defeat the evidence which is way “beyond a reasonable doubt” so all that is left for LAPD is to claim as they have for the past fifteen years, “We don’t have the time to look at his investigation, we are too busy with current unsolved homicides.”

The post Video Excerpt from 2006 Steve Hodel PowerPoint Talk at Pompidou Centre and Audience Q&A – Why Did LAPD Cover Up the Solution to the Black Dahlia Murder? Obstruction of Justice/Police Inaction Results in Nine More Victims appeared first on Steve Hodel.

March 25, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Will be doing the DR. PHIL SHOW with my great-nieces, Rasha and Yvette this coming WED,  March 27th.  Check your local listing for time and station in your area.
Also, listen to Episode 7 of Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia on a podcast platform near you also available Wed March 27th.

CLICK HERE FOR BLACK DAHLIA VIDEO DR. PHIL SHOW INTRO

DR. PHIL SHOW AIRS IN LOS ANGELES ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2019  3-4 PM  ON KCBS 

CLICK HERE FOR ROOT OF EVIL PODCAST INFO- EPISODE 7 AIRS WED MARCH 27TH

The post Dr. Phil Show to Air Black Dahlia New Evidence Interview with Steve Hodel, and Root of Evil Podcast Hosts Rasha and Yvette WED MARCH 27, 2019 appeared first on Steve Hodel.

March 25, 2019
Los Angeles, California

In February 2019 I teamed up with my friend and super-sleuth extraordinaire,  KAREN SMITH, owner of Bare Bones Consulting, LLC. Karen is a retired major case detective with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office as well as a forensic crime scene expert.  (See short bio from CRIMECON 2018 below.)

 Karen and I submitted a FOIA Request to the LA Superior Court asking that we be permitted to obtain copies of my father’s 1949 sealed court documents as relates to the trial People of the State of California vs. Dr. George Hill Hodel.

In March, the court granted our request and as a direct result, I am now able to disclose to the public further dramatic information pertinent to my ongoing investigation.

Detective Karen Smith, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (ret.)

In today’s blog, we will exam the “LA DA Plea Agreement” in the case of People vs. Dr. Francis Ballard and Charles Smith, dated January 11, 1950, and its surprising new revelations related to my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel.

For those readers not familiar with the investigation here is a brief chronology of events as they unfolded in the fall of 1949.

October 1, 1949– Tamar Hodel, age 14, runs away from home, hides out at juvenile friends homes and is arrested a few days later by LAPD Juvenile.  Tamar discloses sexual involvement with her father and is detained at L.A. County Juvenile Hall, placed in “protective custody.”

October  6, 1949–  Dr. George Hill Hodel arrested for incest by LAPD Juvenile detectives.

October 9, 1949-  Dr. Francis C. Ballard and Charles Smith arrested for performing an abortion on Tamar Hodel on September 11, 1949.

December 23, 1939– Dr. George Hodel three week trial ends with a “Not Guilty” verdict from the jury.

January 14-17, 1950– Dr. Francis C. Ballard and Charles Smith four day trial ends with a plea agreement. DA prosecutor J. Miller Leavy agrees to drop felony charges of abortion in trade for defendants pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, “Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor.”

Tamar post-trial age-15       New York Times Oct 30, 1949

Dr. Francis C. Ballard and Charles Smith arrested for performing an abortion on Tamar Hodel
Formal Complaint

“FRANCIS BALLARD and CHARLES SMITH on the 11th day of September 1940 at and in the County of Los Angeles, State of California did willfully, unlawfully and feloniously:

provide, supply, use and employ an instrument and other means upon the person of Tamar Hodel, a woman, with the willful, unlawful and felonious intent then and there and thereby to procure the miscarriage of the said Tamar Hodel, said use and employment of said instrument and other means to procure said miscarriage of said Tamar Hodel, a woman, not then and there being necessary to preserve the life of the said Tamar Hodel. 

Why would the DA Prosecutor J. Miller Leavy (more on him below) agree, after four days of trial testimony, to suddenly drop the felony abortion charges, and request that both defendants be allowed to “cop a plea” to a misdemeanor?  The 70-Year-Old sealed court documents and “DA Plea Agreement” reveals the answer!

Copy of original DA Attorney Recommendation dated January 11, 1950 (Fully reproduced below)

RECOMMENDATION PLEA TO AN ALTERNATE COUNT  

REASONS:

The alleged offense of abortion, in this case, grows out of the testimony of Tamar Hodel, who was a prosecution witness within the past few weeks in an incest case involving her father. In that case, the jury, after a lengthy trial, acquitted the defendant. The within offense, as well as the others in which this victim, Tamar Hodel, is a prosecution witness, came to the attention of the authorities when she was questioned about being a run-away.

The facts involving the within offense against the defendant, an M.D. Francis Ballard, and Charles Smith, who is a layman, disclosed that Tamar Hodel complained to her father that she was pregnant. This testimony is based upon the testimony of Tamar Hodel at the preliminary hearing. She further testified that her father did not believe her but after some persuasion he concluded that she might be pregnant and had her examined by a doctor on Aug. 26th, and there is the testimony of that doctor at the preliminary hearing that, in her opinion, the victim, Tamar Hodel, was about 6 or 7 weeks pregnant. Tamar Hodel further testified that during the time she was complaining to her father about her pregnancy her father gave her three shots of ergot, which is an abortive agent. Tamar Hodel claims she did not abort prior to the incident in Dr. Ballard’s office on Sept. 11th.

The events occasioned by Tamar Hodel’s presence in Dr. Ballard’s office on Sept. 11th, are that her father introduced her to the defendant Smith as Jannette Olawn, 18 years of age and that she was a truck driver’s sweetheart and had become pregnant. Dr. Hodel, according to Tamar Hodel’s testimony, did not disclose to Smith that she, Tamar Hodel, was his daughter. The defendant Smith is acquainted with both Dr. Ballard and Dr. Hodel, working for them in some layman capacity. Smith agreed as a favor to Dr. Hodel to take the victim in this case to Dr. Ballard, he, Smith, believing that the girl was pregnant. On the day in question, Smith did take her to Dr. Ballard’s office, giving her several pills on the way over, which were probably sedatives.

