September 30, 2018
Los Angeles, California
Tamar’s mother, Dorothy Barbe testifies at 1949 trial.
(This is the first time I’ve seen a photo of Tamar’s mother from that time period.)
The caption above reads:
“Beautiful 22-year-old Barbara Sherman, above, denies 14-year-old
Tamar Hodel’s charges of Hollywood sex orgy, but admits intimacy
with Dr. George Hill Hodel, Tamar’s father.”
I recently discovered this October 30, 1949 article from the New York Daily News which contained additional details in their reportage on the Hodel Incest Trial.
- Witness Barbara Sherman and GHH were intimate and she refused to testify against him at trial.
- GHH and Barbara were naked in the bedroom when Tamar entered also present in the room were Fred Sexton and a second adult, Corinne (Connie) Tarin who was dressed.
- Barbara helped Tamar disrobe.
- Sexton and Tamar were kissing “then Fred and I had normal intimate relations on the bed, nude.”
- George Hodel then later “arranged an abnormal act between her (Tamar) and Barbara.”
- Tamar’s testimony was supported by Fred Sexton and Connie Tarin.
- Tamar’s mother, Dorothy Barbe claimed her daughter was a “pathological liar.”
- Tamar came to live with her father in June 1949 and claimed the sex acts occurred on “Father’s Day” of that year.
- Tamar admitted, “being intimate with other boys and becoming pregnant.”
- Tamar admitted staying out numerous times with boys after midnight.
- When asked where she had been prior to coming home on the night of the sex acts Tamar responded, “Out in a hot-rod getting the hair blown off my head.” When asked, “With whom?” she replied, “I can’t remember.”
- The article closes with naming Dr. Francis C. Ballard, 36 and an associate, Charles Smith 36, are being held in a connected case, charging them with performing an abortion on Tamar.
The newspaper includes the following trial testimony exchange between defense attorney Robert Neeb and Tamar:
NEEB: ” Isn’t it a fact that you told your father you had intercourse with 40 boys in the month you had been in Hollywood? Didn’t you tell him you were pregnant and that you didn’t know who would be the father of your child?”
TAMAR: “When I found out I was pregnant I wanted to call my mother and he didn’t want me to.”
NEED: Had you ever had intercourse before?
TAMAR: Yes, with a roomer. I fancied myself in love with him.” (This was likely Joseph Barrett, a roomer at the Hodel home then age 25. Barrett would later become an important Black Dahlia witness both with the DA’s office in 1950 (as their “mole” inside the castle) and then fifty-years later in my investigation in 2000. During my interviews with him he admitted he had been intimate with Tamar in 1949.)
Complete Hodel TRIAL article attached as a PDF – HERE. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS TamarTrial – Copy
The New York Daily News, officially titled Daily News was founded in 1919 and
was the first U.S. daily printed in tabloid format. It reached its peak circulation in 1947, at 2.4 million copies a day.
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