According to the girl’s testimony at the preliminary hearing, she states that she was placed upon the table in Dr. Ballard’s office, with her feet in the stirrups and that she felt Dr. Ballard doing something with her privates, although she cannot testify that he used any instruments to cause an abortion, although she claims she did not abort prior to that time. She states that she experienced severe pain on the table and became ill, after which she was taken home by the defendant Smith. There is absolutely no physical evidence in support of Tamar Hodel’s testimony that an abortion was performed upon her by Dr. Ballard, this due to the lapse of time between Sept. 11th and the matter coming to the attention of the authorities at some later date.

After this matter came to the attention of the authorities, the investigating officers for the Police Department talked to both the defendant Smith and the Defendant Ballard. The defendant Smith admitted in his statement to the officers which is contained in the preliminary transcript, that he did take the girl, Tamar Hodel, to Dr. Ballard’s believing that she was Jannette Olawn and that she had been intimate with a truck driver and that she had had severe abdominal pains and that he assumed the girl was pregnant. That he, prior to taking the girl to Dr. Ballard, discussed the matter with Dr. Ballard, who was reluctant to conduct an examination but that Dr. Ballard was willing to perform his services for $200.00 That he, the defendant Smith, was present in the room of Dr. Ballard when Dr. Ballard performed his services upon the girl and assisted the girl when she became sick.

Dr. Ballard also talked to the police officers in this case and stated to the officers that the defendant Smith came to him in September and stated that a Dr. Hodel had a good friend by the name of Jannette who was living at his house and who was intimate with a truck driver and that she had missed her menstrual period and had had severe abdominal pains and that Smith wanted her on behalf of Dr. Hodel to examine her and see what he could do for the girl. Dr. Ballard stated that he finally agreed to perform this service and that when the girl was brought to his office he conducted an investigation or examination of the girl and that, internally, it appeared that someone had attempted to tamper with her and that some caustic had been used and that he then cleaned the girl out and that he did not abort her but cleaned out what would not have been a normal birth.

For the reason that in the previous trial wherein Tamar Hodel testified regarding incestuous relationship with her father and that in that trial the credibility of Tamar Hodel was carefully explored by the defense and that it appears her credibility is to be considerably questioned, and for the reason that there is no physical evidence or additional evidence to support her claim that she was actually aborted by Dr. Ballard, and for the reason that Dr. Ballard does not admit that he actually aborted Tamar Hodel, it is believed that a conviction on the offense of abortion would be difficult to obtain. However, since both defendants do admit to the officers an act which is supported by Tamar Hodel’s testimony which would amount to Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor, to wit, the examination of a minor girl by a doctor with a male layman present, without a female attendant, it is believed the interests justice can be served in this case by permitting both defendants to plead guilty to the offense of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor, to be charged as an additional count in an additional information. This disposition is agreeable with the investigating officers. The defendant Ballard in this case, so far as is known, has a good reputation in the community in which he practices in the Canoga Park area. There has not been disclosed any pattern on his part of participating in abortions. He possesses a good reputation and educational background.

Authority to recommend a plea of guilty as to both defendants of the offense of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor, as heretofore referred to, is hereby requested.

Note signature is by Deputy District Attorney J. M. Leavy requesting alternate misdemeanor count of “Contributing”

SKH Observations:

What we did not know until receiving these sealed court documents and what is the real “NEWS” here is that my father, Dr. George Hill Hodel actually “took things in hand” and performed an attempted abortion on Tamar by “injecting her on three separate occasions with the known abortive tincture-   ERGOT. *

When this failed he created a fictitious story name and age for Tamar and approached his known abortionist buddy, Charles Smith claiming she was a friend “Jannette Olawn, 18, and pregnant by her truck driver boyfriend.”  George got a bargain basement price ($200.00) to clean up his abortive attempt and with Tamar’s runaway and quick apprehension, his and their arrests soon followed.

It is understandable (but in no way supported by me) why the DA’s office would take a plea on this case.  Once one knows and factors in George Hodel’s prior acts of performing the first abortion, along with Tamar having just being labeled as a “pathological liar” by the defense team of Geisler/Neeb in the incest trial, which had resulted in an “acquittal” just two weeks prior.

Easy to understand the DA’s Office saying to themselves, “We could lose this. Let’s take a plea now.”

Here are a few interesting sidebars to the story.

*Ergot to induce abortion

Midwives and doctors have used extracts from ergots to hasten childbirth or to induce abortions for centuries.^[34] “Ergot of rye”, wrote Francis Ramsbotham, founder of the Obstetrical Society of London, in 1841, “has been known to possess deleterious and poisonous qualities for more than 800 years, and it has been used on the continent by female midwives as a promoter of labour pains for nearly 150 years”^[27                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Wikipedia

DEPUTY DA J. MILLER LEAVY

We see that the prosecutor (ostensibly representing the victim, Tamar Hodel) was DDA J. Miller Leavy.

DA Leavy was probably the most famous prosecutor of that time. (Click below to read his obituary.)  Three of his most famous LA cases were:  Caryl Chessman (1948) known as “The Red Light Bandit” tried, convicted and put to death. (Chessman was a huge cause celeb in his day, many believing he was actually innocent as charged. The only reason he was executed was that Leavy charged him with 209PC (The Lindberg Law, Kidnapping with injuries). The ostensible “kidnap” was forcing the female victim from the front to the back seat of her vehicle and the injury was forcing her to perform fellatio on his person. No murder ever occurred. Chessman denied he was the actual suspect, and the eye-witness identification was weak at best. The victim originally claimed the suspect had “a large scar on his face  that was easily recognizable.” Chessman, arrested later, had no scar and the victim changed her testimony to ID him.  Leavy also prosecuted, Barbara “I Want To Live” Graham, convicted her and she was also executed. Actress Susan Hayward won a “Best Actress Oscar” for her portrayal of Graham in the 1958 film, “I Want to Live.”

DA Leavy also prosecuted and convicted  L. Ewing Scott for the murder of his wife. A case where her body was never found. (Although some of her personal effects were found buried on their estate in Bel Air, California.

LADA J. Miller Leavy Obituary

DDA J. Miller Leavy examing evidence in Scott murder 1959

The post Seventy-Year-Old Court Documents Unsealed-Reveal Dr. George Hodel Performed an Abortion Attempt on His 14-Year-Old Daughter Prior to Obtaining a Second Sucessful Abortion Performed By Dr. Francis Ballard appeared first on Steve Hodel.

March 30, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Appeared on the Dr. Phil Show this week for a full one-hour presentation covering just some of the “New Evidence” (2018) related to my Black Dahlia investigation as well as to introduce the popular “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia Murder.” Both of my great nieces, Rasha and Yvette,  joined me for the “Root of Evil” segments of the show.

Here are some “still photos” clipped from various segments to give those of you who missed it, an “overview.”

                     Steve  Hodel                                           Dr. Phil

“A skilled surgeon did it”   Introducing and explaining the surgical procedure known as a”Hemicorporectomy”

“Murder as a Fine Art”  Explaining a few of the Surrealist Connections to Dr. Phil
Victim’s body posed at the crime scene by Dr. Hodel to mimic Man Ray’s “Minotaure”

Using surgeon scalpel to carve cross-hatch design on right hip of the body to mimic Man Ray’s artwork “L’equivoque”

George Hodel’s handwriting identified by Questioned Document Expert as same written by “Black Dahlia Avenger”

Los Angeles District Attorney 1950 Secret Hodel Black Dahlia Electronic Surveillance Recordings Explained
“Supposin I did kill the Black Dahlia they can’t prove it now my secretary’s dead.”
This is the best payoff I’ve seen between Law Enforcement agencies” etc.

“Put a pillow over her head, and covered her with a blanket. …Expired at 12:39. They thought there was something fishy. Anyway, now they may have figured it out. ..Maybe I did kill my secretary.”

“I’m in trouble.”
(SKH Note to Dr. Phil graphic designer. This statement made on 3/18, not 3/26, but excellent job on all graphics. Very impressive!) 

The WHY of the DA/LAPD Cover-up- Dahliagate
February 18, 1950, tape-recorded murder during stakeout explained.
Dr. George Hodel and Baron Harringa beat a woman with a pipe in basement resulting in probable murder.
Stakeout detectives five minutes away listening to assault in real time and take no action.

Dr. George Hodel’s “LA Lone Woman Murders” 1943-1950  Four victims bodies never found.
In 1950 DA/LAPD detectives suspected bodies may have been buried on Hodel property.  Never searched.

Dr. Phil interviews Retired Police Sgt. Paul Dostie who explains Cadaver Dog “Buster” alerts to human remains at Hodel Sowden House.

Sgt. Dostie explains new November 2018 findings from Dr. Arpad Vass’ “Inquisitor ” instrument detecting “human bones on/near Hodel property.”

Dr. Robert Schug

My great nieces, Rasha, Yvette, and psychologist, Dr. Robert Schug, Professor of criminology at Long Beach State University discuss effects on family members. Dr. Phil highly recommends viewers listen to Root of Evil podcasts to learn more.

DR. PHIL TRAILER VIDEO SEGMENTS BELOW:

WHO WAS ‘THE BLACK DAHLIA’?

HOW A MAN DISCOVERED THAT HIS FATHER MAY HAVE MURDERED ‘THE BLACK DAHLIA’

WHAT RECORDINGS REVEAL ABOUT POSSIBLE MURDERER OF ‘THE BLACK DAHLIA’

WHY MAN SAYS HE BELIEVES HIS FATHER WAS A SERIAL KILLER

NEW EVIDENCE REVEALED FOR THE FIRST TIME THAT MAY INDICATE WHO MURDERED ‘THE BLACK DAHLIA’

‘ROOT OF EVIL’ PODCAST HOSTS SHARE DARK FAMILY SECRETS FOR FIRST TIME

The post Dr. Phil Show “Hollywood Obsessed: The Black Dahlia Murder Mystery, “New Evidence Found” Aired Wed March 27 2019 – Dr. Phil Praises Top National Podcast “Root of Evil” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

April 6, 2019
Los Angeles, California

I have just completed listening to the final episode (No. 8  “You Only Have One Family”) of the podcast, “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia.

My connection to this story began exactly eight months ago, to the day, by way of an email from an individual I had never heard of, he identified himself as, Zak Levitt, a documentarian.

Here is that original email:

August 6, 2018

Hello Steve!

 My name is Zak Levitt, and I’m a documentary filmmaker. You may have heard from family members that I am endeavoring to tell the TRUE STORY of your complicated family, and of course, The Black Dahlia. However, I want to make sure that what I am setting out to do was properly represented to you. This is going to be all factual, nothing fictional, and your experiences and investigation are crucial to the story. The fictional series, “I Am The Night” on TNT has no bearing on my story. You can look at it like the two OJ series that came out around the same time period. One was a fictionalized account for FX, and the other was the true documentary series for ESPN.

I would really love the opportunity to speak to you over the phone to discuss.

Thank you very much,

Zak

I advised Mr. Levitt that I was currently working with others on putting together my own ten-part documentary as a miniseries for television with the intent to “tell the true story.”

My initial response was a “thank you, but I’m going to pass on any involvement in the podcast.”

Aug 9:

Zak persisted and followed up with several lengthy phone calls that included …”my main interest lies in the “why” you wrote BDA.  This story is going to be a more sprawling look at the family, and how events can have a ripple effect through the generations, rather than only focusing on the Black Dahlia.”

Aug 11:

…OK. I’m speaking to so many members of your family. You’ve made so many appearances to speak over the years. It would be strange not to have you as even a small part of this story. I’m hoping we can figure something out. Looking forward to discussing further. Zak.

Aug 20:

…Following up again. Steve, I’m hoping at the very least that I can interview you, one on one, either in person or over the phone, about your findings/investigation detailed in your books. We can stick to what you’ve already written or spoken about.  I want to make sure that the facts are represented correctly.

Aug 23:

I responded back to Zak by email:

…”Give me a call at my home number and we can discuss further. I’m not really clear on what your project is and we can take it from there depending.  Best,  Steve”

Aug 23:  

Zak and I had an approximate ninety-minute conversation and after hearing how well backgrounded and prepared and knowledgeable he was,–I  was hooked.

I agreed to do the family interviews and provide him with any and all material he required to in his words “to make sure the facts are represented correctly.”

The rest is, as they say, HISTORY.

I’m looking at my Gmail In-Box “Sent and Received” with  Zak Levitt and incredibly it shows an exchange total of some “587 Emails” over the past eight months.  (Quick math- Figure half his/half mine so that’s 294 emails each over 240 days= 1.2 emails per day. (That’s a far distance from, “I’ll pass.”)

To be clear, my “involvement” related to, in Zak’s words, “making sure the facts were represented correctly.”  This would solely relate to my (Steve Hodel’s) personal knowledge of our family history, and my Black Dahlia investigation.  I had no contact with other family members, so each interview was coming directly from that individual Hodel family member and was his or her subjective/objective knowledge as they experienced it, without influence from others.

Zak as Executive Producer, documentarian, writer, and editor then was tasked with the Herculean job of trying to take all of the hours of individual interviews (from my count ten Hodel family members along with another half dozen or more outside “experts”, and archival audio, and trying to  piece them all together in a cohesive eight-hour podcast.

To my mind, and apparently based on the massive number of positive “reviews and comments” (over six-thousand on iTunes alone) along with the National No. 2 ranking for the Root of Evil Podcast, Zak’s production received extremely high acclaim and resulted in a massive amount of listener “downloads.”  My congratulations to Zak and to all of the hard work he put into making the production as a huge success.

As many readers know, Zak’s production was hosted by my niece Fauna’s two children, (my grand nieces) Rasha and Yvette along with major cooperation and participation from their aunt/my niece, Deborah Elizabeth (Fauna II).  Also, interviewed throughout the eight episodes were my three nephews, Peace, Love and Joy Hodel, as well as my brother, Kelvin “Kelly” Hodel.  Each one of them providing  their unique and intensely personal insights into a major dysfunctional “pattern of abuse.”

As presented in its entirely the “True Story of the Hodel Family” as told by individual family members is almost beyond comprehension and the dysfunctionality is horrific and heartbreaking.

For myself,  as the second eldest living  Hodel family member, listening to my nieces and nephews “tell their individual experiences being raised by their mother,” Tamar, my half-sister was beyond heartbreaking.

I had no idea, no comprehension of just how much each one of them, Deborah Elizabeth (Fauna II), Peace, Love, and Joy had individually suffered at the hands of their mother, Tamar.

My brothers and I had experienced child neglect and had been regularly subjected to our mother’s alcoholism and on at least three separate occasions as young children were “taken into protective custody by law enforcement” and placed in Juvenile Hall.  But, that abuse was different. It was our mother harming herself and consequently we three boys needing to be protected by the State and be provided food and lodging.

That was far different from the kind of harm that was forced upon Tamar’s four children.  Their abuse, their harm was DIRECT. It was ongoing, active and immediate.

My niece and nephews suffered far more than I could have imagined and to hear it related by each one of them, tore at my heart. I had never cried for them before because I never knew.

Listening to them tell their individual stories of child neglect, sexual abuse and being raised in a home without experiencing any real love was painful.

When I heard it from their mouths on the podcast for the very first time it was visceral, it hurt, and it hurts me now.

All four children had it BAD.  Fauna II the worst.

I knew from my later research into my half-sister’s life that Tamar was a lousy mother, had elevated manipulation to an “art form” and that all of her children had suffered.  But, until hearing it out of their own mouths, I just didn’t know how bad it had really been for them.

The Cycle of Abuse was passed on from father to daughter and Tamar passed it on to all four of her children.  Her first child Fauna, adopted at birth,  and raised by a Black family in Sparks, Nevada, who renamed her “White Patty” was as correctly observed by her daughters,  “Saved by the Ghetto.”

Of course, Fauna, and her two daughters, Yvette and Rasha had their own heartbreaks and difficulties spawned as a result of Tamar’s lies that “Fauna’s father was Black.”

But, in a very real sense, that’s another story as told in Fauna’s own biography, “One Day She’ll Darken” and as later presented in the yet unreleased 1991 film, “Pretty Hattie’s Baby.”

The “Good News” as revealed in the Root of Evil podcast is that I believe the cycle of abuse IS NOW BROKEN.

Speaking for Tamar’s children, for Peace, for Joy, for Love, and for Deborah Elizabeth (Fauna II) it is my confident belief that all four are DOING NO HARM.

In adulthood, they, each in their own way have become strong and independent.  They love their children and each has become a positive, caring human being.

I say, BRAVO to each one of you.   Born to the DARKSIDE each one of you has independently walked through the fires and into the LIGHT.   A huge hug and kiss to each of you.

And to Yvette and Rasha, who I know even less than my nieces and nephews, I say the same.  Both of you are clearly survivors. You too have been tested and survived.

Thank you for hosting the Hodel Story.  Both of you were amazing and your contributions cannot be underestimated.

Together, the two of you, with the untimely death of your mother in 2017, “carried on for your mother in a time of great grief and sadness.”

Still, you were able to bring Zak’s words to the public and give them Life and Feeling and Love.

Hugs and kisses to you and your loved ones from a great-uncle who is most proud of your contributions to the Hodel Story.

Finally, one very important question needs to be addressed and answered as relates to both the  TNT miniseries “I Am The Night” and its companion podcast, “Root of Evil.”

Was Dr. George Hill Hodel the father of  Fauna Hodel? 

We are now at the end of the podcast and the question remains?

This comes as a surprise. Why?  Because, to my knowledge, that very question was asked and answered during the research and investigation conducted by Executive Producer, Zak Levitt.

As I understand it,  both Tamar’s and Fauna’s children, my nieces and nephews were all present in one room at the conclusion of Episode Eight.

They were gathered together and asked the following question–Do you believe George Hodel was the father of Fauna Hodel?”

Some answered, “yes” others “no.”

After having been given Fauna Hodel’s DNA profile, Zak Levitt presented Rasha and Yvette and their aunt and uncles the opportunity to find out the answer together. The results proved to a scientific certainty that Fauna Hodel’s parents were not related, therefore Dr. George Hill Hodel was not the parent of Fauna.” He was NOT HER FATHER.

This information was originally intended to be included and revealed to the public in the final Episode Eight of Root of Evil, but was removed or omitted apparently at the request of  TNT?

    2018 DNA Test Eliminates George Hodel as Parent of Fauna Hodel

The post Anatomy of a Podcast: Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia- DNA Test Answers Question of Fauna Hodel’s Paternity appeared first on Steve Hodel.

April 12, 2019
Los Angeles

DINNER WITH JOHN JOHN

                     
                        David Lynch    Dinner at Musso & Frank Grill         LAPD Detective John St. John

In film director David Lynch’s new book, Room to Dream (Random House 2018) he presents us with a never before revealed anecdote that directly relates to the Black Dahlia Murder investigation.  Here it is in his own words from Room to Dream, pages 353-354:

(The reference to this dinner meeting can also be found repeated in an article in the Hollywood Reporter published on 2/22/19. Here is the link to that article.)

(SKH Note-  David Lynch’s reference here to meeting and having dinner with LAPD Detective John St. John must have occurred sometime in the 1970s or 1980s. To my knowledge, St. John and his partner Det. Kirk Mellecker (who I trained in Hollywood Division in the early Seventies) did not receive the case until then. It was handed down through the years from Harry Hansen, to Pierce Brooks, to Danny Galindo, and eventually to John St. John and Kirk Mellecker. I documented my lengthy interview with Detective Mellecker in BDA and he indicated he and John St. John tried to “look at the case in 1976 and 1977 and then we got hit with the Hillside Strangler and everything after that until the late eighties.” )

As a rule,  I give scant credence to these decades-old, “Did you know this about the Black Dahlia Murder” stories.

Mostly, they are made from whole cloth, pure fabrications and are nothing more than, “he said this, she said that” myths with no real substance.

But,  in Mr. Lynch’s case, I will admit to making an exception. I believe his anecdote is TRUE and ACCURATE.

Why?

Some years back I reenacted the drive from our Sowden/Franklin House to the crime scene in an attempt to determine the exact distance and drive time.

I chose January 16th (the day after Short’s body was found) so as to also establish the ambient lighting as it would have been in 1947.  I began my drive from the rear alley behind our home on Franklin Avenue, at 6 a.m. in darkness. I drove due south on Normandie then west on what was then “Santa Barbara” (now Martin Luther King Ave) then north on Degnan Ave (which becomes Norton Ave) to the crime scene, stopping at 3815 S. Norton Ave. The drive took me 25 minutes and upon my arrival, it was still dark outside.

Based on witnesses’ statements of his seeing a man in a dark sedan at the location standing by his car for about four minutes I waited the same time and then drove north, heading back to the Franklin residence.

As I drove from the scene, it was still dark outside, but  daylight broke within five to ten minutes of my departure from the scene and it was full daylight upon my arrival back at the residence.

A Trophy to Memorialize his “Masterpiece”

” Then he turns away and goes to his briefcase, pops it open, and takes out a beautiful, glossy black-and-white photo that he lays on the table in front of me. It’s a picture of the Black Dahlia lying in the grass, and it’s in mint condition.
…then suddenly I knew what it was. That picture was taken at night with a flash, and that opens up a whole realm of possibilities regarding that case.”

David Lynch, Room to Dream page 354

It makes total sense to me that my father would photograph his masterpiece.  How could he not? The perfect Surrealist artwork –his Murder as a Fine Art had to be memorialized.  To be expected.

But, the larger question is- How and when and where did LAPD come into possession of this photograph?

As I see it, there can be only one answer.  An answer as dark and macabre as the crime itself.

Like his other letters and taunts following the crime, GEORGE HODEL MAILED THE PHOTO TO THE POLICE.

George Hodel at Sowden/Franklin House 1950

The post Director/Screenwriter David Lynch Reveals “New/Old Clue” to Black Dahlia Investigation in “Dinner with John John” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

April 15, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Hosted by actor Donnie Wahlberg

I watched the two-hour opening episodes (Part I & II) of HLN’s “Very Scary People” which featured a review of the “Zodiac” serial crimes that occurred in the San Francisco Bay Area back in 1968 and 1969.

HLN Trailer for “Very Scary People”

Here’s my brief review of the show and its interpretation of the case status as of 2019.

The Bad

They seem to still be stuck on the original composite drawing which not only is only slightly better than any ten-year-old’s rendition, (my apologies to all ten-year-olds) but provides a misleading physical description from later revisions from better eye-witnesses. (Suspect much older, thinner.)

They did follow-up with alternate descriptions, but pretty much left it up to the viewer to decide was the above composite accurate or the later Stine composite?

Barros Composite

Stine Teenagers/Fouke Composite

The show completely omitted the best DNA evidence,  from the Stine Gloves found in the back seat of the cab and the fact that those gloves have been tested and revealed Stine’s DNA on the outside (from the blood splatter) and contain unknown stranger DNA on the inside of the gloves. Highly probable this “stranger DNA” belongs to Zodiac. (SKH Note- It has never to my knowledge been addressed or revealed whether the gloves were ever tested for GSR? (Gunshot Residue)

No mention of Dr. George Hodel as a suspect or my investigation and a complete omission of the Neal Adams composite also obtained from witness statements and drawn in 1974 as a composite and was actually a merging of the Stine and Barros composites and presented on the true crime book, “Great Crimes of San Francisco” (Ballantine Books 1974)

Neal Adams 1974 Zodiac drawing compared to Dr. George Hill Hodel

The Good

To their credit, the show did address the question of whether Officer Donald Fouke and his Partner Eric Zelms (who was shot and killed just a few months later in an unrelated police response to a business burglary) actually stopped and talked to Zodiac.

The show reported the fact that the two officers DID STOP and speak with  Zodiac (supposedly believing Zodiac was a “Male Black” and the Male White suspect told them “Yes, he had a gun and he went thataway.” (As we know, to this day, Officer Fouke maintains he and his partner Zelms did not stop the man. Fouke never reported this “suspect” until one month later, when the killer mentioned it in his letter to the press.  Fouke was forced to “fess up” and in a memo, to detectives, he claimed he and his partner  “just drove by fast” and provided a detailed description in his month-late “Memo” along with assisting in a revised composite of the suspect. (This, of course, contradicts his partner Zelms private claim to his wife that “we did stop and talk to the man.”  Also, later the stop was confirmed by the lead Detective Toschi who admitted they (SFPD)  initially kept it secret and protected officer Fouke from embarrassment. According to Detective Toschi, officer Fouke said to him, “God, Dave, he could have killed me.”

Officer Donald Fouke Memo (below) given one month later as, a “Male White 35-45 years (“closer to the high end of 45 yrs”) 5-10 180-200…glasses, possible Welsh ancestry.”  (Now that we KNOW the officers talked to the suspect it is my belief Foukes claim of “Welsh ancestry” came not from his appearance, but rather his speech. George Hodel, had  very much of a Richard Burton (Welsh) sounding rather cultured voice.)

SFPD Officer Donald Fouke Memo

Overall the crime scene reenactments were seemingly accurate and they included additional “possible Zodiac related crimes.”

The program updated the fact that some of the law enforcement agencies were attempting to obtain further confirmed DNA that potentially can be searched using both CODIS and civilian databank DNA sources.  They also verified that NO CONFIRMED ZODIAC DNA EXISTS AS OF THIS TIME.

In concluding the program the show basically publicly eliminated all of the top “favorite suspects” from being ZODIAC. These included: Arthur Leigh Allen    Lawrence Kane  Earl Van Best Jr.  Ted Kaczynski.

Allen                              Kane                 Van Best Jr.            Kaczynski

TO BE CONTINUED…

The post Zodiac Killer Crimes Examined on “Very Scary People” Parts I & II- My Short Review of the Case: Status “The Good and Bad” as of 2019- Program Eliminates “The Usual Suspects” (Allen, Van Best Jr., Kane, and Kaczynski) appeared first on Steve Hodel.

April 24, 2019
Los Angeles

DR. OZ SHOW  To Feature No. 1 Ranked “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and Black Dahlia”
New show scheduled to air  TUESDAY, MAY 14TH 

Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia Ranked No. 1 in Nation this week

Cadence 13 Executive producer Zak Levitt’s eight-part podcast reached the top of the mountain this week, as NO. 1 in the nation.

The program consisting of in-depth interviews with many HODEL family members as well as experts in the fields of art and psychology tells the TRUE STORY of Dr. George Hill Hodel and the investigation that linked and identified him as the killer of LA’s most infamous murder, The Black Dahlia.

The podcast presents riveting in-person interviews with the sons and daughters of Tamar Hodel (my half-sister, same father) who in 1949 at age fourteen, testified to being the victim of sexual molestation and incest at the hands of our father, Dr. George Hill Hodel, then Head of L.A. County Health Department as “V.D. Czar.”

Dr. Hodel, arrested by LAPD in October, 1949, was “held to answer” in a Preliminary Hearing and bound over for trial in Superior Court.

In a three-week high publicity jury trial, Dr. Hodel defended by attorney Jerry “Get Me” Giesler (the Johnny Cochran of his day) and his partner, Robert Neeb was found “not guilty.” (This despite testimony from three adults present during the sex acts who testified against him.  The discovery of police reports in 2003 indicated possible payoffs to the DA’s Office to gain the acquittal.)

We hear the after effects of  Tamar’s sexual abuse as presented through in-person interviews with her five children. We hear from each child (my nieces and nephews)  their separate victimization.  As is so common in INCEST, Tamar the abused becomes the abuser.

Until this Root of Evil podcast, though uncle to all five of Tamar’s children, I had never heard the individual and horrific trauma each son and daughter had suffered.  Hearing how the House of Hodel dysfunction unfolded was truly heartbreaking.

But, in the end, comes LIGHT.

Truly, sunshine is a disinfectant and thanks to the presentation of the TRUE STORY, as presented in ROOT OF EVIL, the listening public, who unquestioningly has an EAR FOR TRUTH, has heard our story and responded with thousands of “comments” showing much love and respect.

With sincere appreciation,

Steve Hodel
Los Angeles, California

The post Dr. Oz To Air New “Black Dahlia True Crime “Science, Medicine and Mystery” on May 14- New Show Completes Spring Trifecta as “Root of Evil” Ranked No. 1 Podcast in Nation appeared first on Steve Hodel.

4/28/19
Los Angeles

Only in Hollywood’s Dreamland using the words “Based On” or “Inspired By” can you see a simultaneous blocking (eclipse) of both the Sun and Moon.  This rare phenomenon occurred on March 4, 2019, with the airing of TNT’s television miniseries, “I AM THE NIGHT,” Finale, Episode 6, “Queen’s Gambit.”

The dual eclipse, fortunately, was short-lived lasting less than an hour and has now mercifully “moved on” to allow sun and moonlight (truth) to again fall to the earth’s surface.

Full Disclaimer– I have not seen any of the six episodes of “I Am the Night” and based on comments from friends and family members, along with a few online reviews I’ve read, I doubt that I ever will.  I did view a trailer, which was enough to tell me where they were going and what they had done.

Apparently, the IATN script took factual truths from my niece, Fauna Hodel’s biography, “One Day She’ll Darken: The Mysterious Beginnings of Fauna Hodel” (Outskirts Press 2008) along with biographical and investigative crime signatures and summaries from my book, “Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder” (Arcade 2003) and Skyhorse Press 2015) and presented them in a fictional six-part fabrication or “reimagining” of the truth.

For those that have seen the miniseries, and wonder what is true and what is fiction?  Here is a partial list of biographical FACTS to “set the record straight”:

FACT– Fauna’s book “One Day She’ll Darken” published in 2008 ends with her meeting her mother, my half-sister Tamar.

FACT– Fauna never met her grandfather (my father) Dr. George Hill Hodel in his lifetime.

FACT– Fauna never visited our home in Hollywood, the Sowden/Franklin House until after George Hodel’s death in 1999.

FACT– Three “verbatim” letters attributed as written by my mother, Dorothy (“Dorero”) to Fauna’s adopted mother in Sparks, Nevada were never written. In Fauna’s biography, she invented them (though claiming they were true). I confronted Fauna in 2009 asking why she had detailed,  lengthy untruths in a purported true biography? Her answer, “Well Steven, sometimes you have to take creative license in a story for dramatic effect.” The truth being, my mother never had contact with Fauna’s family in life, nor was she aware of Fauna or her story until meeting her only one time in 1974 after Fauna met her biological mother, Tamar.

FACT– Dr. George Hill Hodel never followed or surveilled Fauna in life, nor did he have anything to do with stopping the making of “Pretty Hattie’s Baby” a film documenting Fauna’s life story made in 1990 that was stopped in production due to “financial disputes.”

FACT– The film, “Pretty Hattie’s Baby”, Fauna’s biography, was completed in 1990.  However, there was no reference or mention of the “Black Dahlia” nor was there any reference to my father being revealed as the killer, until my book was published twelve years later in 2003.

FACT– Dr. George Hill Hodel had nothing to do with the alleged Los Angeles murder of Fauna’s cousin, “Johnny” nor did he (nor I) have any knowledge of that crime. Nor do I to this day?  Full name, location, circumstances?

FACT- The character “Jay Singletary” (Chris Pine) is purely fictional and had no real role in Fauna Hodel or George Hodel’s life or in the real Black Dahlia investigation.

FACT-  The large “treatment room” in the basement where George is seen painting Fauna does not exist. There is no large room in the basement. Nada.  This was filmed in an off location clinic or hospital? At the time George and my family lived there the basement was only a small storage area with dirt floors. Open support beams.  Barely enough floor room to bury a body. George used the open dirt area to store a few boxes and it was the “punishment room” when we three boys misbehaved. “Go to the basement, I’ll be there shortly.” A leather razor strap on a nail was used to spank us.

FACT– Dr. George Hill Hodel sold the Sowden House in 1950 and never again returned to the residence. He was not in Los Angeles during the Watts Riots of August 1965 and was living full time in Manila, Philippines.

FACT– Dr. George Hill Hodel was not a “gynecologist” he specialized in the treatment of venereal disease. Mostly as Head of L.A. County Health Department and served as an administrator as “V.D. Czar.”

FACT– Dr. Hodel, though a major fan of surrealism, had no “surrealist” or “modern art” on display at the Sowden/Franklin House.

FACT– Tamar Hodel, my half-sister as relates to the Black Dahlia Murder only knew and was able to communicate two facts to her children, including Fauna after reuniting in 1972. Those two facts were:

FACT- a) Police detectives in transporting her to the court during the incest trial in 1949, mentioned: “they suspected her father, George Hodel might be the killer of the Black Dahlia.”

FACT- b) Her stepmother, Dorothy Hodel (my mother) told her about an incident where “George Hodel might have overdosed his personal secretary because she had written some manuscripts about him.” (Tamar had no further information or name on the secretary. Only later in my investigation post-publication 2003 and updated in a later edition, would I identify her as Ruth Spaulding and discover that LAPD investigated our father as a murder suspect in her OD.) These two facts, “George Hodel possible Dahlia Suspect and OD secretary)  were the sum total of her personal knowledge about our father and all that Tamar could truthfully have communicated to her children prior to the publication and findings in my book, Black Dahlia Avenger.

FACT– In my conversations with Tamar as late as 2003, it was her stated belief that our father “did not kill Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia.” She informed me that she had spoken with “a good friend who is one of the best psychics in the world and he checked it out and said, ‘No, your father didn’t kill her.'” Tamar also in 1998 communicated by email online with Janice Knowlton, the author of, “My Daddy Is The Black Dahlia Killer” and was assured by Knowlton that her father, (also named George) “did it.”

Based on her communications with Janice Knowlton which were reinforced by Tamar’s psychic friend, Tamar believed our father innocent. (Of course, she had no idea of my ongoing investigation at that time and what I had discovered.)

FACT– Tamar was adamant, and never in doubt, that Fauna Hodel’s father was “a White, Italian Male in San Francisco who gave me drinks at his house and raped me after I returned and was transferred up there from Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles. “(November 1950).

FACT- George Hodel at that time of  Fauna’s conception (early November 1950) was living in Territorial Hawaii and teaching at the University of Hawaii and could not have parented Fauna Hodel.

FACT– ROOT OF EVIL: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia was created to counterbalance the fictional TNT produced I AM The Night (IATN) television mini-series.

FACT- Root of Evil, a separate podcast, was produced by Zak Levitt and Cadence 13 though it was sponsored by TNT, who produced IATN. The final installment of the podcast, Episode No. 8 “You Only Have One Family” aired April 3, 2019, answered the question, “Was Dr. George Hodel the father of Tamar’s daughter, Fauna Hodel?”

FACT-  Root of Evil Producer Levitt in a dramatic taped sit-down with Tamar’s children (Peace, Love, Fauna Elizabeth, Yvette, and Rasha) presented DNA results proving that GEORGE HODEL WAS NOT THE FATHER OF FAUNA HODEL TO A SCIENTIFIC CERTAINTY.

Incredibly, as reported in an earlier blog, TNT Producers after listening to the final episode of the Root of Evil, podcast,  which included the sit-down Q&A with Tamar’s children and the revelations of the DNA results, insisted that those truths be removed from the already finalized podcast.

They insisted that the truth that Fauna was not the daughter of George Hodel be edited out as it currently existed in the final episode and withheld from public knowledge even though the final episode of the fictional TV series I Am The Night had aired one month prior on March 4, 2019, and the complete IATN series was CONCLUDED.

Root of Evil -The True Story, Episode 8, with the dramatic DNA results that Fauna was not George’s daughter was not scheduled to air for another full month- April 3, 2019.

Because of  TNT’s insistence, that information (Fauna’s real parentage) be withheld from the public, sadly hundreds of thousands of listener’s (Root of Evil was rated NO. 1 podcast in the nation last week) who wanted to know the truth of it, have been denied.

See Fauna Elizabeth Wilson (Fauna II) Facebook comment below on April 11, 2019 and author/journalist Sheila Weller’s response to Fauna.

As indicated,  hosts of the “Root of Evil” podcast Tamar’s daughters, Rasha and Yvette were present and interviewed at the sit-down DNA disclosure and at that time were informed “to a scientific certainty” that George Hodel was not their mother’s father. 

While it has been nearly two months since both daughters were informed of the removal of the DNA results from the podcast, we are still waiting for both Rasha and Yvette,  as the podcast’s ” spokeswomen” to voice their public condemnations of TNT’s decision to withhold the truth of their mother’s known paternity.

I am informed that both of Fauna’s daughters, as the primary hosts of “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia” will soon be providing a public statement of condemnation as relates to TNT’s decision to withhold the truth that GEORGE HODEL IS NOT THEIR MOTHER’S FATHER and their further conviction that the public has the right to know that truth.

Rasha (lt) and Yvette (center)  with their mother Fauna Hodel
(Fauna died from terminal cancer on September 30, 2017)

Closing Scene from I Am The Night Episode 6  Fauna Hodel (India Eisley) pointing a gun at George Hodel (Jefferson Mays)
In this scene Fauna asks him:

“AM I YOUR DAUGHTER GEORGE?

The room depicted in this scene is not located at the Hodel Franklin/Sowden House.
Appears to be a hospital or clinic room probably somewhere in L.A.?

AV/TV CLUB REVIEW
by Noel Murray  3/4/19

Fauna Hodel (India Eisley) in a scene from “I Am The Night” Finale Episode 6 “Queens Gambit”

“I Am The Night ends on a flat note”

…

It [“I Am The Night miniseries] also wildly fabricates incidents, to an extent that borders on the irresponsible, given that a lot of people who watch this show won’t know anything about the real Fauna Hodel, and will come away thinking she was actually abducted and nearly murdered by her own grandfather/father. None of that happened.

Noel Murray
AV/TV Review of TNT’s miniseries,  “I Am The Night”

…

I Am The Night is nominally based on the late Hodel’s memoir One Day She’ll Darken, which is why the miniseries is framed as her story. But it’s not her story. It’s only barely related to the narrative in One Day She’ll Darken. Aside from a scene or two, and aside from the basic facts of Fauna’s life—that she was given away at birth to a black woman in Nevada, raised as biracial, and later found out about her real family’s scandalous part when she went looking for her biological mother, Tamar—I Am the Night either ignores or grossly distorts its source material.

It also wildly fabricates incidents, to an extent that borders on the irresponsible, given that a lot of people who watch this show won’t know anything about the real Fauna Hodel, and will come away thinking she was actually abducted and nearly murdered by her own grandfather/father. None of that happened.

It might’ve better if Sheridan had ditched the book altogether. This becomes especially obvious in the finale, which tries (and largely fails) to pay off what’s been the weakest element of I Am The Night’s premise: Fauna’s search for self.

(full review here)

…

The post Hollywood Fictional Miniseries “I Am The Night” Eclipses The Truth As Presented In Two Hodel True Story Family Biographies: “One Day She’ll Darken” and “Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder” appeared first on Steve Hodel.

May 2, 2019
Los Angeles, California

Will be presenting a PowerPoint Talk and Book Signing on Black Dahlia Avenger III (RareBird Books 2018) at the Whittwood Branch of the Whittier Library on Monday, May 13th at 6:30 PM.  Hope to see you there.

W

The post Steve Hodel Author Talk and Book Signing Whittier Library Whittwood Branch Monday May 13th 2019 6:30 PM: Black Dahlia Avenger III appeared first on Steve Hodel.

MAY 19, 2019  4:30 PM 

Will be on Panel Discussion at
PASADENA PLAYHOUSE FRIENDSHIP CENTER
39 S. EL MOLINO AVE, Pasadena

The post LITFEST PASADENA “Motel, Money, Murder, and Madness: True Crime as Entertainment May 19th 4:30 PM Pasadena Playhouse appeared first on Steve Hodel.